Me First!!!

Yesterday, I heard an argument against the concept of Original Sin - that children aren't born bad, their egocentricity is just a survival mechanism.

Is that true? Is it absolutely necessary for a baby to be totally self-focussed in order to survive? Is it evidence that they're not "sinful", they're just trying to grow up?

If we lived in a world where no one operated under the principle of "me first", then a child's egocentrism wouldn't be necessary. Caregivers would be attuned to the need for their children to survive. Children wouldn't need to demand attention, sustenance etc, because their care providers would be willing, ready and able to give them what they needed any time.

On the contrary, I think the egocentric impulse provides ample evidence that we are sinful from birth. What is sin? Sin is putting "me" at the centre of the universe, instead of the One who made the universe. The key temptation in Gen 3:5 is "you will be like God," and the result of the Fall is that we all want to think we are.

People like to put sin "out there", as in things we might do or say. But why do we lie? We lie because we want to make ourselves look good, we want to avoid looking bad, or having other people think badly of us. Why steal? Because we think we deserve something that we didn't earn, so we just take something without paying for it. Why commit adultery? Because our desires are more important than anything else - commitments, covenants, family etc. Why covet? Same reason as stealing: we think we deserve something we don't have. Why worship idols? Because we think it's going to get us something in return: happiness, health, wealth, meaning, significance. Once we toppled God out of his rightful place, there really was only room for one other person: ourselves.

It's just that as we get older, we get better at hiding it.