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NASB | Romans 5:12 ¶ Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-- |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 5:12 ¶ Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all people [no one being able to stop it or escape its power], because they all sinned. |
Bible Question:
We have a sinful nature before we are born. I do not care what Lindsey says ... BTW he has been proven to be a false prophet ... or anyone else. We do not need to learn to sin, it is our nature ... because of Adam. |
Bible Answer: YES, SIN IS LEARNED. "I did not know sin until the law said, thou shalt not covet." I imagine that Paul learned what sin was at an age approaching manhood--12, or so. Yes, you have to learn to sin. The little baby-and I've had five-doesn't know the difference between touching the rattle and touching the glass nick-nack. It is learning, growing. It is learning to verbalize, to walk, to explore. The things it does during this learning phase is not sin. If I spank the hand that touches the VCR, the child does not immediately learn not to touch the VCR. The learning curve dictates that the lesson will need to be reinforced once or twice before the lesson 'sinks' in. But if a parent is consistent, the child learns to do right--from a very early age. Conversely, if the parent is inconsistent, the child doesn't learn a valuable lesson. The child is seeking stimulus. The buttons look fun, the cookies taste good, etc. "I'll stick my hand in the cookie jar and eat another", it says. The child isn't sinning, it is learning: to do right or to do wrong. A parent is responsible for not watching and teaching: not the child. That is, until the child reaches an age where it SHOULD know. We call that age, the age of accountability. But as an infant and toddler and small child, it tests the waters all around it. The baby LEARNS to do wrong without correction. The first time my child said a dirty word, it did not sin. But when I corrected the child and said we don't say that kind of thing, then the child didn't do it again. The child learns to go right and the child learns to go wrong. Little brats become that way because parents don't parent, not because they are tainted by Adam's sin. They are of the same nature as Adam, but they have years to learn before they can be held to the standard that God holds adults to. Adam was a different situation in that he was full-grown when he started out. He already had adult skills. God could say to him, 'eat anything you want, except from that tree over there.' Adam, being good, without the excuse of a sin nature, chose to sin. He knew right and wrong, and he chose the wrong. That's what life is about. God knew Adam would sin. That's why God put the tree there, that's why God permitted the serpent to tempt, that's why Jesus' atoning blood was thought of before the foundation of the world. God knew man, with FREE WILL, would sin. But God provided the way of salvation too. God created man in his image, having certain capacities that made us unique from all other creatures. Man is ultimately responsible for his sin if he has free will. With reference to Psalm 51, yes, David is confessing his sin. But he is not confessing that he was born sinful. That is not possible. |