Dear
Brother
Faull,
I heard a brother
quote Psalms 58:3 to
prove we are totally
depraved and born in
sin and babies are lost. “The wicked are estranged from
the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born,
speaking lies.”


ANSWER:
As sheep we were not born away from the fold of
God. We went astray and need to return to the
Shepherd.
Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
I Peter 2:25, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but
are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of
your souls.”
We were not born prodigal sons. We left our Father
and became prodigal sons. Luke 15
If we were born totally depraved, we were born like
the devil. (But remember, we must become
converted and be as little children for “of such” is the
Kingdom of Heaven.) What? Little depraved sinners
make up the Kingdom of Heaven?
Matthew 18:3, “And said, Verily I say unto you,
Except ye be converted, and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven.”
Luke 18:16, “But Jesus called them unto him, and
said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid
them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”
When we are born we go astray. Which way?
Do we go astray “toward Satan?” (Then we are born
Holy, like God.)
Do we go astray “toward God?” (Surely one cannot
go astray toward God. Obviously, then we were not
born depraved like Satan.)
CONCLUSION: James 1:13-15, “13 Let no man say
when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot
be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But
every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own
lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death.”
As the innocent child begins to be tempted of his own
lusts he is “drawn away” and enticed and then he sins and
finally becomes dead in sin. If it is wrong to say that God
tempts us, how much more to say God created us as little,
totally depraved sinners? Indeed, Calvinists say of
children that they “are corrupt by nature in all faculties of
their being and there is not one good thing in them but are
bent on sin from conception and incapable of one good
thought or action in the sight of God.”
To go astray from total depravity could only be “toward
God”. Imagine, going toward God being called “going
astray”.
Psalms 58:3 is a hyperbole to show that men are indeed
sinners. What is a hyperbole? An overstatement, a figure
of speech in which something is said for emphasis, an
extreme exaggeration for emphasis to impress the hearer
or reader of a truth. Examples: I’m so hungry I could eat
a horse. He ate everything in the house. I’d give my right
arm for a pizza.
So, likewise, to impress upon us that men are sinners, we
are told we go astray as soon as we are born, speaking
lies. (Obviously, a newborn cannot speak.) “In sin, did
my mother conceive me” is a hyperbole that David used
to confess that he was indeed a sinner. Psalm 51.
Some say, “I’ve been a Christian since I was born” or “I
was born a Christian.” These statements are used to
emphasize they were raised in the Church since
childhood. Do not let these hyperbole’s of Scripture lead
you into the false conclusion of Calvinism that we were
born sinners when it is really just a confession that we are
in fact sinners. We have gone astray from God because

we have yielded to our own desire.