By: Zoe Warren

November 28, 2014

DELIVERANCE FROM THE SIN NATURE

INTRODUCTION

In these pages I present a summary of what Holy Spirit has led me to believe
concerning Original Sin, Total Depravity, and Total Inability: the framework for Calvinist
doctrine and much wrong thinking amongst the churches of Christ that began with
Origen, was embellished by Augustine, and found resurrection in the midst of Martin
Luthers reformation with John Calvin.

Calvinism finds its tenets grounded in a formula known as TULIP: Total Depravity/Total
Inability, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and
Perseverance of the Saints. We will not be addressing all of these topics in this paper.
We aim to reform the foundation of the entire theology built on the banks of another
doctrine called Original Sin, or (inherited) Sin Nature. This paper has been produced to
present truth and bring clarity to this one area, thereby, freeing us from the bondages
of the whole system. This paper will bruise the pillars of much Arminian theology as
well. I am not an Arminian, not a Pelagian, not Eastern Orthodox, or Baptist, but rather
a disciple of Christ set for the defense of the Gospel.

It is interesting that I did not set out to disprove Calvinism, Arminianism, or their tenets,
but to understand them. Through researching the concepts I realized that there are
contextually poor interpretations that betray logic, justice, and many of the other plain
straightforward Biblical texts throughout the Bible in order to come to many of the
Calvinist and Reformed Theology confessions. It just so happens that Original Sin/Sin
Nature doctrine is a shared premise for both Arminians and Calvinists.

I have gone through both Arminian and Calvinist texts, websites, and forums. I actually
believed more in line with Calvinist thought before I looked into what I presupposed
based on the influence of weak arguments that I had believed concerning God's will
and His control, or sovereignty. Though the Arminian may be challenged by some of
this paper they will also rejoice at much of the truth therein and I hope to have
presented clear, strong, irrefutable evidence from the Scriptures through contextual
interpretation and Lexical demonstrations for the Calvinist to question much of the
geologic table that his soteriology is established on. By the grace of God and the
power of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth I now understand why God gave power
to men and why He expects men to respond.

Forasmuch then as we are the ospring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the
times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to
repent Acts 17:29-30

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THE RIGHT KIND OF COIN

"Seeing, then, all things have an end, and there is set before us life upon our
observance [of Gods precepts], but death as the result of disobedience, and every
one, according to the choice he makes, shall go to his own place, let us flee from
death, and make choice of life.

For I remark, that two dierent characters are found among menthe one true coin,
the other spurious. The truly devout man is the right kind of coin, stamped by God
Himself.

The ungodly man, again, is false coin, unlawful, spurious, counterfeit, wrought not by
God, but by the devil. I do not mean to say that there are two dierent human natures,
but that there is one humanity, sometimes belonging to God, and sometimes to the
devil. If any one is truly religious, he is a man of God; but if he is irreligious, he is a man
of the devil, made such, not by nature, but by his own choice.

The unbelieving bear the image of the prince of wickedness. The believing possess the
image of their Prince, God the Father, and Jesus Christ, through whom, if we are not in
readiness to die for the truth into His passion, His life is not in us." - Ignatius, Chapter
V. Death is the fate of all such.

Lets begin with some of the gross misrepresentations of Scripture that have permeated
the body of Christ like a canker. These unbiblical doctrines are self evident proof that
we have been given counterfeit coin in the way of original sin/sin nature, total depravity,
and total inability doctrine. These quotes are the natural outworking of the wrong
thinking found within the above mentioned doctrines. These quotes were provided by
Albert Overstreet:

Not one of the following teachings can be found in the Bible. They are all inventions of
men and additions to the Bible and foreign to everything in the Bible. And so they are in
direct disobedience to God's command: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I
command you." Deut. 4:2

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"Even children, dying unbaptized, are lost." Martin Luther
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"The whole human race existed as one moral person in Adam; so that in Adam's sin we
sinned, we corrupted ourselves, and we brought guilt and merited condemnation upon
ourselves. Adam's will was the will of the species, so that in Adam's free act, the will of
the race revolted against God and the nature of the race corrupted itself." Doctrine of
Augustine, fifth century A.D.

