| Author | Message | ||
| Raven Registered user Username: Raven Post Number: 66 Registered: 7-2004 |
I wonder if anyone is alerting the mainstream Christian missionaries to the dangers of SDA theology? I just read an article in ìThe Volunteerî, which is the publication of Maranatha Volunteers International. For those who donít know, MVI is a laymanís organization of the SDA church, that builds churches, schools, clinics, houses, often in third world countries. I have nothing against the organization, except that they are doing their work for the SDA church. (It would be nice if a similar organization could be started within mainstream Christianity!) I used to be an employee in their office many years ago, and personally know that the director is a very godly and spiritual man, and the organization is run very well. The article that interested me was about the growth of the SDA church in India, and how Maranatha is helping to meet the need for churches there. Apparently, from 1997 to current, the SDA membership in India has gone from 225,000 to 850,000. This article says the SDAís are the only denomination to provide a church for newly converted groups. Most Christians meet in homes or under trees. Apparently, people are being attracted by the droves simply because they really want a church building to worship in, and thatís what the SDA church is providing, through Maranatha. What really bothered me, is what these people are in for next. I quote from the interview of Ron Watts, president of Southern Asia Division ìOne important thing we have done, which we feel very strongly is part of nurturing, is translating Ellen G. White books into Indian languages. The production of literature is very important.î It wonít be long before these new Indian SDAís will be as fully exposed to EGW as the SDA church wants them to be. That just goes to show that you canít be an SDA and ignore EGW like many SDAís try to do; the church is placing a very high emphasis on keeping EGW front and center. Maybe Dales Ratzlaffís next project (after translating to Spanish) needs to be translating his books into the Indian language and having them distributed there! | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 686 Registered: 3-2004 |
There are Christian organizations that go to third world countries to build churches. A young lady with whom I worked in Va went to a South American country with her church to build a church for the believers there. The church I now attend just came back from a South American country where they helped build a church. The organizations are not as big as Maranatha, but there are organizations out there. I can understand what you are saying when you say that the Indians will be fully exposed to EGW and her plagiarism and being held up there above God. I do not like it either. Diana | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 687 Registered: 3-2004 |
Raven, I forgot to add that I think that mainstream Christianity think that SDAs as Christians. The ministers of the church I attend think that they are good people. They do not know about EGW and the plagiarism and all that entails. When I was taking the Starting Point and DiscoveryE classes, it seems the minister leading the group did not know anything about SDAs. Diana | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1047 Registered: 11-2002 |
Isn't this the same oranization that owns The $10.00 Church? Several years ago they sent their newsletter with an article about all the churches they are building in Cuba. The article then went on to say that the SDA church is THE ONLY church given permission by the Communist government of Cuba to build new churches and to activelly recuite new members. I telephoned a Christian organization I am involved with called, Pastors For Peace. The head minister of this organization is Lucias Walker. I know this group has a lot of outreach with Cuba. I spoke with a young man in the Pastors For Peace office in Chicago who was organizing the next Cuban outreach. He told me he'd check into what I read to him from the Maranatha newsletter and he'd get back to me. He called me back several days later and asked me to mail him the Maranartha newsletter that I'd read to him from. I mailed the newsletter to him. He told me that although the newsletter wasn't full of outright lies that the information was not totally truthful. He told me although not many new churches were actually going up in Cuba exsisting churches were being renovated by many Christian groups. He said that new churches going up are being used as community centers, daycare centers and other functions and there is much criteria that has to be met for a religious organization to be able to build new churches. Remember, this was several years ago so some things may have