Fundamentalists are huge fans of original sin and never hesitate to point out that everyone from newborns to octogenarians are prone to spiritual corruption and gross wickedness. Even a child (of unspecified age and ability) is known by his doings.
One might be inclined to wonder how it is that an infant who possesses neither speech or nor rational thought could be guilty of willful sin but apparently the little critters are just rife with it. You see, sometimes they cry when there’s (and here’s the important bit) nothing wrong. Indeed this is deception of the most base kind involving fooling another human being into paying them attention when they simply don’t deserve it. That such evil should exist in the heart of a baby is breathtaking.
Indeed, the go-to illustration for most fundy pastors when addressing the topic of the heart’s corruption generally involves some infraction of their baby or toddler. Now godless, secular, atheist psychologists might have some theory or another on things like developmental stages and cognitive ability but fundamentalists have never been much bothered by psychology…or anything else. No, the simple reality is that your little smiling cherub is a willful and premeditated liar and the truth is not him.
Heed this warning well and watch for the telltale signs of corruption.
Sin nature? This post and some of these comments make me thankful of child development and psych classes at my worldly state U. Kids who don’t rebel are often flagged for mental retardation. The first time your kid tells you that they hate you, pat yourself on the back. You raised a kid that feels safe enough to be exactly who they are in a moment because they know that they will be just as loved after.
My IFB was full of perfectly behaved kids, who were empty shells, and most still are.
thankful FOR…
My Jesus, I love thee;
I know Thou art mine.
But those other Christians –
how could they be Thine?
They wear shorts; they watch TV;
Their music has a beat.
“I’m glad I’m not like them”
In prayer I oft repeat.
I’m glad I am humble,
So holy and pure;
I spent time in witnessing,
Not helping the poor.
When church doors are open,
You’ll always find me there,
My hands always folded,
Not lifted in the air.
I hope I’ve impressed you with
My holy self-denial;
I’ve kept myself separate
From everything that’s vile.
I’m better, I’m holier,
Than others whom I know.
My Jesus, I love me
Because I love you so.
Oops – posted in the wrong place. Nothing to see here. Keep moving!
Perhaps someone has said this already, but I would just like to point out that the idea that infants are guilty of willful sin goes back much further than American IFB churches.
St. Augustine himself writes in the _Confessions_ that as a child he was inherently sinful, behaving in a sinful manner. Whether his memory is theologically correct or not is not the point. My point is simply that IFB churches are not the ONLY ones to see infants as sinful, that the great Augustine himself also made this argument.