I
was recently confronted by a concerned lady during a Sabbath
afternoon meeting. I had mentioned that during the 'revision' of the 1931
Seventh-day Adventist Fundamentals, the fundamental about the Pope being the
Man of Sin had been removed. In her interjection this lady claimed the church
still teaches that the Pope is the Man of Sin. The point I made was
while that may be so with some preachers, we still have a right to know
who took that fundamental out. The conversation digressed to the definition of
sin. She mentioned that sin was a "broken relationship" and that I
was trying to put words in her mouth that sin was the transgression of the law.
I replied that the Bible made that clear in I John 3:4: "Whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the
law." I added that the Spirit of Prophecy supported the Bible's definition
of sin. "The only definition we find in the Bible for sin is that 'sin is
the transgression of the law' (1 John 3:4)." 1SM 320.
Despite
this clear statement from the Spirit of Prophecy, many trained in our
universities are confused as to what constitutes sin. They little realise they
are fulfilling a prophecy from 9T 267: "...Those who have permitted their
minds to become beclouded in regard to what constitutes sin are fearfully deceived.
Unless they make a decided change they will be found wanting when God
pronounces judgment upon the children of men. They have transgressed the law
and broken the everlasting covenant, and they will receive according to their
works."
In
this inspired statement, we see the results of cause and effect. Those who did
not know the true definition of sin transgressed the law, broke the everlasting
covenant and would be lost. I have found that when quoting I John 3:4 as the
definition of sin, some pastors have immediately quoted Romans 14:23:
"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." They wrongly reason that this
explanation contradicts I John 3:4 and would somehow allow for them to be saved
in their sins. If the Bible is in harmony, then the two verses cannot contradict
each other. They must agree, or God is at loggerheads with Himself. The simple
explanation is that you cannot keep the Commandments of God other than through
the faith of Jesus.
Those
who have read the Old Testament with an honest heart could only conclude that
sin is a choice and sin is transgression of the Law of God. The centre of the
world was Israel. "This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the
nations and countries that are round about her." Ezekiel 5:5. The centre
of Israel was Jerusalem. The centre of Jerusalem was the Temple. The centre of
the Temple was the Most Holy Place. The centre of the Most Holy Place was the
Ark of the Covenant. The centre of the Ark of the Covenant was the Law of God.
It was the Law of God that Adam and Eve broke. It was the Law of God that Satan
said could not be kept. It was the Law of God which Jesus Christ came as a man
with our fallen nature and proved could be kept. "The Lord is well pleased
for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it
honourable." Isaiah 42:21.
Christ
kept the law perfectly and urged His followers to do likewise. "If ye keep
my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's
commandments, and abide in his love." John 15:10. Christ believed that sin
was a choice, for He told the woman the church leaders had caught in adultery
to, "go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). In another encounter, He told
the crippled man of 38 years to take up his bed and walk, and "sin no
more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John 5:14). The disciples
continued to preach the gospel with power to have victory over sin.
At
this point, one may question where the New Theology left the rails of God's
truth once given to the saints. Without a doubt, it started with the doctrine
of original sin, which claims that when Adam and Eve sinned (by their choice)
every one of their offspring was a sinner by birth. The consequences of this
doctrine requires Roman Catholics to rush their newborn babies to the church to
be christened. Eventually those who followed this doctrine asked the inevitable
question, "How was Jesus spared from being a sinner also?". They all
agreed that Christ was not a sinner, so invented another doctrinal error to
ease the results of the consequences of the first error. They concluded that
Mary was immaculately conceived in order to protect Jesus from the curse of
original sin. While on one hand this made their false doctrines logical, it
divorced Christ from the fallen race exactly where they needed help in their
battle with sin.
This
false doctrine led to the Dark Ages. The people were kept in darkness by a
priesthood debauched in sin. It was the reading of the Bible by God-fearing
priests that broke the Rome's bondage over the deluded people who were drowning
in sin. It was the power of God through His Word that caused the light of His
love to shine. Rome taught all who would listen that you were saved in your
sins through the church. Protestantism shouted to a deceived world that we had
an individual responsibility to, "work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his
good pleasure." Philippians 2:12,13.
No
one could stop someone else from receiving Jesus Christ as their personal
Saviour by binding them to manmade rules and traditions. Popery hated the
Protestant Reformation because it broke their control over the people through
the old world order of the union of Church and State. Popery was an avowed
enemy of democracy. They believed in the rule by the divine right of kings
under the control and guidance of the church. The doctrine of original sin did
not allow people, through democracy, to elect their own representatives or make
their own decisions in life. The church claimed to provide the way of salvation
to all good Catholics from the cradle to the grave.
