| Author | Message | ||
| Dan |
The formula for achieving salvation that the Seventh-day Adventist Church presents to the outside world is not the formula it in fact accepts and preaches itself. Adventists state that salvation is by faith alone, but they teach and believe that salvation is accomplished primarily by the works of men. When Adventists are teaching their children about the plan of salvation, they seldom employ the type of language and concepts used in their statements of belief put out for public consumption. In fact, they seldom even address the topic of salvation directly with their children, but rather present it indirectly while they are teaching them other doctrines, concepts, principles and beliefs. In other words, while Seventh-day Adventists are teaching their children about sin, temptation, prayer, confession, sanctification, Bible history, heaven, hell, God's love, Christian living, temperance, the Sabbath, healthful living, etc., what they are really doing is teaching them their view of salvation - which is that salvation is by works rather than by faith. As a result, most Adventist children grow up thinking they and their church believe in "righteousness by faith" - because when the subject of salvation is addressed directly among Adventists the watchword is always "salvation by faith!" Since all these young people know is the Adventist perspective, they have no ability to recognize that their belief system and practices are in fact entirely at odds with the notion of "by grace alone." This is why it is so difficult for people coming out of the Adventist Church to get all the legalistic garbage out of their heads - because it is tied into virtually everything they have ever learned about spirituality and life itself - including even the "facts" of Bible history. Almost every Bible story they were ever told while Adventists was presented with a legalistic "moral" attached. Indeed, if you were raised in the Adventist Church the notions of legalism are even a part of your self-identity: they define and limit even the way you view yourself as a human being, a member of the human race and as a child of God. EXAMPLE ONE: Almost every notion Adventists have about the functions and purposes of prayer are derived directly from the same notions of legalism that infuse their every other belief. Consider this quote from a book attributed to Ellen G. White: "There are certain conditions upon which we may expect that God will hear and answer our prayers. ... If we regard iniquity in our hearts, if we cling to any known sin, the Lord will not hear us; but the prayer of the penitent, contrite soul is always accepted. When all known wrongs are righted, we may believe that God will answer our petitions" (Steps to Christ, p. 95). Ignoring the fact that the second sentence in this quote contradicts itself in its second half, and that the sentence following it then itself contradicts this half-sentence preceding it (a not at all uncommon occurrence in the writings attributed to Ellen White), what are being expressed here are thoroughly legalistic concepts. While it does not say outright ìmen are saved by their own merit,î it says exactly that (and worse) in other words. While there is any known iniquity still in our hearts, it says, "the Lord will not hear us!î Forget about being saved, God will not even hear our prayers until we have saved ourselves (i.e., have eliminated all sin - righted "all known wrongs"). [Note: If you were to read on one sentence farther in the above E.G. White material, you would find yet another contradiction (of the last statement in the quote above) as the statements swing back and forth between the notions of salvation by works and salvation by faith. No wonder Adventists find it so hard to understand the plan of salvation and to "get" salvation by faith when it is presented to them!] EXAMPLE TWO: Every aspect of the Christian experience is tied in somehow by Adventists with the notion of salvation by works. Consider the following quote Adventists attribute to Ellen White: "Confession will not be acceptable to God without sincere repentance and reformation. There must be decided changes in the life; everything offensive to God must be put away" (Steps to Christ, p. 39). So here again we cannot perform another basic function of the Christian experience unless we have first, ourselves, "put away" "everything offensive to God" in our lives. In other words, until we have worked a complete "reformation" in ourselves, we cannot even come to God and confess! [Lest anyone feel I need to be informed that there are statements in Steps to Christ entirely contrary to the one above, rest assured that I am well aware of that - which once again demonstrates what a jumbled mess the "Ellen White materialsî are. Here are two instances where the same book contradicts the spirit of the above statement: "The world's Redeemer accepts men as they are, with all their wants, imperfections, and weaknesses" (Steps to Christ, p. 46). "The Bible does not teach that the sinner must repent before he can heed the invitation of Christ, 'Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'" (Steps to Christ, p. 26)] These two statements we have looked at concerning prayer and confession are in fact rather mild compared with many other statements in Ellen White's collection of borrowed materials. You can hardly find a matter discussed in them and in other prominent writings of the Adventist Church to which the ideas of legalism are not attached. Legalism is a not a matter of a single bad doctrine, but of an entire wrong way of viewing things, so that by its very nature if it is in anything, it is in everything! Dan | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Dan, Great thread! Much needed info. Maryann | ||
| Max |
Greetings Dan, Keep up the good work! Max of the Cross | ||
| Billthompson |
I agree with you Dan. A Sinner Saved By Grace Alone, Bill Thompson | ||
| Patti |
Dan, You are very correct in your observations. I do not believe that traditional SDAs even understand the concept of "faith." Being so strongly steeped in works, they think that faith is actually a force in our lives that enables us to keep God's law. You will hear things like: I keep the sabbath by faith. Or I pay tithe by faith. I was no different from my SDA peers in this respect. It came as quite a shock to me that 'having faith in Jesus' means just that and nothing else: Believing in something that we cannot see and have no tangible evidence of. Then came the inevitable, Yes, but... It is just so mind boggling that that we are saved completely and fully by the historical work of Jesus Christ ALONE. It goes against logic and against our human inclination to want to take matters into our own hands. It took years for this to be totally solidified in my brain. Actually, it was only when I started conversing with SDAs from the other side of the fence, and I had to study earnestly to defend my beliefs, that it became clear to me: Salvation is of the mercy of God alone for the sake of the doing and dying of His Son Jesus Christ alone Whose righteousness is credited to us when we believe in Him. There is absolutely nothing of value that we could add to the perfect and complete work of Jesus Christ. When He says, "He who believes on Me has eternal life," then I can take that to the bank. No if's, and's or but's. (And are not qualifiers such as these a way of indicating that we do not fully trust in His saving work for us?) Brinsmead had a saying (that really irked the SDA hierarchy, I am sure): Jesus Christ is the end of the SDA church. I was amazed at his audacity the first time I heard him say this, but is this not the truth, no matter which way you look at it? He is the end of any system that does not uplift Him supremely; He is also the end (goal) of the faith that looks to Him alone for salvation. Brinsmead would also say that Jesus was the end of the law. Who can really argue this? The law was added because of transgression, to show us exactly how sinful we really are. Jesus took care of the sin problem, and therefore there is no need for the law. We no longer need a schoolmaster to drive us to Christ; we can look at Christ Himself to see our shortcomings and imperfections. And, while focusing on Him, we can learn to trust in Him, that His doing and dying is indeed sufficient for us, and that He is faithful and will receive those who believe in Him unto Himself, just as He has promised. That is all we need to know: Jesus is worthy. Thank you for your thoughts. Grace and peace, Patti | ||
| Max |
Dan, Maryann, Bill and Patti, God bless you! It's been sheer delight trading Scriptures with you! Max of the Cross |
