Nature or nurture

This question has been looked at closely before: which things are born into a human being, and which things do they learn? Is there a difference between instinctive behaviour and learned behaviour? It actually matters, because there are ways in which it might be good to change learned behaviour in a person, if they're inclined to be violent or prone to criminal acts like thieving. But there seem to be things in a person's character that can't be altered just by 'messing with their head.' That might be just as well, because if people could be programmmed like computers then the hidden persuaders could make puppets out of us.
The Marxists made this mistake when they set out to create the 'New Soviet Man' who would grow up in a socialist society and take on a different nature to people brought up in the societies of the West. The plan was to nurture people from childhood into dyed in the wool communists who would not question the system or dissent from the orders of their leaders. The upside of this, they claimed, was to stop people from living by greed and hostility to others. All members of a society would work together for the common good. The downside they did not like to admit was that it stopped people thinking as individuals and using some initiative of their own. They should simply follow their leaders. But all that aside, they did not see the distinction between learned behaviour and 'wired-in', instinctive behaviour.
The difference might be things like this. It is instinctive to drink when you're thirsty. You do not need to learn. What you do need to learn is to be careful what you drink. Avoid water that might carry infections or be polluted. In the same way, it is instinctive to eat when hungry. What is learned is, eating with cutlery instead of with the fingers, and not over eating. Also, we need to learn what is good to eat and what to treat with caution, such as too much fast food or junk food.
In trying to change human behaviour, the left-wing social planners failed to see what is instinctive in people. Marx critisised the family as a unit, and felt that family allegiance and attachment should give way to allegiance to the state. It didn't work, because among humans a bond with your family is a deep seated instinct, not just something learned. It is natural to feel protective towards your children. Even if you feel protective towards all children, your own are stil special. It is natural to want the protection of your parents when you're still young, and need adult help to deal with life. When people like Marx, Stalin and Lenin tried to teach people loyalty to the state instead of their own kin, it failed. A particular horror was the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. In the 're-education' camps set up after the communist take-over they called on children to turn against their parents and be loyal instead to the political leaders of the state. It led to one of the most abominable atrocities in history. Likewise, in the Soviet Union and Maoist China, thousands or millions of people suffered murder or imprisonment because they could not simply do as the leaders told them, as though they had no minds of their own.
So human nature is not just what other humans mould it into, like a piece of clay.
Human beings cannot live up to filling the role of God, being perfect leaders in whom we can put all our faith. When they try to do so the results can be Stalin, Hitler, Mao Zedong, or Jim Jones or Charles Manson. Each of those individuals caused utter horror in their failure to be what they tried to make of themselves. A close study of history might show that female people are just as prone to fail if they attempt to assume the role of God.
Human nature will show through attempts to change and programme it. Another example emerged when a feminist teacher gave her senior high school girls a psychological test intended to reveal their attitudes to life. This teacher did the test herself, and found the results revealing.
Each of the girls tested had a subconscious longing for a 'Prince Charming' or Knight in Shining Armour to come into their life, rescue them and be their hero. The teacher admitted, wryly, that according to the test she did too.
This is NOT to say that women are all helpless, needing a man to give them a life. It IS a revelation that women and men are made to have a certain type of relationship. By Christian teaching, God made the man first, then the woman as a companion; and directed the man to CARE for the woman, love and nurture her, not exploit her. If the themes of the gallant knight and the damsel waiting for him feature so much in folklore and literature, it might show that the male and female are meant to care for and need each other. Hostility between them and competition between them are not the way it should work. Social programming that teaches either of the genders to view each other the wrong way has a distorting affect on human nature. It attempts to change it in a way that goes against the grain. It is a perversion of the Maker's plan for men to exploit women and use them in a predatory way. It is also a perversion of the Maker's plan for women to see men as an enemy who have to be fought and overthrown. In that respect just as Marxism failed having first done much damage, hostile feminism will fail after first causing great damage. Too many attempts have been made to replace God and try doing things another way. Each time they crash and burn, and cause a lot of hurt in the process.
Come again, Lord Jesus.

