[PetroniusMaximus]

***OK. So you feel there is no question of intent in determining our guilt for sin?***

I think intent matters somewhat but that pales in comparison to our awful guilt before God.



***By "intent" I mean some taking into consideration a person's capacity to understand and to undertake what he feels is "good" behavior in a situation.***

Isaiah says that even our "righteousness" (that which WE may think is right) is as filthy (menstruous) rags. Not a pretty picture.

Isaiah was a righteous man - one of the most righteous men in the OT. Yet when he saw himself in the light of the awesome holiness of God Almighty....

"In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew. In a great chorus they sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!" The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke.

Then I said, "My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!"

[SoothingDave]

***OK. So you feel there is no question of intent in determining our guilt for sin?***

I think intent matters somewhat but that pales in comparison to our awful guilt before God.

Isn't that putting the cart before the horse? How can our "awful guilt" be a much larger factor in determining our guilt than our very ability to understand and undertake good behavior?

Let me re-phrase the question: Do you think the mentally ill, mentally retarded and the young "sin"?

SD