i don't think scripture teaches that once man ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that man became "evil". mankind did fall though. we screw up (sin) and are fallen but we are still created in the image of God. that image is distorted now though, not like it was in eden. considering how much evil (actions not people) there is in the world i don't think it is too difficult to believe that life is not the way it was supposed to be initially. i don't think jesus would say that we can see him in the faces of the poor etc. if we were evil. that wouldn't make any sense.

chaotic, it sounds as if you were probably raised in a very conservative or fundamentalist environment. sadly, i know far too many people who were raised that way and who really struggle spiritually because of the damage done to them in the name of christianity. mostly, what they got was religion and not christ. they are so not the same thing. i wasn't raised like that and the God i know is loving and kind but holy too. ok, sometimes God completely exasperates me - usually when not doing what i want - lol, but God is not a mean bully even if some of his followers are.