changed by now. But, my point here is that the information given to their volunteers and financial donars is deliberetly misleading. At the time that this newsletter came after I had made these phone calls and talked to the young man in Chicago I went to tell my mom the truth. Needless to say she was not one bit interested in hearing how the Maranartha newsletter had spun the information and made it very clear to me that I should not be involvd with a hippie church. Anything with the word "peace" in it comes off to her as having hippie overtones and as such she will not read my Pastors For Peace newsletters. I still continue reading the Maranartha newsletters though. | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1048 Registered: 11-2002 |
Another comment about the SDA growth in India. In a recent Review was an article about this. According to the article the SDA's first appeal to the Indians through the shared commitment of vegetarianism. Generally Indians are vegetarian as this is deepy rooted in the Hindu belief of reincarnation. The SDA's can appeal to the Indians with this as their opening commanility and get into the other percularities of the belief system from there. Again, the SDA's are not out front, in your face promoting the saving grace through Jesus. Seems kind-of sneeky and deciteful to me. | ||
| Raven Registered user Username: Raven Post Number: 67 Registered: 7-2004 |
Yes, the $10 church program and the big campaign to build churches in Cuba is by Maranatha. The article I mentioned did also talk about the commonality between Hindu and SDA concern for health issues. Yes, so many mainstream Christians do see the SDA's as another Christian group working for the same goal. If only everyone knew the facts! I wondered about Maranatha's claims that they're the ONLY denominational organization building churches in India, but don't know of anyway to verify that claim. They're probably the only ones doing it on such a large scale. A new goal they've stated is that they plan to build 1,000 churches in 1,000 days! That's how high the demand is for the growing SDA converts in third world areas. | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1050 Registered: 11-2002 |
Go to www.ifco.org At the very top in the center is huge box to click onto about the Pastors For Peace Cuban outreach. This truly is one of my favorite non-denominational Christian outreaches. They organize baseball and soccar international youth progrms. It's a great way for Christian children and youth to have fun with children and youth in the third world nations and at the same time share Chritisanity. For some reason that I am unable to figure out the SDA's I know seem very proud of the fact that Fidal Castro studied with the SDA missionaries years ago. I think this was when President Castro was still in El Salvador, or was it Columbia? I'm not up on Castro history. Anyway, Presdent Castro had been very seriousely considering becomming SDA. But, he decided he'd rather be a revolutionary and a political liberator of the Cuban nation. As a bonus to his having studied with the SDA missionaries he hired a SDA lady to be his personal housekeper. She even went with him to Cuba and has had this privadagled position now for around 40 years. Apparently she is a very fine lady, honest and noble and decent. As a result of her being such a fine person President Castro has decided that the SDA must be a fine and upstanding organization and he gives privadgles to the SDA organization that are denied other religious organizations. It is certanily a strange relationship. You know what they say about opposites attract? The SDA says people have to be conceious objectors and cannot fight for their countries in the military in wars. Then we have President Castro who is truly a revolutionary. And the two are very fond of one another and work quite well together. Yes, truth is stranger than fiction sometimes. | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1051 Registered: 11-2002 |
www.ifconews.org | ||
| 33ad Registered user Username: 33ad Post Number: 75 Registered: 10-2004 |
