Are we born evil?

Comment

Comment by Leonard T on August 20, 2014 at 1:57pm

I was asked a question about my response, to which I will attempt to answer here for, I hope, better clarity on my POV.

I simply do not believe Scripture teaches us either way about the fate of a child's destination. There are verses that appear to lean toward heaven, but none IMO give a clear and compelling answer on the subject. In my earlier response I did not say children go to hell, nor did I say they will go to heaven. I do not know the answer and do not believe the answer is knowable from the Word of God. All we can do IMO regarding this subject is rest in God trusting in holiness and righteousness to bring about the godly answer this and many other difficult subjects.

Lord Bless,

LT

Comment by Leonard T on August 18, 2014 at 3:14pm

Julie,

 

The links JM mentioned will help a lot to guide you regarding what we believe. I encourage you to follow them.

 

I will also attempt to respond to your specific question.

 

Are we BORN evil? Are we born with sin? If a baby dies in childbirth, a baby who has not accepted Christ, does that mean that that baby will be judged by the sins of the mother and father?

 

Are we born evil? Are we born with sin?

First we must define what we mean by evil. If it is based on societies standards that would simply be man judging (evaluating) man. This is a flawed system since man is flawed. Evil is the opposite of righteousness. The only standard of righteousness is God Himself. Thus, if we lay man’s nature next to a holy God (Matthew 5:48) we will find that man is corrupt (Isaiah 64:6: Romans 3:23). God also tells us that we are to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Therefore, in a technical since we are evil when we compare our goodness to God’s. The Bible goes on to tell us in Hebrews 12:14 that unless we are holy we will not see Him.

 

This holiness does not mean that we are to live up to a religious code in order to become holy, but rather a change in our nature must take place that leads us to a point where we desire to please our heavenly Father. This leads us to the point I need to emphasize. It is our nature that needs to be changed, but before I really get into the changed nature I want to explain why we have a corrupted nature in the first place.

 

We have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God created all things seen and unseen. The account of creation can be found in Genesis 1 and 2. God took 6 days to create. Man (and woman from man later) and the Garden were created by God. After each day God proclaimed His creation to be good, very good. God created man placing Adam in the garden. The garden was created for Adam. In this garden God gave them all of it to care for and enjoy, but He specifically told them that they could eat of every tree in the garden but one. This tree, tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was forbidden. This command to not eat of the tree came with the warning that if you do eat of it you will surely die. After a period of undetermined time Eve succumbed to the temptation of the serpent and then gave to Adam who also ate of the fruit of the tree. This account can be seen in Genesis 3. God lived up to His word. Man was cursed in that He was no longer in a state of innocence and God changed Him that he would now age and die. The greatest change that took place in my opinion is the damage done to the relationship between God and Adam. Adam and Eve now had experienced sin and had a sin nature. It did not take long for the result of the sin nature to raise its ugly head. Adam and Eve had two children (more children later) named Cain and Abel. Cain became jealous of his brother and Cain killed Abel. This can be seen in Genesis 4. Because of the actions of Adam and Eve sin had entered into the human race. We now are born with a sin nature and separated from God. The curse of the sin nature was upon all of humanity to come after them so that none are found as righteous and remembering that God is the standard of righteousness. Some have argued that this is not fair, but again that is based on a human point of view. If God simply took the life of Adam and Eve and did not allow them to have children there would be no human race, but because of His love and grace God did not take their lives, but let them grow old and die as a result of their action. Thus, if we apply the fair card there would be no human race for Adam and Eve deserved death.

 

Now let’s talk about the sin nature that we are born with. Some might call it evil, but again I think it depends on the definition applied to evil. This sin nature does not take long for it to reveal itself. Put several children in a playpen and put one toy in the pen with them. Rarely will you find them sharing the toy, but rather fighting over it to possess it as their own. Thus, we learn quickly that though the human race is cursed through the action of Adam and Eve we personally fail to live up to God’s perfection and are guilty of sin before Him. Again, the Bible says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that we are “to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Man will not seek God, but rather blame God, until he comes to the place of understanding and accepting personal guilt. This is the beginning of what the Bible calls repentance, for God has not left man without an opportunity to be saved from judgment and to be restored to Him (Romans 6:23). The word repentance literally means a “change of mind.” It deals first with how we think and then it leads to a change in action. This alone is not enough, for we must understand that sin has a penalty and it must be paid for. We either receive eternal judgment (Romans 6:23) for we could never pay the debt or we need someone who can pay it for us. Jesus Christ our Lord did exactly that. Jesus laid His life down for us by going to the cross and paying the debt we could not pay. He was buried, but three days after rose again to life signifying and ushering in the new hope of new life through and in Him.

 

In order to receive this new life we must repent of our sins and receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Two portions of Scripture help illustrate this:

 

Rom 10:9-13 NIV84  That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  (10)  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  (11)  As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  (12)  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,  (13)  for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

 

Eph 2:8-10 NIV84  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- (9)  not by works, so that no one can boast.  (10)  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

I will add one more verse before moving on to you next question:

 

Joh 1:12-13 NIV84  Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- (13)  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

 

If a baby dies in childbirth, a baby who has not accepted Christ, does that mean that that baby will be judged by the sins of the mother and father?

I will start with the fact that the church is not in full agreement on this subject. There are differing views regarding the destination of a child after death. With that said I will endeavor to expound a little on this. If we apply the above understanding that we are born with a sin nature because of Adam and Eve, but are ultimately found guilty because of our own sin then the idea that the sin of the mother or father is null to the exception of the result of the fall of Adam and Eve on the whole human race.

 

The Scripture does not give, in my opinion, clear revelation regarding the destination of a baby. What we cannot do is argue that the baby is innocent and deserves heaven. Because of the fall we deserve nothing, yet God in His grace and mercy has given mankind so much. If we were to argue that we deserve life then we are telling a holy God that He is taking from me that which I deserve and therefore He is wrong. That is man, the created, trying to tell God, the Creator, how things should be. Our hearts would like to proclaim that “surely a baby will be there” and there are Scripture that we can see that Jesus talks about the little children. Unfortunately these verses do not clearly state the destination of the child and I cannot proclaim it so just because my heart desires it to be so. As a Christian we are bound by what the Word of God teaches us.

 

I hope this helps some. Please feel free to inquire more. That is why All About God created TheNET.

 

Lord Bless,

LT

Comment by Mary O on August 18, 2014 at 11:18am

Hi Julie, God bless you!

I've been a Christian for a while now. Never mind my age. It's true God does pass judgment, but He is also a just God. I see no justice in punishing a three year old because he/she didn't reach an age old enough to believe and accept Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Saviour. This may bring up other questions, but I'll wait and see if you ask them. Plus you can check the link journeyman mentioned.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.  (Matthew 19:14)

Love,

Mary

Comment by journeyman on August 18, 2014 at 7:03am

Good Morning Julie and welcome to All About God.net. First, the answers you seek can be found by "clicking" on the links found in the statement you copied above. So great to have you asking the questions so many of us sought as we began our journey to a personal relationship with God! We have a wonderful sister site called AllAboutGod.com  were you will find a great deal of information. I hope I have been helpful. Thanks again for being here! Hope you make a whole bunch of new friends here. :-D