Are People Basically Good?

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom, just like there is an hour each week devoted to happiness, we're going to devote an hour each week at this time on Tuesdays to the great ultimate issues of life.

[00:00:17]This is the ultimate issues hour and I feel that the best way to inaugurate this series is with a great question that people have not thought through clearly enough. That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

[00:00:30]>> If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first, so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive two free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900.

[00:00:57]That's 864-644-1900.

[00:01:00]Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's rational Bibles, go to dennisprager.com.

[00:01:15]Well, hello everybody. This is Dennis Prager.

[00:01:20]And I have a big smile on my face as I inaugurate the ultimate issues hour. Just like there is an hour each week devoted to happiness.

[00:01:33]Going to devote an hour each week at this time on Tuesdays to the great ultimate issues of life.

[00:01:42]Give it to me Sean. Give it to me.

[00:01:55]Yes indeed everybody. This is it. This is the ultimate issues hour because I believe in conjunction with happiness that what people need is a philosophy of life. We need to be clear on the great questions of life and that is what this hour will be is to take a great question whether it has to do with religion whether it has to do with morality whether it has to do with human nature whether it has to do with men and women whether it has to do with whatever the timeless great questions of life and I think you'll love it as much as you love the happiness hour wherever I go people tell me that that hour they just love it they absolutely they don't want to miss it that's what I I mean I want you to feel that about every hour of my radio show to be perfectly honest.

[00:02:40]But I have a particular affection for the happiness hour as you do and I hope that is likewise for the ultimate issues hour, the ultimate issues of life and I feel that the best way to inaugurate this series is with a great question that people have not thought through clearly enough and that is the question of are people basically good? Are people basically bad? Are people basically in the middle? And I learned long ago in my radio life, long ago, I learned that the difference on the views on that one issue, perhaps more than any other single question, will help people determine whether they are liberal or conservative, whether they are right or left, whether they will have a liberal or conservative position on on most social issues. Hey, listen. If you believe people are basically good here, listen clearly.

[00:03:41]If you believe people are basically good, if we are born good, then you will attribute human evil to outside influences.

[00:03:50]Why do why do people murder? Why do people rape? Why do people why do people uh uh burglarize homes? Why do they mug?

[00:03:59]Why do they do all these evil? Well, it's if if we're basically good, something must have distorted that person's goodness.

[00:04:11]But if you believe that we're not basically good, then you'll say that well, the person who murders, the person who steals, that person is in fact giving in to his nature because it's natural to kill. It is natural to steal, natural to rape.

[00:04:33]So it is a huge, it is one of the great huge questions and that's what I want to talk to you about on this ultimate issues hour. Are people basically good or not? Now here are the different positions as I have learned them over the course of my lifetime. There are those who believe and they tend to be secular people. There are those who believe we are born basically good.

[00:04:56]They are very fond for example of quoting Anne Frank, the famous Anne Frank from the the diary of Anne Frank, the the teenage Jewish girl in in Holland who was murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust who kept the the most famous diary ever written in h in history.

[00:05:13]And her her diary includes the line that even though she sees such darkness and she is hiding in a little tiny attic from people who wish to murder her and her whole family just because they're born Jews. Still in all she says I believe that people are basically good.

[00:05:30]And she is cited by people who believe that people are basically good. She's cited all the time.

[00:05:36]Now who can't love Anne Frank? But I to cite a teenage girl's view of humanity as as as an argument for that view. I've never found that terribly compelling. I just happen not to agree with her. I also wonder if when she the poor thing was sent to a Nazi concentration camp where she was murdered, I wonder if she believed till the end that people were basically good. But literally only God knows the answer to that question.

[00:06:04]On the other side are are those who believe that we're born bad, that human nature is utterly corrupt and uh only with a a religious affirmation uh can can one can one deal with a a a a dark sinful nature and uh and and there are all views in in in between. tell you my view.

[00:06:33]My view is that we are not born basically good and we are not born basically bad. By the way, the view that we are born sinful, of course we're born sinful. I mean that that that's yes, whether or not one needs a specific religious affirmation to undo it is not my topic today. So don't even call with it. I'm hap I'll happily deal with that on another occasion. That's not the question. We stick to the question.