Hi, I've been worried about this phenomenon too. Here's an extract from ANN Bulletin: October 19, 2004 - Russia: President Putin Meets Religious Leaders to Counter Terrorism -Nine religious leaders, including Pastor Vasily Stolyar, Seventh-day Adventist Church president for West Russia, were part of a Sept. 29 summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the state leader called on pastors to help stop terrorist activities by promoting tolerance and understanding. The meeting, held in the Kremlin's famed "Catherine's Hall," was the first involving religious leaders with President Putin in three years, Pastor Stolyar noted. "Your words and actions are extremely important in the current situation, when the criminals are trying to direct anger at the people of another faith and ethnicity," Putin told the elegates. "I would like to stress that a major aim of the unprecedented series of terrorist attacks ... was to drive a wedge between the Muslim world and representatives of other faiths," the president added. President Putin "expressed the desire to cooperate with religious leaders and he sincerely hopes they can help in the consolidation of civil society. He said he considers spiritual mentorship and preaching of the high moral guidelines very important, and that the best economic reforms and the best political aims could not be reached without education in spirituality," Stolyar said. Stolyar also noted that Russian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Alexey II, said "THE MAIN CONFESSIONS OF RUSSIA WERE REPRESENTED"{Ephasis Mine}in the meeting, which offers a tacit recognition of the Protestant churches as well. Other church leaders attending included Metropolitan Andrian of the Orthodox Old Believers Church; Pandito Hambo Lama, the 25th, Damba Ayusheyev of the Buddist community; Bishop Ezras of the Armenian Apostolic Church; Ravil Gainutdin of the Islamic Council of Mufti; Archbishop Tadeush Kondrusevich, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Russia; Rabbi Berl Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Russia; and Bishop Sergei Ryakhovsky, Chairman of the Russian Pentecostal Union. [End Quote] The disturbing thing to me is that there were 9 relious leaders at the meeting, and the SDA's were right in there. Russia is traditionally Orthodox, so the SDA's want to grow their church in Russia by taking away 'our' (I'm Orthodox too) believers. The Russian Orthodox Patriach recently forbade (With Putin's permission) a visit by the Pope. But SDA's are considered legit!!?? No wonder the following happened. When my wife and I asked to join their church and told them we were from a protestant 'Sect', when we told them we had been SDA's, they said "No problem" and took us on confession of faith. They did not feel we needed rebaptism although we had asked for it. SDA's are the fastest growing protestant church globally. [Quote from ANN Oct 15] Annual Council: Paulsen Meets Press After Council Ends Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Mark A. Kellner/ANN] Saying the 20-million-plus Seventh-day Adventist world community "is a big ship that turns around slowly," world church president Pastor Jan Paulsen told reporters Oct. 14 that leaders must consider the cross-cultural implications of growth and governance in the movement.[End Quote] 20 MILLION!! 5 years ago they were 12 mil. This is the most worring thing to me that only we as 'formers' can warn the world of this danger, and it's a daunting task. Fortunatly we have all the forces of Heaven on our side. God Bless Loren | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 551 Registered: 7-2003 |
I thought hindus were vegetarian because they thought they might come back as an animal in the next life and didn't want to eat their friends...that's very different than "health issues" as mentioned above. | ||
| Raven Registered user Username: Raven Post Number: 69 Registered: 7-2004 |
Sorry, I used the wrong terminology. What I meant was for whatever reason, there is a commonality between SDA's and Hindu's in that they both lean toward vegetarianism, and the article I read said they both are against alcohol. I lumped the two together as "health issues", but I guess that gave the wrong impression! Sorry! | ||
| Pw Registered user Username: Pw Post Number: 167 Registered: 6-2004 |
I've been on 25 misssions trips to Haiti. The SDA is active there as well. I recall back in 1989 we had to stay at a SDA guest house before we got established with a local pastor. The way they treated us was typical, they were rude and looked down on us because we were Sunday keepers yet they had no problem taking our money for lodging. It's bad enough the Haitian people have enough bonds on them with poverty and sickness, the last thing they need is more rules from EGW. | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1052 Registered: 11-2002 |
