Human Nature is defined as ‘the innate and acquired behavioral patterns, motives, attitudes, ideas characteristic of human beings’. The religious views of human nature are commonly known that a human is a spiritual being, created in the image of God, it is written in Genesis “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness’”, The likeness that we share with God does not necessarily have to mean a physical resemblance to him, there could be two interpretations to this similarity, it could be something that we are or possess, like the ability to make moral decisions and to think intelligently and rationally. Or it could be something that we do, for example creating an ordered society around us. It is claimed that all God created is necessarily good, human life is therefore considered sacred and above other life because he has been granted free will. However, the Original sin exists, which is the Christian doctrine that states everyone is born sinful. It states that we are all born with an urge to do bad things and to disobey God, this is part of the psychological condition oh human beings and their behavior. In Christian texts, original sin is the result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience of God as they eat the forbidden fruit in Eden. Augustine believed that Adam’s sin affected all of humanity because we were all present in his loins. He states that we are all guilty and deserving of hell because of original sin and God is not obliged to save us, but chooses to save some because of his mercy.
The Irenaean theodicy, defended by Hick, offers another description of the nature of human beings. He writes that God creates man as an imperfect being from the outset, allowing him the scope to develop both morally and spiritually. Man is created in God’s physical image but not his likeness, instead, by struggling against the harsh environment we have been put in we can gradually develop into fully formed morally perfect beings. In order to do this we need to be...