[00:07:01]How is human nature? Is it good or bad?

[00:07:04]I believe it is. It has kernels of both.

[00:07:10]We have bad tendencies and we have good tendencies.

[00:07:15]And the human being is responsible therefore for his goodness or his badness.

[00:07:24]And this is a a view that in real life works. It it works because then you you you blame people for the bad they do but you understand as well that there is goodness that you can appeal to in people if there is no goodness in human nature then then how can you appeal to people to be good religiously or secularly? How could you appeal to people to be good if there's no goodness in their nature that will hear you?

[00:07:54]In fact, let me tell you something. The irony is that there is a lot of goodness in human nature and it is perverted very often by value systems, by philosophies that say that evil is good and people think they're doing good when they're doing bad.

[00:08:12]Yep. I mean, there's no I mean, terrorists think they're doing good.

[00:08:17]They're they're saving the world for their religion. They think they're doing good. They don't think they're doing bad. They're doing staggering evil, but they have been given a philosophy of life that tells them that it's really good when you blow up uh people in trains.

[00:08:34]The Nazis thought they they said we're doing good. Ridding the world of Jews is is a good act.

[00:08:40]So, ironically, there really is goodness in human nature, but it is easily perverted by a philosophy or by by psychology or something else. But there is also badness in human nature. We are born with jealousy. We are born with greed. Uh we are we are hardly born especially men with a monogous nature.

[00:09:02]I said earlier that rape is natural. I it is it it is natural for a man to take the object of his sexual desire and and have sex with that object uh uh is is natural. You need a value system to say, "Hey man, you can't do that." That is why those of us who don't believe people are basically good are so keen on teaching values to people that we don't think that love alone will work. You have to also give people values.

[00:09:38]You can actually end up with well-loved barbarians if you just give them love and you don't give them a value system.

[00:09:48]18 Prager 7776.

[00:09:51]And here is what I'd like you to do like on the happiness hour is more or less react to what I'm saying because a lot of you already called because I know everybody has a view on this and I fully and I fully respect that. But I but I want I want to give the benefit of a lifetime of thought on these issues on this the ultimate issues hour which I am inaugurating today. an hour on the great questions of life to help people develop a philosophy of life because otherwise life is very confusing.

[00:10:22]It's it's something one needs in life to have a philosophy of life and to really think it through.

[00:10:29]So when I say that I believe that people aren't basically good, I am not saying I believe people are basically bad.

[00:10:36]I am saying that people are torn and that we have to do everything we can give value systems, reinforce goodness, punish bad.

[00:10:50]We have to do everything we can uh in order to to help people go toward the good side of their nature which does exist too. There are there are I will acknowledge there are psychopaths people who are are conscience-free.

[00:11:09]That is another that is another issue.

[00:11:11]By the way, I do I do believe there are people that apparently have what for whatever reason there is there is no goodness inside of them. They are they are truly pathologic. But that is that is a fairly rare breed. 18 Prager 776.

[00:11:27]welcome and email me uh through the uh new website address prageradio.com if you uh your reactions to the Ultimate Issues Hour. This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

[00:11:44]>> If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive two free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900.

[00:12:10]That's 8646441900.

[00:12:16]Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

[00:12:22]All righty, everybody. Welcome to the second segment of the ultimate issues hour. I am inaugurating and I am aching for your feedback. Since there obviously limited number of calls that could be taken at any given time, please do just send me a letter, an email on what you think about the idea of this hour each week just as I do one dedicated to happiness, one now dedicated to the ultimate issues of life and that's through prageradio.com. just uh send me an email through that and spell Prager Radio with one R or two Rs. The the uh also I'm curious to get your feedback on the opening theme that I have at least tentatively chosen. It's uh it's a great piece by Fran's List LZT lay prelude. Uh Sean, if you have that, I want to play it here.

[00:13:19]Heat. Heat.

