for one, there is a parent who reasons with their child from day one, and the child pretty much listens. but he/she still decides to experiment. parent catches child, sits down and reasons with him/her, about the effects of smoking, possible pointing real people and what happened to them. child figures those are some pretty good reasons and stops.

another one, is child already decides he/she is not liking it anyway and has already decided not to do it again.

Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. It is rare to find one who will give it up without needing the rod of correction.


That works out pretty well if there is such a case. But I doubt you will find a wise parent who will trust that his child's likes/dislikes constitute a safe guide.

That's the big difference between a parent and a prison warden. One wants to mold character, while one wants compliant actions.

BTW, if you dig deeper into the experience of that "trusting" child, you will probably find that he wasn't that way at birth, and the trust was built over time.

Men flatter themselves that God is too good to punish the transgressor. {PP 420.2}

God has given in His word decisive evidence that He will punish the transgressors of His law. Those who flatter themselves that He is too merciful to execute justice upon the sinner, have only to look to the cross of Calvary. {GC 539.3}

If we lived in a dispensation of immediate retribution, offenses against God would not occur so often. But though delayed, the punishment is none the less certain. {3BC 1166.1}

Very few realize the sinfulness of sin; they flatter themselves that God is too good to punish the offender. But the cases of Miriam, Aaron, David, and many others show that it is not a safe thing to sin against God in deed, in word, or even in thought. God is a being of infinite love and compassion, but He also declares Himself to be a "consuming fire, even a jealous God" (RH Aug. 14, 1900). {3BC 1166.2}

Every offense against God's law, however minute, is set down in the reckoning, and when the sword of justice is taken in hand, it will do the work for impenitent transgressors that was done to the divine Sufferer. Justice will strike; for God's hatred of sin is intense and overwhelming (MS 58, 1897). {3BC 1166.3}

When God had said that the iniquity of the Amalekites was full, and had commanded [King Saul] to destroy them utterly, he thought himself too compassionate to execute the divine sentence, and he spared that which was devoted to destruction. . . {CC 167.5}

The plea may be made that a loving Father would not see His children suffering the punishment of God by fire while He had the power to relieve them. But God would, for the good of His subjects and for their safety, punish the transgressor. God does not work on the plan of man. He can do infinite justice that man has no right to do before his fellow man. Noah would have displeased God to have drowned one of the scoffers and mockers that harassed him, but God drowned the vast world. Lot would have had no right to inflict punishment on his sons-in-law, but God would do it in strict justice. {LDE 241.2}

Who will say God will not do what He says He will do?--12MR 207-209; 10MR 265 (1876). {LDE 241.3}

Tom, Aaron, and Teresaq - Do you agree with the following insights?


"Who will say God will not do what He says He will do?" What do you hear God saying in these quotes that He will do?