Friday, July 24, 2009

An Argument for Original Guilt?

Original Guilt is the doctrine that all of humanity is legally imputed the sin of Adam in the garden, even infants. But is there any good reason to believe in this doctrine? Some have objected that it simply is not fair because an agent s has no control over sin x, but yet agent s is held morally responsible for sin x. But perhaps there are good biblical reasons for thinking it is true. Here is two such scriptures that might suggest this:

Romans 8:10 "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness."

and

Romans 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

This is how Romans 5:12 and 8:10 might entail original sin:

P1: When people die it is only because of their sin (original or actual)

P2: Infants die

C3: Hence, infants have sin

P4: The sin that infants have is either actual or original

P5: The sin is not actual.

C6: Hence, the sin is original that infants have.


Most People tend to think that infants in the womb and one day old infants do not have the mental capacity to actually sin, but it seems clear that one day old infants and infants in the womb do die. The sin they die for is therefore, original rather than actual. This argument seems valid and sound to me. What do you think?