When did my little angel become a devil?

The initial beauty and joy of a little child is always spoiled by the eventual "sprouting of horns" that will happen.  The phrase "terrible twos" is used to reference that period of time in which the child has gained enough physical mastery to begin to assert its own will, and rather demonstrably, I might add.  Babies and toddlers are, in general, focused only on their desires and how you can meet them.  It has been pointed out in many different places that no one has to teach their kids to be selfish.  No, that comes naturally to them as well as other vices like lieing, forcible taking of toys, violent behavior towards other kids, tantrums, etc...  

This reminded me of the animated Disney movie, "The Incredibles."  It is about a family of super heroes who are fighting against an evil villain.  Although they defeat the villain's evil plan, the villain gets them back by kidnapping their little baby, "Jack-Jack."  As he is gloating over the fact that they are too late to stop him, the little baby begins morphing into various things like fire, heavy metal and lastly he turns into a devil and begins beating and biting the villain.  What seemed to be a nice, innocent, helpless baby turns out to be more than a handful for him.  No matter what name we are going to give it, it is abundantly clear that man has an inner bent towards self at the cost of others.  Even if we are to say that a baby cognitively doesn't know any better, the problem still remains that universally children display selfishness, not selflessness.  How can that be if they are born innately good?

To say that they are influenced to hurtful behavior (sin) is to beg the question.  If it was their parents, siblings, and or society that influenced them to embrace sin (at whatever level) then who influenced the parents and the others?  Of course the answer has to be other people prior to them.  We cannot infinitely regress backwards and have also answered the question.  If men are born innately good and are just influenced to do bad things then someone somewhere had to start it all.  However, before we follow that thread, ask yourself this.  Is it really reasonable to explain all bad behavior as having been taught or modeled?  The two year old that takes a toy from another toddler and hits them on the head with it was taught this?  It stretches credulity to claim all bad behavior cannot ultimately be the fault of the child.  Let's look at what the Bible has to say about this.

Sin is a universal problem

In Romans 5:12-19, it starts out by establishing that all people are sinners.  However, we are pointed back to Genesis chapter 3 where the fault of this problem is laid at the feet of Adam.  Whether you believe in an initial, created, ancestor named Adam (which is a generic word for man) or not, the Bible and modern intellects actually say the same thing, however, at different times.  Modern man says that people today are basically good but can be influenced to bad or evil.  If we were able to remove all evil influences then men would no longer act in evil ways.  I would challenge you to ask yourself if it is possible to remove all evil influences in this world without becoming evil yourself.  The Bible says that man was initially good.  But he was influenced to embrace evil by an outside influence.  Ever since that time, man has been born with a bent towards selfishness and sin.  Initially the world was "very good" with no problems.  Into this "Eutopia" comes the temptation to choose self over the top of God.  In these passages sin is spoken of in a way that almost makes it sound like a disease.  Through one man [Adam] sin entered the world.  But sin wasn't the only thing that entered the world, it has a natural and spiritual consequence of death.  Man was not originally mortal, but became so by rebelling against the Creator.

The affects of this rebellion were not just in the area of legal standing.  The separation from God changed how man functioned spiritually.  But something happened to man physically as well.  In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam that if he ate from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil he "would surely die."  Literally it is "dying you shall die."  Notice the phrase implies immediacy and process.  It is what we see today that even as we live the processes of aging can be compared to dying.  When I am young there is more growing happening than there is dieing.  But cells are dieing everyday.  As I grow older growing eventually comes to a stop and repairing also slows down.  At the same time the dieing of cellular tissues increases in rate.  Eventually this leads to death.  Something physical immediately changed in Adam that is called "dying."  Adam passes on both physical and spiritual traits to his children.  They too are born into a process of "dying you shall die," and they also are born spiritually bent toward sin and separated from God.

Sin is not merely breaking the law

In Romans 5 the Bible goes on to explain that sin is not just a result of the law.  In fact the law is given so that man will see that he is a sinner.  It is easy to think and say, "I'm a good person.  The problem is that there are too many laws.  The laws are bad not me."  Now when you are dealing with the laws of mankind it is true that sometimes "bad" laws are passed and no country has 100% good laws.  But even with that said, laws basically funtion as a societal discussion on what  is generally accepted as good and bad.  This discussion can't make me do good or bad things but it can dredge up things in me that I didn't realize I had. It is easy to think of myself as patient and law abiding, but when I am late for work and driving over the speed limit to get to work, do I see myself as the problem or do I blame everything else including the laws?  Have you ever had people swerve in front of you in the middle of rush hour traffic only to slam on the brakes and almost cause an accident?  Laws do not create sin, they only attempt to define sin.  Thus before Moses received the Law from God, mankind existed in a state where all manner of evil things were going on and the world functioned in a "might makes right" age.  Eventually God had to not only judge mankind, but also lay down a law.  This was first done generally with Noah and then far more explicitly with Moses and Israel.

So, God's law clearly and accurately defines sin for us so that we might discover the true depths of sin's tentacles in our hearts.  Psalm 51:5, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (NIV)

Jesus came to be a better Adam

Romans 5 goes on to contrast the first, natural man, Adam to the first, spiritual man, Jesus.  Because of the offense of Adam death entered the world and all mankind suffers its effects.  The judgment that came from the one offense condemns everyone.  Death reigns over mankind like a powerful tyrant as all grow up to personally embrace sin.  Jesus is, in a sense a 2nd Adam.  Where the first Adam failed and brought us into slavery and suffering, the second Adam succeeds and gives us freedom and eternal life.  The opposite of Adam, Jesus' one act of righteousness and grace causes grace to overflow to many (whosoever will).  Also, out of many offenses, came grace to justify sinners before God.  Lastly, in Jesus new life is made to reign over and in those who have been made righteous by God.  Jesus begins a new "race" of spiritual men who are able to rule over death through Jesus.  In Jesus we do not fear death nor shrink back from doing the right thing because of death.  Also, even when we die God has guaranteed through Jesus' own resurrection that he will overrule death's hold on us.  A day of resurrection is coming when all who are in the grave will hear the command of Christ and come forth into resurrected bodies.  Those who put their faith in Jesus are also reconnected to God by his Spirit.  We are able to connect with God by his Holy Spirit and receive comfort and direction.  2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (NKJV)

When we ignore God's law, we actually take ourselves and our society ever closer to the time in history when each one did what was right in their own eyes.  It is a time of anarchy and power struggles as a "might makes right" attitude dominates the scene.  Before the Great Flood the world was an extremely violent place as competing views of what is bad and good clashed.  We see this today as societies fall apart and the rule of law and order ceases to function.  Perhaps you are reading this and thinking about the parts of God's law that you disagree with.  To you it seems so logical to say, this can't be good. Therefore either this is all made up or God is bad.  Either way I don't have to listen to him.  But think about it this way.  If we really are bent towards selfishness and bad to some degree or another, then it stands to reason that there will be some "good" things that we don't like.  Precisely because they point out the parts of evil that we like.  Which seems more probable to you?  Are you innately good or do you have a nature bent towards some areas of sin?