Hello
@Paul., as far as the Scriptural evidence for the loss of our first parents' neutral "free will", these verses come to mind.
Romans 3
9 We have already charged that both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) are all under sin;
10 as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
23 ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
And speaking of Christians prior to coming to saving faith, the Apostle Paul says this:
Ephesians 2
1 You were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among 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.
As far as reasoning apart from the Scriptures goes, we need look no further than the most common saying among us which is, "
nobody's perfect". IOW, there is something that happened to us from the get-go (something in our DNA you might say), that caused the LOT of us, W/O exception, to be sinners. Surely if this was not the case, at least a few of us over the years would have chosen to be righteous instead
Also, since we know that God made us "
upright" .. e.g.
Ecclesiastes 7:29a/created us in His perfect
image .. e.g.
Genesis 1:26-27, we know that the fault for our collective sinfulness as a race lies with our progenitors, whose ~tarnished~ image is the image that we are all "begotten in" (instead of God's original, perfect image).
That's part of it anyway
God bless you!
--David
Ecclesiastes 7
29 Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.
.