[Linux4christians] Wake Up -2

[Howard Coles Jr.]

On Wednesday 11 June 2008 08:55:05 am Keli of Coxsackie wrote:
> Please explain where you think the bible says
> "that we are all born with original sin."
>
> That is not in my Bible.. We have iniquities passed on from our parents but
> we are held accountable by the sin we commit or not commit.
> How pleased God must be when man is placed with the decision and chooses
> not to sin.
>
> thanks,
> Michael Markuson (aka Keli)
> Parchment Press
> 52 S River St
> Coxsackie, NY 12051
>
> l4c wrote:
> > Things have died down here again a bit so I guess it's time for
> > another question ;-)
> >
> > The Bible says that you must be born again to enter the kingdom of
> > heaven.
> > The Bible says that we are all born with original sin.
> > So, what happens to infants who have died?  How could they have been
> > "reborn"?
> >

Well, OK, the Bible doesn't say "original sin", but the principle is there.  
Just like what David was saying about the "age of accountability".  There is 
no passage that literally says, a baby is innocent until such and such a 
time.  However, there are passages that teach the principles by which we 
determine that those who "do not know their right hand from their left" are 
not held accountable.  King David's child which died as a result of the 
Adulterous affair with Bathsheba is an example.  After the child died David 
declared, "he shall not come back to me, but I shall see him again" (not an 
exact quote).  How did he know that?  Well, we just have to understand as 
David understood, by faith.  We have to look at the whole of Scripture and 
realize that God does indeed judge righteous judgment.  He who commits sin 
with knowledge is held accountable with many stripes, he who commits the same 
sin with no knowledge, few stripes.  

The real question is, "is it 'sin' if you don't know it is"?
Answer:  yes.  
God says several times in the Old Testament law, "he that sins in ignorance, 
when the thing is known is to offer a sacrifice."  Why?  because whether he 
knew it or not, it was still sin.  If a person is old enough to know the 
Bible for themselves they are responsible for what they DON'T know, because 
they *should* have read God's Word, and memorized it like He said to.  If 
they did know, and forgot, they are responsible for that too, so you can't 
escape it claiming ignorance, even if you really are.

How does this apply to Babies, children, and those whose mind is handicapped 
in some way?  Well, they can't be held responsible for reading the Bible 
themselves, nor can they comprehend, or understand what they hear.  They 
don't know their right hand from their left, so even though the sin nature 
causes them to do certain things, its not with cognizance of the thing as 
wrong, YET.  So, until they come to an "awakening" of sorts to the fact of 
sin, and right and wrong (as in Adam and Eve's case) they really can't be 
held accountable to it, can they?

However, as Pastor David says, God is the ultimate Judge, and we just have to 
believe that the God of all the earth will do right!  I have yet to find a 
soul so hard that it would think it right of God to send a Baby to Hell 
because of an inherited sin nature (which is a better way of 
stating "original sin").


-- 

See Ya'
Howard Coles Jr.
John 3:16!