[00:13:54]All righty. Anyway, I love it. But uh we'll uh we're we're open to uh to reactions and let's talk about this people basically good or not. the the while the widely accepted version in secular in the secular west is that people are basically good born good the reason for that is that if you can't believe in god you better believe in humanity it makes perfect sense either you believe in a good god or good humanity there are people who believe in both I understand but if you don't believe in a good god you better believe in a good humanity or you're really going to end up in despair so secular society not believing in a good God has decided to believe in a good humanity and that is not rational based on the moral record of humanity. On the other hand, I don't believe that we are born uh evil either. We have a choice and the human being is born uh with that choice.

[00:14:53]Although we certainly have to work very hard to make sure the choice goes against nature and is a good one.

[00:14:59]Alrighty, let's take your calls here and we'll begin with uh Jim in Minneapolis.

[00:15:04]Jim Dennis Prager, you are the first caller to the Ultimate Issues Hour.

[00:15:09]>> Thank you and shalom, Dennis.

[00:15:10]>> Thank you.

[00:15:11]>> Just wanted to uh give my thoughts. I think we are both as well for the reason that uh I think that uh we're created in the image of Yahweh and that in that image we are given a conscience and a conscience broken down con with science knowledge. And so whenever we do wrong, we do wrong with knowledge. But we have a sin nature, a propensity to do wrong.

[00:15:34]>> Okay, we're together on that one. But let me just explain to a lot of people who argue with me and say that, well, we are born basically good because they they believe in the Bible and they will say that we're b we're created in God's image, so we must be good. But that's not what created in God's image means.

[00:15:53]Created in God's image means two things.

[00:15:55]one that like God we know good and evil.

[00:16:00]Animals don't. There's no such thing as a good or a bad dog. I'm sorry. It's and I don't I know this is painful to many of you, but there's no such thing. A dog is a dog. Dogs do not morally contemplate their actions, nor do cats or hamsters or or gorillas.

[00:16:17]They do not think, you know, my nature is is uh to uh grab that female, but I won't because I don't really know if if she feels comfortable having me. I it doesn't happen.

[00:16:31]But human beings are capable of saying no to their nature.

[00:16:38]So that is one uh in God's image definition. And the other is that unlike animals, we are created in God's image.

[00:16:45]Means unlike we are we are we human life is more sacred than animal life which bothers a lot of people today in secular life as well. But I'm just explaining what that means. Okay, let's go to uh Matt in Chino, California. Matt, Dennis Prager, thank you for calling.

[00:17:04]>> Hi.

[00:17:04]>> Hi. Um I totally agree that uh we're both good and bad inclination um that we are in the image of God and that that's the root of our good but because of the fall we uh we can also do bad. Um I shared this with one of my classes.

[00:17:19]>> Yeah. But we could we were able to do bad before the fall.

[00:17:23]>> Um >> that's why Adam Adam and Eve went against God's will before the fall.

[00:17:28]That's how they fell.

[00:17:31]>> Okay. Well, um I never thought of it that way, but I I I my understanding is that it was the choice to sin against God.

[00:17:42]>> Well, that's right. But that but so then how do you make that choice if you're all good?

[00:17:48]>> Okay, listen. This is very important.

[00:17:51]This is I am asking all of you religious, secular, I'm asking you to do what I believe in any event. If if you if you believe in God, God wants us to do is to think we it it secular people too often uh just repeat what they were taught secularly and religious people too often repeat what they were taught religiously.

[00:18:16]And we are we are allowed in fact it is it is a credit to whatever we believe in if we think a second time about it.

[00:18:26]And that that's a that is a big deal.

[00:18:30]big deal to do that and it's credit to your religion when you do it. It doesn't upset it or anything.

[00:18:36]Anyway, I thank you. I thank you uh Matt. I appreciate that. And let's go to uh the Poconos. Oh my god, is that touching to me? You're in the Poconos in Pennsylvania.

[00:18:48]>> Yes.

[00:18:49]>> Let me How you doing?

[00:18:50]>> You know, I went to camp in the Poconos as a kid.

[00:18:54]>> Oh yeah.

[00:18:54]>> Are you near Are you near Tannersville?

[00:18:58]I'm I live uh 15 minutes from Tannisville. I live in effort.

[00:19:02]>> In effort. I went to camp in effort. I can't believe it. I have the chills.

