ORIGINAL SIN

A friend and brother, Gary Smith, in challenging  a criticism of God on Facebook, had this to say, "I'm of the mind that they (and we) are "born that way."  We are all born with a sin nature and that's what we do in the flesh: sin.  But did God make them (and us) that way?  Nope.  Humanity made itself this way." The writer had said that God would be unfair in judging homosexuals, based upon "the fact that they are created that way."

I agree with Gary, in that, man chooses to act in a sinful manner.  I do not agree in the doctrine of being born with a sin nature.  God made (and still makes) mankind pure and holy.  When man chooses to sin, he, like Adam, dies spiritually.  Since all have sinned (speaking of those who have chosen to do what they know is wrong, or failing to do what they know is right), then all become spiritually dead.  Unless the individual is born again (spiritually by trusting in the Lord Jesus), he will die in his sins.

Some say all mankind is born with a sin nature, and therefore that is the "way God made them."   I believe that when we are born, we are pure and holy.   It is when we choose to act like Adam that we become like him.  Just as our nature changes to be like his, our nature becomes like that of Jesus when we place our trust in Him.

The only place in the Bible where it says man is "born in sin," is in John 9:34, where the man, blind from birth, was accused of such by those who rejected his testimony of the Lord's healing.  How did we come to accept that as doctrine?  Do we really want to believe the thoughts of those who rejected Jesus?

Rom. 5:12 says " Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."  Notice that it did not say all were born with a sin nature, but that all die like Adam because all sin like Adam.

1 Cor. 15:21-22 says "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."  Again, note that Paul did not say a man is born dead, but that just as when he commits to be like Christ (trusts in Him) and is born spiritually, when he commits sin, he becomes like Adam, and becomes spiritually dead.

My view is consistent with God being the just Creator of sinless newborn babes, and with the commonly accepted "doctrine of accountability."  The "sin nature" is acquired when one chooses to sin; the "Christ nature" is acquired when one chooses Christ!  I do not know of a single theologian who would state that an aborted infant, or for that matter, a child of six months, goes to hell when it dies.  The doctrine of "original sin" did not even appear until the second century when Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyon, suggested it in his arguments against the gnostics.  The doctrine is not found in Judaism.

When an individual chooses to sin, he chooses death;

When an individual repents and trust Jesus, he chooses life!