Comment on What does it take to be a true Seventh-day Adventist? by Sean Pitman.
According to your theory, the Father does not need to “forgive them” since, according to your theory, they are not sinning. Why is Jesus pleading forgiveness for somewho who is not guilty?
They were doing something wrong, but they were guilty of sin, of rebellion against known truth, if they were truly ignorant of what they were doing. There seems to me to be very strong support from the Bible, and the writings of Mrs. White, for the drawing of a distinct difference between honest mistakes, even very bad mistakes with horrible consequences, and the guilt of sin (John 15:22-25 and John 9:41 – for example).
It seems quite clear from my own reading of the Bible that sin requires conscious assent to a known wrong. Otherwise, there simply is no moral guilt – no difference from animals or those who are truly mentally disabled doing the very same actions.
It might help you if you thought a bit more about what makes us different from animals and why animals are not guilty of sin despite the fact that they also have fallen degenerative natures?
Consider also that if Adam and Eve had eaten of the Forbidden Tree without having first been told that it was in fact Forbidden, they would not have been guilty of sin.
Likewise, it is possible to make mistakes, like having a car accident for example, were the accident was not deliberate or the result of “drinking and driving” etc., yet someone was killed. If I were in fact the one who accidentally hit and killed the only child of some poor man, I would feel absolutely devastated. I would want to ask for forgiveness even though no sin was involved on my part. The man would also no doubt feel initial anger toward whoever killed his son – accident or no accident.
Again, it is possible to be part of causing horrible harm in complete ignorance – and therefore in complete moral innocence regarding the guilt of sin (i.e., deliberate rebellion against God or known Truth).
Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com
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What does it take to be a true Seventh-day Adventist?
I guess someone who accepts neo-Darwinism must have some problems with the reality of Biblical prophecy…
What does it take to be a true Seventh-day Adventist?
You didn’t answer my question as to what you would do if you happened to have been in a place like Sandy Hook Elementary School when a shooter entered the building. Or, what you would do if someone threatened the lives of your own family. Also, don’t tell me that Australia has no police force or that the police there don’t carry guns…
What does it take to be a true Seventh-day Adventist?
The Bible and Ellen White are very clear that Satan and his angels were forced to leave heaven just as Adam and Eve were forced to leave Eden after they fell to Satan’s charms. They are also very clear that the wicked will one day be excluded, by force, from the New Jerusalem and will, eventually, be completely destroyed from existence. I don’t think that’s how it worked with you and your family…
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Thank you Colin. Just trying to save lives any way I can. Not everything that the government does or leaders do is “evil” BTW…
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Only someone who knows the future can make such decisions without being a monster…
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I fail to see where you have convincingly supported your claim that the GC leadership contributed to the harm of anyone’s personal religious liberties? – given that the GC leadership does not and could not override personal religious liberties in this country, nor substantively change the outcome of those who lost their jobs over various vaccine mandates. That’s just not how it works here in this country. Religious liberties are personally derived. Again, they simply are not based on a corporate or church position, but rely solely upon individual convictions – regardless of what the church may or may not say or do.
Yet, you say, “Who cares if it is written into law”? You should care. Everyone should care. It’s a very important law in this country. The idea that the organized church could have changed vaccine mandates simply isn’t true – particularly given the nature of certain types of jobs dealing with the most vulnerable in society (such as health care workers for example).
Beyond this, the GC Leadership did, in fact, write in support of personal religious convictions on this topic – and there are GC lawyers who have and continue to write personal letters in support of personal religious convictions (even if these personal convictions are at odds with the position of the church on a given topic). Just because the GC leadership also supports the advances of modern medicine doesn’t mean that the GC leadership cannot support individual convictions at the same time. Both are possible. This is not an inconsistency.
