Here’s why I bring up Waco: the 7th-Day Adventist movement has a bad history with cults and for a very good reason: It plays directly into the beliefs that everyone else has been subtly deceived, despite intending to the right thing, and, therefore, they’re all facing horrific torture by an enraged God. Mankind knew murder, adultery, idolatry, false testimony, fornication, jealousy, etc., was wrong and chose to do them anyway, because of his sinful nature. How was mankind to know Saturday was the Sabbath?
See, the other regulations of Mosaic law were legalisms to meet a purpose: to set apart a chosen race. That part of the law, once fulfilled, is moot. What remains are but two commandments. You’re trying to bring back the law through which death was judged apon Man.
When Peter did away with circumcision, what scripture guided him? What scripture told him, essentially, to do away with this one aspect of the law?
The fact that all the commandments are revoked means they are not without purpose, however; this claim is not, as you made it seem at the start, an assertion of licensiousness. Now that we know WHY the commandments exist, we can CHOOSE, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to decide for ourselves how to meet their purposes, which are the two great commandments.
But instead of promoting love of their fellow men, the 7th-Day adventist movement gets people to view all outsiders suspiciously, as mere tempters towards destruction. Given that view, it’s no wonder why the movement has had problems with cultist splinter groups.
The Branch Davidian sect is no historical anomaly; it is still alive and thriving.
From its origin, the 7th-Day Adventist was a doomsday cult, with the Great Disappointment of Oct. 22, 1844. Next came Ellen Gould White, who taught that the Pope was the antichrist, because if you add up the Latin-alphabet letters of “Vicarivs Filii Dei,” you get 666. The problem was that in no authentic Catholic-Church document was the Pope ever refered to as that. And of course, Church Latin uses “u,” not “v.” (It’s Christ’s role as the Son of Man which the Pope serves as vicar of.) Oddly, by her own logic, Ms. White (”eLLen goULD VVhIte”) is the antichrist. This is especially interesting, given that her followers consider her a modern-day prophet.
It may seem strange to Christians that Branch Davidians could be all that related to 7th Day Adventists, because, after all, wasn’t Koresh teaching entirely un-Christian things? But little do most Christians know that many other 7th-Day Adventist groups deny Jesus’ divinity, and believe him, instead, to be an angel with a fallen soul... like David Koresh.
The spread of 7th-Day Adventism is a cancer in Christianity. The movement can claim a remarkable one million converts per year, but also loses 10 percent of its membership every five years. Further, its brutal attacks on mainstream Christianity leave most of these people completely without any Christian faith, and arguably sows significant distress and discord among far more people for whom the Adventists’ attacks haven’t inspired conversion, but have destroyed their incumbent faith.
Since you apparently didn't read or understand my last post, I'll say it again. Your premise is faulty. Mankind doesn't "know" any of these things are wrong. Mankind doesn't have a clue that he should obey God on these matters. It is ONLY by the Lord calling us to repentance and the indwelling of his holy spirit that we can understand these things.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Mankind doesn't know it's wrong to steal anymore than they know it's wrong to violate the Lord's sabbath.
See, the other regulations of Mosaic law were legalisms to meet a purpose: to set apart a chosen race. That part of the law, once fulfilled, is moot. What remains are but two commandments. You’re trying to bring back the law through which death was judged apon Man.
Let's look at those two commandments:
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Look at verse 40. Does it say "These two commandments "REPLACE and OBSELETE" all other commandments? Of course not. It says ALL the law and prophets HANG on these two commandments:
Love of God Love of Others
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1st commandment |------6th commandment
2nd commandment | 7th commandment
3rd commandment | 8th commandment
4th commandment | 9th commandment
5th commandment---- 10th commandment
Each of these commandments of the Lord branching from them. Christ meant that the culmination of the law and prophets was PERFECT LOVE. If a man has perfect, Godly love, then he will ALWAYS be keeping the commandments of the Lord, spiritually, mentally and physically.When Peter did away with circumcision, what scripture guided him? What scripture told him, essentially, to do away with this one aspect of the law?
I'm sure God inspired him with these passages:
Deu 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
Deu 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
The fact that all the commandments are revoked means they are not without purpose, however; this claim is not, as you made it seem at the start, an assertion of licensiousness. Now that we know WHY the commandments exist, we can CHOOSE, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to decide for ourselves how to meet their purposes, which are the two great commandments.
In other words, we can define for ourselves what "Love of God" and "love of neighbor" means. That's exactly why our society has abortion, homosexuality, adultery, child sex, pornography and a host of other evils. It's exactly because the philosophy you are espousing has turned standards of behavior associated with Godly love into a burdensome law.
But instead of promoting love of their fellow men, the 7th-Day adventist movement gets people to view all outsiders suspiciously, as mere tempters towards destruction. Given that view, it’s no wonder why the movement has had problems with cultist splinter groups. the Branch Davidian sect is no historical anomaly; it is still alive and thriving.
I have a surprise for you. There's not one perfect Christian denomination, cult or sect. Just as there's not one perfect person on earth, there's not one perfect organization. All have had, and will have, problems, schisms, difficulties and evils simply because they're made up of imperfect people. It will ALWAYS be that way until Christ returns. He has to return to stop us from killing ourselves. The one true church isn't an organization. You can't find a zip code for it. You can't point to it and say "there it is". It's made up of called out individuals, individuals called to be servants of the living God.