" ...we are not only born half dead, but wholly and altogether dead. See Ro 6:2. So then he calls those dead who are not regenerated: for as the immortality of those who are damned is not life, so this knitting together of body and soul is properly not life, but death in those who are not ruled by the Spirit of God ...He shows the cause of death, that is, sins."
~ Geneva Study Bible
Sin is the death of the soul. A man dead in trespasses and sins has no desire for spiritual pleasures. When we look upon a corpse, it gives an awful feeling. A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothing but the ruins of a man. But if we viewed things aright, we should be far more affected by the thought of a dead soul, a lost, fallen spirit. A state of sin is a state of conformity to this world. Wicked men are slaves to Satan. Satan is the author of that proud, carnal disposition which there is in ungodly men; he rules in the hearts of men. From Scripture it is clear, that whether men have been most prone to sensual or to spiritual wickedness, all men, being naturally children of disobedience, are also by nature children of wrath. ~ Matthew Henry
"Scripture diagnoses sin as a universal deformity of human nature, found at every point in every person. (I Kings 8:46; Romans 3:9-23; 7:18; I John 1:8-10) ...The moral deformity is dynamic [see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dynamic for definition of dynamic]: sin is an energy of irrational, negative, & rebellious reaction to God. It is a spirit of fighting God in order to play God. The root of sin is pride & enmity [see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enmity for definition of enmity] against God ... the willful opposition of the fallen heart to God's claims on our life."
~ excerpted from New Geneva Study Bible note on Original Sin & Total Depravity
So, having studied the nature of sin & it's pervasive influence on Haley (& all of the unregenerate & even upon those of us who are born-again) you can better understand WHY people are so adamant about holding onto their sins. We have a biblical explanation of why women are so adamantly & powerfully motivated to slay their sons & daughters by abortion.
In the Bible sin is described as:
a) rebellion against God's rule
b) missing the mark God set for us to aim at
c) transgressing the Law
d) offending God's purity by defiling oneself
e) incurring guilt before God as Judge
We can see all of these elements at work in our own souls. The doctrine of original sin makes the point that the stubborn unbeliever or religious hypocrite (like all of us) is not a sinner because she sins, but she sins because she is a sinner. We are BORN with a nature enslaved to sin. While the aborting woman expects everyone (including GOD) to bow to her wishes & desires, she is unwilling to bow to the desire of her own child to live, to be love & protected. And obviously, the mother who is killing her baby wants everyone to be concerned with her personal pleasure & desire to avoid what she views as unpleasantness in having to deal with a growing infant in her womb & a child to raise outside of the womb. This is a very self-centered subjective view (all about HER) & shows no mercy or kindness for her baby or concern for any of us who have prayed & spoken holy pleas to prevent her from murdering her child (our neighbor).
This is the woeful condition of all sinners. It is important to ask the Lord to search OUR heats to see if there be any wicked way in us. mpenitence is a very dangerous condition. I would highly recommend that you read Thomas Watson's biblical treatise on "The Reasons Enforcing Repentance" at: http://www.fivesolas.com/watson/repent5.htm I am confident that you will find some excellent godly wisdom (spiritual meat) to chew on & to share.
God bless you all as you seek to share the mercy & truth of Jesus Christ with the lost. May it be that we ourselves are continually humbled under the hand of God that we might give Him the glory He is due & to love our neighbors as ourselves.
If we understand the awful damnation which awaits the unrepentant we will more earnestly seek to see them delivered unto Jesus for salvation. By properly communicating the wicked slavery of sin to yourself & to those around you, God can & will use you to awaken a desire for mercy. Let us preach the gospel & sound the trumpet that God might wake sinners from the dead, for His great glory & the eternal good of those around us. Matthew Henry commented:
"What reason have sinners, then, to seek earnestly for that grace which will make them, of children of wrath, children of God and heirs of glory! God's eternal love or good-will toward his creatures, is the fountain whence all his mercies flow to us; and that love of God is great love, and that mercy is rich mercy. And every converted sinner is a saved sinner; delivered from sin and wrath. The grace that saves is the free, undeserved goodness and favour of God; and he saves, not by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Grace in the soul is a new life in the soul. A regenerated sinner becomes a living soul; he lives a life of holiness, being born of God: he lives, being delivered from the guilt of sin, by pardoning and justifying grace. Sinners roll themselves in the dust; sanctified souls sit in heavenly places, are raised above this world, by Christ's grace. The goodness of God in converting and saving sinners heretofore, encourages others in after-time, to hope in his grace and mercy. Our faith, our conversion, and our eternal salvation, are not of works, lest any man should boast. These things are not brought to pass by any thing done by us, therefore all boasting is shut out. All is the free gift of God, and the effect of being quickened by his power. It was his purpose, to which he prepared us, by blessing us with the knowledge of his will, and his Holy Spirit producing such a change in us, that we should glorify God by our good conversation, and perseverance in holiness. None can from Scripture abuse this doctrine, or accuse it of any tendency to evil. All who do so, are without excuse."
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