The Question:
"What do Mormons believe about human nature? Are we inherently good, or evil?"
The Short Answer:
We are born good and free from sin. However, because of the Fall, we quickly succumb to temptations and commit sin. Thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can eventually overcome our fallen natures and become clean again.
The Long Answer:
We believe that we are born free of sin, and indeed that little children are not capable of sinning. The Savior loves children, and on several occasions extolled the virtues of child-like attributes such as faith and humility (see Matthew 18:1-4 for example). However, very quickly it seems, as they get older children begin to learn less-desirable traits like selfishness, disobedience, and even pride. Eventually children become adults, and all semblance of childhood innocence is long gone. The once pure and sinless child becomes a creature subject to all the vices of the flesh, drawn after material pleasures more than the simple joys of the Gospel.
What happened? The answer is that while we are born sinless, we are not born perfect. There is something about what we are, buried deep within our very nature (perhaps even our DNA) that causes us to stumble, even when we want to do good. We currently share many of the same instincts as the beasts that inhabit the earth with us. For all our intelligence and sophistication, the things that drive us are the same as those that drive all other animals: the urge to feed, to survive, to procreate, and to pass on our genetic legacy to future generations. Even supposedly altruistic traits such as the instinct of parents to nurture their offspring have been explained away by science as a way for our species to ensure that our offspring survive long enough to bear children of their own, and thus perpetuate the life cycle. While our instincts may not be inherently evil, they often drive us to commit acts that are contrary to the Gospel. We are taught to observe moderation in food consumption, but our instincts tell us to feed whenever we are hungry, and even when we are not. We are taught to be kind and charitable, but our instincts tell us to assert our dominance and keep resources for ourselves. We are taught to abstain from sexual relations except within the context of marriage, but our instincts tell us to reproduce as soon (and as often) as physically able.
The Garden and Beyond
This was not always the case however. God created us, starting with Adam and Eve. And God does not make mistakes. In their initial state in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were sinless, like little children. Their natures were also not corrupted (yet). Left alone, they probably could have existed in harmony with the other creatures in the Garden for eons, for they had no inclination to sin or to harm any living thing. (And why would they want to, when the Garden provided for all of their physical needs?) But just as he always has, Satan sought to stir up trouble. Satan tried to get Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and as the Biblical record shows, he was successful. We may not fully understand just how it happened, but when they disobeyed God's commandment not to partake of the fruit, their natures--and the nature of the very world they lived in--fell.
This is what is known as the Fall in Mormon doctrine, and the event had several ramifications for not only them but also their children and all other living creatures on the earth. Before the Fall, there was no death, sickness, or pain, and it was not in their nature to sin or to do anything contrary to God's commandments (they only did so after being tempted by the serpent). Now all flesh was subject to the frailties of mortality and would be subject to a new "fallen nature." This fallen nature came with a new set of rules, aptly dubbed "survival of the fittest" by contemporary scientists.
The good news is that the Fall was not an unforeseen event, nor even a tragic event. God in His infinite wisdom knew it would happen and prepared for it before the foundation of the earth, and even provided a way for the Fall to be for the eventual good of His children (why the Fall was not only a good but also a necessary event is a topic for another day). Furthermore, a Savior would be provided (namely, Jesus Christ) who would atone for the transgression of Adam and Eve and for the sins of all men and women. Because of His Atonement, we are empowered to overcome our fallen natures and, for a little while at a time, live the "higher law." It's what allows an individual to be charitable enough to give sustenance to a stranger in need, with no expectation of ever being repaid. It's what allows a couple to have enough love in their hearts to adopt a child into their home even though he or she is not of any relation to them. Acts such as this don't make sense from an evolutionist standpoint because the affected persons no longer care about survival of the fittest, but instead the survival (and salvation) of the entire human family. During mortality, this effect is transient at best; our occasional visits to a higher plane of existence are interrupted by the inconvenient fact that we are still mortal and still subject to temptation and sin. But the Atonement has also provided an eventual permanent fix for our defective human nature, and that is the Resurrection. We believe that when Christ comes again, the whole earth will be renewed (see Article of Faith 10) and that death and sin will be done away with. Permanently. Those who die will live again, and this time in perfect, immortal bodies that will no longer be subject to a fallen nature.
Examples from Nature
While thinking about human nature, the Fall, and the Resurrection a while back, I thought about animals, how the Fall affects them, and what they might be like after the effects of the Fall are removed. I was interested to find many parallels between them and us. For instance, before the Fall, we can infer that the animals lived in harmony with Adam and Eve (in Genesis 2 we read that Adam took care of the garden and named all the animals, for example). But after partaking of the forbidden fruit, the nature of the whole earth fell, including the animals that lived on it. Through no fault of their own, the animals of the earth became subject to a fallen nature, similar to man's.
