Kids Sin: A Rant
Mumford & Sons has disappointed me.
This is very sad, because I love Mumford & Sons. The folk style of their first couple albums is probably my favorite kind of music, but I like their newer stuff too and was excited when I saw people describing their latest album, Rushmere, as something of a combination of their older and newer styles, along with some unique elements. Not too excited though—I usually hate when bands I like release new albums, because change bothers me in annoying ways.
Unfortunately, Rushmere produced about the emotions I’d expected when I finally listened to it—but not just for the reasons I’d predicted.
Yes, Rushmere bothered me for dumb, change-resistant reasons. And also because it sounded weirdly like country music. But also because of the last song, “Carry On”, with lyrics like, “I will take this darkness over any light you cast/You and your original sin” and, “Carry on/Carry on/’Cause there’s no evil in a child’s eyes”.
Of course, I’ve seen plenty of people reject or criticize the doctrine of original sin or even try to paint it as ridiculous, but what really gets on my nerves is when people try to claim it’s illogical that we could argue that kids ever sin.
And this is something I’ve heard kind of a lot. People talking about how cruel Christianity is in telling children that they’re inherently flawed (apparently they missed the whole “Jesus died for our sins” thing), as if that’s a completely ridiculous statement to make. And, I mean, yeah…kids haven’t sinned as much as adults. Because they haven’t been alive long enough. And they’re innocent—in that they don’t know about the world. And their sins aren’t as cool-looking, I guess? They’re less experienced sinners, so they do like funny beginner fail sins?
I don’t know about you, but about a fourth of my specific childhood memories involve me sinning. And I don’t mean doing something I thought nothing of and then getting told by some adult that it was sinful. I mean acting with the very clear and specific intention of hurting or disrespecting another human being.
Like, from the time my little sister was born (I was two), I remember acting towards her—and my other sisters—in truly hateful ways (by which I mean being mean…not acting loving. I don’t mean I wanted her dead, I promise.).
Maybe I’m a twisted psychopath.
But from the way I’ve seen other young kids treat their siblings, I think that would mean everyone else was one too.
The bullying my friend went through in third grade was certainly not caused by innocent kids who had just been corrupted by adults (Oh, you mean the adults who did nothing with their time but try to teach kids not to be bullies?).
Kids understand the humanity of others, and even when they’re young and struggle with empathy, they comprehend the fact that you’re not supposed to hurt another person. They know the values they’ve been taught (Yeah, yeah, they’ve been brainwashed…what about all that stuff adults taught them about empathy and respect? Oh, just “brainwashing” too? No?), and they know when they’re breaking them—they, like the rest of us, get pleasure from it. And they, like the rest of us, can get pleasure from cruelty and harm as well. I’ve been a little kid. A pretty short time ago. I know.
It seems to me like the people who talk about kids being innocent as an argument against original sin must have lost all memories of being children. I’ve seen them exhibit just as much cruelty as adults—only without the means or understanding to realize they can take their little acts further.
In fact, it seems so clear to me that kids are sinful, it feels a bit insulting when people try to act like they’re not. Why can’t kids be evil? Because they’re too young? Why does being young make it impossible to be evil?
It feels like the same mindset that says kids can’t change the world for the better, have their own opinions, write a book, or run a half-marathon. Saying kids don’t sin is like saying that kids aren’t their own people, that if they try to choose for themselves, to decide on their own actions with their own intent behind them, it won’t work.
(In fact, it seems related to the underestimation of children and teens’ ability to think for themselves that I’ve found in a lot of conservative circles, but that’s beside the point—except that it makes the anti-sinfulness people seem a bit hypocritical.)
But some adults who miss what they’ve lost romanticize childhood, and it would mess up their rose-colored vision to admit that children are sinful. They like to think the world was perfect during their childhood—and of course, for that to be true, they and the other kids around them have to be perfect too.
But I don’t like that trope—mostly in faith-based or nauseatingly sweet movies—where the completely faultless, perfect child frolics innocently through the lives of all the adults they come in contact with, acting perfectly sweet all the time and seemingly unable to understand why whatever bad things happen in the story would ever be done.
I think a lot of other people dislike that trope too (at least in its most common, least realistic form). Why? Because it’s inaccurate.
Because we remember being sinful, beautiful, autonomous little children, and we don’t recognize the flat, simplified, smoothed out piece of cardboard people try to pass off as a real kid.
Children have thoughts and feelings and desires, just like adults. Children make their own choices—they’re just less informed and easier to influence. And there’s nothing about being inexperienced that makes you immune to the Fall. Children are person enough to choose sin and have desires contrary to God’s—to be fallen and sinful creatures, just as much as older generations.
