Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

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In regard to using only the Scriptures to prove the doctrines of the Bible, almost any false doctrine can be proved by quoting texts from the Bible, if those texts are quoted without paying attention to context and language. We can confirm this fact by pointing to the many false cults which appeal to Bible texts in order to verify their false teachings. So, should we object to reason when it tells us that a doctrine cannot be true that is supported by proof-texts from the Bible which have been taken out of context, and which are used without any regard to literal or figurative language or the general theme of the passage from which they are taken, and which then "prove" a doctrine that directly contradicts many other clear texts and fundamental doctrines of the Bible? Must we throw out reason when we come to the Bible? Is there something inherently evil about the faculty of reason? Are ordinary common sense and the understanding that God has given us to be despised and rejected when we come to the Bible? No! The Scriptures never require us to believe anything which the constitution of our own nature as created by God forces us to reject as false, unjust, or impossible. The fundamental truths of Christianity cannot be in manifest contradiction to reason, and yet the original sin dogma does contradict reason and man's irresistible convictions of justice. 10. OBJECTION: In the Bible, the word sin in the singular refers to a sin principle that dwells in us, or to original sin; and the word sins in the plural refers to "actual sins" that flow from the sin principle we have inherited from Adam. ANSWER: Some advocates of original sin try to make out a distinction in the Bible between "sin" in the singular and "sins" in the plural. According to them, the word sin in the singular refers to the "sin principle," the "Adamic sin nature," "inbred sin," or "original sin," but the word "sins" in the plural refers to the acts of sin that flow from the "Adamic nature" or the "principle of sin" that dwells in man's flesh. This distinction between "sin" in the singular and "sins" in the plural is completely artificial and unbiblical. There is no mention of such a distinction in the Bible. There is a biblical sense in which sin is and must be a principle. It is a principle because it flows from a single ruling choice of the heart or will. Rom. 7:17; Rom. 7:23; Rom. 8:2, 6, 7, 10. Both Jesus and the Apostles taught that there can only be one ruling choice of the heart or will at a time. If the choice or principle that controls the life is selfishness, all the volitions and acts of the life will be selfish. If the ruling choice of the heart is love to God and others, all the volitions and acts of the life will be virtuous. Two opposing choices or principles cannot control the life at the same time. One must be given up for the other. "No man can serve two masters." "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matt. 6:24. The following verses of the Bible teach the truth that all the acts of men proceed from one single governing choice of the heart, and that, therefore, there cannot be a divided or partial service to God: Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. Matt. 12:33-35 Even so every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit, a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Matt.7:17,18 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either the vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. James 3:11, 12 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matt. 6:22-24 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust in much. Luke 16:10 Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. James 2:10 All sin and all virtue flow from the fountainhead of the heart or will. When the heart is committed to the supreme and ultimate choice of selfishness, all the outworkings of that one ruling choice will be to gratify self in the various forms that selfishness may take. A selfish person cannot please or obey God because all his acts, even though many may be outwardly righteous, are motivated by a heart consecrated to self. Paul said, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. 8:7, 8. The "carnal mind" in this passage is speaking of a ruling preference of the heart that is carnal, selfish, or sinful. While a man has a "carnal mind" it is impossible for him to obey God, please God, or do anything good. All sin is a unit and all virtue is a unit that flows from one supreme and ultimate choice of the will. There cannot be two opposite choices ruling the life at the same time. There cannot be a mixed or a partial consecration and service to God. There can only be one single governing choice of the heart; either love to God and others rule the life, or selfishness rules the life. Many people in the churches today are deceived on this point. They believe that God can and does accept a partial consecration of their life to him. but God will accept nothing less than a total dedication of ourselves to him, according to our knowledge of his will. James 2:10; Luke 14:26, 27, 33. Anything less than a total dedication of what we know to be the will of God is motivated by selfishness, and "if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness." Matt. 6:23. 11. OBJECTION: The doctrine of original sin has been believed by the Church Universal for almost 2000 years. How could you and a few others be right, and everyone else be wrong?
Page 1 and 2: Are Men Born Sinners? The Myth of O
Page 3 and 4: Appendix A: The Nature and Attribut
Page 5 and 6: and that he has been created with a
Page 7 and 8: are born: "The wicked are estranged
Page 9 and 10: We are the offspring of God. Acts 1
Page 11 and 12: Biblical proof-texts. It is these p
Page 13 and 14: not a substance. It has absolutely
Page 15 and 16: flesh and of the mind." And then, s
Page 17 and 18: Rom. 5:12-19 does not in any way te
Page 19 and 20: This is the incredible dogma that i
Page 21 and 22: And, If in Adam human nature as a w
Page 23 and 24: e disciplined and purified. He taug
Page 25 and 26: Even the most cultured Fathers from
Page 27 and 28: They being the root of all mankind,
Page 29 and 30: 2. It means that, since we are the
Page 31 and 32: possible to make mankind miserable
Page 33 and 34: 10. The fact that men will deny the
Page 35 and 36: think of the multitudes upon multit
Page 37 and 38: Part Two: Answering the Christian's
Page 39 and 40: men are tempted through the desires
Page 41 and 42: doctrine that Christians were now d
Page 43 and 44: Christ, he points out that Levi had
Page 45 and 46: Why? doth not the son bear the iniq
Page 47: Those who heartily believe in the d
Page 51 and 52: appealing to the false logic that "
Page 53 and 54: commanded the sun and not the earth
Page 55 and 56: Second, the doctrine of original si
Page 57 and 58: Part Three: Implications of a False
Page 59 and 60: 5. It is a stumbling-block to the u
Page 61 and 62: The Bible says that God will "judge
Page 63 and 64: heathen philosophy, and was foisted
Page 65 and 66: would lose all its force and meanin
Page 67 and 68: In 426 or 427, it was reported to A
Page 69 and 70: But again, the doctrine of inabilit
Page 71 and 72: The doctrine of a natural inability
Page 73 and 74: they think reason is to be distrust
Page 75 and 76: art Four: Insurmountable Problems o
Page 77 and 78: sinned in Adam before they were bor
Page 79 and 80: Who will have all men to be saved,
Page 81 and 82: John wrote his epistles, condemning
Page 83 and 84: No man is able...by any grace recei
Page 85 and 86: means has been born and continues t
Page 87 and 88: Return to the Index Chapter 12: God
Page 89 and 90: Is God telling lies when he makes t
Page 91 and 92: 6. See further commentary on Romans
Page 93 and 94: Finney, Charles G., Lectures on Sys
Page 95 and 96: Appendix A The Nature and Attribute
Page 97 and 98: until they have a knowledge of good
Page 99 and 100:
accountability, for this they had b
Page 101 and 102:
Matt. 13:38-39; John 3:8; Rev. 12:9
Page 103 and 104:
summing up of all he had said befor
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"The righteousness of the law" is "
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The Bible can be used to prove the
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constitution and this mental consti
Page 111 and 112:
It follows that the elect may deman
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us certain irresistible convictions
Page 115 and 116:
manifestly angry; but I do not reco
Page 117 and 118:
Excerpts from Charles G. Finney's L
Page 119 and 120:
where only the potency comes into a
Page 121 and 122:
striking and melancholy evidences o
Page 123 and 124:
this was through a degradation of t
Page 125 and 126:
12-21. This passage has been usuall
Page 127:
8. Moses Stuart, Commentary on Roma
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Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

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