Mormon Dilemma 101

Are men born into sin?

Mosiah 3:19 says yes; “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

 

But…

James Talmadge says no and explains the viewpoint of the Church in Articles of Faith, pg. 63; “It has become a common practice with mankind to heap reproaches upon the progenitors of the family, and to picture the supposedly blessed state in which we would be living but for the fall; whereas our first parents are entitled to our deepest gratitude for their legacy to posterity—the means of winning title to glory, exaltation, and eternal lives. But for the opportunity thus given, the spirits of God’s offspring would have remained forever in a state of innocent childhood, sinless through no effort of their own…”

And then of course we have our Bibles!  God’s word is always faithful and tells us that sin is an inherited attribute of man!

Romans 3:23; “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:12; “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

Why would we ever hold deep gratitude towards Adam and Eve?  Because of their poor choices I inherited a sin nature and fight it every single day of my life.  I can’t think of any other thing I hate most in life as my sin nature is what separates me from God whom I love and want to please.