| Author | Message | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 527 Registered: 7-2007 |
My SDA family members are almost impossible to reason with. My mother refused even to look up verses in the Bible when I asked her to when I talked to her on the phone, the time before last. She just kept saying that she was firm in her belief and that the Lord had "led" her into the SDA church. I pleaded with her to at least ask the Lord to lead her into the truth and she protested that she was already in the truth and that she didn't want to "hurt Jesus' feelings" by asking Him to do that when [she feels] she is already in the "truth." This time when I called her, I was hesitant to even mention the Bible unless the Lord led me to it. I'm not sure how it happened, but the conversation got around to it. I said something like: "If you have the truth, Mother, it will stand the test of the Bible." She brought up the Sabbath's importance and I said something like: "when Jesus died, He brought in a New Covenant. The word "Testament" means "Covenant," Mother, and the Sabbath isn't commanded in the New Testament. In fact, Jesus is our Sabbath now." I went on: "in Colossians 2:16,17 it says that foods and drinks, and the festivals which are all the various annual and seasonal Sabbaths are all a shadow of Christ. It says the New Moons are, and it says that the weekly Sabbaths are a shadow of Christ, too." That made her thoughtful and this time she actually wanted to look up a verse! I pray that she won't just take her question to the SDA church and get it "explained away" and let Ellen White interpret the Bible for her. I remember that back when I was an Adventist, I'd read quickly through passages like that, when I'd read the New Testament. I felt that I simply didn't understand them. I felt that Ellen White "explained" the Bible and the "proof" texts that Adventists use and which I can see now are taken out of context, seemed to agree; I felt that I had the "TRUTH" back then, but I didn't even have a meaningful relationship with the Lord - just a list of rules that if I kept them fairly well, I felt good about my "Christian" experience, and if I didn't - well, I'd just ask the Lord to forgive all my sins and I felt that took care of everything - my past sins, anyway! | ||
| Surfy Registered user Username: Surfy Post Number: 416 Registered: 11-2007 |
I don't know what to say to that except there definitely is a veil before their faces. My own mother just got her TV and phone turned off and her health insurance cancelled (and she has dialysis 3x a week) because she has run out of money. Then she tells me that she is going to sell her wedding ring so she can get some money...get this...to pay tithe, to her adventist church because tithe comes first. It's like the proverbial banging your head against the wall. Sometimes there is a breakthrough. Surfy | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 8973 Registered: 12-2003  |
Sigh--I'm praying now for our SDA families... Colleen | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 530 Registered: 7-2007 |
When I was a Seventh-day Adventist, I thought that not paying tithe was a serious sin. I'd be really puzzled over stories in Adventist publications that I'd read sometimes where a person would desperately need money for something and the Lord would send the exact amount for it. I couldn't figure out why the Lord wouldn't have sent enough so that they could pay tithe on it too. Now I realize that tithe isn't even mentioned in the new covenant (New Testament); though giving is mentioned. | ||
| Surfy Registered user Username: Surfy Post Number: 417 Registered: 11-2007 |
I didn't mean to hijack the thread. Sorry. It's just that we have to find the weak link when it comes to their beliefs and then capitalize on it. Sad to say, every time that we think we have found it, they retreat back into their little safe world. Don't give up hope. Sometimes there is a breakthrough. Surfy | ||
| Larry Registered user Username: Larry Post Number: 598 Registered: 5-2007 |
It is called fanaticism. Nobody could reason with Wm. Miller either when the Bible clearly states that no man knows the day or hour. He was certain his was a God-ordained message!
Same goes for my mother and father. So much for being "people of the Bible"
Oh yes, I have heard this refrain packaged as "I have taken my stand"
God leads nobody into deception. satan leads people into the adventists church via deception.
Another instance of mindreading for God trumping the asking for truth.
Jesus promised not to lose any that were given to Him, so sda cannot lose your mothers inheritance if she is one of the elect. Perhaps get her to wonder why 1844 was not about sabbath worship at all? Make her wonder why the fourth commandment said nothing about worshipping on a particular day. Just cessation of labor? Get her to wonder why Jesus did not correct people for worshipping Him on Sunday here: After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," He said. They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshiped Him. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him -- Matthew 28:1,9,16,17 It would have been the most perfect place for Him to correct them on something so vital as worshipping on the wrong day of the week! So if they can do it, why can't we?
I really believe this comes under the heading of false signs and wonders. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. Mark 13:22 | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 532 Registered: 7-2007 |
Another thing I told her is that one has to believe what the Bible says over their experience. One reason why she believed the SDA Bible teacher so much is that the teacher was under demonic harassment. It's SO important for a person to go by what the Bible says, not what anyone or any experience says! | ||
| Jorgfe Registered user Username: Jorgfe Post Number: 1331 Registered: 11-2005 |
Asurprise, it would be interesting to have her tell you which of the "the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies" listed in Leviticus 23 are "to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live", and which ones are not? Adventists have a very difficult time with Leviticus 23. They have no answers. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=3&chapter=23&version=31 Gilbert Jorgensen |