The
Protestant Reformation revived the lost power of the gospel which Paul was not
ashamed of. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth... For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, The just
shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness." Romans 1:16-18.
Wherever
the Reformation went, it transformed nations in every way far above those still
steeped in Roman Catholicism. "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is
a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:34.
God
condemned the doctrine of original sin because it had caused the demise of old
Israel in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. "Because with lies ye have made the
heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made said; and strengthened the
hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by
promising him life." Ezekiel 13:22. In this verse we see the preachers
were offering people salvation without giving up their wicked ways. This is, in
essence, the New Theology.
"What
mean ye that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying The
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I
live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this
proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so
also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."
Ezekiel 18:2-4. Here God shows that sin is a choice and is not inherited by the
sons in the genes of the fathers who ate sour grapes.
In
Jeremiah 31:29 we follow the same scenario of the sour grapes and the
children's teeth being set on edge, which is the same doctrine as today's
original sin. God specifically points out in verse 30, "But every one
shall die for his own iniquity. Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth
shall be set on edge." In verse 33, God promises that He will make a new
covenant. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." These are
repeated in the New Testament in Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16. Here we see that we
will not put the Law in our own heart, but God will write it there with his own
power if we submit to Him through His Word, and the Holy Spirit.
We
are told that the pure in heart shall see God. "Blessed are the pure in
heart: for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8.
Those
who seek righteousness shall be satisfied. "Blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." Matthew
5:6.
One
may ask, what righteousness is this? I have heard this question on the streets
from the charismatic Christians who believe that they are saved and that the
Law of God is a law of bondage which was nailed to the cross. Fortunately, God
has not left us perplexed on this important matter, for He is not the
author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). The psalmist recorded under inspiration,
"My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are
righteousness." Psalm 119:172. This verse shows that righteousness
is unattainable other than through keeping God's Law through His imparted
power.
The
doctrine of original sin came into Catholicism through 'Saint' Augustine after
he manufactured it to fit in with his failed life. Today some Protestants and
some Seventh-day Adventists are echoing Augustine's plight. They want the
things of this world and salvation without the cross to bear. In the
parable of the sower some seeds fell among thorns, "and the cares of this
world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the word, and he becometh
unfruitful" (Matt. 13:22).
One
day an Adventist elder met me in a library and set upon me by claiming we could
not keep the commandments of God. I said, "Which one are you having a
problem with?" We went through them and found the problematic one.
He then created a diversion by saying that I'd said I was perfect. I said I had
never made that claim and never would.
"There
was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job: and that man was perfect and
upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." Job 1:1. Thanks to
the doctrine of original sin, many modern Bibles have revised the 'dirty' word
perfect. In Job 9:20, Job stated that if he said he was perfect it would prove
him perverse. God said Job was perfect, but Job would never open his mouth to
say such a thing. We can only conclude that the closer we come to Christ, the
less we think of ourselves. A preacher once said, "We knew Pastor Brown
was perfect until he said he was, then we knew he wasn't".
Another
pastor, trained at Avondale and infected with the God-dishonouring doctrine of
original sin, said to me, "I'll be sinning till Jesus comes!". I
replied, "I know you will, and you'll be lost forever." The Devil
works on cause and effect. If he can get you to believe you cannot overcome
sin, he will also make sure that you don't. The promise is to the overcomers.
God does not differentiate between unfallen Adam and fallen humanity when He
requires perfect obedience to His Ten Commandments.
"That
which God required of Adam before his fall was perfect obedience to His law.
God requires now what He required of Adam, perfect obedience, righteousness
without a flaw, without shortcoming in His sight." 2SM 381.
"Exact
obedience is required, and those who say it is not possible to live a perfect
life throw upon God the imputation of injustice and untruth." RH 4,
p. 519.
"He
who has not sufficient faith in Christ to believe that He can keep him from
sinning has not the faith that will give him entrance to the kingdom of
God." RH, March 10, 1904.
"Satan
declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the
law of God, and thus charged God with a lack of wisdom and love. If they, the
sons and daughters could not keep the law, then there was fault with the law
giver. Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against
God in asserting that men cannot keep the law of God." ST, January 16,
1896.
When
God asks His children to be perfect the only question we can ask is, "How
Lord?" The answer is: "And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb
and by the word." Revelation 12:11.