The SDA drenomination generally does not try to fullfill the great commission by reaching out to non-Christians with the good news of our risin Christ. Generally the SDA leave that task to the Sunday-keeping missionaries. Once folks are already Christian and while they are yet vunerable the SDA go in and propagandize the people into believing "the real truth". I recently had a conversation with a family who are members of a Sunday-keeeping denomination and they had just come back to our area after spending a long time in India, Pakastan and thereabout. I asked the husband if they had any contact with the SDA outreach while over there. He told me the SDA follow the other missinaries. I am using the term Sunday-keepers tongue-in-cheek. Having been SDA we on here will understand the term. In my opinion the SDA organization is just an all-around shady organization. What I am courious about though is the money. With the SDA loosing so many members in the modern richer nations and with the SDA gaining so many members in the poverty stricken nations how is the denomination going to stay afloat financially? That was interesting about President Putin and Russia. It was interesting also about Haiti. Pastors For Peace, that I mentioned above does outreach in Haiti. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 868 Registered: 12-2003 |
I've worried about this phenomenon also. The Quiet Hour is an independent SDA organization that produces radio and TV shows. I worked fot it for three years during the 80s. In recent years, TQH has become known as a "bridge ministry" in Adventism, meaning it is a ministry designed to attract (unsuspecting) Christians to suport it by making no public mention of Adventism in its publications. (It used to state on its newsletter that it was a supporting ministry of the SDA church.) During the past few years, however, TQH has built many "prayer chapels" in India, and the newsletter carefully PhotoShops out any reference to Seventh-day Adventism on the church's sign boards so the American Christians who see it do not know they're contributing to Adventism.( Probably, however, most contributors are Adventists.) I know that at least one person at TQH is increasingly uncomfortable with the deception, and I praise God that He puts His people in the most unlikely places until His time comes to pull them out. But I am really disturbed by the general lack of understanding that Adventists are not mainstream Christians. All this is behind my prayer that the spirit of Adventism become exposed and broken. Christians need to know the truth about that church, not merely those bound in it. Colleen | ||
| Freeatlast Registered user Username: Freeatlast Post Number: 212 Registered: 5-2002 |
I find it interesting, ironic, and quite hypocritical that the SDA organization seems to want so desperately to be counted among "mainstream Christianity", yet this is the very thing that their so-called prophet railed against. Isn't "mainstream Christianity", after all, "the daughter of Babylon" according to historic SDA theology? I thought they were supposed to be doing everything possible to maintain separateness in order to be "out of Babylon". How can one be in and out of Babylon at the same time? Make up your minds, SDA administrators... You too, Mormons and Christian Scientists! At least the JW's dont' call themselves "mainstream Christian". One can only assume that the reason SDA leadership wants the denomination to be included is so they can disseminate their false, cultic doctrines under the guise of being "mainstream Christians". "We are equal to you, but you are not equal to us - you must change". That is the basic pitch of SDA's to non-SDA Christians. It is a logical fallacy. If 1 equals 1, then 1 cannot, by definition, be unequal to 1. Either SDA's are "mainstream Christians", or they are not. I say "not" because of their official denial of salvation by grace through faith. Obedience to law by empowerment through the Holy Spirit is not equal to salvation by grace through faith alone, no matter how the SDA theologians dress that one up. They do not believe in salvation by grace through faith alone, so they cannot - by definition - be orthodox Christian. Neither can any other denomination that makes similar claims to works-based salvation. This whole "SDA's are mainstream Christains" smells like the rear end of a Trojan horse. | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 556 Registered: 7-2003 |
?y adamant he does not want to be considered mainstream Christian, orthodox Christian, or most definately not an evangelical Christian. He says if that means he's part of a cult, so be it. So, I call it like even he seems to prefer it. His sister-in-law says he is a poor representation of adventism, but when I asked why he couldn't go to another denomination, she said she and the family would never support that. So, maybe he's just more realistic than his sister-in-law about the realities??? | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 557 Registered: 7-2003 |
why is it doing that again? Anyway, the "?y" WAS originally "Oh, B...." | ||
| Vchowdhury1 Registered user Username: Vchowdhury1 Post Number: 63 Registered: 7-2004 |
Melissa, I've been meaning to ask you,who is "B"? --Valerie | ||
| Thomas1 Registered user Username: Thomas1 Post Number: 145 Registered: 4-2002 |
