| Author | Message | ||
| Patti |
Greetings, all. I am not sure if this has been covered in another thread, so I will start one myself. Perhaps no one else will be able to relate to this, but this is something that has plagued me all my life, even when I was SDA and had no idea what my witness should be: How does one witness to someone that you love dearly? Does anyone find it difficult to talk of redemptive work of Christ to those around you whom you love dearly but who do not believe as you do? Has anyone addressed this problem in dealing with close relatives or friends who are still SDA? Most appreciatively in His grace, Patti | ||
| Colleentinker |
Hi, Patti! There is a thread entitled How Do We Witness to our Adventist Friends and Relatives? It's listed under Discussion on the Topics page. It's a question most of us continue to face. The veil over their hearts is truly blinding. Only the Holy Spirit, I'm convinced can remove it and help them see. As I told my ninth graders: Love is the most powerful force in the universe; it's way more powerful than hate. Only love can change a life! I praise Him for Love! | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
Hi, Patti, I've run into the most hateful rejection imaginable from the three living members of my family of origin. I can ONLY witness to them by loving them, as Colleen says. One thing I would add: We should not try to equate communicating a "set of beliefs" or doctrines with witnessing. We learned to make that mistake in the old Mt. Sinai days when we were "making Sabbath-keepers out of Sunday-keepers" and "Adventists out of Methdists." That's not part of the gospel, never has been, and never will be. Recognizing that fact and living the gospel in terms of "loving one's enemies" and "doing good to those who despitefully treat us" require a major paradigm change. I cannot improve on Colleen's formula: "Only love can change a life." Jude | ||
| Patti |
Dear Jude and Colleen, Thank you for your input. I think there is much wisdom in your words. I will skip over and try to locate the other thread of which you wrote, Colleen. In His grace only, Patti | ||
| Cas |
My husband was raised SDA, as well as myself. We don't live by most of our family members so they are not yet aware we are not going to church. If anyone can help on what is the best way to let family members know of our new beliefs please do. I have not decided on if it would be best to just say it and possibly choke, or buy Dale Ratzlaff's books by the truck load! ha, and hand them out??I want to do this in a way that is loving and not overly critical. WDYT | ||
| Patti |
Hi, Cas, This is a tough one for me also. My brother is an SDA minister and one of the finest men I have ever known. This wall of SDAism has not been a serious hedge between us, yet I feel that I cannot express to him my deepest religious thoughts. I remember how I felt when I was a "good SDA" and my other brother and sister left the church, and I do not want to do any damage to the relationship between my preacher brother and me. It is like walking on eggshells for me. Paul does remind us that peripheral doctrine (such as sabbath keeping and unclean meats) are not as important as unity and peace in the Holy Spirit. I therefore avoid the sabbath question with him altogether. I try to talk to him of grace. His understanding is different from mine, of course, but there is at least a common ground we can meet on--forgiveness in the blood of Christ. Perhaps the less dogmatic we are about our beliefs the better. I think that some ex-SDAs forget that disbelieving Ellen White is NOT the Gospel; or that sabbatarians CAN really be saved. I am trying to learn in all my discourses to be as positive as possible about Jesus Christ and His righteousness and to avoid specific peripheral issues that are not fundamental to our salvation. If one truly sees the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone, the peripheral issues will slough away of themselves. Pointing out what is WRONG with a belief system is not necessarily presenting the Gospel. That is how I deal with my SDA relatives; by talking about Jesus and Him crucified. This we truly have in common, although we do not interpret the significance in the same way. I am not saying that I am good at this. I still feel awkward and as if my words are falling upon deaf ears, but one never knows. All it takes is one tiny seed to take root and be nourished by the Holy Spirit. I feel like Moses and Isaiah felt--incapable of speaking well for my Lord, but, the way I see it, if God used the jawbone of an ass to save Israel, He can use mine also! Would love to hear more discussion in this area. Grace and peace to all, Patti | ||
| Lynn W |
Here's a question in response to the comment: "Pointing out what is WRONG with a belief system is not necessarily presenting the Gospel. That is how I deal with my SDA relatives; by talking about Jesus and Him crucified. This we truly have in common, although we do not interpret the significance in the same way." I totally agree with this in theory, but do any of you ever find that when you simply talk about the Gospel, that they nod in agreement with everything you say & never make the connection between that & their own lives, and never see the contrast between that & their own religion? That's what I always come up against. We can talk about the love of Jesus & His crucifixion, etc. They will nod & agree as though we are all talking the same language. It's not until I contrast what their prophet & church teaches with what the Bible says that they finally begin to see that we are not talking the same language. As long as we avoid any controversy, we can also avoid examining where Adventism is anti-Gospel. I suppose John the Baptist could have died of old age if he had just preached the love of Jesus & kept shut about that pesky littly sin of Herod's. Anyone have any comments or suggestions? |
