PERSONAL, SOCIAL, AND CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
2 Corinthians 5:10.
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works....and they were judged every man according to their works."
Revelation 20:12-13 (see also Daniel 7:10).
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (see also Revelation 22:11-12; Matthew 16:27, 22:11-17; Psalms 9:7-8, 50:4;
Zephaniah 1:12; Romans 2:6 & 9 & 12-16; Acts 17:30-31; Mark 13:34; 2 Corinthians 11:15).
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Ezekiel 18:20
"No man can plead his circumstances, his education, or his temperament, as an excuse for living in rebellion against God. The sinner is such by his own deliberate choice."
Signs of the Times, March 9, 1882 (vol 1, p 290) (See also October 14, 1880, June 16, 1890).
"The strongest temptation is no excuse for sin. No matter how severe the pressure brought to bear upon you, sin is your own act. The seat of difficulty is the unrenewed heart."
Adventist Home, p 331.
"It is not in the power of Satan to force anyone to sin. Sin is the sinner's individual act. Before sin exists in the heart, the consent of the will must be given, and as soon as it is given, sin is triumphant, and hell rejoices. But there is no excuse for sin, either great or little."
Signs of the Times, December 18, 1893 (vol 3, p 85) (See also Maranatha, p 82 & 225; Testimonies, vol 4, p 623;
This Day With God, p 318; Manuscript Releases, vol 20, p 385-86).
WHAT ARE SOME AREAS IN WHICH WE ARE HELD PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE?
We are not only held accountable for the knowledge of the truth we now possess, but for the knowledge we neglected, and also for that knowledge we could have possessed.
(see Review and Herald, July 10, 1879, May 27, 1890, February 28, 1899;
Temperance p 114; Testimonies, vol 5, p 280; 1888 Materials, p 1348).
"Those who have an opportunity to hear the truth, and yet take no pains to hear or understand it, thinking that if they do not hear, they will not be accountable, will be judged guilty before God the same as if they had heard and rejected. There is no excuse for those who choose to go in error when they might understand what is truth....
Review and Herald, April 25, 1893 (vol 3, p 42) (SDA Bible Commentary, vol 5, p 1145).
"Those who deliberately place themselves where they will not have an opportunity of hearing the truth, will be reckoned among those who have heard the truth, and persistently resisted its evidences."
Review and Herald, April 25, 1893 (vol 3, p 42) (SDA Bible Commentary, vol 5, p 1145).
We are held accountable for the way in which we hear or read God's word.
(see Peter's Counsel to Parents, p 23).
We--especially the ministers--will be held responsible for willing ignorance and disregard of the eight laws of health and nature and also for the injury done to our body
(see Temperance, p 169; Counsels on Health, p 205-06),
(see Youth's Instructor, August 24, 1893, September 14, 1893).
"Not only are we held accountable for what we have done, but for what we have left undone. We are held to account for our undeveloped characters, our unimproved opportunities."
Review and Herald, September 22, 1891 (vol 2, p 519)
(SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 987; That I May Know Him, p 93).
We will be held responsible for using means--tithe included--in any other area than for what it was intended for
(see Spalding and Magan Collection, p 178; Testimonies, vol 2, p 518, vol 9, p 246-50, vol 6, p 387).
"The displeasure of God is kindled against those who claim to be His followers, yet allow consecrated workers to suffer for the necessities of life while engaged in active ministry. These selfish ones will be called to render an account, not only for the misuse of their Lord's money, but for the depression and heartache which their course has brought upon His faithful servants."
Acts of the Apostles, p 340.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
James 4:17
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
Leviticus 19:17
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
Ezekiel 3:17
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Ezekiel 3:18
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Ezekiel 3:19
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Ezekiel 3:20
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul
Ezekiel 3:21
"We lead others either upward to happiness and immortal life, or downward to sorrow and eternal death. And if by our deeds we strengthen or force into activity the evil powers of those around us, we share their sin."
Christ's Object Lessons, p 201.
"Those who have too little courage to reprove wrong, or who through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church of God, are held accountable for the evil that may result from their neglect of duty. We are just as responsible for evils that we might have checked in others by exercise of parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been our own."
Patriarchs and Prophets, p 578 (see also Desire of Ages, p 441).