"Adam was the federal head of the race and God made a covenant with Adam, our
federal head, agreeing to give eternal life to him and to all his descendants if he
obeyed; but making the penalty for his disobedience the condemnation of all his
descendants. Since our legal representative or federal head did sin, God imputes his
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sin, his guilt, and his condemnation to all his descendants." Doctrine of Cocceius, 17th
century A.D.

"Because Adam sinned all men are born with a corrupt sinful nature and are guilty and
condemned for that nature. They are not guilty for the sin of Adam, but are guilty only
for the corrupt sinful nature that they are born with. It is the corrupt nature only, which
they inherit from Adam, that is sucient cause and legal ground for God to condemn
them." Doctrine of Placeus, 17th century A.D.

"Our nature sinned in Adam." And, "It was just, that after our nature had sinnedwe
should be born animal and carnal." Augustine

"Our nature there transformed for the worse, not only became a sinner, but also begets
sinners." Augustine

"Unconscious infants, dying without baptism, are damned by virtue of their inherited
guilt." Augustine

"From this condemnation no one is exempt, not even newborn children." Augustine

"The 'nature and essence' of man is, from his birth, an evil tree and a child of wrath."
Martin Luther

"Original sin is the hereditary depravity and corruption of our naturewhich first makes
us subject to the wrath of God, and then pro- duces in us works which the Scripture
calls works of the flesh." Calvin

"The sin of Adam is the immediate cause and ground of inborn depravity, guilt, and
condemnation to the whole human race." A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, p. 611

"This evil tendency or inborn determination to evil, since it is the real cause of actual
sins, must itself be sin, and as such must be guilty and condemnable." A. H. Strong,
Systematic Theology, p. 611 - Albert Overstreet

These quotes are almost universally accepted in the western church and especially
among the reformed churches. In fact, this doctrine has made its way into many
evangelical and protestant circles, but it is not founded in truth. A lie can go all the way
around the world before the truths gets its pants on.

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IRREFUTABLE

I would like to also preface this entire treatment with a couple of brief refutations of the
texts that are generally used to produce the original sin/sin nature doctrine. This will
help us to start out on a firmer foundation and may help establish some ground with
you, the reader, as the truth concerning these passages is irrefutable.

REFUTATION OF ROMANS 5 CONFIRMING AN INVOLUNTARY SIN NATURE.

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous." Romans 5:19

To interpret the phrase "made sinners" to mean that men are born sinners and become
sinners involuntarily and necessarily by receiving a sinful nature from Adam, is a forced
and inconsistent interpretation of this passage, for this passage not only says that all
men are "made sinners" because of Adam's transgression, it also says that all men are
"made righteous" by the obedience of Christ, and that the free gift of life "came upon
all men" by Christ Jesus. So for the advocates of the doctrine of original sin to
arbitrarily give to the phrases "made sinners" and "came upon all men" the meaning of
physical force when these phrases refer to Adam's sin, without giving the same
meaning of physical force when they refer to Christ's righteousness, is an example of a
forced and inconsistent interpretation of this passage dictated by a prepossessed
belief in the doctrine of original sin.

Paul does not arm an involuntary, necessary, or irresistible connection between either
the sin of Adam and mankind or the righteousness of Christ and mankind. Otherwise,
Romans 5:18 would teach the universal salvation of mankind:

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"The free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Romans 5:18

We know that universal salvation is not taught in the Bible. Men are not saved
involuntarily, automatically, and necessarily because of the obedience of Christ. Nor are
they "made sinners" involuntarily, automatically, and necessarily because of the
transgression of Adam. But the context of Romans 5:12-21 (and the context of the
whole Bible) shows that men are "made sinners" in the same way they are "made
righteous," that is, voluntarily or willingly.

Paul did not teach that men are "made sinners" involuntarily, by an act of physical
force; because he would have been teaching at the same time that all men are "made
righteous" involuntarily, by an act of physical force. In other words he would have been
teaching that every human being upon the face of the earth is saved involuntarily and
necessarily whether he believes the gospel of salvation or not! - Albert Overstreet

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REFUTATION OF EPHESIANS 2 REFERRING TO A "SIN NATURE."

