| Author | Message | ||
| Agapetos Registered user Username: Agapetos Post Number: 313 Registered: 10-2002  |
On another thread, someone wondered about what Adventism thinks about the Holy Spirit, etc. So I thought I'd post up three ideas which seemed to be popular when I was Adventist: 1) The Holy Spirit is your conscience. 2) *IF* we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will show it with our good works, keeping the law, witnessing, etc.... 3) The "Latter Rain"... the Spirit will be poured out in the "last days" to those of us who have been faithful with truth... in other words, if we've kept the Adventist beliefs and beliefs of the Law. ***** 1) This begs the question, "Did people not have consciences before Pentecost?" And, when John the Baptist said Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit, does that mean He "baptizes us with a conscience?" Could we call it "the baptism of conscience?" 2) This one is pretty bad, and pretty common. It's basically basing your "filling of the Spirit" on how well you perform outwardly, and then using that performance as a reflection of whether or not you truly have the Spirit. 3) Well, reading Acts 2 and Hebrews 1, we realize that the "last days" started at Pentecost, and we've been living in them since then! And we also realize that Peter meant Joel's prophecy to apply to his day, not the future. So the "latter rain" has been pouring since Pentecost... it's not a future thing. The basic idea in Adventism is that the Holy Spirit resides in Adventism and not really anywhere else... where the correct truth is, that's where He is. I remember my old mission director in Osaka wondering about what the "baptism of the Spirit would look like" (it certainly wouldn't look like anything in the *other* churches!).  Anyway, Galatians 3 clearly says that we receive the Spirit by believing in Christ, not by keeping the law. I'll go one further -- we receive Him by believing in Christ, not by our perfect knowledge either, because none of our knowledge is perfect. This is why Joel says that our *children* will prophesy. | ||
| Timmy Registered user Username: Timmy Post Number: 21 Registered: 8-2006  |
Logic is a wonderful thing. I have heard all of those... Tim | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 2343 Registered: 11-2002 |
I have shown those verses from Hebrews and Acts to numerous SDA's and JW's to show them that 'the last days' started at Penticost. I tell you the truth, they can see it in the Bible with their very own eyes and they do not accept it for what it says. I make more headway sharing the truth to the door frame. |
