What you're writing here is simply confirming my point. The words are not synonyms in general, but they may be in special circumstances. You are qualifying the words. For example, "self" becomes "sinful self," "flesh," becomes "fleshly lusts".

Anyway, to your claim that science does not address the question of genetic tendencies to sin, it does address this, although the findings are very controversial. There's general agreement about how genes work and how tendencies are passed. The controversy comes into what should be included and what shouldn't be, and how much. (e.g. how much weight should be given to genetics for something like tendencies to homosexuality).

Ending on a positive note, that you could come up with the insight you did just based on the passages you cite is a nice accomplishment. Sounds like you had help! (I'm thinking of divine help, lest you get the wrong idea).

I'm referring to all three expressions in the negative sense, and in this sense they are synonyms.
Obviously God has a self, but not a sinful self. In the same way, Christ didn't possess a self He had to subdue, so He didn't possess a sinful self.

About "flesh," Ellen White says that "flesh," in the negative sense, is synonym with "fleshly lusts" or "carnal lusts." Christ didn't possess these.

And, obviously, He also didn't possess a carnal mind.

Technology 148 (1999) (stating that while “[t]he gene for greed might help an individual get ahead on.

This is a fascinating theme, isn't it? In fact it was Ellen White's insistence on the subject of love that called my attention.

She says:

"Through yielding to temptation, man became the enemy of God, a partaker of the Satanic nature. The image of God in which he had been created was marred and distorted. The character of man was out of harmony with the character of God..."{ST, February 13, 1893 par. 6}

Through sin, man became a partaker of the satanic nature. And, of course, the essence of the satanic nature is selfishness, in the same way that the essence of the divine nature, of the divine image, of the divine character, is love. That's why

"Every soul saved will be saved through love, which begins with God. True conversion is a change from selfishness to sanctified affection for God and for one another." {1SM 115.1}

"Every soul saved will be saved through love, which begins with God. True conversion is a change from selfishness to sanctified affection for God and for one another.

God is love. Like rays of light from the sun, love and light and joy flow out from Him to all His creatures. It is His nature to give. His very life is the outflow of unselfish love...

He tells us to be perfect as He is, in the same manner. We are to be centers of light and blessing to our little circle, even as He is to the universe. We have nothing of ourselves, but the light of His love shines upon us, and we are to reflect its brightness. ...

Jesus said, Be perfect as your Father is perfect. If you are the children of God you are partakers of His nature, and you cannot but be like Him. Every child lives by the life of his father... That life in you will produce the same character and manifest the same works as it did in Him. Thus you will be in harmony with every precept of His law; for "the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul." Psalm 19:7, margin. Through love "the righteousness of the law" will be "fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:4. (MB 77, 78)

Mike,

This is how I see things.

We are born with some deficiencies and acquire others through a wrong upbringing. These deficiencies manifest themselves in wrong habits we form before our conversion:

“The human family is under the despotism of custom and false education, of hereditary and cultivated habits.” {SpM 40.2}

"There is no chance to plead for the retention of one idol, for the cherishing of one wrong hereditary or cultivated habit.” {YI, August 24, 1893 par. 4}

“The commandments of God are exceeding broad, and the Lord is not pleased to have His children disorderly, to have their lives marred by defects and their religious experience crippled, their growth in grace dwarfed, because they persist in cherishing hereditary and cultivated deficiencies in wrong habits that will be imitated by others and thus be perpetuated. If the grace of Christ cannot remedy these defects, what then constitutes transformation of character?” {TMK 157.4}

At conversion our mind is changed and renewed. These former habits are renounced, and new habits are formed:
“The old nature, born of blood and the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The old ways, the hereditary tendencies, the former habits, must be given up. ... A genuine conversion changes hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong.” {Mar 237.1,2}

But both these habits and the pleasure we used to derive from them are still registered in our memory. Besides, Satan and the world incite us to resume our former behavior. That’s why we have a daily struggle:

“But because this experience is his [justification], the Christian is not therefore to fold his hands, content with that which has been accomplished for him. He who has determined to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers and passions of unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him. Each day he must renew his consecration, each day do battle with evil. Old habits, hereditary tendencies to wrong, will strive for the mastery, and against these he is to be ever on guard, striving in Christ's strength for victory.” {AA 476.3}

It’s like being a former addict. There is no permanent “cure.” The permanent cure will happen only at Christ’s coming, when the former habits are erased from our memory.

