| Author | Message | ||
| Doctortazz |
Hello, again! Thank you for your thoughtful responses. Bruce H. was wondering if I could tell you a little about myself. I'm happy to do that briefly because it may provide some context to what I will say in this message. I grew up in a decent home, raised by wonderful parents who presented me with a good value system. I did not grow up as an Adventist; our family rarely attended church. While I was a teenager, I found myself searching for something more than good morals and values. What I discovered in the local SDA church blew my mind! I found a wonderful group of people, an active youth group, and a presentation of Christ and the Bible that I never knew existed. I chose to join the Adventist Church at age 17, and I have remained a Seventh-day Adventist for 26 years. I have been a member of Adventist churches on the west coast, on the east coast, and in the middle of the U.S. where I currently live. I have been a church elder for more than a decade, and I teach a Sabbath School class where we select a book of the Bible and cover it verse by verse. I have also served and presided on a church school board, and I am a busy professional person. Over the years, I have seen this church change, and in my opinion, the change has been for the better. Sure, I recognize some of the "characters" alluded to in the other posts, and I do run into some disagreeable, unbalanced Adventist Christians, but for the most part, the people I have encountered have been wonderful. The numerous comments about the Adventist Church not believing in the grace of God, particularly justification, are puzzling to me! I hear about God's grace and forgiveness for me frequently from Adventist pulpits. What am I without the grace of God? I couldn't even think of going through my life without knowing that God accepts me, loves me, and receives me just as I am! I don't know what you have been reading on these SDA message boards, but I can tell you that most of the Adventist people I know thank God for His grace and accept it wholeheartedly. Please don't accept the notion that one can only experience God's grace after leaving the Adventist Church! Also, the idea that the writings of Ellen G. White are antithetical to God's grace is as wrong as it can be! One can see God's grace fully revealed and discussed in "Steps To Christ" and "The Desire of Ages" among other books. My 16-year-old daughter recently discovered some of these wonderful writings for herself. I never made her read anything by Ellen White, nor were there any "little red books" rammed down her little throat. She had never read any Ellen White until two months ago, and now she likes to read comments by Ellen White on passages of the Bible she is studying. I never presented Ellen White as a flawless character or as someone worthy of canonization. She clearly has her flaws, and I don't agree with everything she has written; however, if understood in the proper context, her writings are amazing. Also, I find it amazing that Jonah could still serve as a prophet of God even though his behavior was not good. Also, his prophecy, "Yet in 30 days shall Nineveh be overthrown", never happened, and was Jonah ever mad about that! Peter had to be scolded by Paul for his behavior in front of Jewish Christians. Barnabas and Paul had to separate because of their heated disagreements. I find it amazing that God can use all of us, as flawed as we all are, to say some wonderful things about Him! Yes, I lived during "Glacier View". I know about Desmond Ford (who, believe it or not, I greatly admire). I read "The White Lie", and I am aware of the 1917 meetings and A. G. Daniels. I am aware of plagiarism and the "Shut Door Doctrine". All of this was impactful, but I didn't throw the baby out with the bath water. I am a Seventh-day Adventist who is happy and at peace. I have also discovered some basic things in my life. I have discovered that God is perfect and I am not. I have found that God sees clearly and I see dimly. I know His ways are right, and I can only claim to understand a minute fraction of His will and plan for me. Things are not always as they seem, and this becomes more apparent to me over time. This Seventh-day Adventist church you so vigorously oppose and reject may not be the monster you perceive it to be. They are just another group of human beings who are learning. I am in agreement with all of you on several things you have said. The concept of the Adventist Church being "the remnant church" sticks in my craw! Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are the ones described as the remnant in the book of Revelation, and we don't know what these folks will look like when the time comes. Also, you will hear me say, "Amen", when I disagree with our use of baptism only after extensive Bible studies and an acceptance of fundamental beliefs. Still, you won't find me throwing out the baby with bath water. But, then again, what do I know? :-) Doctortazz | ||
| Bruce H |
DR TAZZ My prayers are with you and your familly, especilly your children. I hope to see you and your family in Heaven for I WILL be there!!!! | ||
| Bruce H |
Dr Tazz ---The concept of the Adventist Church being "the remnant church" sticks in my craw!----------- By the way if your 16 year old daughter keep reading Ellen White then she also may come to believe that the Adventist Church is the remnant church and that other Christian are Babylon and at the controle of Satan. Bruce H | ||
| Colleentinker |