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of
the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all
formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by NATURE children of wrath, even as the rest." Ephesians 2:1-3

We were dead in trespasses and sins- not dead in a sinful nature that we inherited from
our first parents. Our own trespasses and sins put us to death. The soul that sinneth it
shall die.

We were by "nature" children of wrath, because we walked according to the course of

this world and by reason of use, or rather misuse, we made living in sin our nature. We
made it our nature. Our habit became our natural state. This passage does not say
babies are born that way.

Nature - G5449 physis

Thayers Lexicon Definition C

a mode of feeling and acting which by long habit has become nature

DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN

It is true that death passed upon all men through the First Adam. His expulsion from
the Garden with its Tree of Life removed him from the source of immortality and made
death certain. This is also true of his posterity.

Where does it say in Genesis 3 that we will inherit, or be cursed with, a sin nature? A
doctrine that forms such a colossal foundation-stone for the system should have
unequivocal proof in the Bible. If a theology is based on an unproven philosophic
assumption how can the rest of the system be trustworthy?

WHAT IS NATURAL MAN?

"Natural" (human nature) is equivalent to sensual- of or pertaining to the senses- not

the Spirit. Eve is the example of a natural (human nature) response before she even
disobeyed. She acted according to the dictates of her senses: "When the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree
was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate." Genesis 3:6

Her sensual response had nothing to do with a curse. She did it before there was a
curse. Adam and Eve were not partaking of the divine nature. Apart from partaking of
the divine nature ALL men sin being presented with temptation- from their earliest
days. All of them. Adam was not exempt.

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We inherited death, because God kicked our first parents out of the garden where the
tree of life resides. Not because we have Adam's sin latently bound in our natures.

Adam had a human nature that was obviously capable of sinning, otherwise he would
have never sinned. You can take one look at Adam and Eve before they sinned and see
that they had a weakness. It wasn't a sinful nature. It was their human nature. The
same weakness that all humans have. Death entered the world by sin (from the dust
you came to the dust you will return), and death passed to all men (cut o from the tree
of life).

There is no record there of God imposing this curse of Total Inability, or depravity upon
man's nature. There are other curses listed. God pronounced the death sentence,
which He defined as a return to the dust (Gen. 3:19). Such language obviously denotes
a physical death, not a loss of spiritual ability or a death to God.

God decreed the presence of "thorns and thistles" to make toil more dicult (v.18). He
told the woman that she must endure great pain in childbearing (v.16). Both of these
curses are trivial compared to what would be the most debilitating curse of all: the
removal of all ability to respond to God. Of this we haven't the slightest mention.
George Burnap comments:

'If this doctrine is true, God did not tell man the true penalty, neither the truth, nor the
whole truth, nor a hundredth part of the truth. To have told the whole truth, according
to this hypothesis, He should have said, 'Because ye have done this, cursed be that
moral nature which I have given you. Henceforth such is the change I make in your
natures: that ye shall be, and your ospring, infinitely odious and hateful in my sight.
The moment their souls shall go forth from my hand...if they are suered to live, such
shall be the diseased constitution of their moral natures: that they shall have no
freedom to do one single good action, but everything they do shall be sin....What an
awful blot would such a curse be on the first pages of Scripture!

Jesus himself did not seem to have been a believer in Total Inability. We read in Mark
4:11,12 that he spoke in parables as a judgment against the obstinate Jews. The
purpose of parables was to keep his message from entering their ears, "otherwise they
might turn and be forgiven" (v.12). Had those sti-necked people been allowed to hear
the truth straight out, they might have turned to receive it. But how? Calvinism tells us
that no one can turn and receive the forgiveness of sins because of Total Inability
passed from Adam. There must first be an inward miracle of the heart, an "eectual
call."

