Nature: Divine or Fallen?

We as humans seem to be of varied opinions of ourselves.  To some, human beings are viewed as God's greatest creation.  To others, humans are despicable, sinful creatures.  And still others say humans are just another species of animal that through evolution and dumb luck became the dominant creature.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints teaches that we are literally children of God, and yet even within the Church there seems to be differing ideas about humans and human nature.  On the one hand, we are God's children and as such have within us the potential to become like him.  In other words, we are said to have "divine nature."  On the other hand, we are subject to sin and imperfection, or subject to our "fallen nature."  So which is it?  Are we inherently good or bad?  And how do our instincts, evolution, and our environment play into what we are?

The Question:
"What do Mormons believe about human nature?  Are we inherently good, or evil?"

This is real!

I went on the ward temple trip today.  As always, it was a wonderfully peaceful experience.  Something else happened today though.  It was only for a moment, but I remember just getting an interesting feeling... it wasn't super strong, and it's kind of hard to describe...  In the Church we frequently talk about life after mortality, but I think we don't very often think about what that life is going to be like.  What will it be like to live for an eternity surrounded by our loved ones and in the presence of our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ?  The brief feeling I had was almost like comprehending for the first time in a long time that it really is going to happen one day.  We live our lives, constantly thinking about what we should or shouldn't do, but I realized that I don't think nearly as often about how my choices are going to affect my life after mortality as I do about how they will affect my mortal life.  But the temple, the commandments, and the entire Gospel are not just for our benefit during this life, but also the hereafter!