Who's talking!

Back a few years, I taught a class who might be described as GROSS! One girl had such a bad case of tooth decay that she looked like the graphic picture in a health warning. She used to belch loudly, too. One boy used to make fart noises. Several of that class used to make crude remarks that were not funny, usually sexual innuendo of a low-brow nature. And any chance they found to stop the learning process they could take, they seized on like vultures (slow-thinking ones, at least). And that class used to seriously disgust me.
I am not a snob. It is not my way to look down on people as being not good enough for me. But revolting behaviour is obnoxious no matter who it comes from. And that class used to make me wish I was somewhere else. In fact, they aroused my contempt. When I prayed about it, wanting to be taken away from it, I was given a sobering revelation.
To God, that is how I must look! And not only me, but I'll only presume to speak for myself, not about others.
A perfect God, without using the word sarcastically, must find human beings a bitter disappointment considering the start He gave His creation. Having a sinful nature, as fallen humanity does, I must look quite foul to God when He looks at me as I am. And if He turned His back on me in disgust it would be impossible to blame him - and yet how horrifying it would be!
Not long after that I had one of those prayer times when I felt especially close to God. I prayed for His help for those sinners, and in praying for them I said, "What else can I do? I'm just like them!"
It felt good to admit that, because complete honesty with God brings the one praying closer to Him. It is what He calls for.
That being said, it still stops me sometimes when I see people behaving in a really squalid way, really corrupt and evil, and then have to remember that from the standpoint of the Almighty I must look pretty poor as well.
Read some of the Old Testament passages about the duties of a priest in approaching God. It was a really involved ceremony and it included the sacrifice of some animal so that blood was shed for the atonement of sin. I can see that I'm forgiven an enormous amount by God, and He sees Jesus' goodness when He looks at me because I'm covered by the Messiah's sacrifice. But I'd better remember that! Jesus makes me look good by drawing me to Himself. On my own...well...

The good and the bad. Heads and tails.

I read once that the Israeli army used to send men and women into combat side by side, with no distinction between the genders; and had to change that policy. They found that in combat, the male soldiers would instinctively try to protect the female ones, to the point where it distracted them from following orders. So Israeli female soldiers no longer go into combat. There is much more to this than mens' macho attitudes or possessiveness. Some instincts are built right into a human being. They are part of the way that a human is made in the image of God. And these things in human nature can reflect the glory of God, or be distorted by sin.
It is a really deep seated instinct in a person to drink when they are thirsty. It is not a matter of training or learned reaction, it is a compulsion to do what is needed to survive. The same goes for acquiring the things we need to survive, like shelter and food. If it becomes distorted by sin then it is greed, and can go to the extreme of stealing. But up to a point it is only the gathering of manna as God directed His people to do in the wilderness.
The same goes for protecting those we care for. That to is an instinct, deep in the human psyche. Parents will put their lives at risk, even die, protecting their children if need be. That is a God-given impulse.
And in the same way, men have a God given instinct to protect women, especially those close to them.
It can be a problem sometimes. Did you ever have the feeling that your parents were being over-protective, and not letting you do things you wanted to, because they were concerned for your safety? Very likely, yes. Sure, there are such things as parents who are control freaks, and they can be seriously annoying. But any parent of good conscience has a God given instinct, deep in their spirit, to protect children. And men have the same impulse to protect women. Some men might be over possessive and controlling. And when a man's nature becomes perverted by sin, they may try to exploit women. An evil man wants to victimize a woman, taking advantage of her physical vulnerability by forcing his attentions on her. That is the mentality of the rapist. But a man of good conscience may feel protective towards women, without going to the extent of smothering her. It can annoy a woman if she feels stifled, or treated possessively. But it is important to understand that when God made us He gave the man an impulse to shelter and protect the woman, to love and care for her, not stiflingly or cruelly but givingly. The hard line feminists who call it male chauvinism if a man offers a woman help are denying the God given nature of humans. Certain of their instincts are not merely cultural, they are inate and should be understood and treated properly.