Could we please stop using "Sunday keepers", "Sunday keeping" and similar expressions. I attend church on Sunday, in celebration of the risen Lord. I do NOT "keep" Sunday, any more than any other day. I "keep" Jesus. I think this is a left over expression of our SDA days. They love to use the expression as a way of making us "anti-law". Sorry, enough rant. <>< In Jesus Thomas | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1054 Registered: 11-2002 |
I use the term "Sunday-keeper" or "Sunday-keeping" in reference to my upbringing as SDA. Any former SDA reading those terms will know the intent with which those terms are ment. I also attend church regurally on Sundays. I think most of us who frequent this forum attend our weekly religious services on Sundays. This forum is the Former Adventist Forum and as such we will have the termonalogy that the SDA's use. My intent is not to offend anyone reading this. However, I was brought up SDA. As such I was raised that there are only two types of Christians; the true and real Christians, the Sabbath-keepers, which always when this term is used by SDA's means only SDA's and not Christians who observe the Sabbath but are not SDA and the not real Chrisians, the Sunday-keepers, which are everyone else who claim to be Christian but since they are not SDA Sabbath-keepers they are the anti-Christ because they are Sunday-keepers. Now did this make any sense at all? It will make 100% sense to anyone who was involved in SDA'ism for any length of time or got into great depth into the religion. I honestly do not know of other terms I can use when trying to explain certain concepts because those are the terms the SDA's use and this is a forum for former SDA's so we use the language, terms and vernacular that we have been so greatly influenced by. The terms are not ment to be offensive. I attend either the base chapel on Sunday mornings over at the military base or I attend a local Lutheran church. Both hold their weekly worship services on Sundays. I do not consider myself a "Sunday-keeper". However, that is the term given to me now by my SDA loved ones. I have tried in vain to explain to them that I am not a "Sunday-keeper". It has done no good. To them I have givn my eternity over to the anti-Chist as they honestly believe the final test in these last days is following the truth of the Sabbath. Never mind that numerous SDA groups hold Sunday services too. I can talk with those people in circles all day and all night long and it does no good. Sunday-keepers equals bad. Sabbath-keepers equals good. Nothing else. End of discussion. Jesus does not ever come into the discussions. It is the language of the SDA denomination and if I am trying to make a point on a perticular subject that this comes into the discussion then those are the only terms I know to use. They are the terms those of us on here who were raised SDA grew up hearing. I do not mean to offend anyone. The SDA denomination though does highly offend me with their terms. And, I think nearly all Christians if they knew the SDA lingo would be offended, too. | ||
| 33ad Registered user Username: 33ad Post Number: 82 Registered: 10-2004 |
Hi Thomas, Susan is right. We are not 'Sunday keepers'. We happen only to attend services on Sundays. I also attend services on other days and nights too. The terms Susan use are familiar to us who were "Sabbath Keeper SDA's". We who are now Former SDA's do understand that there is no designated day of Christian Worship, but we have to use SDA terms sometimes to distinguish ourselves from them. An analogy is, I live in a post apartheid South Africa, but when any of us refer back to some events in the apartheid era, we use 'apartheid terminology' like "non-white" (Which is a very rude term) to describe a person involved in vicimization at that time. Did I make sense? Any how, no offense is meant to anyone here who is a christian and who was never involved with the SDA cult. God bless Loren | ||
| Thomas1 Registered user Username: Thomas1 Post Number: 146 Registered: 4-2002 |
Please understand, I was not offended. However, it really plays into the SDA mindset to refer to yourself as a "Sunday keeper". The name implies that you feel about Sunday they way they feel about Saturday. Again, playing into the question, "who changed the day from ...", you get the point. When I am asked if I am a "Sunday keeper", I am quick to say that I am not. It is concept that they really don't understand, not "keeping" a day. I choose rather just to say that I am a Christian who worships Jesus every day, and meets with my brothers and sisters to celebrate Him on the day he came from the dead to save me and change everything. It really places the emphasis back where it belongs, On Him! <>< Thomas | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 558 Registered: 7-2003 |