[00:19:08]>> Maybe you went behind my house.

[00:19:10]>> It's no longer there. Or maybe it's a different camp, but I went to camp for three years in Effort, Pennsylvania.

[00:19:16]>> Okay. There's a there's a lake on close to town.

[00:19:19]>> That's right. Exactly. All right, Carlos. Go ahead.

[00:19:22]>> Okay, Dennis. Uh well, I'm glad you told this guy this guy that just called you.

[00:19:26]you you put him right on the spot because this is supposedly a guy that believes in God and he tell you he tells you that Adam and Eve sin and you you told him that they sin before they were evil.

[00:19:39]>> Yeah.

[00:19:39]>> So because what I believe the reason I call this because I believe that we neither good or evil. It's all a perspective that how we perceive life together with our emotional and our behavior. How we how we thought since we were children is what's going to determine and also balance mental chemical balance will dictate how we behave.

[00:20:03]>> Right. So do you believe do you believe that we have a free moral will?

[00:20:08]>> No.

[00:20:09]>> Ah very interesting. I didn't think so.

[00:20:12]>> Yeah. So you feel that we react and >> so therefore the more we learn the more we learn the logically that we the more logic that we learn to react better the better human beings that we will be.

[00:20:26]>> So so you don't blame anybody for the bad they do or you do >> well I I I agree that people have to be taught and they have to be stopped >> but what about blame but what about blamed >> blame is something that is useless.

[00:20:41]>> Okay. All righty. Wonderful. We'll be back.

[00:20:45]>> This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

[00:20:51]If you're eating less, staying disciplined and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD weight loss focuses on your metabolism first, so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive two free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900.

[00:21:18]That's 864-644-1900.

[00:21:23]Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

[00:21:30]All righty, everybody. You're listening to the Dennis Prager show.

[00:21:33]love your feedback when you'll get a chance to uh internet me to email me.

[00:21:38]Try it through prageradio.com which you should visit anyway because you can download shows now. It's a lot of fun and you could play it, you could send it to friends.

[00:21:48]A lot of new things available uh with the show and the internet. I am introducing today the ultimate issues hour the great questions of life. One hour a week on them. I have chosen this this hour on Tuesdays just as we have a certain hour on Fridays on the subject of happiness. Today the great ultimate issues question is are people basically good, basically bad or in the middle? I I choose for the middle but it is uh for many people of course harder to be good but I I can't I do not believe that we are created with all bad. I it's not it I do not believe and certainly not all good. I mean that that notion that we're basically good cracks me up. It is the it is the choice of the secular world to believe that largely uh because uh they have dropped the belief in a good god and if you can't believe in a good god you better believe in a good humanity or you will despair.

[00:22:52]18 Prager 777618 P R A G- E R776.

[00:22:57]The hours go so fast that I have to get another point in here before I take more calls. And that is those who argue, well, we are born innocent. Look at a baby. There are no bad babies.

[00:23:08]Ah, of course there are no bad babies.

[00:23:10]Babies don't murder. Babies, you know, except for uh what's his name? Stewie.

[00:23:17]Stewie on Family Guy. Yeah, he's a bad baby. But uh but that that's a uh that's a riot. It's it's a joke. Of course, you know, you're not going to see a baby's picture up at a post office wanted.

[00:23:32]Uh but babies aren't good. They they're innocent. I acknowledge they're innocent, but they're not good. And innocent and good are not the same thing at all. Innocent means doesn't know about evil, but it doesn't mean you're not uh or it doesn't mean anything about whether you're good or bad. You can be innocent and bad and do bad. Did any baby ever say, you know, gee, you know, I've been I've been throwing up and coughing and vomiting for the last I already said throwing up, but you know, just causing a riot here and my parents haven't had any sleep and they you know, they haven't had sex in the last 3 weeks or 3 months because of me. So, I think I'll just shut up tonight. Of course not. Now, you say, well, a baby can't do that because if they shut up, they'll die. I mean I whatever the reason, but babies don't think that way. So don't give me babies as a model of goodness.

[00:24:22]They're adorable. Thank God they're adorable. It'll be a lot more infanticide.

