Are we born sinners?

The Origin and Effect of Sin - What Changed After the First Man?

The consequences of the first sin have a negative impact on all people without exception, because after the fall, man became in a worse starting position. Doing evil became easier for him. However, death spread to all people because everyone sinned:

(Rom 5,12)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

After the sin of the first man, we are more inclined to sin, but the inclination to sin is not sin. We become sinful because of our own sins:

(Jas 1,14-15)

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Sin is Not Inherited - Why are We Responsible for Our Actions?

Sin is not inheritable! We have only ourselves to blame for our sins:

(Mark 7,15.20-23)

“There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” (...) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The Purity of Children - Why Did Jesus Use Them as an Example?

How could Jesus use little children as an example of repentance if they were sinners from birth? Indeed, we can find something similar in the Old Testament.

(Matt 18,2-5)

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me”

(Ps 131,2)

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

God's Justice - He Only Punishes Us for What We Have Done.

If we were born sinners, God's punishment could not be just:

(Isa 13,11)

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

Dominion Over the Evil Inclination - We are Able to Choose Good.

Already in the Old Testament, God required victory over sin and spoke of it as something possible. Even after the fall, man has power over his own desires, that is, he does not have to sin, he can overcome his inclination to evil, to choose good instead of evil:

(Gen 4,7)

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.

(Ps 37,27)

Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.

Innate Goodness - Conscience and the Law Written in the Heart.

Human nature is not corrupt from birth. Even evil people can do good:

(Luke 11,13)

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

All the decisions we make contrary to God's will suppress the voice of our good conscience given to us by God and make it difficult for us to listen to our Creator. Yet even by listening to our conscience, we can come to know God's power, divinity, and the works of the law:

(Rom 1,19-21)

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

(Rom 2,14-15)

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Examples of Righteous Living - People Who Lived in a Way that Pleased God.

Also before Christianity, there were righteous and blameless people who did good (Abel - from Heb 11,4; Noah - Gen 6,9; Abraham - Gen 15,6; Job - Job 1,1.8; Zechariah and Elizabeth - Luke 1,6; Nathanael - John 1,47; Saul - Phil 3,6, etc.).

(Matt 25,31-40)

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

In the above parable, Jesus speaks of those ("all the nations") who did not know him or his words in their lives, yet were able to do good despite their sins. Jesus acknowledges their good works and calls them righteous. They, along with Christians, will enter into eternal life.

God's Creation is Sinless - How Does God Form Us in the Womb?

If we were born sinners and our nature was completely corrupt, then Samson and John the Baptist could not have been prophesied as follows:

(Judg 13,5)

for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

(Luke 1,15-16)

for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God

Everyone is born sinless, with a natural longing for the supernatural. Many suppress this within themselves, and others seek to fulfill it in the wrong way. However, this lack of ours can only be filled by the one from whom we received our life and who has cared for us from the beginning. God cannot create anything bad, especially not sin. God creates everyone good, sinless:

(Ps 139,13-17)

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

(Ps 22:10-11)

On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.

(Ps 71:5-6)

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.

(Job 10:9-12)

Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.