Biblomorphism Article 1 – Original Sin

Bible Verse – Romans 5:19
Species – Homosapien Toddler

While watching my twenty month old cousin play with her sixteen month old friend, I came to the startling realization that an examination of children this age can point to no other conclusion than a deprived human morality from birth.

Several theologians of today, particularly Dr. John Piper, contend that, “There has never been a profound thinker that believes mankind is good.” The opposite contention is the basic human condition to believe “I am innately good”, otherwise known as original pride.

A philosophical study should ensue to determine if iniquity is learned or an inherited trait.

My twenty month old cousin had her own toy, and was playing contently with it. Then her friend began playing zealously with a different toy. Instantly my cousin became enamored with the toy she did not have. Within seconds my cousin had stolen the toy, discarded the other toy, and began playing contently with her new toy. Her friend began to pout. In an effort to not have a crying baby on my hands, I intervened.

“Did you steal her toy?” I asked firmly of my cousin. “No” was the reply I received.

I suppose you could recreate this incident on any day in any day-care in any country of the world. We are confronted with the fact that my cousin had never been taught to covet, never been taught to steal, and even been encouraged to tell the truth, yet she still told a lie. Within the first twenty months of life a child is capable of these things.

In order to study wrongdoing and deception even closer to birth, lets consider a brand new baby, ten weeks old.

In the majority of instances, a baby cries for a good reason; hunger, discomfort, illness. But everyone that has been around babies knows that sometimes they’ll cry just so you give them attention. You put the baby in the crib and leave the room, almost instantly you hear crying from the bedroom; as you check on the baby, it stops crying. You leave the room again, the crying starts. Enter the room, crying ends.

The baby has learned, despite having no external teaching, that it can get the attention that it wants through deliberate deception.

On the other end of the spectrum, when you examine adults in terms of peccadillo, you find that no one will disagree with the statements, “No one is perfect”, “To Err is Human”, and “Everyone has a few skeletons in the closet.”

Ask yourself the question, “Have I ever told a deliberate lie with intent to deceive?”

This examination into the goodness of mankind leads that sin is innate; not learned nor simply a mistake in judgment.

In the first Biblomorphism session, the philosophy of deprived morality aligns with the theology of original sin.