Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

not give them the courtesy of fair and respectful attention. Prejudices, vicious habits of
thought, pride of opinion and of denominational belief, ignorance, suspicion, bigotry,
blind following of religious and denominational leaders so becloud and benumb the mind
that it cannot and will not see its own errors, or the truth of others when with a little
unprejudiced examination the truth could be seen.
To cling to a doctrine which we know to be false is sin. God hates false doctrine, and as
Christians, we cannot take neutral ground respecting the things that God hates. With God,
there is no neutral ground.
The doctrine of original sin has corrupted Christian theology and spawned a false
teaching of inability that excuses sin in the Church of Christ. It is difficult to find a
Christian today who believes it is possible to live without sin. "The key of knowledge"
has been taken away by this doctrine. Ministers "have not entered in themselves" and
they have "hindered them that were entering in." Matt. 23:13, Luke 11:52. With this
grossly false doctrine men have been taught that they can never expect to fully obey their
Lord until they die and go to heaven. They have been taught that they will live more or
less in rebellion against God as long as they are here on earth. What a low opinion this
doctrine permits men to have of God's power and sanctifying grace! The church's idea of
the grace of God is only that it forgives us while we continue in sin. God hates this
Nicolaitan doctrine! Can we go on giving place to such a God dishonoring doctrine? Can
we accept a doctrine that allows men to believe that they will go to heaven without
holiness? Can we coddle a doctrine that excuses sin in the churches and that stumbles
professing Christians into hell? Can we any longer embrace a doctrine that God hates?
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13 Footnotes
1. Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Systematic Theology, Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., Grand Rapids, 1953, p. 249.
2. Morris Kline, Mathematics in Western Culture, Oxford University Press, New York,
1980, p. 123.
3. Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Systematic Theology, Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., Grand Rapids, 1953, p. 252.
4. See Appendix A, The Nature and Attributes of Sin, p. 165.
5. Henry C. Sheldon, System of Christian Doctrine, Jennings & Graham, Cincinnati,
1912, pp. 313-314.