This would explain why we see evidence of evolution so readily in animals. After leaving the paradise of the Garden of Eden, they no longer had their needs provided for them and instead had to fend for themselves, and once again we see "survival of the fittest" coming into play. Those animals who could not fend for themselves died off. Some animals became carnivorous, and those that excelled at hunting and killing their prey lived to pass their genes on to future generations. Now that all animals seem to be at enmity with each other, trust and mildness are no longer desirable traits, so left alone it would be virtually impossible for animals to return to their pre-fallen state.
But what if someone were to intervene? A "higher being" if you will. This has already happened with several species with amazing results. For an example we need look no farther than the domesticated dog. The dozens of breeds of dogs that we are familiar with today didn't always exist, and neither did dogs' trust of and submissiveness to humans. At some point in our history, humans intervened in the natural course of evolution of the modern dog's ancestors (perhaps wolves, dingoes, or some other wild canine). After years of selective breeding, dogs have gone from being wild and dangerous to the perfect companion. As Science Friday puts it, "The dog is man's best friend because it may be man's best invention" (The Modern Dog). We are not without relatively recent examples either. An issue of National Geographic described the undertaking of domesticating foxes (you can read the full article here). In just a few generations, researchers bred foxes that were completely docile; the perfect pet.
The similarity between domesticated animals and our own natures and our relationship with God is uncanny. Left to our own devices, we as human beings are little better than animals (some would argue worse, given our tendency to destroy the very world we live in). Lucky for us, a "higher being" has cared enough to reach down and intervene in the course of our evolution. God has given us the Gospel, which teaches us to overcome our carnal natures and to discipline our appetites. Granted, the analogy is not perfect; while it took many generations to breed docile animals, a single individual can have a change of heart from evil to good by accepting the Gospel. But the comparison is instructive nonetheless.
Just like humans, this change in animals isn't permanent. Abused or neglected, animals can very quickly return to their baser instincts. But just as they were made partakers in the Fall of the earth, so too will they benefit from the Resurrection and the earth's renewal. Isaiah paints a lovely picture of what the earth will be like after Christ returns to the earth, and his description is well known throughout Christendom: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them" (see Isaiah 11:6-9).
While thinking about human nature, the Fall, and the Resurrection a while back, I thought about animals, how the Fall affects them, and what they might be like after the effects of the Fall are removed. I was interested to find many parallels between them and us. For instance, before the Fall, we can infer that the animals lived in harmony with Adam and Eve (in Genesis 2 we read that Adam took care of the garden and named all the animals, for example). But after partaking of the forbidden fruit, the nature of the whole earth fell, including the animals that lived on it. Through no fault of their own, the animals of the earth became subject to a fallen nature, similar to man's.
This would explain why we see evidence of evolution so readily in animals. After leaving the paradise of the Garden of Eden, they no longer had their needs provided for them and instead had to fend for themselves, and once again we see "survival of the fittest" coming into play. Those animals who could not fend for themselves died off. Some animals became carnivorous, and those that excelled at hunting and killing their prey lived to pass their genes on to future generations. Now that all animals seem to be at enmity with each other, trust and mildness are no longer desirable traits, so left alone it would be virtually impossible for animals to return to their pre-fallen state.
But what if someone were to intervene? A "higher being" if you will. This has already happened with several species with amazing results. For an example we need look no farther than the domesticated dog. The dozens of breeds of dogs that we are familiar with today didn't always exist, and neither did dogs' trust of and submissiveness to humans. At some point in our history, humans intervened in the natural course of evolution of the modern dog's ancestors (perhaps wolves, dingoes, or some other wild canine). After years of selective breeding, dogs have gone from being wild and dangerous to the perfect companion. As Science Friday puts it, "The dog is man's best friend because it may be man's best invention" (The Modern Dog). We are not without relatively recent examples either. An issue of National Geographic described the undertaking of domesticating foxes (you can read the full article here). In just a few generations, researchers bred foxes that were completely docile; the perfect pet.
The similarity between domesticated animals and our own natures and our relationship with God is uncanny. Left to our own devices, we as human beings are little better than animals (some would argue worse, given our tendency to destroy the very world we live in). Lucky for us, a "higher being" has cared enough to reach down and intervene in the course of our evolution. God has given us the Gospel, which teaches us to overcome our carnal natures and to discipline our appetites. Granted, the analogy is not perfect; while it took many generations to breed docile animals, a single individual can have a change of heart from evil to good by accepting the Gospel. But the comparison is instructive nonetheless.
Just like humans, this change in animals isn't permanent. Abused or neglected, animals can very quickly return to their baser instincts. But just as they were made partakers in the Fall of the earth, so too will they benefit from the Resurrection and the earth's renewal. Isaiah paints a lovely picture of what the earth will be like after Christ returns to the earth, and his description is well known throughout Christendom: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them" (see Isaiah 11:6-9).
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