And I appreciate the time and care you put into this post, Mike. Well-written indeed.

Thanks for reading and responding. My overall self-image is that I am a creature who was created good by a loving God (in God’s image in fact), but who (like all of my species) has a fallen nature, a fundamental flaw marring that goodness. Even the best people are capable of doing bad (when we seek the good improperly or fail to understand what is good, as Aristotle taught), normal (less-than-the-best) people are capable of causing quite a lot of hurt and damage through selfishness, negligence and the like, and as history shows us, some people can produce a great deal of evil. Great good is often in the heart of humans, and just as often a deep darkness. That’s what I meant by unstoppable destructive force – the human heart inflamed with passion (especially ill-directed) can be a force like no other.

With regard to other religions, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Taoism share similar understandings of human nature, as did Aristotle. There are variations, of course, but all teach that goodness requires some degree of effort, training, self-control, divine assistance, etc.
Oh, and of course I love my children, enough to teach them to have a positive, yet sober view of themselves and others.

I know the Christian view on human nature gets confused with seemingly conflicting teaching, you may have had some of that in mind as you read my post. Thanks for giving me an idea for my next entry.

Mike