Article VII
Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as
the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the
nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam,
whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature
inclined to evil, and that continually.
“Neonatal abstinence syndrome occurs because a pregnant woman
takes opiate or narcotic drugs such as heroin, codeine, oxycodone (Oxycontin)
methadone or buprenorphine. These and
other substances pass through the placenta that connects the baby to its mother
in the womb. The baby becomes addicted along with the mother.”
In the 90’s we coined the term “crack
baby” for a child born damaged and addicted because it’s mother used crack
cocaine. A 2013
USA Today article claimed that the
crack baby epidemic of the 90’s was overblown; the long term effect on kids was
exaggerated. Those kids are just fine.
What USA Today and most of the other
media outlets didn’t say was that the actual
study concluded that the “crack babies” did experience long-term negative
effects. The babies did enter the world
addicted, in pain, and going through narcotic withdrawal with their first
labored breaths. They do
lag behind developmentally, but the cause wasn’t just the cocaine. The children were damaged by a combination of their
mother’s tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use in addition to the cocaine.
The crack-baby epidemic was real, but
the cause was drugs in general, not just a specific narcotic.
There is another, underreported
epidemic of addiction that is even worse.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my
mother conceived me. (Psalm 51: 5)
Every single descendant of Adam and
Eve, every human being ever born came into the world ADDICTED TO SIN.
We are all “sin babies.”
Therefore, just as through one man
[Adam] sin entered the world, and death through
sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5: 12)
You don’t
have to teach a child to lie, or hit, or take what’s not theirs, or demand all
of the attention. You do have to intervene and train a child to speak truth,
have empathy, share, and be humble. Why
is that?
Because
children come into the world seeking to appease the compulsory taste of sin
their parents passed to them.
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child (Proverbs 22: 15)
We are all born sin-babies.
The proper term for when a child is
born with an inherited chemical addiction is neonatal abstinence syndrome.
The theological term for how human children are born with an inherited
need to do wrong is ORIGINAL SIN.
Lately we’ve been trying to convince
ourselves that the original sin epidemic isn’t as bad as they said it is. We go through all the Old Testament
thou-shalt-nots and some select New Testament works-of-the-flesh, and we
conclude that, “Upon review of the current data, these things are not nearly as
negative as we were led to believe. Being
a sin-baby isn’t bad at all”
Go back and read the actual research in
the Bible.
The problem is sin, not just a specific
sin.
Some are born with a sin-addiction to greed.
Some are born with a sin-addiction to
sexual promiscuity. (Bet you haven’t heard that word in a long time.)
Some come out with a sin-addiction to
homosexuality. (Yes, you can be born that way.)
Some are addicted to being mean. (If you’ve never met a mean toddler, work in
a daycare center for a few weeks.)
The specific sin-tendency that is
passed from parents to child varies, but the long-term negative effects of
original sin are universal.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23); and the
wages of sin is death (Romans 6: 23)
Which is why God provided a universally
accessible intervention program.
For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)
Jesus came as
the last Adam to cure the genetic disorder that the first Adam started (1
Corinthians 15).
Without Jesus
as Lord, Savior, and Mediator, you and I are doomed to pursue sin. We can’t help it. We’re addicted to doing wrong.
But with
Christ, in Christ we can fight the compulsion to disobey God. In Christ, we can, over a long, sometimes
hard, process, break the strongholds of sin addiction and live free from our
neonatal compulsion toward evil.
There is
help.
Call now.
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10: 13)
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson
T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey
Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance
Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural
leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Support by
check or money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel
CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al
35064
