Hi Clete;
You believe people are born in sin and hence born APART from Christ.
No, I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS!!!!
If babies go to Hell because of Adam's sin, God is unjust.
How many times do you want me to repeat this?
Christ said APART from Him man can do NOTHING (John 15:5).
Yes, but only Calvinists don't understand hyperbole and construct whole doctrines around that lack of understanding in spite the clearest possible direct biblical teaching that is contrary to that doctrine.
You cannot believe this and instead believes APART from Christ man can do SOMETHING.
Well, of course, I can and in fact do! It's because I understand first and foremost that God is not arbitrary as the Calvinists teach. God is just and has removed the curse of Adam by becoming a curse for us at Calvary (Romans 5). People will, therefore, be separated from God (i.e. die) because of their own sin, not Adam's (Ezekiel 18).
Where you even aware that Ezekiel 18 was in the bible before I brought it up here?
That's a real question, by the way, it isn't intended to be insulting or off-putting in any way. I ask because it has been my experience that those who accept the doctrine of Original Sin (which didn't exist in the church prior to Augustine, by the way) had no idea that there is a whole chapter of the Old Testament dedicated to teaching the exact opposite doctrine. And so I'm just curious to know whether you had ever had anyone bring that chapter to your attention before. It's astounding to me how anyone can continue to believe that the doctrine of Original Sin is anything but a blasphemous error after a single reading of Ezekiel 18. I mean, God Himself tells us directly not to believe that He holds people responsible for the sins of their ancestors! He is clearly insulted by the idea. What else is there to say?
It is NOT difficult to see that your position is against what Christ Himself said. Can you explain how your position is not against what Christ said?
If it were not for Christ all men would indeed be cursed and dead spiritually from birth. But Christ removed the curse at Calvary. Your error is to assume that John 15:5 could only apply to believers and not the entire human race. And I do mean to use the word "assume" because that is what you do. You effectively bring your doctrine to the text. It is classic eisegesis rather than the proper exegesis that should be done.
Of course, your first and most important error is a faulty doctrinal foundation. You, as all Calvinists do, build your Theology Proper (your theology of God) on pagan Greek philosophical notions about who God is and what He is like. As a result, you place ideas about how big God is and how much power He has and how much He knows above ideas like justice, righteousness, love, kindness and mercy. You, therefore, build your doctrine upon and even define what righteousness means by ideas such as omnipotence and immutability and omniscience rather than the other way around as the bible itself does. And so you have no problem with (and in fact don't even notice) doctrines that directly imply that God is unjust because you have no understanding of what justice is apart from whatever you THINK that God happens to do (whether He's actually done it or not).
The bible, on the other hand, teaches us to think in just the exact opposite manner. It teaches in countless ways and in hundreds of different verses that God is actually just and NOT arbitrary. Not only that, but it explicitly teaches that justice is the basis of God's authority, not the other way around, as the Calvinists teach.
Psalms 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy and truth go before Your face.
Psalms 97:1 The Lord reigns;
Let the earth rejoice;
Let the multitude of isles be glad!
2 Clouds and darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
We can, therefore, know, without even having to think very hard about it at all, that any doctrine that presents God in an unjust light is a false doctrine. This is the power of having clearly understood and biblically based first principles and the advantage of building a doctrinal system based solely upon them.
Resting in Him,
Clete