Ben Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist. So What?

sgberman.com ^ | 10/26/2015 | Steve Berman

[Albion Wilde]

Trump is not Christian, but he has boldly stated anti-anti-Christian viewpoints.

This sentence appears to contradict itself. What precisely are you meaning to say?

[MrB]

He’s not a Christian but sees the intrinsic value of our Christian heritage,
and will boldly oppose those trying to destroy it.

[xzins]

Because it is evangelicals who are supporting him. They need to know that SDA can be a bit unusual still.

Freeper Donna posted the following:

***They revere their founding prophetess, Ellen G. White, and made this statement in their “Ministry” Magazine of Oct. 1981 and have never retracted it:

“We believe the revelation and inspiration of both the Bible and Ellen White’s writings to be of equal quality. The superintendence of the Holy Spirit was just as careful and thorough in one case as in the other”.***

[Albion Wilde]

“SDA’s teach that Jesus and the Archangel Michael are the same.”

Didn’t see that, or any reasonable extrapolation of it, in their 28 principles.

Agreeing with jagusafr:

SDA-sponsored site refutes the claim that SDA believes Jesus is Michael

[conservativejoy]

Ellen G. White, the SDA prophetess, claimed that she had a Revelation that Michael was Jesus in his pre incarnate form. Actually, that is also what I read on the link you gave and the subject of the booklets offered at the bottom of that page.

[Albion Wilde]

He’s not a Christian but sees the intrinsic value of our Christian heritage, and will boldly oppose those trying to destroy it.

OK, thanks; I did not see your first "anti-" before the second "anti-" in "anti-anti-Christian.

However, I don't think any of us are in a position to judge his Christianity. One thing is certain: he is not comfortable with hypocrisy. That may be a reason why he does not detail his spiritual journey, so that he won't be called out on it.

To me, he seems possibly to have Asperger's or mild autism of the type that does not interfere with intellect, yet insists on literalism and exactitude, and he has channeled his massive energy and considerable intellect into working, in such a way that he could prove himself to be one of the regular guys. In so doing, he exceeded most regular guys, and now is in a state of constant amazement about it, telling us over and over that he is smart and graduated from a great school — he seems the last person to believe it, so he is constantly citing the evidence that he has observed about his life, which he seems to be viewing from a remove.

In the same way, he said he doesn't "apologize to God" for things he has done wrong, but rather he said he just tries to do things better the next time. This also seems like a person who is witnessing his progress in behaviors from a certain emotional distance. It may account for his divorces and late-in-life discovery of better communications with his current spouse, whom he appears to love deeply, as he manifestly does his children.

God has an amazing way of preparing his prophets for their moments in the spotlight. Whatever may come of Trump's candidacy, he has done an amazing service in pointing out the most salient issues of this campaign season.

[MrB]

That “literalism and exactitude” is just what we need.
One thing that the left has been good at since Genesis 3 is twisting the meaning of words to decrease their exactitude of meaning.

Knowing this, one of the best ways to thwart a liberal in an argument is to refuse to go on until they define the terms they are using.

[Albion Wilde]

That “literalism and exactitude” is just what we need. One thing that the left has been good at since Genesis 3 is twisting the meaning of words to decrease their exactitude of meaning. Knowing this, one of the best ways to thwart a liberal in an argument is to refuse to go on until they define the terms they are using.

I agree; and he is good a short-circuiting that PC nonsense.

I read an anecdotal story about him attributed to one of his construction bosses; that Trump went out to look at a building in progress and noticed that a balcony on the 32nd floor was off level. The foreman couldn't see it, but they went up there with a level and it was off about a quarter-inch from one end to the other.

Another anecdote I read was that he bought a resort property that was losing money because the ballroom could only accommodate 250 seated at round tables, but the average request was for crowds of 350. The cost of renovations would have been prohibitive until the resort showed a profit, but he bought it anyway, having eyeballed the room. He replaced the bulky chairs at a much lower cost and the room then held 350. Or words to that effect.

I take it from those stories that he has a high "spatial relations" aptitude, which is statistically more male-linked and present in engineers, architects, designers, etc. One of the keys of his success as a developer and redeveloper. Obviously not his only intellectual attribute, but a very valuable one in "sizing up" a situation via maps, plans, anything involving visual space. I thought about that when he recently said that there is a lot of open space in some of the Middle Eastern countries, and that zones should be set up for the return of the muslim "refugees" from Syria and elsewhere, rather than allow them to make a cultural invasion of Western civilization.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Islam is a fundamentally different system than Christianity or other religions, in that it contains a political-legal system within it.