Our memory of our past sins and habits do not constitute internal foes, they are not what strives against us.

Regarding self, Christ had a self which had to be denied. He denied His self all the way to the cross. He chose to do not His own will, but the will of His Father.

Technology 148 (1999) (stating that while “[t]he gene for greed might help an individual get ahead on.
This looks to be somehow referenced by "Herd Behavior in Designer Genes" (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=170688).
I found this by looking for just a few seconds. I'm sure a determined search could find all sorts of similar things.

So to tie back to the idea that partaking of the divine nature is the restoration of God's nature of love in man, this can be easily seen as corresponding to man's being enabled to get back on the right road.

Tom, if our memory of our past sins constitute sinful habits that strive to enslave us, that tempt us from within to be unlike Jesus, how, then, do they differ from the lusts of the flesh in the following quote? And, will these memories tempt and harass us throughout eternity (if I remember right you do not believe Jesus blots out our memory of specific sins)?

Christ practiced self-denial both in heaven and during His whole life on earth. But there isn’t a single passage of Ellen White saying that Christ had to subdue and crucify self. The opposite is true. I understand sinful self as being our besetting sins, the defects of our character:

Do you wish to obey the Scriptures? "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." There is no such thing as following Christ unless you refuse to gratify inclination and determine to obey God. (MYP 154)

So to tie back to the idea that partaking of the divine nature is the restoration of God's nature of love in man, this can be easily seen as corresponding to man's being enabled to get back on the right road.

I completely agree.

Mike,

Although this was addressed to Tom, I think you won't mind if I express my opinion. The lusts of the flesh involve indulgence in sin - they are perverted appetites, wrong habits, you cherish.

"The indulgence of lustful appetite wars against the soul; it is a constant hindrance to spiritual advancement. Those who yield to these lower impulses, bear an accusing conscience; and when strait truths are presented, they are ready to take offense. ... If these will crucify fleshly lusts, the arrows of truth will pass harmlessly by them. But while they indulge lustful appetite, and thus cherish their idols, they make themselves a mark for the shafts of truth; if the truth is spoken at all, it must wound them." {CTBH 152.3}

"In the indulgence of hurtful lusts, professed Christians are daily enfeebling their powers, making it impossible to glorify God." {SL 32.4}

As to the memories of sins, perhaps we will have a general idea about them but won't remember the details? Ellen White describes the experience of the children of God at the time of trouble in this way:

"As they review the past, their hopes sink; for in their whole lives they can see little good. They are fully conscious of their weakness and unworthiness. Satan endeavors to terrify them with the thought that their cases are hopeless, that the stain of their defilement will never be washed away. ... But while they have a deep sense of their unworthiness, they have no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their sins have gone beforehand to judgment and have been blotted out, and they cannot bring them to remembrance" (GC 618-620).

CC 248
In the experience of Daniel and his companions we have an instance of the triumph of principle over temptation to indulge the appetite. It shows us that through religious principle young men may triumph over the lusts of the flesh, and remain true to God's requirements, even though it costs them a great sacrifice. {CC 248.2}

7BC 928
The Word makes the proud humble, the perverse meek and contrite, the disobedient obedient. The sinful habits natural to man are interwoven with the daily practice. But the Word cuts away the fleshly lusts. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the mind. It divides the joints and marrow, cutting away the lusts of the flesh, making men willing to suffer for their Lord (MS 42, 1901). {7BC 928.10}

4T 155
Thousands would accept the truth if they could do so without denying self, but this class would never build up the cause of God. These would never march out valiantly against the enemy,--the world, the love of self, and the lusts of the flesh,--trusting their divine Leader to give them the victory. {4T 155.4}

TDG 175
We have no hesitancy in telling you that in order to obtain the immortal inheritance and the eternal substance, you must be overcomers in this probationary life. Everything that blots and stains the soul must be removed, must be cleansed from the heart. We must know what it means to be a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruptions that are in the world through lust. Are you willing to wage war against the lusts of the flesh? Are you ready to battle against the enemy of God and man?--Signs of the Times, June 15, 1891. {TDG 175.2}