BLAMING GOD FOR SIN by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 10, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 10.

BLAMING GOD FOR SIN.

By W. N. G.

A FAVORITE pretext of sinners is to blame God for the existence and continuation of sin. Satan’s temptation of Eve began with the intimation that God was deceiving her and her husband. So all animosity toward God and His Word is of Satanic origin. When Adam was called to account for his disobedience, he endeavored to throw the responsibility back upon the Lord. “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”

Cain would bring an offering to the Lord, but he wished to have his own way as to what he would offer. But it was not the offering that God had directed, and of course He could not accept it. It did not contain the evidence of faith in the real Offering for sin which God had promised. As God does not change, we may know that He does not yet accept human substitutions for His express commands. Cain was very angry and felt very bitter because the Lord would not acknowledge his profession and accept his offering. His anger was evidence that he blamed God for the result of his own defection (Gen. 4:3–7), and he vented his wrath on his brother Abel (verse 8).

When the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, and were brought into trying places, they doubted God’s Word, murmured, and laid the blame upon the Lord. Ex. 16:7; Num. 14:27. Ezekiel, who prophesied in the days of the Babylonian captivity, mentions this tendency on the part of the people to turn the Lord’s mercies into pretexts for murmuring against Him. After stating that the wicked person who would turn from his wickedness should live, and that the righteous one who would turn from his righteousness should die, he adds, “Yet ye say the way of the Lord is not equal.” Chapter 18:25.

This disposition to shirk responsibility for sin has permeated every generation down to the present day, and with increasing virulence. The latest expression we have seen in print on this point is in a paper printed in a California town. Concerning the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, which portrays the importance of keeping the commandments of God, the journal in question excuses the sin of disobedience by reflecting on the implied negligence of God. Following is its attempt at sarcasm:—

“For several weeks past two Adventist evangelists have been proclaiming the Gospel of the seventh-day Sabbath in this community, and their meetings have been well attended. Nevertheless, the clang of the anvil is still heard in our blacksmith shops on Saturday, while the silence of the tomb reigns supreme on Sunday. If you ask these people what

is to be gained for religion and morality by a substitution of Saturday for Sunday worship, they will evade your question by asserting that it is a sufficient reason for the change that we are violating God’s law by observing Sunday. Then comes a thought that perplexes the understanding. In what mysterious ways doth God move, that He has left this world for centuries to grope in moral darkness, sinfully worshiping Him on the pagan Sunday, until it became His divine pleasure to raise up an Elder Smith or an Elder Kent, and, through them, to reveal the truth!”

The would-be slur at the ministers of the Word is not the point to which we would call attention. That of itself is of minor importance; but the boast that men continue to disregard the claims of God’s law, notwithstanding the fact that it has been plainly brought to their notice, is significant. Again, the Gospel of Jesus Christ calls men to repentance on account of sin (which is “the transgression of the law,” 1 John 3:4); and the law of God shows that Sunday, and not Saturday, is the “substitution.”

But the climax of blasphemy is in the charge that God “has left this world to grope in darkness.” Why has the world groped in darkness for centuries?—Because the people have chosen to do so, despite the plain Word of God, which has always said that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” David says, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105); but if men substitute something else in place of the Word, who is to blame if they continue to grope in darkness? The apostle Paul says of such that “they are without excuse.” Rom. 1:20. The people of Israel continued in darkness in the same way. Hear the Word of the Lord concerning them by the prophet Jeremiah:—

“But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them; yet they hearkened not unto Me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck; they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee; thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.” Jer. 7:23–28.

Our Saviour, when on earth, bore a like testimony concerning those who made void the law by their traditions, and the reason for their groping in darkness:—

“And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables; because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive; for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.” Matt. 13:10–16.

His earnest desire that they should receive light, and the darkness consequent upon their rejection of His teachings, are further emphasized in these words:—

“Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matt. 23:36–38.

Here were the most highly favored people upon the earth “left for centuries to grope in moral darkness,” and why? Was it God’s fault?—No, it was their own fault; God had given them His Word, sent unto them prophet after prophet to warn them and plead with them; but, like the masses of to-day when the claims of His law are presented, they turned a deaf ear. Were they not religious? Did they not have “a zeal for God”?—Yes, but they taught for doctrine the traditions of men, and persecuted those who would show them their error. However, it always has been God’s “divine pleasure” to raise up men, albeit they may have been of the humbler classes, to call those in darkness to His “marvelous light.” But it ever has been, and will be to the end, that the long-suffering of God is cited as evidence of His responsibility for the continuance of sin. Thus His great mercy to sinners is by them construed as the cause of their sin. Such is the ingratitude of choosing disobedience. W. N. G.