Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 2

(B) God's Law in the Physical World

Laws That Flow From Love—The laws of God have their foundation in the most immutable rectitude and are so framed that they will promote the happiness of those who keep them.—The Review and Herald, September 18, 1888. (Sons and Daughters of God, 267.) 2MCP 565.4

The laws which every human agent is to obey flow from the heart of Infinite Love.—Letter 20a, 1893. (Selected Messages 2:217.) 2MCP 565.5

Law of Service—Christ's followers have been redeemed for service. Our Lord teaches that the true object of life is ministry. Christ Himself was a worker, and to all His followers He gives the law of service—service to God and to their fellowmen. Here Christ has presented to the world a higher conception of life than they had ever known. By living to minister for others, man is brought into connection with Christ. The law of service becomes the connecting link which binds us to God and to our fellowmen.—Christ's Object Lessons, 326 (1900). 2MCP 566.1

Law That None Liveth Unto Himself—Under God, Adam was to stand at the head of the earthly family, to maintain the principles of the heavenly family. This would have brought peace and happiness. But the law that “none ... liveth to himself” (Romans 14:7) Satan was determined to oppose. He desired to live for self. He sought to make himself a center of influence. It was this that had incited rebellion in heaven, and it was man's acceptance of this principle that brought sin on earth. When Adam sinned, man broke away from the Heaven-ordained center. A demon became the central power in the world. Where God's throne should have been, Satan placed his throne. The world laid its homage, as a willing offering, at the feet of the enemy.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 33 (1913). 2MCP 566.2

Teach Children to Obey Laws of Nature and Revelation—You who have at heart the good of your children, and who would see them come up with unperverted tastes and appetites, must perseveringly urge your way against popular sentiments and practices. If you would have them prepared to be useful on earth and to obtain the eternal reward in the kingdom of glory, you must teach them to obey the laws of God, both in nature and revelation, instead of following the customs of the world.—The Review and Herald, November 6, 1883. (Temperance, 157.) 2MCP 566.3

Remedy for Juvenile Delinquency—Had fathers and mothers followed the direction given by Christ, we should not now read and hear of sins and crimes committed not only by adults but even by youth and children. The evil condition of society exists because parents have disregarded this instruction and neglected to train and educate their children to respect and honor the holy commandments of God. 2MCP 566.4

Even religious teachers have failed to present the holy standard by which character is measured, because they have ceased to respect every one of the precepts that God has given, which are holy, and just, and good. Men have taken upon themselves the responsibility of erecting a standard in harmony with their own ideas, and the law of Jehovah has been dishonored. This is why there is so great and widespread iniquity. This is why our days are becoming like the days of Noah and Lot.—The Review and Herald, May 2, 1893. 2MCP 567.1

Connection Between God's Moral Law and Laws of the Physical World—There is a close relation between the moral law and the laws that God had established in the physical world. If men would be obedient to the law of God, carrying out in their lives the principles of its ten precepts, the principles of righteousness that it teaches would be a safeguard against wrong habits. But as through the indulgence of perverted appetite they have declined in virtue, so they have become weakened through their own immoral practices and their violation of physical laws. 2MCP 567.2

The suffering and anguish that we see everywhere, the deformity, decrepitude, disease, and imbecility now flooding the world, make it a lazar house in comparison with what it might be even now, if God's moral law and the law which He has implanted in our being were obeyed. By his own persistent violation of these laws, man has greatly aggravated the evils resulting from the transgression in Eden.—The Review and Herald, February 11, 1902. 2MCP 567.3

Law of Divine Administration—The Christian is to be a benefit to others. Thus he himself is benefited. “He that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Proverbs 11:25). This is a law of the divine administration, a law by which God designs that the streams of beneficence shall be kept, like the waters of the great deep, in constant circulation, perpetually returning to their source. In the fulfilling of this law is the power of Christian missions.—Testimonies for the Church 7:170 (1902). 2MCP 567.4

Laws Governing Physical Being—In the providence of God, the laws that govern our physical being, with the penalties for their violation, have been made so clear that intelligent beings can understand them, and all are under the most solemn obligation to study this subject and to live in harmony with natural law. Health principles must be agitated and the public mind deeply stirred to investigation.—The Review and Herald, February 11, 1902. 2MCP 568.1

Right physical habits promote mental superiority. Intellectual power, physical stamina, and length of life depend upon immutable laws. Nature's God will not interfere to preserve men from the consequences of violating nature's requirements. He who strives for the mastery must be temperate in all things. Daniel's clearness of mind and firmness of purpose, his power in acquiring knowledge and in resisting temptation, were due in a great degree to the plainness of his diet in connection with his life of prayer.—The Youth's Instructor, July 9, 1903 (Messages to Young People, 242). 2MCP 568.2

Reaping and Sowing—In the laws of God in nature, effect follows cause with unerring certainty. The reaping will testify as to what the sowing has been. The slothful worker is condemned by his work. The harvest bears witness against him. So in spiritual things: The faithfulness of every worker is measured by the results of his work. The character of his work, whether diligent or slothful, is revealed by the harvest. It is thus that his destiny for eternity is decided.—Christ's Object Lessons, 84 (1900). 2MCP 568.3

Some Believe Only What They Understand—There are men who proudly boast that they believe only what they can understand. But the folly of their vaunted wisdom is apparent to every thoughtful mind. There are mysteries in human life and in the manifestations of God's power in the works of nature—mysteries which the deepest philosophy, the most extensive research, is powerless to explain.—The Review and Herald, September 14, 1886. 2MCP 568.4