[00:24:27]Okay, let's go to more of your calls here.

[00:24:32]And let's go to Shazad in Bloomington, Minnesota. Hello, Shazad. Dennis Prager.

[00:24:38]>> Hello, sir. How are you doing?

[00:24:40]>> Okay, thank you.

[00:24:43]Uh I believe that just because we're uh made in the image of God means we just made in the image of God. Doesn't mean we have his conscience or anything.

[00:24:52]Basically the Indian thought is I heard some Indian guys say this that you have a good dog and a bad dog. Every person has that. It depends what dog you feed more. The dog you feed more is going to overcome the other.

[00:25:06]>> I like that. I like that. And that and the people you said that are lost conscience, those are the guys who fed the bad dog so much that the bad dog killed the good dog for good. So they don't have a conscience anymore. So >> that is a a very So that is a is that a Hindu of you? Is that a Hindu teaching?

[00:25:26]>> No, it's not. I heard of I'm I'm Indian and I that's an Indian school of thought. It's just a >> Well, how do you distinguish How do you distinguish between Indian and Hindu?

[00:25:36]That's what I'm I'm I'm asking. I guess >> uh Indian is somebody who has the Indian culture in them and Hindu is somebody who could be in America and yet it's >> no no no you can't no it's Hindu then because the truth is you you can't be a Hindu if you're not Indian. You you can you can learn from Hinduism but but you can't be only Indians can be Hindus.

[00:25:58]It's just just like only Persians could be Zoroastrians.

[00:26:03]But but anyway, thank you though. I think it's a wonderful I think it's a wonderful teaching. It's a very good point. It is. I agree with that. If you feed the good uh of us, we have this good dog, bad dog inside of us. I like that. It's a very good metaphor. But and and it comports with exactly what I was saying earlier. I think that we in fact have both.

[00:26:23]And that's where nurture does come in.

[00:26:26]Which do we feed? Which do we teach?

[00:26:28]Which do we reward?

[00:26:31]Which do we foster? Absolutely.

[00:26:34]That's why it's so important to monitor the goodness of your children and don't assume that if you just love them, they'll be good.

[00:26:41]Oh boy, have I seen that not work.

[00:26:45]But thank God I'm not talking about my own, but I've seen it. 18 Prager 776, the Ultimate Issues Hour. I'm Dennis Prager. I welcome you back. This is the inaugural hour of the Ultimate Issues Hour. Love your feedback. Send it to me and call in if you can. of the lines are taken but uh every so often there's a clear line for obvious reasons either I've spoken to somebody or somebody just gives up waiting and on this the first ultimate issues hour on on the great questions of life every Tuesday at this time it is are we basically good are we basically bad are we in the middle I think we're in the middle and it is a challenge to be good but we have lived in a secular western world that has argued for us being basically good. One of the one of the great consequences of that is that we blame society or something else for all the bad that people do.

[00:27:45]After all, if if if good people do bad things, it must be society's fault. Now, I'm not saying society plays no role. Of course, it does. It certainly does. The values of a society have a very deep impact on people. But in the final analysis, we are still free to choose.

[00:28:02]Also remember, and this is unbelievably important, if we cannot pe hold people responsible for the bad they do, then we cannot credit people or hold them responsible for the good they do.

[00:28:20]If society is to blame for the bad people do, then society is to be praised for the good people do and not the person.

[00:28:33]Alrighty.

[00:28:35]And let's go to San Diego, Tony. Hi, Tony. Dennis Prager, thanks for calling.

[00:28:39]>> Yeah, Dennis, earlier you said that uh the a man was a a sinner prior to the fall, >> right?

[00:28:46]uh in the Old Testament as a Christian I believe that man or the woman was taunted by Satan. Therefore, when Satan or when when the woman ate of the fruit, she then was a sinner at that point and she fell. And >> yeah, but how did she let how did she let herself get taunted? If she was if she was all good and perfect, >> she still had a choice.

[00:29:07]>> Exactly.

[00:29:08]>> She had a choice. But that's why I you wait. We have to go step by step. So, she made a sinful choice.

[00:29:17]>> She made a choice of being sinful. Yes.

