Being bad.

hedrick

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It's an interesting idea, but one not consistent with my experience. For most of my life I've taught 7th and 8th grade Sunday School. I've known a number of kids that I'd call good. I don't know how all of them turned out, but several have turned out to be effective adults, and don't seem to show signs of damage. I believe that's true of others. There are surely bad forms of goodness, e.g. OCD. There are also kids who push the boundaries and end up just fine. But I think this video is stereotyping.

There's an interesting theological side to this, though, relating to original sin. I'm from the Reformed tradition, but modern Reformed are not identical to the traditional sorts. The traditional narrative is that in Adam we fell from original perfection, and are now hopeless until regenerated. Righteousness means moral perfection, something humans are incapable of. Therefore we all should go to hell, except when redeemed by Christ. That works because are credited with his righteousness. This narrative is at least partly Augustinian, though not all traditional Western Christianity would agree with all parts of it.

Modern Reformed theology, however, has to deal with the fact that Genesis is not historically true. We actually evolved, and our mixed nature came to us naturally, not as a result of someone eating a fruit. Furthermore, if you look at the way humans actually work, it seems clear that we learn by trial and error. No one is perfect, not because Adam ate an apple, but because we're not built to be perfect. Indeed it's not entirely clear what perfection would mean, since we have to cope with quite a variety of environments, physical, social, and moral. Thus the ability to adapt is worth more in the long run than being perfect in any particular environment. Although we're aren't built to be perfect, we are built to learn from our mistakes. For that reason, righteousness means caring about the how our actions affect others, repenting when we cause harm (or fail to cause good), and forgiving others, since they're in the same boat. Perhaps not coincidentally, this is the view that is taught by Jesus. It seems closest to Orthodox views on human nature and soteriology.
 
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ImaginaryDay2

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Interesting. It misses the mark of most theories on developmental psychology until close to the end. At about 3:33 in the video, there is a statement about "being properly mature (involving) a frank, un-frightened relationship with one's own dark sides, complexities, and ambitions". And the thought goes on to about the 3:55 mark. That stood out as the only point that made some realistic sense. Children and adolescents who come to know some of those "complexities" about themselves can certainly have greater insight about self, others, and life, but I would disagree that it has to come with an embrace of "one's own dark sides"
 

MoreCoffee

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Interesting. It misses the mark of most theories on developmental psychology until close to the end. At about 3:33 in the video, there is a statement about "being properly mature (involving) a frank, un-frightened relationship with one's own dark sides, complexities, and ambitions". And the thought goes on to about the 3:55 mark. That stood out as the only point that made some realistic sense. Children and adolescents who come to know some of those "complexities" about themselves can certainly have greater insight about self, others, and life, but I would disagree that it has to come with an embrace of "one's own dark sides"

It seemed to me that the gospel includes reassurance of love from Jesus even if one sins and that is one of the main points of the philosopher's comments - children who are loved and who occasionally do something bad learn that they are still loved even if they do something bad.
 
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