Welcome, Doctortazz! I just got back from my first-ever women's retreat sponsored by Women's Ministries at Trinity Church. It was an amazing spiritual experience. I never used to like women's groups; they seemed to be shallow, competitive, fashion conscious, and class conscious. This was just amazing. I feel as if God's grace gives us not only a new way to live, but he also gives us back ourselves. The Holy Spirit really does give us unity! Bruce, Patti, Lori, and Susan did wonderful jobs answering your questions. I will say, however, that I do not identify myself as a "former Adventist" to people; I'm a Christian. I will, however, always be a former Adventist. I can never move beyond that any more than I can move beyond being a Moore (my maiden name) even though I am now a Tinker. My Adventism has given me a background of biblical knowledge and Old Testament understanding that many Christians never have. If I had stayed an Adventist, that knowledge would have continued to be a body of facts that I could use to bolster doctrinal arguments. But one of God's miracles is that he wastes nothing and redeems everything. God has redeemed my Adventist understanding of the Bible, and now everything I learned as an Adventist is transformed into windows of truth. The Bible now looks completely different than it used to. Grace and freedom and oneness with God are all through it. I believe that you did find Christ when you joined the SDA church. My grandmother joined the Adventist church in Central Europe early in this century because she found Christ. Her local Orthodox church did not allow its members to read the Bible for themselves; Adventists gave her the Bible. She did not, however, learn much about EG White. Although she emigrated to N. Americal and raised her family Adventist, she used to tell her children (when they asked her questions about EG White), "I was converted to Jesus Christ, not to Ellen White." I also believe that God uses absolutely any means necessary to proclaim himself to people. Even the rocks will cry out if people fail him! But God does not stop leading his people. Once people find him, he continues to lead them toward himself if they are willing to know truth. I had to ask myself why God would be leading me OUT of the church when he led my grandmother INTO the church. The answer, I've learned, is that the Adventist church was the only available means for my grandma to learn about Jesus and the Bible at all. But the truth about Jesus is brighter and deeper and more powerful than the understanding the Aventist church teaches. The problem with Adventism is that it was literally founded on lies. The original Adventists were people who could not admit their mistake. Jesus did not come as they expected, and instead of repenting their sin of date-setting and returning to their churches as did most of the Millerites, they invented spurious explanations for the date failure. The core doctrineóthe Investigative Judgmentógrew out of an arrogant refusal to admit the truth and confess error. From then on Ellen and James White literally manipulated the small band of believers with visions and revisions of visions. Progressive revelation cannot move from error to truth. God does not give error or hide truth in order to serve a purpose, as Ellen said He did. Deception is at the core of the church doctrines, and it was at the core of the early leaders' power. As time moves on, many of Adventism's beliefs are increasingly embarrassing. The church continues to try to reshape the way it teaches the doctrines. But the truth is, the church still embraces the Invest. Judgment, the Sabbath as a mark of those who will be saved, Sunday as the sign of those who refuse truth, soul sleep, and Ellen White as a true prophet (or messenger) of God. The church has not admitted error in any of its doctrines or practices. The fact that many members do not hold to all of its teachings is not proof of openness or of a move towards truth. It is, rather, a confirmation that the church leaders KNOW that these doctrines are not biblical. They will not disfellowship people for not embracing all these beliefs because they would lose a huge percentage of their membership. If they lost those members, they would lose a huge amount of income. The fact that there are aspects of Adventism that "stick in your craw", Doctortazz, is a red flag the Holy Spirit is sending to you. You have to ask yourself, how can truth embrace something unbiblical? By its nature deception appears to be truth. Satan is no fool. As Ellen said (and as I often heard in elementary school), the greatest deception is to mix a little error with a lot of truth. Adventism has done that. Satan has a claim on any organization that proclaims a deception, whether consciously or unconsciously. Error is still error even if we learn it without understanding it. God is in the business of revealing truth. It is unbelievably hard to admit that we have embraced falsehood hidden in the bosom of what appears to be truth and privelege. The most horrific part of the Adventist deception is that it proclaims Jesus, but it doesn't teach a pure gospel of salvation. It actually teaches a confusing, yes-I'm-saved-but-I-can't-prejudge-my-salvation message. In Jesus it is not Yes and No; In Jesus it is always Yes. The worst part is that the leaders of Adventism know that the distinctive doctrines are not biblical. But it would destroy the organization and the monetary foundation of the church for the leaders to admit the truth. So, instead of coming clean, they try to sanitize the teachings so they