[00:29:19]But she wasn't sinful until she ate of the fruit.

[00:29:22]>> But she No, but she made a sinful choice prior to eating.

[00:29:28]>> So, you're saying that she made not a sinful choice, but a bad choice.

[00:29:32]>> I don't know what the difference between bad and sinful is, but yeah.

[00:29:37]>> Okay.

[00:29:38]>> Well, I I Okay. I I don't completely agree with you, but uh >> but at least you understand why I say it.

[00:29:44]>> I I understand what you're saying.

[00:29:46]>> Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that a lot.

[00:29:48]Alrighty. And let's go to uh let's see here. Alrighty. Let's go to Linda. Linda, Planefield, Illinois.

[00:29:59]Dennis Prager. Hi.

[00:30:01]>> Hi. I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but like the last um caller, um I think Eve was not sinful until she made the choice. She had the capacity of >> Well, of course that but that's what sinful means that you have you you have a nature that enables you to make bad choices, wrong choices, whatever.

[00:30:22]>> My understanding is that gift of free will is what is part of our being created in the image of God.

[00:30:28]>> That is exactly what image of God means.

[00:30:30]that and that we are that the human life is sacred. I agree that was my explanation.

[00:30:35]>> But until we make that choice, we have not become sinful.

[00:30:40]>> Well, all right. But we but I'm talking about our nature.

[00:30:44]>> Okay.

[00:30:45]>> The nature that Eve was was given was capable of committing sins just like your nature is.

[00:30:51]>> That part is true.

[00:30:52]>> Okay. That's all I'm saying. However, in my tradition, we would say that we were created good since all of creation in Genesis is affirmed that way.

[00:31:03]>> But well, God wants us to do good. He was happy with the creation. But but the moment God gave us freedom, we could do bad. That's what freedom means.

[00:31:12]>> True.

[00:31:13]>> Okay, that's all I'm saying. Thank you for your call. I appreciate that a lot.

[00:31:17]>> And let's go to Phoenix and David.

[00:31:19]Hello, David. Dennis Prager.

[00:31:21]>> Uh yes, good afternoon or good morning, Dennis. Thank you for such a thoughtprovoking program today.

[00:31:25]>> Thank you. Thank you. You like the ultimate issues hour? You like the idea?

[00:31:28]>> I do. I think it's a very interesting idea and I think the whole question about free will be a great one for another show.

[00:31:33]>> Yes, that's the toughest. It's the >> regard to good and evil or good and bad.

[00:31:37]I think that that we're struggling because you have failed to correctly uh define the terms. How would you define what good is? Well, I you know what the reason that I don't get hung up on that is because there is no one listening who doesn't have his own definition. So if whatever your definition the the question remains the same. Are we basically good or bad?

[00:32:02]>> Okay. Well, so I I've I've been thinking about this and struggling with it as we go on and there's been a lot of talk from from people from the Judeo-Christian background and that certainly is part of my own frame of reference. And we talk about being born in sin and and you know were was Adam and Eve uh were they sinners prior to the fall in the garden and and that sort of a question. And so maybe if if we relate if we if we say that bad is sin and good is not sin. So what does that mean? And and and to me a sinful nature is something that is entirely self-centered. It's all about me. I'm doing what I'm doing. I I agree. It's a hu I agree with you. It's a huge element in bad in or in sin or whatever term we wish to use. AB I you are 100% right or at least let's put it to be more humble.

[00:32:53]Uh and and and I and I mean sincerely humble not not not not fake it. Yes. Uh that is what I would also hold to be at a major root of bad the inability to think outside of oneself.

[00:33:08]It is ve are people who have it built in. Now, here's a tough one. You want a tough question, folks? Here's a tough one for you.

[00:33:17]While I don't believe that we are born good or bad, that we are born with tendencies in both directions.

[00:33:23]I have to look at reality. I can't live in theory alone. I have to respond to reality. And the reality says to me, Dennis, that there are people who seem to be born with a kinder disposition than others.

[00:33:38]or others with a more self-centered one.

[00:33:41]Maybe I'm wrong. And God knows I hope I'm wrong. I wish we all had an equal chance to be good.

