Evil
Are we born with Evil intentions?
There have always been people with evil in them such as Hitler. I have always wondered if people are inherently evil. Robert Douglass in 2015 wrote Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? It was about the viewpoints of Hobbes and Rousseau. The argument was are we born with good intentions or bad intentions. If we need to have a government controlling us or not? Honestly the winner is whoever you think who the winner is. Some people even believe that the winner is whatever party you believe in politically. Whether you like it or not, a lot of politics are brought into this story. Even the top of the story states whatever you believe politically.
The argument is actually very political. Hobbes believes all people were born with evil intentions. He also thinks a government is good for our nation. Just like Biden does with the democratic party. Rousseau however believes that people were born with good intentions. This belief means that we should have free choice in government. This is also how our president Donald Trump believes as well. Beliefs are the same for the republican party.
Douglass explains it best “Hobbes saw societies divided by war and offered a road to peace. Rousseau saw societies divided by inequality and prophesied their downfall.” Hobbes supports his pro-government belief by stating “we must submit ourselves to an authoritative body with the power to enforce laws and resolve conflicts”. Hobbes states this in hope of bringing peace through governmental standards. The government should also help people because they think we can’t support ourselves. Rousseau thinks everything went wrong when we “perfected the arts of agriculture and industry”. He also states we need healthy competition, but for it not to be our God. Everything in life requires competition. If you don’t compete, you’re honestly lazy and need someone to support you like what Hobbes thinks. What Rousseau thinks is that we need to not be so worried about competition that we absolutely lose it. You do however need to compete for what you want.
I believe that the democratic party has done some pretty evil things. I think it’s really ironic that Hobbes was arguing for being born with evil intentions. They have done some pretty evil things in the past two years alone. I also believe the republican party has done a couple of evil things here and there. However, I believe personally the republican party did mostly really good things. I think it is also very ironic that Rousseau believes in people having good intentions.
The two opinions and commentary of Hobbes and Rousseau have influenced me a lot. I personally believe in Rousseau more than I do Hobbes politically. However I believe that we were born with evil intentions, but God forgives us. These verses I think best explain being born with evil intentions. It states in Matthew 15:19 that “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander”. This verse proves what Hobbes says as well as Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me”. These two verses from Matthew and Psalm proclaim that we were born sinners. We can repay evil with good intentions because God gave us free will. In Romans 12:17–21 It states “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” So you can have good intentions but you were born with the evil inside of you thanks to Adam and Eve. In Romans 6:23 it states “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. We get excuse for these birthly problems because God took care for them on the cross.
I personally believe we need free choice right now. We don’t need this big monarchy running our country! We need to be able to make decisions for ourselves. When we let others make decisions for us nine times out of ten they aren’t that great. Yes both the republican and democratic party might make a mistake now and there. However, we can have good intentions on both sides. All this comes down to is whatever you believe is good or bad.