A sin of ignorance means doing something you have no idea is wrong. Nothing in nature hints at it being wrong. Apart from the Bible nobody would be able to point to it as wrong. This applies only to the first four commandments of God's law.

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard. (Ps. 19)

20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him(Romans 1:20, 21)

What in nature hints at lying, for instance, being wrong? Especially if you do it for a good purpose?

MM: A sin of ignorance means doing something you have no idea is wrong. Nothing in nature hints at it being wrong. Apart from the Bible nobody would be able to point to it as wrong. This applies only to the first four commandments of God's law.

TE: Why would you think this?

R: What in nature hints at lying, for instance, being wrong? Especially if you do it for a good purpose?
MM: The fact people naturally feel wrong about lying is evidence they were born with the law written upon every nerve and function of their being from birth.

They don't feel wrong about lying for a good purpose, like Rahab did. In my opinion, hers was a sin of ignorance.

Is your opinion that just the last six commandments are written in the hearts of people - and were written in Adam's heart?

R: They don't feel wrong about lying for a good purpose, like Rahab did. In my opinion, hers was a sin of ignorance.
MM: Rahab feared for her life because she was doing something wrong. Do you know of any Bible commentaries that agree with you?

This was a palpable deception. But, as lying is a common vice among heathen people, Rahab was probably unconscious of its moral guilt, especially as she resorted to it as a means for screening her guests; and she might deem herself bound to do it by the laws of Eastern hospitality, which make it a point of honor to preserve the greatest enemy, if he has once eaten one’s salt. Judged by the divine law, her answer was a sinful expedient; but her infirmity being united with faith, she was graciously pardoned and her service accepted (Jam_2:25).

Rahab knew, by what was already done on the other side Jordan, that no mercy was to be shown to the Canaanites, and thence inferred that, if mercy was not owing them, truth was not; those that might be destroyed might be deceived. Yet divines generally conceive that it was a sin, which however admitted of this extenuation, that being a Canaanite she was not better taught the evil of lying; but God accepted her faith and pardoned her infirmity. ... But God accepts what is sincerely and honestly intended, though there be a mixture of frailty and folly in it, and is not extreme to mark what we do amiss.

In the case of a Christian, a lie can never be justified, but the light comes only gradually to a person like Rahab. [translation from Spanish back into English]

Nothing in the natural world reveals or reiterates the first four commandments. The following passages make it clear that humans misinterpret nature and form erroneous conclusions about God. It is impossible to read nature aright without an intelligent, intimate knowledge of God's word, the Holy Bible.

The heathens Paul and Sister White wrote about lived in harmony with the last six commandments without knowing they exist. They were able to do this by the power of the Holy Spirit without realizing He exists. But no one has been able to live in harmony with the first four commandments without realizing they exist.

(T)1.Why do you think the heathen lived in harmony with the last six commandments without knowing they existed?

(M)People who have never heard of the Bible have lived in harmony with the last half of the law of God. See Romans 2:13-15.

(T)2.Why do you think they didn't keep the first three commandments?

M:Because it is impossible to live in harmony with commandments you've never heard of.

Those whom Christ commends in the judgment may have known little of theology, but they have cherished His principles. (DA 638)

(T)3.Why do you think no one has been able to live in harmony with the first three commandments without realizing they exist?

M:Because nothing outside the Bible teaches it.

The Pole and the Day of Reverence

Maniixauraq erected his pole everywhere he went. He then attached something to the end of the pole. He told the people that the day on which he attached something to it was a day to revere. He further told them that one special day should be respected. Today, we find it to be the Sabbath day, Sunday.

The Day of Rest

I had planned to speak only briefly but another thing is that before I came here, I spoke to my 'older sister' Sanmiban (Flora Cleveland) and found out that he also had his pole when he was living across there at Sisualik. It is said that as life went on for him, he told the people that he had reverence for one day. He said that he would not work and would simply rest on that certain day. Well, when the day came, he was reported to have hung something on the end of his pole. By attaching something to the end of his pole, this was probably how he showed the people that the day had arrived. After attaching the thing to the pole on the day he said he would rest and not work, that is just what he did. He simply rested. This is what Cora Gray said as she relayed her mother's words. As it turned out, somehow he knew it was Sunday (although there were no calendars) and it was then that he rested and told the people he held that day in reverence.

The Sabbath

Esther's father, Aqsivaabruk, said that Maniixaq rested every seven days, or on the seventh. Although people in those days knew nothing of the week-days as we know them today (for they viewed time and space from a different perspective than we do now), Maniixauraq rested on the seventh day. Today, we interpret this to be the Sabbath day. When Christianity was in its early stages in this area, people rested on the Sabbath, which was understood to be Saturday. Later we went along with those that changed their Sabbath to Sunday. As it was, it is said that Maniixauraq rested on the seventh of every seven days. He did not work on that day. People often said to him, "Why are you resting? You are just lazy, that is why you are not doing anything." He replied that he lived by the commandments of his grandfather. Esther Norton said more but she did not write them down, so that is all I have to say for now.

The Day of Rest

It is said that Maniixaq rested every seventh day. "It is a day of rest," he said and that was what he did on that day.

In those days, people had never heard of a day of rest. They most likely did not say such things as, "The day of rest has arrived." Of course in those days, they did not even have calendars so they were not aware of a day of rest within a week.

In spite of this, it is said that Maniixaq rested true to his word, and did not do any work on the seventh day of every seven days. As it was, he must have rested on the Sabbath. After all, beginning with Monday, Sunday is the seventh day of each week. He must have known about it in spite of the rest of the people's ignorance of such matters in those days, which explains why he did rest.

http://www.alaskool.org/language/Maniilaq/webhtm/Maniilaq_sec4.htm#eibenglish

The leader of the rebellion, Hong Xiuchuan, considered himself a Christian and saw himself as the son of God ordered to save the world. His movement was for sharing wealth, for land distribution and for the Ten Commandments. It favored chastity and an end to foot-binding for women and was opposed to opium smoking. It swept across central-eastern China, intending to drive away" Manchu demons" and rival faiths - the rebels destroying Buddhist and Taoist temples. Chinese intellectuals sided with Manchu rule rather than Hong's rebellion. And Christian missionaries rejected Hong's movement, seeing Hong's views as heretical and his movement as an infringement on their own moves to Christianize.

http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h38china.htm

Tom, do you have any reputable stories where God revealed truths to people through means not involving missionaries or the Bible?

Did Sister White cite any such stories?

Funny. I take it then that you cannot produce legitimate stories where people arrived at the truths contained in the first four commandments without the assistance of oral tradition, the Bible, or missionaries.

# The Davis Indians of Guyana (overwhelmingly SDA), and their messenger, Akura. I couldn't find any reputable information on this story. The story seems to have originated with Bob Norton, an SDA mission pilot in Venezuela.

If not, what does this tell us about instinctive and the first half of the law of God?

What I'm not seeing is any reason why you make a distinction between the first four commandments and the last six. This seems to be entirely arbitrary. For example, you asserted that no sin of ignorance involves the last six commandments. It's easy to see this can't be true.