sound more evangelical. The truth, however, is that the 27 fundamentals remain the same. There has been no repentance. There is no renunciation of Ellen White. Prophets were never perfect. But true prophets told the truth. Ellen did not tell the truth; she changed her testimonies and "blamed" God for the changes; she taught unbibilical doctrines; she subtly twisted truth into gross error; she gave lip service to grace but taught fear-laden doctrines of perfection and works. For many years I believed that my understanding of grace could make me a missionary to the church. It doesn't work. The veil that covers the hearts of all who read Moses is firmly over the hearts of Adventists. As our pastor, Gary Inrig, said in a sermon a few months ago, that veil Paul referred to is actually a spiritual power. Satan wants to confuse people, and Adventism is a confusing amalgamation of law and grace. I finally knew that I had to leave because I could no longer call myself by the name of an organization that was built on deception. If I were a Mormon, I could not continue to be one if I discovered the truth about Jesus. If I were a Satanist I would have to renounce it if I discovered Jesus. I had to renounce Adventism and Satan's claim of deception on my heart when I discovered that what I had been all my life had been based on lies. I do not believe most Adventists are choosing to work in league with Satan. I do believe that Adventists all have an unconscious spiritual claim on their hearts because the church grew out of literal error. This spiritual claim is the reason they do not see or understand the spiritual implications of living with unbibilical doctrines. This claim is the reason they argue that because they teach some truths, the errors aren't really important. Error mixed with truth yields error. There is no middle ground. God calls us to live in truth. He is a God of light, not darkness. He asks us to trust him and to be willing to see and know reality and truth. | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
Dear Dr. Tazz, Most happy to answer your questions: 1. Did you leave the Adventist Church because of its doctrines, or did you leave the Church because of a sense of guilt and shame brought by painful childhood memories, past failed relationships, and scary, dysfunctional personal ideas and interpretations? Doctrines. But also the way the doctrines oppressed real, living, suffering people in the church. In the Merikay-PPPA 10-year litigation, for example, the church's doctrine was set forth to the court by Roman Catholic lawyers representing the SDA church in the person of then GC president Neal Wilson. It was official church doctrine (this was before the 27 points of fundamental belief were codified) that the church was a hierarchy, that women employees (not just at Pacific Press, but over the worldwide church) were exactly like "cloistered nuns" in that they had no rights. By accepting employment by the church they were voluntarily giving up all rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, that the church was in effect "a state within a state" operating -- as far as members were concerned -- under the law of God and not under the law of man. Therefore these women were agreeing to do work equal to that of men for 59 cents to the man's dollar. This was the law of God, and the SDA church managers were helpless in the face of it. It is interesting at Pacific Press during those 10 years -- 1972-82 -- only two women (Merikay Silver and Lorna Tobler) out of some 200 female PPPA employees dissented -- when officially polled by the court itself -- from the church's court positions and arguments. And yet when the court ruled against the church and in favor of the two women in all 17 points of law at issue, nearly all of the women accepted the back pay and the current raises due them -- showing that where one's treasure is there will one's heart be also, regardless of where one's mouth is. But, you see, Dr. Tazz, it was in the "doctrine of hierarchy" as God's immutable will that the behavior of the hierarchs, such as Elder Wilson, was rooted. And so you see that behavior cannot be so easily separated from doctrine. Behavior springs from doctrine, especially when that behavior is in the interest of those responsible for the presentation of the doctrine, in this case to the courts of the land, including the U.S. Supreme Court at one crucial juncture in the litigation. And this is only one example of doctrine-behavior linkage out of hundreds that I could mention. 2. Did you leave the Adventist Church because of its doctrines, or did you leave the Church because of the unchristlike behavior of other human beings who are Seventh-day Adventists? Same answer as #2. But I get the feeling that you havenít suffered much personally at the hands of the hierarchy, or the tone of your questions would be different. Am I right? Or am I wrong? 