Children are not born morally and ethically neutral. The Bible teaches that the heart is “deceitful and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV). The child’s problem is not an information deficit. His problem is that he is a sinner. There are things within the heart of the sweetest little baby that, allowed to blossom and grow to fruition, will bring about eventual destruction.
It is biblically correct that people are not born morally and ethically neutral. The Bible does teach that the heart is deceitful and wicked. In fact, it brings out just how bad we are when we stand before a holy God. Most of the contexts in which these verses are found have to do with diagnosing the symptomatic behaviors of wicked, evil men. The statements in the Bible describe their behaviors, then the Bible defines why that is. Context is very important.