"If wrongs are apparent among His people, and if the servants of God pass on indifferent to them, they virtually sustain and justify the sinner, and are alike guilty and will just as surely receive the displeasure of God; for they will be made responsible for the sins of the guilty."
Testimonies, vol 3, p 265-66.
"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God....If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is a partaker of his evil deeds."
2 John 9-11.
"There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine."
Testimonies, vol 1, p 261-62 (see also Testimonies, vol 2, p 552).
"There will be men and women who despise reproof and whose feelings will ever rise up against it. It is not pleasant to be told of our wrongs. In almost every case where reproof is necessary, there will be some who entirely overlook the fact that the Spirit of the Lord has been grieved and His cause reproached.
Testimonies, vol 3, p 359 (see also Testimonies, vol 1, p 212-13).
These will pity those who deserved reproof, because personal feelings have been hurt. All this unsanctified sympathy places the sympathizers where they are sharers in the guilt of the one reproved. In nine cases out of ten if the one reproved had been left under a sense of his wrongs, he might have been helped to see them and thereby have been reformed.”
Testimonies, vol 3, p 359 (see also Testimonies, vol 1, p 212-13).
"Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure."
2 Timothy 5:22.
Speaking to his disciples the Saviour said, “All ye are brethren.” God is our common Father, and each one of us is our brother's keeper.
RH January 21, 1896, par. 7
CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY
THE SINS OF THE MEMBERSHIP MAKE THE WHOLE CORPORATE BODY RESPONSIBLE
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"God's command had been disregarded by one of those appointed to execute His judgments. And the nation was held accountable for the guilt of the transgressor...
"Achan's sin brought disaster upon the whole nation. For one man's sin, the displeasure of God will rest upon the church till the transgression is sought out and put away."
Patriarchs and Prophets, p 494 & 497 (see also Testimonies, vol 3, p 265, 269, 517, vol 4, p 491, vol 5, p 676; Manuscript Release #449, p 1-2).
"...neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you." Joshua 7:12.
Death before dishonor or the transgression of God's law should be the motto of every Christian. As a people professing to be reformers, treasuring the most solemn, purifying truths of God's word, we must elevate the standard far higher than it is at the present time. Sin and sinners in the church must be promptly dealt with, that others may not be contaminated.
Testimonies for the Church 5:147
Truth and purity require that we make more thorough work to cleanse the camp from Achans. Let those in responsible positions not suffer sin in a brother. Show him that he must either put away his sins or be separated from the church.
Testimonies for the Church 5:147
THE SINS OF THE LEADERSHIP MAKE THE WHOLE CORPORATE BODY RESPONSIBLE
"The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues..."
Genesis 12:17.
"But know ye for certain, that if ye [the church leadership] put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof..." �
Jeremiah 26:15.
"A nation's sin and a nation's ruin were due to the religious leaders."
Christ's Object Lessons, p 305 (see also Desire of Ages, p 738).
"Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem...and say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked."
Ezekiel 21:1-3.
"O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?"
Numbers 16:22.
"And he spake unto the congregation, saying Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.”
Numbers 16:26.
"The entire congregation were sharers in their [Korah and company] guilt, for all had, to a greater or less degree, sympathized with them."
Patriarchs and Prophets, p 401.
"They [the congregation] also were in alarming danger of being destroyed in their [Korah and company] sins by the wrath of God, for they were sharers in the crimes of the men to whom they had given their sympathy and with whom they had associated."
Testimonies, vol 3, p 354
"So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children."
Numbers 16:27.
"Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not."
Numbers 26:11.
"...the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city....Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed."
Genesis 19:15, 17.
For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by night he chanted the wild dirge, “A voice from the east; a voice from the west; a voice from the four winds; a voice against Jerusalem and the temple; a voice against the bridegroom and the bride; and a voice against all the people.”
This strange being was imprisoned and scourged; but no complaint escaped his lips. To insult and abuse he answered only, “Woe to Jerusalem! woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!” His warning cry ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold.
GC88 30.3
“Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel.”
EP 543.3
The land was smitten with pestilence, which destroyed seventy thousand in Israel. “David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.”
The king pleaded with God in behalf of Israel: “Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned, and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let Thine hand, I pray Thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on Thy people, that they should be plagued.”
EP 543.5
The people had cherished the same sins that prompted David's action. As the Lord through Absalom's sin visited judgment upon David, so through David's error He punished the sins of Israel.
EP 544.1