I agree, Thomas.... Though I also understand what the others have said, people who go to church on Sunday NEVER use that term. Most go because that's when their parents took them...end of conversation. And it is divisive, if not derogatory, as SDAs use it. Valerie, B is the code I use to refer to my son's SDA father. Though there are threads where his family members are mentioned because someone lives in that area, I have tried to keep him anonymous in the "hopes" that some day he might need this forum as a resource for his own journey out while allowing me to vent my own frustrations and experiences in the mean time. And it saves me a few keystrokes...  | ||
| Freeatlast Registered user Username: Freeatlast Post Number: 213 Registered: 5-2002 |
That is one of the deceptive positions of SDA theology - that Christians who don't keep Sabbath must, by definition, be keeping Sunday. The truth is that orthodox Christian theology doesn't require that we "keep" any day. Most of us simply happen to worship Jesus on Sunday as far as organized, congregational church attendance is concerned. Going to church on Sunday isn't the same as "keeping" Sunday in the "Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy" sense... What the "Sabbathkeepers" don't get is that, in Christ, every moment of every day is holy - that is - set apart for Jesus Christ. The hours from sunset Friday to Sunset Saturday are no more or less holy than a Wednesday morning. "Today" is the day of rest according to the New Covenant book of Hebrews. Rest in Jesus TODAY. The SDA position that those of us who go to church on Sunday are keeping the Sabbath on the wrong day is a straw man set up to foster the dissemination of their false theology to the unsuspecting, undiscerning, naive, or newly converted Christian | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 872 Registered: 12-2003 |
Thomas and Freeatlast, your reaction to "sunday-keepers" mirrors my own. I completely understand what Susan is saying above, and from the perspective from which she explains her position, I totally sympathize with her. But the fact is that the "either-or" mentality of Adventists regarding this day issue really bothers me. When I say, "Sabbath is still the Biblical Sabbath; the day was never changed. Christians do not 'keep' Sunday, but we have Sabbath rest always in the finished work of Christ," I always feel like they stop "tracking" with me, and their eyes sort-of glaze over, and they ignore what I've just said. After all, they KNOW that the Catholics changed the day; I'm sadly deluded! I still think it's incredibly ironic that only the Catholics and the Adventists believe that Constantine changed Sabbath to Sunday. No "mainstream" Christian believes that, and church history shows quite the opposite to be true. He closed courts of law and some businesses on Sunday in order to accomodate Christians, not in order to change Sabbath or to dictate a new, mandated day of worship. This act apparently had nothing to do with Sabbath keeping vs Sunday keeping, and once again I'm amused and amazed by Adventists siding with Catholics in order to make their point. As Freeatlast says, "The SDA position that those of us who go to church on Sunday are keeping the Sabbath on the wrong day is a straw man set up to foster the dissemination of their false theology to the unsuspecting, undiscerning, naive, or newly converted Christian." Absolutely true. And as Thomas says, the emphasis always needs to go back where it belongs: Jesus. Colleen | ||
| Tealeaves Registered user Username: Tealeaves Post Number: 183 Registered: 5-2004 |
The fact that SDAs believe all Sunday-attenders to be Sunday-keepers is, I believe, a matter of ignorance and deception. They are taught that everyone but them is a lemming following the RCC into the deification of Sunday. They actually are quite surprised and pretty doubtful of your truthfulness and believability when you tell them that you don't hold SUnday as sacred, but hold every day alike. The SDA church doesn't want to advertise the fact that many Christians do NOT hold Sunday as a holy day because the justification for that makes too much sense, and might encourage people to take a closer look at Scripture rather than accept the spoon-fed SDA version of reality. Thomas and Coleen are so right... when you take away holy days, you are forced back to the Truth and the Light - Jesus. No more sacred cows. That scares legalists, because without their sacred cows (laws) they feel naked and embarassed to stand before Jesus. But that is where Jesus wants us! May we trust Him to provide the Righteousness to clothe us against the elements! May we stans with our attention fully on Jesus, not lean on or let ourselves be distracted by, our religious ideas. | ||
