Posted By: APL
Are we born "sinners?" - 09/10/18 05:20 AM
A few quotes of EGW. I'll let them speak for themselves...
"THE INHERITANCE OF CHILDREN IS THAT OF SIN. Sin has separated them from God. Jesus gave His life that He might unite the broken links to God. As related to the first Adam, MEN RECEIVED FROM HIM NOTHING BUT GUILT and the sentence of death. But Christ steps in and passes over the ground where Adam fell, enduring every test in man's behalf. He redeems Adam's disgraceful failure and fall by coming forth from the trial untarnished. This places man on vantage ground with God. It places him where, through accepting Christ as his Saviour, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Thus he becomes connected with God and Christ." -- {Letter 68, 1899 EGW}
"--dam was required to render perfect obedience to God, not only in his own behalf, but in behalf of his posterity... But Adam failed to bear the test. And because he revolted against God's law, ALL HIS DESCENDANTS HAVE BEEN SINNERS." {9MR 229.1}
"As a result of Adam's disobedience EVERY HUMAN BEING IS A TRANSGRESSOR OF THE LAW, SOLD UNDER SIN. Unless he repents and is converted, he is under bondage to the law, serving Satan, falling into the deceptions of the enemy, and bearing witness against the precepts of Jehovah." {HP 146.4}
"HUMAN NATURE IS DEPRAVED, AND IS JUSTLY CONDEMNED BY A HOLY GOD. But provision is made for the repenting sinner, so that by faith in the atonement of the only begotten Son of God, he may receive forgiveness of sin, find justification, receive adoption into the heavenly family, and become an inheritor of the kingdom of God." {RH September 17, 1895, par. 7}
"But Satan's aim has been to lead men to self first; and yielding themselves to his control, they have developed a selfishness that has filled the world with misery and strife, setting human beings at variance with one another. SELFISHNESS IS THE ESSENCE OF DEPRAVITY..."{ST December 25, 1901, par. 9}
"It is plainly written on the unrenewed heart and on a fallen world, All seek...their own. SELFISHNESS IS THE GREAT LAW OF OUR DEGENERATE NATURE. Selfishness occupies that place in the soul where Christ should sit enthroned." {ST December 8, 1881, par. 5}
"SELFISHNESS IS INWROUGHT IN OUR VERY BEING. It has come to us as an inheritance," {Historical Sketches, 138, 139}. LHU 326.4}
"Concerning the creation of Adam it is said, 'In the likeness of God made He him;' but man, after the Fall, 'begat a son in his own likeness, after his image.' While Adam was created sinless, in the likeness of God, Seth, like Cain, INHERITED THE FALLEN NATURE OF HIS PARENTS..." {PP 80.1}
"As we partake of the divine nature, HEREDITARY AND CULTIVATED TENDENCIES to wrong are cut away from the character, and we are made a living power for good." {The Review and Herald, April 24, 1900}. {7BC 943.2}
"This enmity was spoken of in Eden. God declared to Satan, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." This enmity was revealed as soon as man transgressed God's law. His NATURE became EVIL. He formed a confederacy with the enemy of God. Fallen men and fallen angels have united in a desperate companionship against good. Satan does all in his power to lead men to work with him. Christ has pledged Himself to engage in conflict with the prince of darkness, and Christ's soldiers, the chosen of God, war against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." {BEcho September 3, 1900, par. 3}
"When man transgressed the divine law, his NATURE BECAME EVIL, AND HE WAS IN HARMONY, AND NOT AT VARIANCE, WITH SATAN." {GC88 506}
Many have to battle against strong hereditary tendencies to evil. Unnatural cravings, sensual impulses, were their INHERITANCE FROM BIRTH. {MH 173.3}
"We have reason for ceaseless gratitude to God that Christ, by His perfect obedience, has won back the heaven that Adam lost through disobedience. ADAM SINNED, AND THE CHILDREN OF ADAM SHARE HIS GUILT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES; but Jesus bore the guilt of Adam, and all the children of Adam THAT WILL FLEE TO CHRIST, the second Adam, may escape the penalty of transgression." {FW 88.3}
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. . . . Even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." ADAM'S FALL IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN CAUSED ALL TO SIN; but in the Garden of Gethsemane Christ drank the bitter cup of suffering and death, that whosoever BELIEVES in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life." {ST, June 13, 1900}
"AS A RESULT OF ADAM'S DISOBEDIENCE, EVERY HUMAN BEING IS A TRANSGRESSOR OF THE LAW, AND IS SOLD UNDER SIN. UNLESS man repents and is converted, he is under bondage of the law, serving Satan, falling into the deceptions of the enemy, bearing witness against the precepts of Jehovah. Only by perfect obedience to the requirements of God's holy law can man be justified. Let those whose natures have been perverted by sin, ever keep their eyes fixed on Christ, the author and the finisher of their faith." {8MR 98.1}