Calvinist preachers will sometimes say that they can never persuade natural men of the
gospel no matter how openly, clearly and earnestly they may preach it. It is like
presenting a sermon to a corpse - there is no response. Jesus, however, felt it
necessary to obscure his message in parables to keep certain people from responding
to it. Had he preached the truth openly they would have turned and been forgiven. This

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fact alone is fatal to the Calvinist dogma, for it contradicts the notion that all men have
a native inability to believe.

Jesus sometimes "marvelled" at the unbelief of his hearers (Mark 6:6). But if he
subscribed to and taught Total Inability, it would have been no marvel at all that men
would disbelieve God. - Steve Jones, Calvinism Critiqued

DEAD BABIES?

"David uses a certain hyperbolical exaggeration - of which we have an example in his

own writings Psalm 58:3, 'The wicked go astray from the womb: they go astray as
soon as they are born, speaking lies.' Similar instances are found in Isaiah 48:8, 'I knew
that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the
womb.' John 9:34, 'Thou wast altogether born in sins.' And also, in the opposite case,
Job 31:18, 'From my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father and I have
guided her from my mother's womb. 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and
naked shall I return.' Job 1:21"

We would never imagine Job getting naked and going into his mother's womb. In the
same sense we should not imagine new borns telling lies in the incubator of the
maternity wing.

Psalm 58:3, according to many is supposed to teach that babies are born sinners; but
like Psalm 51:5 it is figurative and not literal. If it were literal, it would teach that babies
speak and tell lies as soon as they are born, and that they alienate themselves from
God and go astray from him immediately upon coming out of the womb.

But all of this is clearly contrary to reality. We know that babies do not do any of these
things at birth. Therefore it is clear that this language is not to be understood literally. If
this verse taught that Babies literally came forth from their mother's womb "estranged
from God," it would contradict other passages from the Bible that teach that babies are
not "estranged from God" at birth. John the baptist was not "estranged from God from
his mother's womb." On the contrary, the angel who announced his birth said, "He
shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." Luke 1:15. This fact
is hard to reconcile with a literal interpretation of Psalms 51:5 and 58:3. Job also
testified that he was a guide to the widow "from his mother's womb." Job 31:18. Job
obviously did not mean that from the moment he was a helpless newborn infant that he
had been ministering to the needs of the widow. Also, the Psalmist David himself
testified that God had been his help "from the womb." Psalm 71:6. It is easy to see that
the phrase "from the womb" is often used in a figurative sense and should not always
be understood in its literal sense.

The Psalmist David uses figurative language throughout his Psalms; and he uses
several figurative expressions in Psalm 51. Verses five, seven, and eight of Psalm 51
are all figurative expressions. So if verse five can be used to teach the doctrine that

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babies are born sinners, then also verse seven can be used to teach the doctrine that
hyssop cleanses us from sin:

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"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." Psalm 51:7
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Also, verse eight can be used to teach the doctrine that God breaks the bones of the
Christian when he sins, and that his broken bones rejoice when he is forgiven:

"Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may
rejoice." Psalm 51:8

And another Psalm, Psalm 58:3, can be used to teach the astonishing doctrine that all
babies talk and tell lies from the very moment of their birth:

"The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born,
speaking lies." Psalm 58:3

But, who would teach from this last text the doctrine that babies really do speak as
soon as they are born? None of these passages should be taken literally. They are all
figurative expressions. If they were taken in their literal sense, they would all teach what
we know to be contrary to reality and impossible: Men do not enter again into their
mother's womb. Hyssop does not purify our sins. Babies do not start speaking as soon
as they come out of the womb. And babies are not born sinners! - Albert Overstreet

David also acknowledged that his baby that died that was born out of wedlock to
Bathsheba (who was then married to someone else) was with God and that David
would go to his baby, but his baby would not come back to him 2 Samuel 12:23. This
baby would have been, according to the doctrines of the Pharisees, "conceived in sin,
surely, David didn't believe himself to be eternally situate among the damned.

SINLESS PERFECTION IN BABIES?

I will concede that we are not born perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Mature
as God is mature- neither was Adam and Eve- if they were perfect (mature) as God is
perfect Adam and Eve would never have fallen to temptation and sinned in the first
place. Sinless perfection implies withstanding temptation. Adam and Eve were not in a
state of sinless perfection in the garden, but were not sinful. It isn't until we sin that we
become sinners- just like Adam.