3. Now that you have separated from "the Church", do you forever want to live life as a "former Adventist"? When will you move on? I am what I am by the grace of the God who loves me. I am his sheep, He is my Good Shepherd, I hear his voice, and I follow Him. 4. (A) Do you really believe that the new Christians are now joining the Adventist church are being deceived by Satan? (B) Do you really believe that earnest Seventh-day Adventist Christians are tools of the devil? (A) I could believe it if I had some way of knowing it to be the case. But how could I possibly know it short of God revealing it to me in some way? Itís Godís job to know things of this nature. Itís my job to believe God. (B) They could be. Ellen White once said something like this: "One earnest, fervent misguided man can wreak more havoc than a bevy of rogues." I tend to agree. But again, you are calling for judgments in areas that fall within Godís jurisdiction, not ours. You and I can only trust that He knows and will take responsibility for revealing to us what He wants us to know. 5. (A) Do you believe that someone has to be perfect or infallible to be a prophet? (B) Does everything the prophet has ever said or done have to dead-on accurate or perfect? Be careful how you answer this one. It could affect your faith in the Bible. (A) Certainly not. Show me 100 biblical prophets and I'll show you 100 imperfect and fallible human beings. (B) Again, no. But the criteria for EGW's prophetic status have very little to do with our judging her accuracy. On the contrary, they have almost everything to do with her being a witness (or not a witness) to the Christ event. How is she a witness to the Christ event? The burden of demonstration is thus upon you, not me. The Old Testament prophets witnessed to what God told them about the future coming of the Christ. (Heb. 1:1.) And the New Testament prophets were actual eyewitnesses to the Christ event itself. John says, "We touched him with our hands!" If you can show me how Ellen White matches or comes anywhere near the NT prophets, I'll show you another prophet to be added to the Bible. (It is too late for her to qualify with the OT prophets, because she never prophesied under old covenant conditions.) And remember, John's book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ puts a CURSE on anyone who adds words to or takes away words from the unique New Testament witness. We of course all need to be careful. But judging from that stern warning, I would guess that you are the one who needs to be the more careful! 6. (A) Do you think all Seventh-day Adventists are in complete and perfect agreement with all doctrinal beliefs and church decisions? (B) Do you think this is a requirement to be an Adventist? (A) Again, certainly not. But thatís one of the bggest problems. A tiny hierarchical group of church-employed biblical scholars and church-employed administrators make all the crucial decisions about doctrinal beliefs and church administration. I do not deny some lay input, of course, but by and large it's been safely declawed, detoothed and housebroken. The SDA church has long ceased to be democratic. Iím even a bit surprised that an educated person such as yourself would even ask such a question! (B) Again, no. The rule is that you may believe significantly differently, but you may not teach your significantly different belief if you are, say, a college professor. Nor may you publish it, unless it is juried by the hierarchy, as you would most certainly be if you tried to publish it in, say, the Review or in Ministry. You may not even teach it as a Sabbath School class teacher. You may get away with it for awhile, but eventually the long arm of the law will catch up to you. I know this from personal experience as a Sabbath School class teacher. 7. (A) Do you believe it is fair to define Seventh-day Adventists solely by lifestyle distinctions and preferences? (B) Do you believe that Adventists are uniformly in agreement on all of these? (A) No, but I donít know anyone who does so. Take Sabbath-keeping, for example. There is no record that Paul ever preached the Sabbath to anyone, Jew or Gentile. In fact, Paul in Colossians 2:16,17 called the weekly seventh-day Sabbath a shadow whose job it was to point to Christ (the substance, or Being who cast the shadow). And now that Christ has come, you are to let no one judge you whether or not you keep it. Furthermore, John states clearly that Jesus broke the Sabbath (John 5:18). And yet I hear of few if any among non-Adventist Christians who define Adventists in a negative way for keeping the day. And yet I hear Adventists very often negatively defining non-Adventist Christians for NOT keeping the day! So which foot does the shoe fit? (B) Same answer as 6 (B). 8. Do you believe there is anything from your Adventist experience that has helped you in your walk with Christ? Yes, a great deal. From my Adventist experience I learned that Jesus was somewhat less than fully God. I learned that being Godís Son meant something less than fully God. If I would say flatly, ìJesus is God.î A typical answer would be, ìNo, heís Godís son.î Ellen White equates Jesus with the archangel Michael without a shred of credible Biblical support. She also puts Jesus on a par with Satan (whom she also defines as an archangel, though fallen) in ìThe Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.î Finally, following in EGWís footsteps, many, if not most, North American Adventists today still refer to Jesus as, ìour Elder Brother,î again a totally unbiblical appellation tending to denigrate the full deity of Christ. And so, Dr. Tazz, I would say that I know that Jesus was and is fully God, with full powers to restate and redefine the Ten Commandment law. I am now, with my Adventist background, more sensitive to the divine realities of my personal faith and walk with Christ than I could have been had I never been a Seventh-day Adventist. You also mentioned "throwing out the baby with the bathwater." Can we agree that Jesus Christ is "the baby"? If so, then how have we at this website "thrown out the baby with the bathwater"? Grace and peace, Jude | ||
| David and Lydell |
