Previous Questions and Answers
Subject: Is there a period of innocence when we are born?
Just a quick question, we
are born in sin but are we born with sin? If so there can be no period of
innocence, or am I wrong?
Yes, there is a
period of innocence. We are all conceived in sin, according to Psalm 51:5,
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin
did my mother conceive me.” But babies do not sin in the womb.
Romans 9:11 says, “(For the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that
calleth;)”
At what point does that period of innocence end, once a baby is born? The Bible does not give an age, but we do know what David said when he and Bathsheba’s newborn baby died in 2 Samuel 12:21-23, "Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” So there obviously is a period of innocence. It has to last until a person is old enough to mentally comprehend that he/she is a sinner, which means that there are some mentally handicapped people that never do get to that point in life.
