"I'm confused about something. I thought the whole assumption in Christianity was that people were considered bad from the day they were born."

In very simple terms, a clarification:

In Christianity, it is believed that humans are made in the image and likeness of God. God is love and perfectly good. Then there was the fall, the eating of apple, also known as the first sin. Humans are not God, and therefore they are not perfect. They fall sometimes. But it is believed that they are infinitely good because humans were created by a good God who loves them. Any fault of a human is redeemed when God who is perfect became human himself through the person, Jesus Christ, the Son Of God. Theologically speaking humans could never be considered "bad from the day they were born" because Jesus was human and he was good. Jesus' very existence makes all human existence good.

I'm confused about something. I thought the whole assumption in Christianity was that people were considered bad from the day they were born. How then does one square this in the Christian mind with the idea that Ms. Tenety puts forth?

I happen to agree with her here. As a Pagan, I follow the Rede that states: An it harm none, do as you wilt. This also includes oneself in the process. And as I've learned a bit more I've noticed that it's forced me to really take a good look at ALL of me, not just the good parts and accept and come to terms with all of it. Is there something similar to this in Christian teaching?

Just wondering.

Elizabeth,

This is a belated response to your Seventh Day essay, "I imagine That Today I Am To Die:"

You wrote:

"The late Jesuit priest Anthony De Mello developed the following examination of conscience which I have read many times but never completed. I’ve been afraid of it. But today, with a prayer to the Holy Spirit and a hope that I may gain clarity for 2008, I will take it on.

"For those of you also without resolution, or in need of a little direction, here is that exercise:

"I imagine that today I am to die. I ask for time to be alone and write down for my friends a sort of testament for which the points that follow could serve as chapter titles.

"1. These things I have loved in life: things I have tasted, looked at, smelled, heard, touched.
2. These experiences I have cherished:
3. These ideas have brought me liberation:
4. These beliefs I have outgrown:
5. These convictions I have lived by:
6. These are the things I have lived for:
7. These insights I have gained in the school of life: insights into God, the world, human nature, Jesus Christ, love, religion, prayer.
8. These risks I took, these dangers I have courted:
9. These sufferings have seasoned me:
10. These lessons life has taught me:
11. These influences have shaped my life: persons, occupations, books, events.
12. These Scripture texts have lit my path:
13. These things I regret about my life:
14. These are my life’s achievements:
15. These persons are enshrined within my heart:
16. These are my unfulfilled desires:"

Martin Luther had a very simple answer to these questions:

"LOVE GOD AND DO AS YOU PLEASE".

The Buddha also had an answer:

"Believe nothing on the faith of traditions,
even though they have been held in honor
for many generations and in diverse places.

"Do not believe what you yourself have imagined,
persuading yourself that a God inspires you.

"Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests.

"After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto."

By the way, as a student of English, you may be interested that early English legal common law documents referred to the day of a person's death as:

"The day on which he was alive and dead".

While the Galli quote is to the point, the first from Manning is pure psycho-babble, and utterly counterproductive if the intent is to understand the Christian message. It relies not on spiritual (certainly not psychological) peace as a goal but rather as an effect of right action (like Galli's small things) toward one's neighbor. It is something neither taught, sought, nor fashioned, but something that results from virtue. How many saints are there whose lives were fraught with self-loathing for their sinful states, but whose heroic virtue pushed them to a spiritual peace in spite of an irrelevant self-perception.

Elizabeth,

I agree. Sometimes the problem isn't that people don't practice the "Golden Rule"; it's that they hate themselves, and then then treat everyone around them as they treat themselves.