| Author | Message | ||
| Tabrownwv Registered user Username: Tabrownwv Post Number: 3 Registered: 7-2010  |
Hey all, I had read in the last issue of Proclamation magazine where it mentions the General Conference session & the new Adventist president. In there it talked about making revisions to the church manual. So, just for fun, I went to the Adventist website to read the manual & apparently it was just revised in August of this year. I don't remember how many pages it had before, but it currently has 143. So, I just briefly scanned through some of it & came to the section where it talks about people who request to remove their name from membership. I wanted to point out these 2 paragraphs that are found on page 43. I bolded the things that I thought was interesting. Notification to Those Removed From Membership — A church removing members must notify them in writing of the action taken but with the assurance of enduring spiritual interest and personal concern. This communication should, where possible, be delivered in person by the pastor or by a board designee. The former members should be assured that the church hopes they will return to the church and that one day there will be eternal fellowship together in the kingdom of God. Reinstating Those Previously Removed From Membership — When persons have been removed, the church should, where possible, maintain contact and manifest the spirit of friendship and love, endeavoring to bring them back to the Lord. Does anyone remember seeing this information before? I was just wondering, because this clearly states that they believe that you are "apostate" & "lost" if you leave the church. I was just wondering if there is a time limit on that? LOL! The reason I'm saying this is because the only time people tried contacting me was when I sent them my letter to have my name removed. Once they realized I had not changed my mind & it was official, the contacts stops. I think it's sad because my mom doesn't want to 'hear' that I've joined another church. She's very quick to either ignore me or change the subject. I also wanted to point out that as I was scanning through the manual, they have included a lot of EGW quotes as well. I'm not sure how much was in there previously, but it may explain why it contains so many pages. LOL!! Tiffany | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 3449 Registered: 10-2004  |
Tiffany, Hmmm, this is interesting. The previous manual was actually 270 pages! Also, I noticed that they completely deleted their "Summary of Doctrinal Beliefs" from the "baptismal covenant" and instead have inserted the 28 Fundamental Beliefs as part of the baptismal covenant. The old "Summary of Doctrinal Beliefs" (which had remained unchanged for many, many decades) is now gone completely, without a trace, as if it had never been a part of the SDA Church and it's belief system! Jeremy (Message edited by Jeremy on October 10, 2010) (Message edited by Jeremy on October 10, 2010) | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 3450 Registered: 10-2004 |
The old manual can still be accessed at http://web.archive.org/web/20070701014007/http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/church_manual/Seventh-day-Adventist-Church-Manual-17th-edition.pdf Jeremy | ||
| Tabrownwv Registered user Username: Tabrownwv Post Number: 4 Registered: 7-2010 |
Hey Jeremy, Thanks for finding this information for me. It's actually been over a year since I last looked at the manual, so I couldn't remember exactly how many pages were in the first one. But that is interesting that they have deleted their "Summary of Doctrinal Beliefs" from the "baptismal covenant". I didn't notice it before when I was reviewing, so I'll have to go back & look at that. Tiffany | ||
| Free2dance Registered user Username: Free2dance Post Number: 143 Registered: 2-2010 |
wow... If I were to tell my family this they wouldn't believe it. If I were to show my family this they would cover their eyes in protest. BUT if they saw it, or if they heard it, they would be appauled. What is the deal???? | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 8647 Registered: 3-2004  |
I never got a letter but this was back in the 1980s. Diana L | ||
| Angelcat Registered user Username: Angelcat Post Number: 253 Registered: 11-2008 |
I got a very nice letter. Probably because i used to be friends with the church clerk, and as far as I know, she doesn't believe in EGW, and is a very liberal adventist. The letter dd't suggest in any way tht I needed to come back to church. Just wishing me well as i followed God's leading, or something to that effect, i forget the wording. So obviously, it wasn't the official letter the church manual describes. I stopped attending 2 full years before I had my name removed, and no one contacted me. And i had been attending that church for 16 years. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 1459 Registered: 7-2007 |
Tiffany; welcome to the forum!  | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 8650 Registered: 3-2004 |
Tiffany, I see you are new. I did not notice that at first. Welcome to FAF!! Diana L | ||
| Cloudwatcher Registered user Username: Cloudwatcher Post Number: 209 Registered: 5-2009 |
Tiffany, Welcome. I compared the language in the link Jeremy provided to what you posted... looks like they made this significant change: "....endeavoring to bring them back to the Lord." It used to read: "...endeavoring to bring them back into the fold." Interesting, indeed. I'm still waiting for a reply to our letter requesting membership removal. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 11811 Registered: 12-2003  |
Tiffany, welcome--and thanks to you and Jeremy for the interesting research. Cloudwatcher, that's an important change, although to them it probably is mostly semantics. It ought to be significant to Christians, however... Colleen | ||
| Nowisee Registered user Username: Nowisee Post Number: 593 Registered: 5-2009 |
Welcome, Tiffany! It's great to have you here. | ||
| Paulcross Registered user Username: Paulcross Post Number: 70 Registered: 4-2005 |
Tiffany, So good to have you join us. PC | ||
| Tabrownwv Registered user Username: Tabrownwv Post Number: 5 Registered: 7-2010 |
Thanks everyone for the welcome. I registered over 3 months ago, however, as you can see, I've only gotten in a few posts. I don't get to come over here as often as I'd like to, & usually when I do it's mostly to browse or read the lastest posts. Hopefully, I will get better. |
