@Sean Pitman: The scenario is less than perfect. This …

Comment on GC Delegates Vote to Tighten Language of Fundamental #6 on Creation by Rich.

@Sean Pitman: The scenario is less than perfect. This is a hypothetical situation that could never happen. This makes God less than perfect, because He “failed” to tell them about a law that He had established. The bottom line is that if there is an established law, it can be broken, whether you are aware of it or not. Unlike human civil law, God does not hold us accountable if we are unaware of the transgression of His law. Let’s look at the life of Paul as found in 1Timothy 1:12-13. “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” In verse 15 Paul refers to himself as the chief of sinners, referring back to his “old” life. One cannot be a “sinner” unless one breaks one of God’s laws. Obviously, Paul was breaking God’s laws, but he believed he was doing what was good…but God was merciful to him, because he did it “ignorantly in unbelief”.

Rich Also Commented

GC Delegates Vote to Tighten Language of Fundamental #6 on Creation
Regarding the question: “Would Adam and Eve have been guilty of sin if God had not directly told them not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?”. Without the/a law there can be no sin. By telling Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of that tree, He was establishing a law. From that point on it became a sin to partake of that tree. Breaking the law is always sin, regardless of our knowledge or lack of knowledge of a paticular law. But untill we are brought to an awareness of the law we are not held accountable for transgressing it. And yes, one who is unaware of the Sabbath commandment, and is breaking it, is guilty of transgressing the fourth commandment. But he is not held accountable until he is brought to a full knowledge of the law. This is the beauty of the Holy Spirit and the process we call sanctification.


GC Delegates Vote to Tighten Language of Fundamental #6 on Creation
I would take issue with Geraty’s statement, “since when is salvation by correct knowledge anyway?”.
Correct knowledge determines how we view God. In evolution we have eons of death and decay before man emerged, versus the Genesis 1 account, which has man being formed by God and made in His image and likeness.
One view shows essentially a very cruel, disinterested God, and the Biblical view shows a very loving, compassionate God. This is precisely why “correct knowledge” is so important, and potentially salvational.
In addition accepting the evolutionary account of man’s eventual emergence over untold eons of time is incompatible with God’s hand written fourth commandment. How can man possibly work six days and rest on the seventh in the evolutionary model? Therefore, I propose that it is impossible to be an evolutionist, theistic or otherwise, and be a Seventh Day Adventist Christian.


Recent Comments by Rich

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@Inge Anderson: I would like to make just one point. When Jesus was commenting on the widow who gave her last two mites, He was making a point that the widow gave sacrificially or “all she had” as opposed to the wealthy who gave only from their “abundance”. It is not how much we give, but our motive in giving. We are to give from the heart. This was the point Christ was trying to make. We are to be good stewards. If we know, or if we are certain that funds are being blatantly misused and we continue to give, we become as guilty as the ones misusing the funds. One more point… the widow probably had no other options as to where to give her money. In our world today we have many options regarding where to give our tithes and offerings. All of our funds ultimately belong to God. Therefore we need to manage His funds wisely.


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The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s 28 fundamental beliefs are the framework for our denomination’s beliefs, based on Biblical truth. If these are rejected (not upheld) by our leadership and/or institutions, then the very reason for our existence as a denomination begins to unravel. In regard to the teaching of evolution in its various forms at LaSierra University, it strikes at the very heart of Adventism…the belief that the fourth commandment was referring to a literal seven day creation week. Any form of evolution (including theistic) is incompatible with the fourth commandment. They are opposites, and simply cannot both be true. Either we believe the fourth commandment, which was written by God’s own hand (twice!), or we must accept that God wrote a lie…its just that simple. I have difficulty understanding why we are tolerating obvious error for so long with no resolution of the situation…other than another committee being formed to discuss it. The problem has “evolved” into a leadership problem at this point…or a lack thereof.