Christ did do a corporate work for all men. But what He did didn't justify them. They are not automatically considered righteous because of what He did.

But aren't you saying they are indulging them ignorantly? In other words, aren't you saying they are sinning ignorantly?

Maybe they are indulging them ignorantly, maybe they aren't. I think you may, for instance, have a tendency to self-pity, but it is not triggered until certain circumstances occur.

Again, though, I don't see how you can say having a "sinful tendency" is synonymous with sinning and guilt. Are people guilty of something even if they never indulge it? If so, what are they guilty of? Are they guilty of sinning simply because they possess the potential to indulge it? What about Adam and Eve? Were they guilty of something because they possessed the potential to sin?

They are guilty of selfishness, for they have selfish inclinations. The problem is not just in acting selfishly, but in being selfish, whether one is aware of this or not.


They weren't selfish, there was nothing wrong at the core of their being.

How can someone be selfish without acting selfishly (either in thought, word, or deed)?

Human beings are born with selfishness inwrought in their very being. Sooner or later, consciously or unconsciously, they will act selfishly. There is no way this doesn't happen, as there is no way a thorn bush doesn't produce thorns.

But you don't seem to make a distinction, so far as guilt and condemnation are concerned, between tendency and character. In other words, you seem to be saying merely having sinful tendencies and actually converting them into sinful traits of character by habitually sinning are essentially one and the same thing so far as guilt and condemnation are concerned. Have I misunderstood your position?

That's because my position is that we are born with a character (just like Adam was created with a character), and I see no difference between inherited sinful traits of character and cultivated sinful traits of character.

There is a wide field of usefulness before all who will work for the Master in caring for these children and youth who have been deprived of the watchful guidance of parents and the subduing influence of a Christian home. Many of them have inherited evil traits of character; and if left to grow up in ignorance, they will drift into associations that lead to vice and crime. These unpromising children need to be placed in a position favorable for the formation of a right character, that they may become children of God. {AH 167.3}

When a child reveals the wrong traits which it has inherited from its parents, shall they storm over this reproduction of their own defects?--No, no! Let parents keep a careful watch over themselves, guarding against all coarseness and roughness, lest these defects be seen once more in their children. {ST, September 25, 1901 par. 16}

Yes, of course, people are born with inherited undeveloped traits of character. They are also born with inherited sinful tendencies. You seem to be suggesting they are one and the same thing. Or, did I misunderstand your position? Also, what is your position on cultivated traits of character as opposed to inherited traits of character? What, if any, do you see as a difference?