The false doctrine of original sin-nature: part 1
“Man…is the image and glory of God.” I Corinthians 11:7
“Men, which are made after the similitude of God.” James 3:9
The body in of itself is not sinful: It has no ability to sin. Its the freewill choice of the heart of the soul that rebels against God. "the soul that sinneth it shall die" Ezek. 18
2 Timothy 1:14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
Would the Holy Spirit live in a sinful environment?
1Cor. 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Would a sinful body be called a temple? The flesh itself is not sinful, living after the lusts of the flesh is
The false doctrine of total depravity and inability to obey God is at the very core of the doctrine of original sin. According to those who argue in favor of original sin, all men, even those who are Christians, have a corrupt, sinful nature and are unable to obey God as long as they are in this life: Augustine, the corrupt father of the doctrine of original sin, taught that salvation depends on God's inscrutable election and predestination. Which came to be even more magnified by Luther, Calvin, and the Reformation .This doctrine is so out of character with the bible, in that it contradicts all its fundamental teachings. This is something that no true doctrine of the bible would do, but is exactly what would be expected of a false doctrine.
Original-sin is so engrained into the minds of Christian thought that it has become like bedrock. That by itself should be a clue of being in error and worthy of investigation in the scriptures. The fact is, the doctrine of original sin is so contrary to the scriptures that to try and make the two harmonize would be like trying to make light and darkness exist together in one and the same place.
Only by changing all the other doctrines, which they have done, could it harmonize with the text. The most fundamental doctrines of the Bible are contradicted by the doctrine of original sin. The doctrine of mercy, grace, guilt, pardon, and repentance all have to be redefined, and this is what has happened.
The insidious idea that "if men are born with a so-called sinful nature, then man himself is not guilty. And if man is not guilty, then Jesus died in vain".
The doctrine of inherited sin makes a mockery of Christ! Christ died for our sins, of which we all have chose to sin, just like Adam did; a hard saying who can hear it. If the sinner truly believes that he was born a sinner which then enhances the doctrine that he cannot live without sin, believing he is the Romans wretch he will at the very least secretly excuse his sins. It's no great wonder that the global homosexual movement says that they were born that way. Isn't that what the church pundits have been teaching them? (everybody is born in sin they claim). So are not the gays just following suit by saying we were born this way? Once again this false doctrine gives the sinner an excuse for his sins. God never once excuses sin but rather warns of an awful judgement that awaits sinners continually from Geneses to Revelation. There is not one verse in the bible that says "sin-nature", or child and sin, or children and sin, but rather the bible says man is evil from his youth.
The Bible teaches that children cannot be sinners and guilty and condemned at birth, for they do not know the difference between good and evil, and have not yet come to the "age of accountability": Moses expresses this in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 1.
"Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it." Deuteronomy 1:39
Is Paul speaking to the heathens on Mars hill in Acts ch. 17, teaching those who seek the Lord that they inherited the genetics of Adam? No way,,, God breathed the breath of life into every person "the offspring of God" (Acts 17:28, 29). What heresy to say our soul/spirit is already tainted by sin at birth. We were formed fearfully and wonderfully in the womb by God in Psalms 139, and there is no sin in HIM. We were made to fear God and hate sin. Seems strange that if this were true we should also be born in sin. Nay, may God forbid! Sin is an "act" of disobedience to Gods' commands, not a genetic trait, it is an issue of a chosen moral action...Sin has no atomic weight, nor do the works of righteousness have an atomic weight, both are a choice of action. However, our bodies indeed were born corruptible and will suffer infirmities and die. But our souls are born innocent.
Acts 17-27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
God does not demand of us or hold us RESPONSIBLE for that which we cannot be accountable for. Jesus, for example, said, "If you were blind, you would have no sin" (John 9:41). Jesus is teaching about being unable to comprehend right from wrong, and of course He was implying that the Pharisees could do such in verse 41.
Infants have no sin because God does not hold them accountable for that which they know not. Paul taught this also, he was "alive" but then "when sin became alive" he died, or was separated from God, (Romans 7-, 7, 8, 9).
The innocence of children referenced in the OT.
