Do You Believe People Are Good?

I was asked this question recently.  I was told it was a simple question, begging a yes or no answer.  I stated that it really isn't.  Immediately the words starting reeling around in my mind as to why that was and of course, I had to come and write.  Unfortunately I wrote half the post and lost it a week or so ago and became deflated to start again.  Yet here I am. 

I want to say first that most Christians would have an obvious answer: "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God" etc.  However, that does not answer this question believe it or not because that is saying that man is sinful, it is not addressing his goodness.  Besides, I'm really never into the obvious answers lol.

To get an idea of the complexity of this question and it's answer let me tell you something on the side.  If I were asked "Are your children good?"  what would my answer be?  I know my children can do good and are very capable of it so I could answer "yes".  However, I also know my children can be bad and are capable of bad, so I could say "no".  Since I love my children and hold out affectionate hope for them, I would never define them however as bad.  We feel the same for our own humanity.  Do you see why the answer is not simple?

When I was a teen, I loved the book "The Diary of Anne Frank"  and I enjoyed the old black and white movie as well.  At the end of the movie though, Anne says something that really irritated me even as a teenager.  As the sirens were going off and they became aware that the trucks were stopping right in front of the home they were hiding in, she states to Peter that she believes man is truly good at heart.  I always want to scream at that part!  Growing up in a Christian home the words came to my mind "No, evil!  Sinners!  You are so wrong!"  Yet, there is part of Anne's annoying words that are true.  I will get back to what that sense really was that she had.  You may even come to it yourself as I continue. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a fan of Randy Alcorn, in a big way.  In Randy's book "If God Is Good", I learned a new concept that I'd never considered before.  That goodness, was proof of God Himself.  Many atheists will say that evil is proof that there is no God but Randy points out that they have no answer to the source of goodness either. 

"We have no logical reason to take good for granted; it's existence demands explanation." 

He goes on to say that the fact that we don't question good's existence affirms we consider good the norm and evil the exception.  So when we see bad things happen, it's news because for the most part, evil is not the norm.  "Our shock at evil testifies to the predominance of good." 
"Some of the world's goodness can be described only as supernatural, since from a naturalistic viewpoint we should all ruthlessly step on one another to survive."

From here our thoughts should take us back to the beginning when God created and He himself called it "good".  At that moment, like a Father, God looked at man and He Himself defined Him as good.  We are fortunate and live in more blessing than we realize when we notice that predominately there is still more good in this world than evil and there is still more good in man than evil. As Randy states: "Yes, there are truckloads of evil, but there are also boatloads of good."
 However, we have to note the predominate fact here that:

Goodness has it's source in God himself and without Him, there is no explanation that fits it's existence.

"Without God, the world would be amoral, with no objective goodness or evil. 
Where does goodness come from?  How could it come from nothing?  Why would people have such a strong sense of right and wrong?  Why would the powerful sometimes sacrifice their lives to save the weak, handicapped, and dying?"
"Evolution can explain greed, selfishness, insensitivity, survival-preoccupation, and even a certain amount of ruthlessness; but does anything in the blind evolutionary process explain demonstrating kindness, putting other people first and even risking your life to help a stranger?" 
"What should surprise atheists is not that powerful people crush those weaker than themselves- that would be entirely natural.  The surprise is that powerful people would sacrifice their welfare to aid the weak." 

So, though Alcorn is talking more along the lines of goodness proving the existence of God, I think it adds to this discussion because we are so quick as even Christians to forget the dominance of good in the world and in people.  There are plenty of people who don't have a single inclination to follow God who do amazingly good things.  They may even lay down their very lives. 

Therefore, I believe what Anne was feeling at that moment was a hope that things were not settled yet.  They was something innate in her telling her this was not as it ought to be. Man was made good and he is capable now of evil.  She was linking back to the very intentions of God to make things right.  We were created for good and all things beautiful.  She was picking up on that and quite frankly, it was the very evil she was experiencing from man that was causing a contrast analysis in her mind leading to the truthful conclusion that man was meant for good.  He was not as he aught to be. 

We cannot ignore that fact though that man cannot possibly be defined as good on the whole.  If the definition is to be complete, no, man is not good.  My children are not good.  Is man bad?  Are my children bad?  See, that is not true either.  Both realities must be recognized together to answer this question.  Man was meant to be good, sin has tainted him.  To say that man is sinful is incomplete though because even in a state of sin, man can have amazingly strong characteristics of good!  So when we say that alone we miss the optimism of the very reflection of our Creator in humanity to this day.  Is your head spinning yet?

Therefore, in conclusion I answer the question of "Do you think people are good?" with this:  People are intended to be good.  They are made for good, and they were declared good by God himself.  They are incredibly capable of good, and they reflect goodness every day.  This is reality, as it is with my children and I should of course acknowledge this in them.  The other reality I have to recognize is their need for a savior.  For, they are indeed goodness that has been tainted.  The very fact that they can be bad and reflect evil, is also a reality I have to recognize (and thank God for the solution!).  It's the same with humanity.  I cannot stick my head in the sand and say man is good, not realizing that his goodness is marred and scared.  I also should not label him as bad, for he was made good and that is a great awe producing thing. 

Or shorter still:
Do you believe people are good?  Yes
Do you believe people are bad?  Yes
Does this answer the question?  No
What does?  The original intent of man.
Which was?  Good
What happened?  Sin
How can it be fixed?  Faith in the work of Christ.


Or simpler still:

If we were to take a great painting, say a lovely Renoir who I happen to adore, and we were to dash black paint in a few strides over it.  Fist of all we would be devastated.  We would have such a strong feeling of wrong, of destruction.  As we looked at that painting would we now say it was good?  Yes.  Why?  How?  Because we know what it was!  We know how it was intended.  Is it still good?  Well, sadly no!  Yet, we hold out such conviction that it is, because we are aware of what it really is under there!  What is bad is the black stain!  The marks that ruined such greatness.  To say that it was good still would be to not only ignore the problem with it, but to deminish it's origional excellence as well. 
It's as simple as that. 
Thank God he has a way to restore what has been lost. 

No one is more convicted of the perfection of His masterpiece than God Himself, and therefore, no one is more passionate to see it's coming restoration.