I wish people would stop parroting this. Because for one reason, it is equally true of Orthodox Judaism (which is a Theocracy in exile).

Separating law and life from "religion" (as though that were a separate unimportant little category) is one of the great flaws of the "enlightenment" and is what ultimately got us in the position we're in.

[Above My Pay Grade]

I believe they would think you are mistaken. The Bible was written in the 1st Century. The corruptions of Christian theology that came in later centuries and conflict with Scripture in no way reflect early church theology.

[kinsman redeemer]

Thank you (very much!) for setting the record straight.

The diety of Christ is right in the center of orthodoxy. If Seventh Day Adventists don’t believe that, it’s a vital error.

Again, thanks!!

I see ther is some controversy over the question. I will continue to study their beliefs.

Blessings,
KR

[conservativejoy]

Thank you! I spent a great deal of time yesterday exchanging posts with an SDA Freeper who was trying to convince me that Jesus and Michael were the same.

[Heart-Rest]

"Agreeing with jagusafr: SDA-sponsored site refutes the claim that SDA believes Jesus is Michael "

---

I agree with "conservativejoy" (in post #65) that your Adventist link here actually concludes saying the exact opposite of what you say here -- that Jesus Christ is the same as the "Archangel" Michael, just like the JW's teach and believe.  (Read the conclusion of that article you linked to here.)

[Heart-Rest]

Various Links About "Seventh-day Adventist" Denomination

Here are some sources which shed additional light on Dr. Ben Carson's Seventh-day Adventist denomination, and their founding "prophetess", Ellen G. White.

• "Ellen White contradicts the Bible over fifty times"

• "Seventh-day Adventism"

• "Facts Seventh-day Adventists won't tell you"

• "Why I Am Not a Seventh-Day Adventist"

• "Ellen G. White and The Seventh-Day Adventist Movement"

• "Ellen G. White Fact Sheet"

• "Ben Carson, Dishonest Seventh-day Adventist"

• "Adventists Deeply Divided Over Ben Carson's Candidacy"

• "Adventist Teachings On Vegetarianism (As Followed By Ben Carson)"

• (Related "Vegetarianism" Subject Link): "Your Vegetarian Hot Dog May Contain Meat ... and Human DNA"

• "Seventh-day Adventism" (2)

• "Adventists In Uniform - Non-Combatancy"

• "Adventist 'Medical Cadet Corps' Training for Pacifistic, Unarmed, Non-Combatant Battlefield Roles For Conscripted Military Service in Vietnam War"

• "Seventh-Day Adventist Church Warns Members Against Showing Institutional Favor for Ben Carson After Neurosurgeon Declares Presidential Bid"

• "Plagiarism in the writings of Ellen G. White"

• "A True Prophet? - exAdventist Outreach"

• (Seventh-day Adventists believe the Archangel Michael is Jesus Christ)

• "Bibliography of Ellen G. White Titles (SDA website)"

• "Ellen G. White Bibliography"

• "28 Fundamental Beliefs Of The Seventh-day Adventist Church" (SDA List)

• "Are Mrs. White's writings fallible or infallible?"

(My intention is that this list will be continually updated and presented, as long as Dr. Ben Carson is still in the running for the presidency.)

Ellen G. White "Prophetess" & One Of The Main Founders Seventh-day Adventist Denomination

Dr. Ben Carson Seventh-day Adventist Candidate For President of the United States of America

[conservativejoy]

Thanks for all the information and your efforts to inform. We need to have all the information we can get on every candidate and be willing to be objective about each one.

[ShroudedRecluse]

As a shaky SDA, I grew up thinking that the Archangel Michel was Christ, but it was largely a semantic issue.

Adventists, like most Protestants, do not put a great deal of stock into tradition outside of the Bible. Also, the Bible most Protestants use only name Michael specifically as an Archangel - there is only one. We also don't have a very developed angelic hierarchy (Gabriel is only an Angel).

Functionally then, the Archangel Michael is Christ's name as he leads the angelic host, it is a title, like Lamb of God (Arch- = chief, or leader). -"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel..." (1st Thessalonians 4:16) Is he using another's voice? Here is a link supporting these views by other Protestants:
Link

Bottom Line: For me this argument is a non-issue. As others as noted before, most younger SDAs have never heard of this, and us older ones view it as a semantic issue, an anachronism of a prior age.