Deuteronomy 1:39 - Describes children as having no knowledge of good or evil (Innocent/ Jonah 4:11 - is a reference implying that Gentile children are unable to discern between right or wrong Psalm 106:38 - And shed innocent blood even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. Psalm 127:3 - Behold, Children are a GIFT of the Lord; The Fruit of the Womb is a Reward Joel 3:19 One must ask; is sin a gift from the Lord? Answer, no!!! - Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have ‘shed innocent blood’ in their land. Psalm 27:10 - When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
One reads in vain for the idea of original sin in the account of man's fall as related in the account given in Gen ch 3. Genesis records many consequences resulting from the first transgression by Adam. There is pain in child birth, the ground was cursed, and physical death (the body returning to dust) is decreed. But nothing at all about infants or children inheriting the guilt of Adam's sin.
"Everyone who doeth sin practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4). Sin is an "act" of unrighteousness, not a genetic thing lurking in the flesh. It is something we do. It is an "act" that is lawless, or contrary to God's law. The bible NEVER refers to sin as a substance or something that we are born with, it is not a genetic inheritance. It is never defined in God's word as an inherited trait. It seems that every known theologian in the 16th century reformation missed this simple truth.
Psalms 51 -5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom
The Calvinists will build a whole theology around one faulty and carnal understanding of a verse.
David is not the object of the sin in this passage in verse 5, it is his mother. But it is much deeper in meaning...In proper context and in metaphoric expressive language David is giving a prayer of repentance and sorrow, not a prayer of excuses because he was born a sinner.
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me". David does not imply he inherited his parents sins...It is a song of repentance. David is expressing, with strong expressive language the anguish of his guilt. The Psalms are not there to introduce theology or to spell out doctrine, they are there for the purposes of expression...one such example in Psalms, David' says; "my bones singing out". Of course that is not literal, just as Psalms 51-5 is not literal. David is lamenting over the loss of his son because of his own sin. He is confessing his own personal sin throughout this Psalm. .blot out "MY" transgressions,,,Wash "ME" thoroughly from "MY" iniquity,,,,cleanse "ME" from my sin,,,For I know "MY" transgressions,,,"MY" sin is ever before me. This is not a Psalm of EXCUSE because he was born in sin.
Against you, you only, have I sinned...David is overwhelmed with the consciousness of his own sin as he looks back on his life. David is accepting full responsibility for his actions. He is not seeking to pass his sin off on a former existing born in sin-nature condition. David is not making a statement about the origin of sin; he is making a statement about the depth of his own sin..
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One cannot read through the Psalms and receive every statement as literal, if so; one will end up with all sorts of heretical doctrines. To read this verse out of context would make it a direct contradiction to Psalms 139-14. In fact, when David was born, or brought forth from his mother's womb, he was brought forth in his mother’s iniquity. For she had 2 or 3 daughters from a concubine out of sin before David was born of her through Jesse. Also look at verse 3; David says he sinned ONLY against God. This cannot be taken literal as doctrine either, for David did sin also against Bathsheba, Uriah and his General. Psalms are an expression and metaphoric in many places not to be taken literally all the time
Are babies born sinners???
The lie that we are born in sin...
Calvinists will quite often lift up St. Augustine as being one of the greatest Christian thinkers of all time. Augustine is the theological creator of the Latin-Catholic system and much of their doctrine. Augustine a Catholic, he was the principal creator of the RCC of many false doctrines in which Calvin himself claimed to detest. Go figure. Why? Because Calvin was a man of confusion of faces.... Augustine prayed to Mary for the forgiveness of sins. Augustine is one of the most prominent Catholic Church Fathers, and is praised as one of the greatest Christian thinkers of all time by many Predestination Calvinists and many other Protestants like Spurgeon. He is the father of most of the false doctrine in Christianity. also studied devoutly under the writings of Plato, and Plutinus.
Does Genesis to Revelation ever say that there us anything wrong with our nature? No. No scripture ever says there was a change in man's nature. Nature did not change, relationship/fellowship changed and man needs reconciliation.
Where does scripture say man is born unable in his nature? That, if he was in relationship with God in this world he'd sin because of his nature? There's NOT ONE verse in ALL of scripture that says or implies such a thing. In fact Gen. 4-7 says the opposite.
Sin-nature heresy is found in Greek Philosophy, Eastern Mysticism, Gnosticism. But it's not found in the bible. The early church fathers fought against this heresy. 1 John repeatedly addresses the Gnostic's and he called them seducers, deceived, and antichrists.
Jesus himself being fully God, but also fully man (Son of man), as HE took on the flesh and bone of man, being born of Mary's egg. The Son of God proceeded from God the Father, overshadowed by the person of the Holy Ghost conceived through the egg of Mary, in Mary's womb...How could Jesus be born in sin? He wasn't
Willie
