Winman,
Would you agree with the boards SOF on the doctrine of man:
III. Man
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.
I do not agree with the part I bolded. I believe all men are made upright (Ecc 7:29) but soon after birth, when a person has reached a degree of maturity where they can understand right and wrong before God, ALL MEN choose to knowingly and willingly sin against God.
I do not believe God holds little children accountable for any sins they might commit. I base this on Deut 1:39, Isa 7:16, Jon 4:11, Rom 7:9-11, and many other verses.
I do not like the term sin nature, it is not found in scripture. I believe all men are born "flesh" with lusts and desires that tempt them to sin. I believe Jesus Christ was also born flesh with these same lusts and desires, though he never obeyed these lusts when they would have caused him to sin.
I believe Adam and Eve were created flesh and had these same lusts and desires. It is clear that Eve demonstrated the lust of the flesh (the fruit looked good for food), the lust of the eyes (the fruit was beautiful to look upon), and the pride of life (the fruit was DESIRED to make one wise) BEFORE she actually sinned and ate of this forbidden fruit. So man has
always had these lusts and desires.
It is not our flesh with these desires that makes us sinful. Though Eve had these natural lusts of the flesh, God called Adam and Eve "very good". Only when she actually sinned did she become "sinful".
I believe the same for all men, we are born flesh like Adam and Eve and are "very good" until we actually commit sin as Adam and Eve did.
Now, I do believe the flesh can become very corrupt through practice and habit of sin. I would say a person can become addicted to sin and find it almost impossible to break this habit. An example might be drinking, but it applies to any sin, at first a person drinks out of choice. Once a person continues to drink, they can become addicted to it and find it almost impossible to quit. I believe all sin works similar to this.
It is necessary I agree perfectly with BB's SOF?