Looks like it's our turn. Why did we leave? I'd have to say that the main reason we left the local congregation was the hypocracy we saw in the unloving attitudes toward "outsiders". We couldn't raise our children in an atmosphere where we knew that at any moment they would be attacked because they "weren't from around here", didn't speak with the same accent as the others, considered all colored people to be equal in God's sight, ate meant, drank and occasional coke, or tossed a football on the sabbath. We wanted them to know what it meant to live under the love of Christ. But it was also the constant undercurrent of powerless religion. I think the root cause of that was expressed clearly one day in Sabbath School. The question had been raised of how someone should have answered a question they had been asked that week, "are you saved?" I was astounded to hear the confused comments of those who had no idea how that question could be answered because they didn't know for sure yet if they would be saved or not. I pointed out the scriptures that say clearly that if we have accepted Christ then we ARE saved. But the final authoritative comment from the teacher was, "well Sister White has said that we must never say that we are saved, and we musn't put a question mark where God has put a period". Many of the doctrinal errors had come to our attention before this time, but we were so caught up in the other struggles in the church we'd have to say we were distracted from addressing them. Once we had left the church, we truly went back to the Bible and the Bible only and those errors of the church were made very clear to us. It was the clarity of that which caused us to no longer be "Adventists". And we believe that it is this clutter of concern for outward appearance, fear of those in "Babylon", and focus on the supposed understanding of the prophetical view of the future, and most of all focus on the sabbath that keeps most SDA's from taking a long hard look at the error being taught in the church. 3. Our experience is different from many here. We were Christians long before we joined the SDA church. Since leaving the church, we have returned to seeing ur identity as being "Christian". But we will forever be former SDA's by experience. We believe that because we have given that experience to Christ, He can bring some good out of it. It took us a couple years after leaving the church before we were able to do that, however, because of the battle scars we were carrying. It was only when we truly returned to the Bible, or more importantly to the author of the Bible ONLY as our guide that we made progress. As others have already pointed out, one of the things that He will likely always do with our SDA experience is cause us to be more sensitive to helping those who have left cultic groups. For instance, things we have learned in our experiences can also help those who have left the Catholic church. 4. If we can say that all teaching of doctrinal error on salvation comes from satan, then he has to be at least to some extent responsible for deceiving those who go into the church, as well as those who stay there. We open ourselves to his deception when we focus on only one or two beliefs, and certainly the SDA church does that. 5. No, prophets are human beings and therefore fallible. Only God is infallible. The problem with considering Ellen White to be a prophet is that she does not agree with Bible teachings on some important points of doctrine. For example, her explanation that satan is the scapegoat is false and is ascribing to satan a work that only Christ can handle. 6. No all SDA's do not agree 100% with church doctrine. The problem is because of the basic church structure you have in the SDA denomination those who realize the error in the church cannot have a voice in bringing about change. Think it through, if you yourself understand that the Investigative Judgment is an error, how are you going to ever spread the word in the church and effect? And, by the way, if you don't realize that is an error, it is time for some serious Bible study! 7. Are all SDA's in agreement on lifestyle, etc.? Good grief no. But no one in the world but SDA's are interested in their lifestyle. The tendency of SDA's to think that their lifestyle is so drastically important is a problem however. For instance, in a sabbath school class we attended after leaving the local congregation, the question was asked, "what is present truth?" One woman's immediate response was "the health message"! The other answers were equally absurd and focused on the cherished doctrines of understanding of prophecy. Finally one woman stood and said, "excuse me, but I live in the inner city of Miami. People who live around me live in fear of their child being struck by a stray bullet from a drug deal on the corner. They don't care a flip about health....what they need is the hope of the gospel that God LOVES them." 8. Wow, intersting question that. Let's see, we did get from the SDA's the encouragement to teach our kids to see the hand of God at work in creation. Beyond that, we would have to agree with the comments that others have already made. The most valuable thing we can take from the experience is an understanding of the dangers of legalism in any form. Now we can warn others we see headed in that direction. Because of where we have been and now God's leading in the study of law/grace/salvation/Holy Spirit, we have a deep appreciation for the importance of understanding what exactly is meant by the "New Covenant". Because of having unwittingly adopted the arrogant mindset of seeing believers who don't keep the sabbath as being "Babylon", we have known the experience of deep remorse over past attitudes. It comes when we stand in need surrounded by loving brothers and sisters in Christ as they lay hands on us and pray for us as if the need were their very own. It's a very humbling experience, and gives us a bit of a view of what Paul must have experienced. We learned something else through the battles we fought in the church, and staying in the wilderness of meeting as a home church for 8 years because of the foolishness of believing that "true" Christians will be keeping the sabbath. We now realize fully the importance of listening for God's answer to prayer in His way, instead of dictating to Him what His answer will be. | ||
