Righting a Wrong

This is going to come as a huge shock to you all, but I've actually been wrong before. Moreover, I've actually assented to a wrong idea knowing full well that I was assenting to an idea that was purely untenable.

One of the most egregious examples of this came a couple of years ago when I wrongly, and knowingly, assented to the idea, expressed by someone I'll not name here, that "people are essentially good." I knew there was a huge problem with this idea, and I recognized it right away. Yet, to my great regret now, I joined in to this chorus feigning a true belief in the concept.

I'd like to clear the record on this, as well as to finally put my conscience at ease in this matter. I do not believe that people are essentially good, but rather that they are essentially bad. People need a reason to be good, as I've said so many times since, thus contradicting myself. I believe that the best reason to be good is contained in the Bible. And the Bible explicitly states that man is not good, no not one.

I agree with Auster on this question of being good. I can't truly be good outside the good influence of my religion. And to that person (you know who you are) to which I falsely and knowingly mis-stated my actual position (for which I have no good explanation), I offer my most sincere apologies, and beg forgiveness.

-DW