That is why a person sins shortly after they are born. If they didn't have that sin nature why would they start sinning so soon, and then just keep on sinning every day. You have no answer for that. It is our sin nature that gives a nature or natural inclination to do evil more than to do good. It takes effort to do good; no effort to do wrong.
A simple example:
It takes more effort to pick up my Bible and read it than it does to pick up the remote and turn on the TV. Why? Because I have to constantly overcome my sin nature.
Adam and Eve prove that a sin nature is not required to sin. All that is required is a temptation and free will. Adam and Eve were born into a perfect world without any needs, with only one single law to obey, and yet they failed and sinned the very first time they were tempted.
Even babies are born into an utterly corrupt world with many laws to obey, and literally thousands of temptations. It is no wonder that all men sin, ESPECIALLY at an early age before a person has developed a strong personality. A child sinning does not prove they were born with a sin nature in the least.
Not only that, but the scriptures tell us that sin is learned.
1 Pet 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
The scriptures say our vain conversation or lifestyle was received "BY TRADITION" from our fathers. Children imitate their parents. There are MANY other scriptures that say this.
Why did God command the Jews to kill all the people's who lived in the land of Canaan? So, they would not learn their sins, especially idolatry.
Deu 18:9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee,
thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
2 Kng 21:19 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD,
as his father Manasseh did.
21 And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:
The scriptures show over and over that children learn and copy their parents sins.
Talk about taking Scripture out of context!!
1 Peter 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
--Peter is addressing this to suffering Christians. He had just finished describing the intense suffering of Christ who never sinned. Now, after the adult believer is persecuted, suffers, he doesn't despair. Jesus did not give up; neither does he. It is not that he dies. He does not despair. He goes back and lives for the Lord.
Look at Young's Literal Translation:
1 Peter 2:25 for ye were as sheep going astray, but ye turned back now to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.
The KJB and many other translations say RETURNED. A person cannot return someplace they have never been. I cannot return to Utah, because I have never been to Utah. I CAN return to California, because I have been there before.
If men are born dead in sin, separated from God, then it would be impossible to say men who repent have RETURNED to God, but that is exactly what Peter said. Of course, you will look for whatever translation suits your view, but the KJB and many of the MVs say RETURNED.
First, I believe what the Bible teaches.
Second, to deny that man is born in sin denies the necessity of the new birth.
No, it doesn't, every man who sins must be born again.
You see, you have a HUGE problem with babies dying too, because a baby that dies in the womb or when it is a few days old could not possibly believe the gospel. So you must explain how a person can be saved without faith in Jesus.
The difference is, Jesus actually spoke about persons who have not sinned and need no repentance.
Mat 18:13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine
which went not astray.
Luk 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons,
which need no repentance.
Luk 15:29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee,
neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
It was Jesus himself that spoke of persons who have never sinned multiple times. Whether you like it or not, these are the facts. I refuse to believe Jesus would make up imaginary persons who could not possibly exist, which would be the case if Original Sin is true.
But if Original Sin is not true, then there have been millions, if not billions of babies and little children that have died before they committed sin. This explains why there are 99 sheep who never went astray compared to the one sheep who went astray and repented.
You cannot explain who these persons are, but JESUS spoke of them. I did not make this up in my own mind.
Remember the scathing remarks of Jesus to the Pharisees:
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
You PROVE my point. Jesus would never give the Pharisees the impression they were without sin, he called them a "child of hell".
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to
make one proselyte, and when he is
made, ye
make him twofold more
the child of hell than yourselves.
How could the Pharisees
MAKE a person a child of hell if they were born a child of the devil? See, you completely overlook scripture like this.
Jesus never gave the Pharisees the impression they were without sin and needed no repentance, so Jesus was speaking of someone else. And I have showed in Matthew 18 that he was speaking of
LITTLE ONES.
Tell me, as an unsaved person (in the past, not now) were you any better than they? Is one saved person on a scale of 1 to 10 any better than another. No, they all hit the 10 mark. Unsaved is unsaved is unsaved. You were just as bad and wicked in the sight of God as the Pharisees and your father was Satan himself. You were born into his family. Because you born into his family you needed to be born into God's family. You needed a spiritual re-birth.
Your theology denies the necessity of the new birth.
I go by the scriptures, not my personal thoughts. The prodigal son was not lost at first, the scriptures say the father had TWO SONS. The prodigal rejected his father and left home and went out in sin. Then he joined himself to a citizen of that far country. I believe this represents Satan, and shows that when a person knowingly and willingly chooses to sin they become a child of the devil.
Nevertheless, the boy was able to come to his senses and return home. The father saw him returning from a great distance which represents foreknowledge. He ran and hugged the boy, put a clean robe on him, a ring, and new shoes.
The father said the boy was alive AGAIN. Now, if we are all born dead in sin as you believe, it would be impossible to say any person was alive again, but Jesus said it twice.
The elder son was angry. He claimed he had NEVER sinned against his father. Did the father call him a hypocrite and correct him? NO, he called him Son, he said the boy was EVER with him (never separated from the father by sin), and said ALL he had was his (an HEIR). The father never said the elder son was either DEAD or LOST like his brother the prodigal.
It was Jesus who told these stories, not me. Accept it.