Children go thru a process of learning right and wrong Deut 1:39; Isa 7:15-16 then become accountable to God Rom 7:8-9.
Sure.
This is known as the age of accountability.
This does not mean children are born free of the sin nature.
They are born with the sin nature but are free of the consequences
UNTIL they reach the age of accountability.
Ephesians 2:3
3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Even Christians were children of wrath at one time.
Children not in age,,,but in position.
When a person becomes responsible for their sins,,,they become children of wrath.
I agree with you that a child would not be responsible for their sinning if they died,,,
however, they do sin.
Paul does not say in Rom 3 men are born depraved.
Rom 3:12 "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Paul says they are GONE out of the way, not born out of the way. He says they BECOME unprofitable not born unprofitable. Many verses speak to the wickedness of man but none say man was born that way, it is what men choose to become.
A person either has the sin nature or he doesn't.
He is either born with it or not.
It doesn't suddenly come upon you.
Genesis 8:21
21The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
Youth in the above verse means all the way back to birth.
From na'ar; (concretely) a boy (as active), from the age of infancy to adolescence; by implication, a servant; also (by interch. Of sex), a girl (of similar latitude in age) -- babe, boy, child, damsel (from the margin), lad, servant, young (man).
see HEBREW na'ar
source: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/5288.htm
Man lost his innocence in the Garden.
Genesis 3:11
11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
No verse says man is born with a sin nature. Cain had the ability to choose to well as to choose to not do well, Gen 4:7, he chose to not do well while Abel chose to do well Heb 11:4. Why then did Abel not "tend to lean toward sin"?
As I said,,,man TENDS to evil but not everyone is evil....not everyone sins continually...
some persons, even though lost, are nice persons that do good in life but are not familiar with God.
However, after salvation, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we no longer have this tendency.
My point about Adam and Eve was to show all that is needed for sin to exist is a law and man transgressing that law..no original sin or total depravity required for man to be a sinner.
Original Sin is the sin of Adam.
Total Depravity is not a teaching of Christianity but is believed only by the reformed faith.
Sin simply means missing the mark....doing or not doing what God would want.
There was no "law" when Adam sinned.
The law is what God pronounces.
God said DO NOT EAT OF THIS TREE
THAT is a law.
I don't know what you are, but the ideas of total depravity, original sin are Calvinistic.
Total Depravity is calvinistic.
Original Sin is biblical and goes all the way back to the beginning of the church.
This is simple history.