[00:33:50]But it it it does seem at least that way that for some goodness is a much tougher struggle than for others. But I I I live I I live and die on the proposition that there is something in the human that wants to be good. Otherwise, all anything that I talk about is pointless. So, while I don't believe we're basically good, I believe there's goodness there that can be appealed to. Back in a moment, the Ultimate Issues Hour on the Dennis Prager show.

[00:34:18]>> This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

[00:34:24]>> If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD weight loss focuses on your metabolism first so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive two free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 8646441900.

[00:34:51]That's 864-6441900.

[00:34:56]Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

[00:35:03]If you got in, do not hang up because at least I will summarize your thought because there are very good calls here.

[00:35:10]This is the first the inaugural edition of the ultimate issues hour. Love your feedback. Internet me. The ideal place right now is prageradio.com. That is the the new address of the website, but uh you can use whatever you're used to as well. Uh but uh I'd like to have your feedback on the idea of this one hour a week on ultimate issues. Today it has been on are we basically good or bad? A critically important question. Katherine in Flower Mount, Texas says there's a universal notion of good and evil. When you say everyone has their own notion of good, that's relativism. Katherine, you're right, but that wasn't my point.

[00:35:45]Of course, that's that's moral relativism. I was only making the point that I didn't need to define good in order to deal with the question of whether we are basically good. Whatever your definition, we still acknowledge that there is a good and a bad. Of course, I believe in universal good.

[00:36:02]That's one of the great in fact that's an issue Allan we ought to put as uh that's that's one of the great issues we'll have to put on the ultimate issues hour is of my arguments against moral relativism.

[00:36:13]Uh Ken LDS scripture, it's Mormon scripture says natural man is enemy to God. It gives me hope because when I mess up it's easier to forgive myself.

[00:36:22]Very good. I totally agree with you. I totally agree. I remember when my uh my older son came home one day from uh from Jewish school and elementary school and I asked him, "What did you learn today?"

[00:36:35]And usually the answer, of course, is nothing. Then one day he said, "Well, I learned that I have a bad inclination and a good inclination."

[00:36:42]And I said, "Fantastic. That's great."

[00:36:44]Because if you know you have a bad inclination that that actually helps you in understanding a that you have to battle it but b too but b also that you can forgive yourself because that's part of being human. That's right. That's a very important point. Bill in Denver.

[00:37:01]Why is 99% of murder and mayhem in the world done by men not women? Because male male nature is far more aggressive far more physically aggressive. But women are not one with better.

[00:37:14]For every murderer out there, there's a woman who was going to make love to him that night. Just remember that. Believe me, if women boycotted sexually all the bad men in the world, be have a very good world.

[00:37:29]Uh so uh you know and and women women cause mayhem in their way. Believe me, mayhem is not at all the the uh the pro the monopoly of men. Charles in Dallas, I think you could be self-centered and still be good. Example, I can want to get into heaven, but act good to achieve that goal. It's an interesting point. I think you can be I you have to care about yourself to be good.

[00:37:56]But if you only care about yourself, then you won't be good. That's what was said. And Chris, since you agreed with me and you I in San Diego, forgive me, but that's why I didn't think cuz we both believe we're free to choose good and bad. I will be on uh on Chris Matthews Hardball discussing Mel Gibson if you want to watch tonight. And I thank you for listening and send me an email on your thoughts on having this Ultimate Issues Hour. I'm Dennis Prager.

[00:38:24]Thanks for listening.

[00:38:25]>> Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. You know, I cooked one way and she cooked another, which is one of the downsides in our marriage because I put on 50 pounds.

[00:38:35]>> You put on 50 lbs because you cook.

[00:38:38]>> I cook and she cooks a different way.

[00:38:41]But we taught each other how we cook and we both cook very well.

[00:38:45]>> I see. You put on 50 lbs in four years.

[00:38:48]>> Yeah.

[00:38:48]>> You need more yard work. See, that's that's your problem.

[00:38:54]>> You're sharing the yard work. Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

[00:39:02]This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit dennisprager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.

[00:39:19]If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD weight loss focuses on your metabolism first so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive two free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900.

[00:39:45]That's 864-6441900.