The Scriptures do say that the heart is desperately wicked, but they do not say that
they are that way from birth- actually it says the opposite- that men harden their heart,
that men corrupt themselves, that children go astray. How can men harden that which
is not soft, or corrupt that which is already corrupted, or go astray when they are
already astray?

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There is not one Scripture that declares that man's nature post the fall is any dierent
when they are born than when Adam was created. We go from "very good just like
Adam and Eve, knitted together in our mothers wombs, known before time by God,
fearfully and wonderfully made, a "marvelous" work- not a sinful one to running with
the Devil.

A child will not die for the sins of their father Ezekiel 18:20. The curse and consequent
cutting o from the tree of life is the reason why children die. Children are not being
punished for the sin of Adam as if it is theirs. That is nonsense. Children sin and just
like Adam and are worthy of death, because of their own actions. At 12 minutes into life
they are already fully being led by the flesh and its desires. It is not sin to want things,
but to make following the flesh our habit (going astray) from the earliest days we train
ourselves to respond to the dictates of the flesh. So when a temptation that is contrary
to the will of the Father comes along we do what he have naturally come to do. Then
we are sinful. Then we continue to practice being led by the flesh even into temptation
that is sin and that practice makes our nature sinful, by reason of use, or rather misuse,
we begin to respond sinfully naturally (sin nature). An example is using our imagination
to fantasize. If we practice that for any length of time we begin to go on autopilot. This
is how sin becomes natural to us- through the continued practice of sin.

JESUS LUV DA KIDS!

Jesus promises, Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven Matthew 18:3. Does Jesus want us to
convert and become like lawless, sinful children, who are destined for hell? Jesus
promises us that we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven if we do not become like
children (see also 1 Corinthians 14:20). Children obviously represent innocence. This
verse makes no sense if children are born totally depraved. Sin separates us from God
Isaiah 59:2. If children are sinful, they are separated from God. But they are innocent.

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels
in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven." Matthew 18:10

Similarly, Jesus told His disciples on one occasion, Let the children alone, and do not
hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these
Matthew 19:14. Again, think about what this verse would mean if children inherit sin.
The kingdom of heaven would belong to those separated from God. Instead, since
children are innocent, the kingdom of heaven belongs to the innocent- those who
belong to God.

Scripture teaches us that, at death, the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the
spirit will return to God who gave it Ecclesiastes. 12:7. The parents do not give the
soul to a child, but God does. If God hates sin Psalm 45:7, cannot look at sin Isaiah
59:2, and is the giver of the spirit, a newborn babys soul cannot be sinful.

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GOOD GOD

Many argue that Romans 3 declares that no one on the face of the Earth does good,
but that is another unfounded assertion based on a presupposition and not on the
breadth of the Scriptures. That whole diatribe comes from Psalms 14 and 58 where
God is talking about the fool and Paul uses it in Romans 3 to establish that the Jews
have no advantage over the Gentiles, because it was God talking about Jewish people
who didn't believe in Him. It is not a proverb to be applied to every human being ever
born. Plenty of human beings did good, but being born a Jew does not predispose
anyone to do good, or to be right with God- this Pauls contextual argument: the Jew
has no advantage just being born Jews- look here is God talking about the Jewish
people that didnt believe.

Even Jesus concluded that there are some good men: "The good man out of the
good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil
treasure brings forth what is evil" Luke 6:45

"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in
the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of
the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts
the mean while accusing or else excusing one another..." Romans 2:14-15

This passage even establish that Gentiles did the law naturally- by nature. Showing
that God had put the revelation of right and wrong in their hearts and they were doing
it.

All that God makes is good- though not good in the same sense as God, but the term
good needs some exposition. If we limit the term to be interpreted always in the sense
of how Jesus used it in Mark 10:18 we would conclude the writers in error when the
term was used to describe Barnabas in Acts 11:24, or when Jesus describes what a
"good" man brings forth in Matthew 12:35, or Timothy to be a "good" minister in 1
Timothy 4:6. There is a multiplicity of definitions for this word worn by many a
theologian for the purpose of bringing forth repentance on the part of the self
righteous, but just because it makes good preaching material doesn't necessarily make
it the only useful definition of the word.

