DOES PSALMS 51:5 SUPPORT THE DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN?

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalms 51:5).

Short answer, no.  As is often the case in the Psalms and Proverbs, this is a Hebrew parallelism.  The second half of the sentence defines the first.  The circumstances of the conception do not mean that the results of the conception are tainted with sin.  Actually, David understood the systemic nature of sin, sin is my family history.  David could have said, "Ten generations ago (see Ruth 4:12-22; Matt. 1:2-6; Genesis 38:12-30; Deuteronomy 23:2) my family was conceived in sin and I did what my family has always done."  A sinful family system has an immediate influence on a conceived, innocent baby, unborn and newborn.  A pregnant woman who smokes, drinks, over eats, is unmarried has negatively influenced the little one immediately after conception.  At birth, anger, lack of self discipline, over work and under involvement, dysfunctional relationship with dad, etc. all are part of a sinful family system and exert a huge amount of sinful influence on the baby.  When I counsel, on the second session, I have the counselee do a genogram, a 3 or 4 generation family history that helps me to understand both the negative and positive dynamics  that have influenced my client.

Truth be told, we are all in sinful family systems, but that does not mean that the new-born is a sinner at birth!  It only means that he/she was born into a sinful family and as a result, will become a sinner.

In short, the new-born will experience some of the consequences of the parent's sin, but none of the guilt of the parent's sin. 

Regardless of what I have said above, the genre is poetry and thus highly emotional.  That's hardly the basis on which to build Christian doctrine.

Our Father's Blessings,
Tom