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Though Prager addresses a classic, inherently interesting matter here, he manages to miss the point which makes it possible to progress past it.

People are not inherently good. Nor are they inherently evil.

People are inherently people.

Humans are individually motivated and individually satisfied. They can detect the motives and agendas of others, but can never feel them to the exact degree of intensity those others feel. They have the capacity for rationality, generosity, and transcendence of spirit, but they also have the capacity for mindlessness, vindictiveness, and the most appalling closure of self.

What matters to the construction and maintenance of any human society is whether the incentives it instantiates:

Are in harmony with the laws of the universe;
Encourage the positive, benevolent potentialities of Man or his darker, destructive possibilities.

Christ told us to 1) love God, and 2) love one another as we love ourselves. What a brilliant encapsulation of the laws of successful societies! God, the supreme Lawgiver, cannot be overruled. His dictates about the nature of things must be accepted; the only way forward is to work with them. The capacities of individual men are so limited that real achievement is only available through division of labor in a regime of reliable contract among self-interested individuals. "Love of others" must include the sort of innocent benevolence, the willingness to see others prosper without rancor of envy, that's required by a free economy. Thus we arrive at the best imaginable system of social organization with no need for other arguments.

Best, not perfect. Perfection is not available to Man in this world.

All theorizing about goodness or evil in the human makeup must come to terms with this touchstone criterion: what works in the real world.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://www.palaceofreason.com

Christ told us to 1) love God, and 2) love one another as we love ourselves. What a brilliant encapsulation of the laws of successful societies!

Extremely well put. Thought you might want to know that.

Genesis 4:7

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

Too little effort to master sin is sadly practiced by so many.

People are inherently people.

And people are inherently evil. That is, the natural man is inherently evil. On the other hand, most people individually believe they are good. People cope with this klang and dissonance between the reality of their depravity and their self-perception that they are fundamentally good by externalizing the evil onto others or by rationalizing their own motives and behavior.

Go to DU and read their posts. The liberals posting there are convinced their hearts are noble and pure. They truly believe they are good people--perhaps the only good people. On the other hand, DU'ers know conservatives--especially conservative Christians--are base and evil.

DU'ers and other liberals excuse Bill Clinton's sexual depravity and Hillary Clinton's (whom they perceive to be a reflection of themselves) abuse of power by imaging them also to be good, empathetic, compassionate people who only want to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and uplift the downtrodden. Never mind that they are stealing from more efficient citizens and sources and creating ever-larger classes of "victims" through their stupidity and hubris. Through the jujitsu of self-deception they persuade themselves that they are more Christ-like than Christ. After all, which of them would ever say something as "cruel" as "leave the dead to bury their dead"? No, thay are convinced that through the bloody expedient of gross government extortion they can forcibly create the good and just society that Christ "failed" to deliver.

And if social regressives such as conservative Christians (who truly understand the mystery of the Kingdom and are loathe to accept a human-made substitute) get in the way? In their heart of hearts, they would like nothing better than to eliminate them as enemies of mankind--if they could get away with it. That was Stalin's view of Christianity, too.

As for me, I am not deceived about the depravity of the human heart. I know, I am painfully reminded every day, of the natural man. I don't expect the perfection in others that I cannot achieve myself, but neither do I excuse their depravity and imagine they are fundamentally good. Rather, I know that the best of them is struggling.

I agree with your conclusions, but not your introductory statement. I believe that people, without guidance, are inclined to selfish and violent behavior, unless raised to behave otherwise. One of the first word learned by children is "Mine." Left to their own devices, young children will use the strength available to them to take what they want from others. Those without strength will cry for what they want. People ARE inherently people, but that evades the fact of our natural selfish nature (I might not go so far as to say evil, though.) It is through the diligent upbringing by caring parents and (I believe) a church community (maybe it DOES take a village, just not Hillary's village) that otherwise selfish people are trained to love God and one another, resulting, ultimately, in that which IS in the best interest of the individual and the community.

People are not inherently good. Nor are they inherently evil.

They are inherently fallen and, thus, inherently evil.

Were it not for the Christ whom you quote, it would not be possible for people to ever be anything else.

Shalom.