| Lynn W |
Wow! A person can fall behind so quickly around here. Welcome Doctor Tazz. I hope you're still with us. Your questions are both wonderful & fair. I can't possibly improve on what's been said so far, but I'll throw my hat into the ring with the others. 1. Did you leave the Adventist Church because of its doctrines, or did you leave the Church because of a sense of guilt and shame brought by painful childhood memories, past failed relationships, and scary, dysfunctional personal ideas and interpretations? Doctrines. Unlike the others, I never joined, so I am not officially a former. I did study with SDA for many years & seriously considered it however. The thing that stopped me was the doctrine. I have no bad memories of Adventism - I just kept continuously coming back to the Word & seeing the contradictions. 2. Did you leave the Adventist Church because of its doctrines, or did you leave the Church because of the unchristlike behavior of other human beings who are Seventh-day Adventists? Doctrines. I had some very good SDA friends & for a while, all of my friends were SDA. Joining for social reasons was very tempting, but I kept coming back to the Word & seeing the contradictions. 3. Now that you have separated from "the Church", do you forever want to live life as a "former Adventist"? When will you move on? See #1. It's more accurate to say I am a former "almost Adventist." 4. Do you really believe that the new Christians who are now joining the Adventist church are being deceived by Satan? Do you really believe that earnest Seventh-day Adventist Christians are tools of the devil? I believe that everyone, myself included, whenever they are deceived, they(we) are deceived by Satan as he is the father of lies & all lies come from him. 5. Do you believe that someone has to be perfect or infallible to be a prophet? Does everything the prophet has ever said or done have to dead-on accurate or perfect? Be careful how you answer this one. It could affect your faith in the Bible. No. But they will not contradict God's given word. The problem with EGW is not that she was not personally perfect, but that she claimed that every single "vision" & ALL of her doctrinal teaching came straight from God - from the very first to the very last. When newer visions contradicted earlier teaching, she never admited to being wrong earlier. So this leaves us with a dilema - was God "growing"? Why did He have to keep changing His mind so much? I hope you will check out the articles I wrote in the Bible study section comparing the 5 books of the Conflict series with scripture. Bruce put it well: I believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God and thus ALL THE "WRITTINGS" OF THE PROPHETS in the Bible. If you add Ellen Whites writtings to the Bible then it would no longer be infallible. 6. Do you think all Seventh-day Adventists are in complete and perfect agreement with all doctrinal beliefs and church decisions? Do you think this is a requirement to be an Adventist? I will answer the 2nd Q first. To become a member, one is required to verbally & publicly agree to the 27FD and to sign their name claiming that they agree to the 13 statement on the baptismal cert. which includes agreement to the 27FD. As to the first, so far the livestyle & beliefs of every SDA I've met are in conflict with the 27FD. Whenever I've asked them about this, without exception, everyone has given me one of 3 answers: a) I was too young to understand what I was signing. b) I didn't actually read it before I signed it. or c) I didn't believe in it when I signed it. I'd be curious to know which catagory each one here falls into. 7. Do you believe it is fair to define Seventh-day Adventists solely by lifestyle distinctions and preferences? Do you believe that Adventists are uniformly in agreement on all of these? When studying any religion, I always bypass the individual lifestyles & beliefs and go straight the official doctrines of the church & teachings of the church prophet. But as Jude put it so well, Lifestyle is an [inevitable] outcome of doctrine. 8. Do you believe there is anything from your Adventist experience that has helped you in your walk with Christ? Most definitely. The more I studied Adventism, the more I learned the truth about Jesus. It has basically come down to this: If Adventism teaches it, I can be sure the truth is the opposite. For example, I never fully understood what Christ accomplished on the Cross till I studied the doctrine of Satan our Sin-bearer. The more I studied the IJ, the more I realized how awesome was CHRIST'S sacrifice. Jesus paid it ALL! - past tense. He left nothing for Satan to finish on our behalf some day in the future. Thank you very much. |
