I already did, in Post #133034. Engage those already posted answering comments.

The Jews had forged their own fetters; they had filled for themselves the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a nation, and in all the woes that followed them in their dispersion, they were but reaping the harvest which their own hands had sown.

Says the prophet: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;" "for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." Hosea 13:9; 14:1. Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to conceal his own work.

By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will. The horrible cruelties enacted in the destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan's vindictive power over those who yield to his control.

We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan.

The disobedient and unthankful have great reason for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown.

Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan.

The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy. Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's hatred of sin and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty. (GC 35-36; for ease of reading, I broke this up into several paragraphs.)

I understand EGW statement in GC 35.3 to mean that God does not force (i.e., by a freewill violating decree) people who otherwise would not, experience a judgement. Their own waywardness brought that judgement upon them. Satan however tries to make it seem that the people who are suffering have done nothing to deserve this and this is just an unjust act of God.

If, at every turn, you feel the need to resort to sarcasm and insults, that speaks to a feeling of inferiority, a sense of doubt.

Up to now, everything that has happened has been tempered with mercy. That is, not until the seven last plagues will Jesus pull out all the stops - "unmixed with mercy". All along Jesus has held back, that is, He has established and enforced limits, limits which neither holy angels nor evil angels have been allowed to exceed. Jesus (not sin, not sinners, not Satan) is the one who determines when, where, and how impenitent sinners will be punished. It is not up to Satan to determine. "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."

It was generally believed by the Jews that sin is punished in this life. Every affliction was regarded as the penalty of some wrongdoing, either of the sufferer himself or of his parents. It is true that all suffering results from the transgression of God's law, but this truth had become perverted. Satan, the author of sin and all its results, had led men to look upon disease and death as proceeding from God,--as punishment arbitrarily inflicted on account of sin. Hence one upon whom some great affliction or calamity had fallen had the additional burden of being regarded as a great sinner.

Thus the way was prepared for the Jews to reject Jesus. He who "hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" was looked upon by the Jews as "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted;" and they hid their faces from Him. Isa. 53:4, 3.

God had given a lesson designed to prevent this. The history of Job had shown that suffering is inflicted by Satan, and is overruled by God for purposes of mercy. But Israel did not understand the lesson. The same error for which God had reproved the friends of Job was repeated by the Jews in their rejection of Christ. (DA 471)

In those cases where she plainly says God “used His enemies as instruments to punish” impenitent sinners, can it be said “their sufferings are . . . a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God”?

Obviously the phrase “punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God” does not contradict what she wrote in the PC 136 quote posted above. I believe the phrase “punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God” conveys the idea that Jesus had no justifiable reason for withdrawing His protection and permitting His enemies to punish the Jews in 70 AD.

The truth is, Jesus was justified.

Tom, when you get a chance, please address 132,979, 980, and 981. Thank you. Happy Sabbath.

Nothing that passes a “valid objection/response here either. Just more obliviousness, quibblings, arbitrary selectiveness and, of course, mindless obfuscating. You just can’t take all pertinent issues/elements into consideration when defending your view, but must remain indifferently one-sided.

If you can't see why post #133034, and, logically in its fuller context than just that first explaining paragraph, resolves this issue here then you're are at least clinically blind.

Can't help you there. Or... as self-evident, you just slight-of-handly obliviously switched the actual issue at hand here which was stemming from kland’s excising mal-quoting.

T:If, at every turn, you feel the need to resort to sarcasm and insults, that speaks to a feeling of inferiority, a sense of doubt.

NJK:As they say, “ignorance is bliss” and as, at least, you don’t care to engage in thorough and proper exegesis, it does not bother you to glibly respond to issues here.

It does to me, especially when your shallow reasoning, readings and comments just add layers of dirt upon the issue, that I then have to waste my time unspinning and clearing up. That, fundamentally is the source of all of my frustrations in this discussion with you and why this conversation is both aggravating and frustrating to me; and thus, recursively, whenever this substantive indifference and obliviousness from your side once again manifests itself" no longer [worthwhile[/u]. The fact that you are a Seminarian, and thus should be able to properly engage exegesis causes me to be suckered back into this discussion “black hole” in regards pointedly your responses. I’ll just have to defaultly discount that ‘beautiful fig leaves’ facade, for my own “sanity's” sake... Indeed my head hurts from it repeatedly having been slam against this suddenly recurring wall. It’s all as futile as thinking to solve a calculus problem with 8th grade algebra. Of course, I don’t expect you to see/admit to/agree with this, but since I do, I cannot again go against my conscience here. Your amnesic “dense forest despite all of the felled trees” attitude, if not, "posturing", is what really irks me the most.

[Whenever the discussion turns to something substantive, you resort to insults, sarcasm, and such like.]