"Is the heart of man irredeemably evil, or at any rate inclined to evil? "
The Manufacturer says it is.
Without evil there can be no true love- If all we ever received in life were good from God, then we'd all not need to express any real true love toward Him- only when the love has been tried by things that would arrest our affections does it become clear what love truly is.
When love can endure through severe trials and tribulations, it becomes rock solid- when a person finds out what it means to truly love with no thought of getting anything in return, then they have plumbed the depths of desire and come away stronger than ever.
Evil gives man free will- it gives him an alternative objective to give his affections to. It's like when a man or woman gets married- they are of course devoted to hteir spouses, but the fact is, that connection grows stronger as they both are tried by encountering desires on the outside- yet remaining true to the spouse. (Not all are succesful of course, but hte ones that are have conquered their desires and become stronger in their relationship by deciding it isn't worth it to play the field)
There may be folks 'full of evil' here on earth- BUT they have NOTHING on Satan and ilk who are PURE evil- these evil folks will be shocked at how vile true evil is when they descend into the pit and face eternity. Satan and ilk hate God and God's creations so much that they are compelled by desire to completely destroy them- those practicing evil here on earth are in for an awful time in the afterlife- perhaps they feel that Satan will go light on them because they 'did His bidding' while here on earth BUT Satan will NOT! These evil folks will be screaming like little girls at hte sheer fright and terror hell will be to them. http://sacredscoop.com
You pose a fascinating question. While the manufacturer says man is funndamentally evil we are assured that we are made in the image of God. Assuming that the assurance isn't just about likeness then isn't God a reflection of ourselves? Capacity for infinite goodness and infinite evil?
Reading the Book of Job one has to ask what God's conception of justice truly is. The in the latter stages of the Job crap shoot between God and Satan one began to admire Job for his restraint and question the moral premise of the God-Satan Wager. Struck me as sociopathic.