The right to live,
then, means a just right of existence which cannot be properly taken
away.
[183]Because the parents possessed no right to life, every child born
into the world from then until now has been born imperfect, unrighteous,
a sinner, disapproved in God's sight, under condemnation, and therefore
with no right to life. The life that any of us has lived has been merely
by permission; and all who have died have died justly; for nothing but a
perfect creature is entitled to life. For this reason the Prophet wrote:
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me".
(Psalm 51:5) St. Paul writing under inspiration, expressed the same thing,
saying: "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned".--Romans 5:12.
[184]All the human race, then, from Adam until now having been born
imperfect, it follows that if any ever get full life and the right to
life he must get it through the loving Jehovah God. Unless God had made
some provision for the redemption of man from death and the lifting up
of him again to the condition of life, the time would come when there
would be no people on the earth. We remember that Adam lived 930 years;
and now a man scarcely lives to be half a century old. The race has been
degenerating for centuries, growing weaker and weaker, and ultimately
all would come to that condition in which they would be unable to
transmit even the spark of life, and the earth would be depopulated.
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