| Pw Registered user Username: Pw Post Number: 168 Registered: 6-2004 |
When I was in the SDA, I considered and looked down upon those who were classified as Sunday Keepers. I don't "keep" Sunday anymore than the rest of the world does, but it's a title that many former Adventists can relate to. Not that the word is offensive, but it is used by the SDA to classify those who don't keep Sunday as a lesser people. | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1056 Registered: 11-2002 |
My long departed dad (oh, how I miss my daddy!) used the terms "Sunday-keepers" and "heathens" iterchangeably. When I asked him how come he never referred to non-Christians as heathens but only the Sunday Christians I got a very interesting answer. I don't really think the younger SDA's would understand this reasoning but please remember if my dad was still living he'd be 95 years old and he was raised from birth SDA. The answer I got was this; The non-Christians are not by deffination heathen. The term heathen refers to false Christians, to those who profess Christianity but are really not Christian at all. The ones God says "depart from me. I know you not". The ones He will spew out. The people on this earth who have nothing whatever to do with Christianity in any way-the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Hare Krishna's, the Moslem's, anyone short of sorcerery and outright satan worship, the ones who have a religious belief system but don't base that religious system on the Bible are the ones referred to by Jesus when He says, "I have other sheep". Therefore, the non-Cristians are more right with God in their ignorance of the Sabbath than are non-Sabbath-keeping Christians. Non-Sabbath-keeping Christians have no excuse to not observe the Sabbath because it is as plain as the nose on my face if they would just read Ex. 20. So, to SDA's in my dads generation the entire salvation issue for a professing Christian rested on Sabbath observance. I was confronted by a SDA relative about now being a Sunday-keeper. In fact, this happens more often that I wish it would. I tried to weezel out of the conversation but was unable to do so. I made it clear to the relative that I am not a Sunday-keeper and yes, I do attend a church that holds its main weekly service on Sunday mornings. Then I made the comment that when I went to SDA boarding high school we kids had to attend church on Sundays, that at the SDA campmeetings they have church on Sundays, that Doug Batchler and Mark Findley are having church every Sunday morning in the homes of a lot of people who have them on the t.v., and I named several other SDA Sunday church things. I said, "How come it's o.k. for SDA's to have church on Sunday but not Chriistians of other denominations?"As usual rather than getting a real answer I got put-down with intimadating comments like, "You know the difference, you were raised to know the difference so you don't have to ask such a stupid question." That's just they way it goes. Over in my community is a large church, it has many members, it's huge. It got to having too many people for the Sunday services so they now have Saturday afternoon services. The Saturday affternoon service is the exact same servce at the Sunday services. A few SDA's in this area have begun going to this Sunday church for it's service o Saturday aternoons. I have heard through the grapevine that the SDA folks hat have any pull are now trying to organize a Satuday afternoon social beause it it not good to be having SDA's attend a Snday-keeping church anytime, even on Saturdays. Which brings me to this; My mom asked me awhile back if I ever attend church when I'm down in outheran California. Her exact words were, "Do you ever go to church on Sabbath when you are down in that area?" I think she worded it this way because we have relatives who are SDA ministers down in that area and other SDA kin down in that area. I answered her, "Yes, I often attend church on Saturday if I'm over there." She then asked what church I go to. She was expecting me to name a SDA church or a Seventh Day Baptst church but I said, "Oh, I try to get to the Saturday service over at St. Timothy's Lutheran". Oh, did I ever get an earfull! I learned that to attend a Sunday-keeping church on Sabbath is NOT KEEPING SABBATH. It is no more right to attend a Sunday-keeping church on Sabbath than it is to attend a Sunday-keeping church on Sunday. But, it is o.k. to attend a Sabbath-keeping chuch (SDA) on Sunday. It just blows my mind into smitherenes just trying to figure the illogic out! | ||
| Dd Registered user Username: Dd Post Number: 174 Registered: 7-2004 |
I tell my SDA friends and family (and even my non-SDA friends) that I am a "Seven Day Christian". I "keep" all my days with Jesus! |
