Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
If sin is in the flesh when we're born, then we're predisposed to sin. Children don't have to be taught to lie, it's just something in them.
|
I've heard that comment a lot "children don't have to be taught to lie", but I think it's an unintentional misdirect.
Children's brains don't have the capacity for things. Like impulse control, emotional regulation, etc. They are not developed, but are developing. It's my personal view that God doesn't condemn a 2-year old for getting tantrum-level angry or throwing a toy when that child doesn't have the brain with the capability of regulating the anger in the first place. That's not sin. God is not petty like that.
I would also argue that children don't have to be taught to do good things either. (I don't mean in general; I just mean it is in a child to do both). I have a personal example in my own life of one of my friend's children, the kid is 4 or 5 I think, who found out that someone his dad knew had a favorite toy stolen decades ago when he (the child's dad's friend) was a kid. Much to the dad's complete shock, his kid heard it and said, "I want to give him [the dad's friend] one of my toys [the kind that was stolen] to him so he doesn't feel so bad about his getting stolen." The dad was speechless and had no idea where that selfless compassion came from as it wasn't something they had taught him in particular.
Children have the capability for lying and for compassion, for hitting and for love. The "I love you mommy"s with a deep satisfied sigh are not behaviors that the other parent sat down and walked the kid through. Kids have the capacity and the desire for both good and bad things, just like us.
I am of the school of thought that there is an age of accountability. Not a blanket one, but one unique to each individual. That's why God is the judge. He knows at which point we each could have chosen not to sin but first chose to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
If we're not born with sin in the flesh, then if a person never sinned, would they still die?
|
The Bible says all have sinned, and because of that, death spread to all men.
On one hand, I would say "no, they would not still die", but then the next logical question is "so what about babies or young children who die of cancer or in a car accident?" And my answer is, I don't know. This is a point I said I wouldn't argue on because I'm not sure of it.
A possible answer is that all are appointed to die in the flesh, regardless of sin, and the "death" WE are referring to that is a result of sin is really the second death, the death of the soul. So in other words, 100 year olds who sinned their whole lives and a 2 month old who never sinned once are both going to die bodily regardless, since Hebrews 9:27 says we are quite literally "appointed to die" but then face judgment, which means it's just our bodies and not our souls that are appointed to die, then the young child who never sinned would have nothing on his/her record to be judged by and would pass through into eternal life.
That's conjecture of course. This is a debated question "how can God condemn babies who die" and I haven't solved every last nuance of it
But given the choice of a God who condemns us for sins we committed because of an inherited sin-tendency someone ELSE gave us (that's too unrighteous of a God for me, and not one I see in the Bible) versus a God who condemns us for sins we knowingly chose to commit and yet I don't know exactly what happens with the outlier situations but trust that righteous God to handle it righteously....I'll take the latter one where I don't know everything, but where God is righteous in all directions.
Trapped