How that relates to our moral condition as newborns is that we are neither divine, nor
evil, but a soul upon which no moral demand has been made and therefore can be
denoted as Adam and Eve among the very good things that God has made that is fit
for divine purpose and yet uncorrupted in morality for we do not know good from evil.

Every person has folly bound up in the heart from earliest days Proverbs 22:15. But
was Adam any dierent? The Scriptures never say so, and it is not our responsibility to
prove a negative (a logical impossibility).
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"Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued
many schemes." Ecclesiastes 7:29

God makes people upright- and they pursue the wrong things.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God! They have corrupted themselves" Psalm 53:1

The writer of this Psalm declares by the Holy Spirit that people have corrupted
themselves. They were not born corrupt.

So the need for a new heart is post moral faculty in that the heart, representing the
reasoning, feeling, laboratory of thought and judgement, is corrupted as early as
humans make use of reason and choice in relation to self with the corruption of the
world as our source of truth- which was Eve's very fault.

To say that no one can choose to do good is like saying that no one can be obedient to
their parents. If no one could ever do good apart from an inward miracle then telling
your unregenerate children, who lack the "spirit" of faith, to obey you would be an
exercise in futility. It makes every command to the unregenerate superfluous
foolishness, but we know that Paul was blameless touching the righteousness that
comes by the law- meaning that he was able to perform the works that it demanded.

There is nothing in Scripture that says that our heart is not acceptable to God as
babies- before we transgress, work iniquity, or transgress, so the new heart is a
renewal of the hearts original moral condition (forgiveness of sins), a writing of God's
constitution upon it (law written), and then the empowering grace to produce a moral
condition that coincides with God's very own, so that we all have one heart.

BORN AGAIN IN SIN?

We are saved by grace through faith. Calvinists and Reformed Theologians believe that
they were saved before time began apart from faith. They assert that the elect, who
have been chosen before time to be a believer, is born again before he has faith and
then the elect is given faith, so that he can respond to God. This is a strange heresy,
but represents one of the founding stones of the Augustinian theology.

Believing the word of truth regenerates. The word cannot work in an unbeliever. The
word works in us when we believe- even to regenerate.

"For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God
which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really
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is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." 1 Thessalonians
2:13

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The word of God works in those who believe.

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"He chose to give us birth through the word of truth..." James 1:18
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We cannot be birthed, born again, regenerate apart from faith, because the word only
works in those who believe.

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,
to those who believe in His name." John 1:12

Those who receive Him are those who believe in His Name. Those are given the right to
become children of God.

"...who were BORN, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but
OF GOD." John 1:13

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That is how we are BORN OF GOD.

According to Calvinists and Reformed Theologians their response to the Gospel is

preplanned by God, so they are saved and they could never have experienced
damnation, right? Since before time, right? That means they are saved from the wrath
to come before they even enter the world- apart from faith.

SPIRITUAL DIE LEMMA

In summation, Ezekiel 18:20 is the end of the generational curse and it pertains to
souls. Children are not born spiritually dead. They sin and then they die spiritually. "The
soul that sins IT shall die." It isn't dead until it sins. So no one is born spiritually dead.

"Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to
life and I died." Romans 7:9

Though, doing good does not matter in any way to our salvation. We cannot earn
anything by doing good, so it doesn't matter if we are good, or not prior to faith, to the
exception of a false doctrine being perpetrated upon the people of God that says that
we are born sinful and depraved.

There is much evidence to refute the claims of Original Sin/Sin Nature theology, total
depravity, and total inability. I pray that you return to the truths presented here and
prayerfully open your Bibles to the passages that have been exposited. Read their
context, grab a lexicon and a Greek interlinear, parse some Greek with the Holy Spirit
and find that breath of refreshment that will come from the Spirit as the confusion of
traditions is washed away by the regeneration and cleansing of the Word.
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