Mountain Man,

Your name wouldn't happen to be Mike, would it?

Anyway, just back from Costa Rica, here. Let me know if it's you.

Dick

Yep, that's me. See ya later.

Previously you wrote:

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At that precise moment we are without sin, we have no known sin, no hidden moral imperfections or uncrucified character defects.

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Now you wrote:

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This is what I mean when I say “hidden moral imperfections” are not sins of ignorance. Instead, they are unknown, dormant defective traits of character we inherited from our parents, but never cultivated or turned into character. Sins of ignorance, on the other hand, are things we know we are doing but have no idea we are sinning. It’s not considered a moral imperfection because we are not violating our conscience or convictions.

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I underlined the part where you defined the meaning of the phrase "hidden moral imperfections" -- which is "unknown, dormant defective traits of character we inherited from our parents, but never cultivated." Notice in your above quote you assert that when is born again, we have no hidden moral imperfections.

So this means, using your own definition, that at the moment a person is born again, said person no longer has unknown, dormant defective traits of character which are inherited from one's parents.

If when one is born again one no longer has these traits, where did they go? Does one's genetic code instantly change at conversion?

Here are you original questions:

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What is the truth about "hidden" defective traits of character? Are they sins of ignorance? Does Jesus choose not to reveal them to us until we're better able to deal with them? If we die before they are revealed will Jesus remove them when He returns?

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According your definition, hidden defective traits of character are inherited traits which are lying dormant. So they are not sins of ignorance. Jesus does reveal them to us when we're better able to deal with them. To the last question, yes(?)

I'm tring to answer your questions from your perspective. Was I correct? The one I'm most uncertain about is the last one.

It might be helpful to place inherited and cultivated defective traits of character side by side and compare them together, and then study them separately. We receive from our parents, as a legacy, defective traits of character. Many of them date back three or four generations, if not more. These inherited traits do not, obviously, constitute character. Character is not inherited. Rather, character is the stuff of choices and consequences.

Character is what we ourselves develop and cultivate as we act out the traits, which we inherited from our parents, in thought, word or deed. Through repetition specific traits of character are transformed into corresponding character traits. The traits of character we inherit and the character traits we cultivate are mirror images of one another.

Sinful character is the manifestation or personification of sinful flesh. Paul wrote, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these …”, and then he goes on to list 17 nasty character defects. He ended his list by saying, “… and such like.” (Gal 5:19-22) Again, cultivated character traits and inherited traits of character are essentially twins.

However, as mentioned earlier, we will never cultivate all of the traits of character we inherited from our parents. Many traits will lie dormant or hidden until the day we die and, when Jesus returns, we will be resurrected without them, that is, if we are a part of the first resurrection. Our uncultivated, dormant, hidden defective traits of character do not count against us in judgment.

There is no such thing as an unknown cultivated character trait. Character is the result of doing the same thing over and over again, and, as such, we are not ignorant of it. All of us are aware of our basic strengthens and weaknesses. Latent within every child of Adam is an inborn, inherent, instinctive knowledge of what is morally right and wrong, except, of course, for biblical insights like, for example, the Sabbath and diet reform, which are morals issues that must be intellectually learned later on in life.

Again, innate within all of us is a conscious knowledge of what is right and wrong. For instance, no one has to be told that lying, stealing, cheating or murder is wrong. Since we, the human race, were originally created in the image and likeness of God, we just know naturally that these types of things are morally unacceptable. Paul made this point clear when he wrote:

“For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.” (Rom 2:13-15)

In the case of born-again believers, however, our knowledge of our moral imperfections is transformed by the cross. During the process of conversion, before we experience the miracle of rebirth, before our “old man” (a.k.a., our cultivated defective character traits) is crucified and buried, the Holy Spirit gingerly and gradually reveals to us, little by little, in light of the cross, our individual moral imperfections.

As we behold our sinful character traits in light of the cross we are motivated to confess them. When we confess our final defect, when we confess the last one revealed to us, our “old man” dies and is buried. At that precise moment we experience a transformation that is nothing less than miraculous. God implants within us the sinless seed or mind of the new man. It comes complete with all the righteous fruit and character attributes of God. Not one is missing.

We begin at rebirth where Jesus began at birth, that is, we begin with a clean slate. Sister White describes it this way: “The new birth consists in having new motives, new tastes, new tendencies. Those who are begotten unto a new life by the Holy Spirit have become partakers of the divine nature, and in all their habits and practices, they will give evidence of their relationship to Christ.” (LHU 123) “When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing.” (DA 676)

If, before we are born-again, we refuse to confess a character trait revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, if we choose to retain it, even if it is only one trait, then we will not and cannot experience the miracle of rebirth. “If one sin is cherished in the soul, or one wrong practice retained in the life, the whole being is contaminated.” (DA 313) No one is truly born again if, during the process of conversion, they refuse to confess a cherished sin.

Again, there is no such thing as an unknown or hidden cultivated moral imperfection (a.k.a., developed defective character trait). Even before we are converted and born again we are aware of what is morally right and wrong with our character. And when we are converted and receive the divinely implanted mind of the new man we are endowed with the “eye salve” of spiritual discernment, which empowers us to see with crystal clarity, as never before, our crucified habits of sin. Nothing can escape our notice.

We are not left to our own unaided human powers and abilities to detect and discard our moral imperfections. Once confessed and crucified we are empowered by God Himself to prevent ourselves from ever resurrecting them again, which requires a continual, constant connection to Christ. “No renewed heart can be kept in a condition of sweetness without the daily application of the salt of the Word. Divine grace must be received daily, or no man will stay converted.” (OHC 215)