ALL HUMANS ARE SINNERS
"THE INHERITANCE OF CHILDREN IS THAT OF SIN. Sin has separated them from God. Jesus gave His life that He might unite the broken links to God. As related to the first Adam, MEN RECEIVED FROM HIM NOTHING BUT GUILT and the sentence of death. But Christ steps in and passes over the ground where Adam fell, enduring every test in man's behalf. He redeems Adam's disgraceful failure and fall by coming forth from the trial untarnished. This places man on vantage ground with God. It places him where, through accepting Christ as his Saviour, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Thus he becomes connected with God and Christ." -- {Letter 68, 1899 EGW}
"--dam was required to render perfect obedience to God, not only in his own behalf, but in behalf of his posterity... But Adam failed to bear the test. And because he revolted against God's law, ALL HIS DESCENDANTS HAVE BEEN SINNERS." {9MR 229.1}
"As a result of Adam's disobedience EVERY HUMAN BEING IS A TRANSGRESSOR OF THE LAW, SOLD UNDER SIN. Unless he repents and is converted, he is under bondage to the law, serving Satan, falling into the deceptions of the enemy, and bearing witness against the precepts of Jehovah." {HP 146.4}
"HUMAN NATURE IS DEPRAVED, AND IS JUSTLY CONDEMNED BY A HOLY GOD. But provision is made for the repenting sinner, so that by faith in the atonement of the only begotten Son of God, he may receive forgiveness of sin, find justification, receive adoption into the heavenly family, and become an inheritor of the kingdom of God." {RH September 17, 1895, par. 7}
"But Satan's aim has been to lead men to self first; and yielding themselves to his control, they have developed a selfishness that has filled the world with misery and strife, setting human beings at variance with one another. SELFISHNESS IS THE ESSENCE OF DEPRAVITY..."{ST December 25, 1901, par. 9}
"It is plainly written on the unrenewed heart and on a fallen world, All seek...their own. SELFISHNESS IS THE GREAT LAW OF OUR DEGENERATE NATURE. Selfishness occupies that place in the soul where Christ should sit enthroned." {ST December 8, 1881, par. 5}
"SELFISHNESS IS INWROUGHT IN OUR VERY BEING. It has come to us as an inheritance," {Historical Sketches, 138, 139}. LHU 326.4}
"Concerning the creation of Adam it is said, 'In the likeness of God made He him;' but man, after the Fall, 'begat a son in his own likeness, after his image.' While Adam was created sinless, in the likeness of God, Seth, like Cain, INHERITED THE FALLEN NATURE OF HIS PARENTS..." {PP 80.1}
"As we partake of the divine nature, HEREDITARY AND CULTIVATED TENDENCIES to wrong are cut away from the character, and we are made a living power for good." {The Review and Herald, April 24, 1900}. {7BC 943.2}
"This enmity was spoken of in Eden. God declared to Satan, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." This enmity was revealed as soon as man transgressed God's law. His NATURE became EVIL. He formed a confederacy with the enemy of God. Fallen men and fallen angels have united in a desperate companionship against good. Satan does all in his power to lead men to work with him. Christ has pledged Himself to engage in conflict with the prince of darkness, and Christ's soldiers, the chosen of God, war against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." {BEcho September 3, 1900, par. 3}
"When man transgressed the divine law, his NATURE BECAME EVIL, AND HE WAS IN HARMONY, AND NOT AT VARIANCE, WITH SATAN." {GC88 506}
Many have to battle against strong hereditary tendencies to evil. Unnatural cravings, sensual impulses, were their INHERITANCE FROM BIRTH. {MH 173.3}
"We have reason for ceaseless gratitude to God that Christ, by His perfect obedience, has won back the heaven that Adam lost through disobedience. ADAM SINNED, AND THE CHILDREN OF ADAM SHARE HIS GUILT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES; but Jesus bore the guilt of Adam, and all the children of Adam THAT WILL FLEE TO CHRIST, the second Adam, may escape the penalty of transgression." {FW 88.3}
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. . . . Even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." ADAM'S FALL IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN CAUSED ALL TO SIN; but in the Garden of Gethsemane Christ drank the bitter cup of suffering and death, that whosoever BELIEVES in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life." {ST, June 13, 1900}
"AS A RESULT OF ADAM'S DISOBEDIENCE, EVERY HUMAN BEING IS A TRANSGRESSOR OF THE LAW, AND IS SOLD UNDER SIN. UNLESS man repents and is converted, he is under bondage of the law, serving Satan, falling into the deceptions of the enemy, bearing witness against the precepts of Jehovah. Only by perfect obedience to the requirements of God's holy law can man be justified. Let those whose natures have been perverted by sin, ever keep their eyes fixed on Christ, the author and the finisher of their faith." {8MR 98.1}