Are you good or bad?

Recently, a friend of mine posted a question for discussion. Here it is in slightly edited form, followed by my initial response.
--
Are you good? How do you know? Are you good by nature, or are you bad--inheritantly evil? Do you need to be cleansed of your sinful nature?

If you are inheritantly bad, then why are children so sweet? If you are inheritantly good, then why do children say no and lie? With conditioning a person can learn to be honest, but some people are naturally honest. Just because a person is raised to be moral doesn't mean that she will be moral later in life, and just because a person is raised in an "ungodly" home does not mean that they will be immoral later.

This question is a major basis of Christianity. If we believe that we are inheritantly bad then we need a savior. We will go to church and read the bible and pray and be cleansed from sin. The only deterrant is that there is so much self-condemnation involved. You absolutely must believe that you are bad in order to have a relationship with a good God.

For some people it comes easy to think of themselves as bad; for others it is difficult.
--
This is a question of the human condition. Christianity is not based on this question, but it answers it well. However, your description of Christianity is mistaken. Christianity is not based on a belief that we are inherently bad. Quite the opposite, it proclaims that we are inherently good, created in the image of a good God, in order to enjoy Him and the universe which He has made, in order to exercise dominion (authority/responsibility) over the earth as He is the ruler of all, in order to exercise creative power with the resources of our intellect and the world around us as He masterfully and beautifully designed the universe, in order to exercise reason just as He is the source of all reason, in order to enjoy relationship with Him and one another as the Triune God enjoys relationship within Himself, and in order to make choices freely without compulsion as no one commands the Lord.

Choices have outcomes.

We were designed, as people created in God's image, to reflect God's character and be like Him. He is good, just, holy, loving, and so forth. We are expected to make choices accordingly. In a perfect world (namely Eden and Heaven) human beings act in line with the image of God in them and experience increasing fulfillment of their potential, desires, and relationships as well as the ecstasy of joy in fellowship with God.

If we choose to be our own God and do what is right in our own eyes it is like turning your stereo up too loud; you're going to blow the speakers. If that happens, you have two choices: replace the speakers or get rid of the stereo altogether.

God chose to replace the speakers.

My dad dislocated his elbow several times playing high school football. Now one arm is slightly crooked. I, however, have inherited from him not one, but two crooked arms—and I have never played football!

When Adam and Eve sinned they blew their speakers, they dislocated their moral arms, and every human being has inherited their crookedness. We call it sin. It simply means that the image of God has been tainted in us and we are inclined toward doing our own thing. It does not mean the image of God is gone. But like a set of blown speakers, the system may be working great, but the sound is fuzzy. God's solution was to fix us, to replace our speakers with new ones that can never be blown out again. The only thing is that we, as free creatures, have to sign off on the work order first. We need to accept His warranty and trust His repair expertise and not try to fix ourselves.

We could try to do-it-ourselves, but there's only one Person who can restore the image of God in us: the Son of God, who is the exact image of God.

His death on the cross frees us from the penalty of sin, which is separation from God forever. For, if we persist in going our own way and insist on being our own kings, God allows us to do so, but we cannot be a part of His kingdom. But God graciously offers us citizenship in His kingdom if we would only accept it.

Jesus' sinless life frees us from the power of sin in this life. We no longer worry about measuring up to God's standard of holiness because He accepts Christ's righteousness as ours and gives us the Spirit to help us overcome the detrimental habits of the past and the crooked inclinations of our hearts.

Christ's resurrection frees us from the presence of sin in eternity. We have the hope that we too will be resurrected like Him with new bodies gloriously reflecting His image and undefiled by sin.