Born evil?.

[margaret*e]

Nature or nurture?.

The past history of Jon Venables and his recent arrests made me think evil was ingrained in him, hard to believe such young children would think of torturing and killing a toddler, so is it in them from birth?.

[cee-dee]

Yes. You know that the old saying about "The Black Sheep of the family"?

It's true. Some large extended families are really nice people but have one member who is and always has beem "trouble".

He must be the Black sheep of his family?

[**bustysinclaire**]

---

wrote:

Nature or nurture?.

The past history of Jon Venables and his recent arrests made me think evil was ingrained in him, hard to believe such young children would think of torturing and killing a toddler, so is it in them from birth?.

---

Hope you don't mind me answering this one xx

I believe as we are born sinful (having inherited sin from Adam and Eve) we all have sinful tendencies, but we do have the ability to overcome those and work towards living by good and honourable principals.

We are all different, it can depend on many factors how we grow and mature, whether we become good people or bad. I believe the evil influences of a certain being (that is satan) hinders a person from overcoming their sinful ways, and causes them to develope really evil tendencies.

Jon Venables could have learnt by what he had done and changed and made amends. Sadly he hasn't, it is a horrible wicked world we live in. 

[margaret*e]

Anyone can answer any thread.🙂

Sinful tendencies I suppose everyone has, but most people control them and don't commit acts of pure evil.

[**bustysinclaire**]

---

wrote:

Anyone can answer any thread.🙂

Sinful tendencies I suppose everyone has, but most people control them and don't commit acts of pure evil.

---

I quite agree marge and if he continues then he should not be given his freedom. xxx

[fallen-archie]

I don’t understand the psyche behind people who commit heinous acts. Clearly the guy mentioned has an issue but where did it come from, for most there will be some event in their lives which has developed within them, but is it any different from people who exhibit obsessive behaviour towards others, animal rights activists are a typical example, they seem to care about animals at the expense of humans, political activists can also be really nasty so what sets them apart? Is it the fact that one chooses to pick on a child whilst others just pick on anyone who disagrees with them? Whatever the answer we do love in nasty times with social media giving a mouthpiece to so many delinquents and no room in our prisons to treat them.

[tuckerbigdaddy5ngv]

Sums it up for me

[mustard-tree]

"Jon Venables could have learnt by what he had done and changed and made amends"

Seems like the lad who was with him has learned and changed and made amends by leading a decent life.

We haven't heard or seen anything about him.

Could be because he was separated from Venables' influence

He could be married with a family, for all we know.

[Anonymous]

I had a discussion with my husband about this nature and nurture issue. We were watching something about serial killers last week. I didn't see the Jon Venables program on telly by the way, so can't comment on that.

I do not think you can say it is one or the other, "nature or nurture".  That is a bit too easy to explain it all in my opinion. It isn't that clear cut.  It is much more complex than that and I don't think we will ever figure it out either.

All kinds of circumstances can make a person do things they would never have dreamed of. 

[astrologica]

Unlike Busty, I think we are all born innocent. But some people have inherited medical conditions and personality disorders which, if not recognised and treated, could lead the person to commit terrible acts. Also..the way a child is brought up and treated must have some bearing on how they turn out. The Bulger case is heartbreaking, and we will probably never know what drove those kids to kill another child. It does appear that the Thompson child has turned out all right, but Venables is a different case altogether. There doesn't seem to be much hope for him, sadly.

[al**bear]

Loads of reasonably new Photos of Jon Venables

are all over Twitter and other sites

[**bustysinclaire**]

---

wrote:

Unlike Busty, I think we are all born innocent. But some people have inherited medical conditions and personality disorders which, if not recognised and treated, could lead the person to commit terrible acts. Also..the way a child is brought up and treated must have some bearing on how they turn out. The Bulger case is heartbreaking, and we will probably never know what drove those kids to kill another child. It does appear that the Thompson child has turned out all right, but Venables is a different case altogether. There doesn't seem to be much hope for him, sadly.

---

Hi astro, I 'd agree with you about people born with inherited conditions and personality disorders, and the way a child is brought up. I do think people misunderstand what is mean by being born in a sinful state though, but I wont go into that.

We in my opinion are born with an ability to grow up perfectly good and develop a good conscience and be governed by that conscience, we know the basics of right and wrong. So to answer marges op then really it is nurture. If the feelings toward doing wrong are allowed to take hold and not suppressed then the wrong becomes something to act on, in turn it deadens any good conscience. i bekieve akk the inherited conditions etc are because we are now so far away from perfection, but that is another debate.

People are able to overcome commiting wrong, even serious crimes, given the right help support and direction and I do think everyone should be given the chance to that. Of course you wouldn't keep giving chances.

[margaret*e]

Up to a point, but there have been several cases, two current, where men have killed, stabbed,  their own children, as far as I can make out, from spite.

Is this a mental illness, or is that an excuse for their evil acts?.

[**bustysinclaire**]

---

wrote:

Up to a point, but there have been several cases, two current, where men have killed, stabbed,  their own children, as far as I can make out, from spite.

Is this a mental illness, or is that an excuse for their evil acts?.

---

Well there, that is where my initial unput would come into play i'm afraid. If it is mental illness then can we really say they are in control?