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As Arbitrary ( 9 )

Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .

as arbitrary

The Babel builders had indulged the spirit of murmuring against God. Instead of gratefully remembering His mercy to Adam and His gracious covenant with Noah, they had complained of His severity in expelling the first pair from Eden and destroying the world by a flood. But while they murmured against God as arbitrary and severe, they were accepting the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. Satan was seeking to bring contempt upon the sacrificial offerings that prefigured the death of Christ; and as the minds of the people were darkened by idolatry, he led them to counterfeit these offerings and sacrifice their own children upon the altars of their gods. As men turned away from God, the divine attributes -- justice, purity, and love -- were supplanted by oppression, violence, and brutality. Patriarchs and Prophets, page 120.3

From the beginning it has been Satan's studied plan to cause men to forget God, that he might secure them to himself. Therefore he has sought to misrepresent the character of God, to lead men to cherish a false conception of him. The Creator has been presented to their minds as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil himself, -- as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving, -- that he might be feared, shunned, and even hated by men. Satan has striven so to confuse the minds of those whom he has deceived that they would put God out of their thoughts. He would then obliterate the divine image in man, and impress upon the soul his own likeness; he would imbue men with his own spirit, and make them captives according to his will. {RH, February 15, 1912 par. 2}

From the beginning it has been Satan's plan to lead men to forget God, that he might secure them to himself. To do this he has misrepresented the character of God, and has led men to cherish false ideas of him. The Creator has been presented to their minds as possessing the attributes of the prince of evil himself, -- as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving, -- that he might be feared, shunned, and even hated by men. It was by thus falsifying the character of God and exciting distrust of him, that Satan tempted Eve to transgress. By sin the minds of our first parents were darkened, and their natures were degraded. As men became bolder in sin, the knowledge and the love of God faded from their minds and hearts. "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God," they "became vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened." {SW, April 28, 1908 par. 1}

From the beginning it has been Satan's studied plan to cause men to forget God, that he might secure them to himself. Hence he has sought to misrepresent the character of God, to lead men to cherish a false conception of Him. The Creator has been presented to their minds as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil himself,-- as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving,--that He might be feared, shunned, and even hated by men. Satan hoped to so confuse the minds of those whom he had deceived that they would put God out of their knowledge. Then he would obliterate the divine image in man and impress his own likeness upon the soul; he would imbue men with his own spirit and make them captives according to his will. {5T 738.1}

When Moses prayed to God, "Show me thy glory," the Lord said: "I will make all my goodness pass before thee. . . . And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." These attributes are the attributes of God. But Satan had represented him to man as arbitrary, stern, and unforgiving. All the misery and suffering he had brought upon man, he charged to God. He declared that man could not keep the law, and that God was arbitrary and cruel in demanding of him something that he could not do. {YI, February 22, 1900 par. 9}

law of Jehovah as arbitrary

The apostle gives us the true definition of sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." The largest class of Christ's professed ambassadors are blind guides. They lead the people away from the path of safety by representing the requirements and prohibitions of the ancient law of Jehovah as arbitrary and severe. They give the sinner license to overstep the limits of God's law. In this they are like the great adversary of souls, opening before them a life of freedom in violation of God's commandments. With this lawless freedom the basis of moral responsibility is gone. {Con 75.2}

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