Igneous Quill

My first semester attending Central Christian College of the Bible (CCCB) was a rough one.  Thankfully, I wasn't enrolled full-time, but instead was living in the dorm, taking one class and carrying a full course load over at Moberly Area Community College.  Had I been full-time I might have dropped out sooner and missed some important things, like unlearning hereditary original sin as a doctrine.

A little research after I started at CCCB turned up that this movement of churches, the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, generally rejects hereditary original sin.  That being the teaching that children are already born guilty of sin, though not their own.  Still, one of my classmates, who then was an "evangelical" outsider like me at the time, came to me one day in near-total shock, having discovered that "this bunch rejects original sin."

To be completely clear, the people of this movement don't deny that there was a "fall." Rather, it is the idea of being "born in sin" that is rejected.  I came around to their perspective over the course of a couple of years and still hold this view, but have trouble with one of the passages used to support it: Ezekiel 18.

In Ezekiel 18 three generations of men are described.  The first does what is right in the sight of God, the second does what is evil and the third may either follow in the corrupt and violent ways of his father or choose the path of righteousness.  These verses are commonly utilized to support moral individualism.  Again, I agree with this perspective on the human condition.  I just don't think that's what this passage was talking about specifically.

In context, the prophet was referring to successive generations of kings: Josiah, Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin.  The trouble with the people of God was reflected in their kings, or vice versa.  In any event, while free will is evident and repentance clearly an option, the real story was one of prophetically declared options and the purposes of God.

In a pinch I would still use Ezekiel 18 to demonstrate that guilt isn't inherited and that options really do exist that can be freely chosen or rejected.  My understanding, however, would be deeper and informed by the knowledge that this is really the story of Israel, her kings and the faithfulness of God to his promises and his own nature.

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live." - Ezekiel 18:30-32 NRSV