Jack Frost in his book Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship talks about the idea that we are born with an orphan heart because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The orphan heart feels separated from God, without a home, and alone in this world. It is a heart full of fears, anxieties, insecurities, low self-esteem, independence, and no feelings of love, intimacy, belonging, or joy. It is a heart that compels a person toward aggressive striving, self-control, manipulation, anger, hate, rejection, addictions, hyper-religious activities, performance orientation, withdrawal, shallow levels of conversation (news, weather, and sports), and wearing masks.
I believe that this is what most people refer to as our “sin nature,” “depravity wound,” or “being born in sin (spiritually dead)” because of the fall of man in the Garden. However, Paul writes in Rom. 7:9 that, “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” Could it be possible that we are born spiritually alive, but with an orphan heart? This would help explain what happens to aborted children or very young infants that die without having the chance to accept Jesus as their Savior. Their alive spirits would allow them to return to heaven and not be condemned to eternity in Hell just because they were “born in sin.” The little child does not have to be taught how to sin, not because they were born in sin spiritually dead, but because the orphan heart compels them to seek comfort in wrong ways, try to control their world, or to be disobedient. If a nurturing and loving mother and father begin to pour out their love even before the child is born, the orphan heart is displaced by the spirit of Sonship, first in a natural sense and later in a spiritual sense when they make Jesus their Lord and Savior. Because the child knows that they have a home and a safe place to grow up, they will not be easily tempted to do the wrong thing or rebel against their parents. They will begin to make good choices from an early age.
