Posted on 11/16/2008 12:15:27 PM PST by TaraP
The thing that I find the most dis ingenious about the Adventist religion is their view on the Catholic Church. I was raised Catholic and know that many true, heartfelt Christians belong to that church.
But the Adventist constantly bemoan the Pope and then practice their own form of it in the person of Ellen White.
I have studied many of them and probably not as many as I should. For a while I was so confused as to why Christ would have so many different sects of Christianity and why not one.
After many years I came to the conclusion that God had to reach people in many different ways. It was comforting to me. That I could be who I am and not beat myself because of it. I just keep searching for God and ways to be better a person and serve God.
Matthew 7
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Did you mean imminent or immanent?
14 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. (Matt. 25)
33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. 34 It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. 35 Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming--in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning-- 36 lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!" (Mark 13)
No one knows the time of Christ’s return. Only in that sense is it imminent. Christ may return tomorrow or in 10,000 years. We do not know.
“Did you mean imminent or immanent?”
I meant imminent. Paul and all the apostles looked for the immediate return of Jesus. To anticipate the return of Christ is to live a life that is prepared for his return. You are correct in that we do not know when he will return. Those who look for his return after the tribulation seem to think that his return can be dated from the time of the anticrist taking power. I reject this premise.
This is only an issue for the futurist.
I’m “post trib” but that is because I believe the Great Tribulation of Matthew 24 was a reference to the events surrounding the sack of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in AD70.
The actual text of Daniel mentions seventy sevens. What these sevens are is not explained. King James translators guessed that since a week has seven days the sevens must mean weeks. But since seventy weeks is too short a time for what is predicted, people guessed that, using a day stands for a year scale, the seventy weeks must mean 490 years.
There was confusion over when the 490 years began and ended. On top of that confusion came a theory that only the first 69 weeks have been fulfilled and that at some future time the 70th week would be fulfilled. By this theory we are living near the end of a long gap between the 69th and 70th weeks that has lasted for nearly 2000 years.
If all these guesses were not enough confusion, some of the events predicted are given opposite meanings by interpreters. Some think it predicted Jesus Christ, some the Antichrist, some both. Some think it was fulfilled at the death and resurrection of Jesus, some think forty years later during the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and some “gappers” are still waiting for the 70th week to begin. No interpretation I have read is free from lots of guesswork.
I don’t know who else has thought about this, but I have wondered if the seventy sevens meant seventy seven-fold sins against God, which may tie in with the statement of Jesus about forgiving not just seven times but seventy times seven times, which of course is equal to 490. The advantage of this way of reading Daniel’s prophecy is that it focuses attention on the spiritual relationship between God and His people, not on chronological theories that are always inadequate or even ridiculous.
Since the Atonement of Christ is the only basis for salvation, it deserves more attention than chronological theories. Are there limits to the Atonement? After all, it was completed at one time in history, and therefore had to cover all humans, past, present, and future. If there were, and therefore are, limits to the Atonement, anything exceeding cannot be covered, because there can be no time-travel back to enlarge the scope of what has already been completed. So maybe Christ atoned for seventy seven-fold sins, but no more.
This may explain why God allows the destruction of wicked nations. If they were allowed to sin past the limits of the Atonement, they might become ineligible for any degree of salvation. I believe that the forces of evil in America are so corrupting and so past correcting that severe judgments on America are imminent, especially since America has important responsibilities to fulfill in these last days before the return of Christ to reign on Earth for a thousand years.
Just for the record, there is no "7 years of tribulation" or peace treaty with Israel or anyone else int he Bible. That is all futurist fabrication.
“This is only an issue for the futurist.”
Then you believe that Christ, the futurist, was only discussing the events that would occur shortly after his ascension? Can I then assume that you think that since Jesus disciples asked him about the signs of his coming, and the end of the world, that the original words have been mistranslated? Since the verses of “one being left and the other taken” haven’t yet been fulfilled, do you not believe in the eventual return of Christ? How do you interpret the scripture in Matthew 24 where Jesus talks about “if those days weren’t shortened all flesh would be destroyed”.
In Mark 13 Jesus Himself tells us what to look for. The abomination of desolation, I think, will be obvious to believers. When this happens, look up.
Bump
The "Foolish Virgins" were pretty sure of that, until...
Actually, if you read carefully, the "Little Horn" is the 11th
In the rapture, we meet him "in the air," but at the visible second coming he definately sets foot on the earth.
No, the Church will be gone; he will declare his own 'church.' Most of what's left of the professing church will willingly follow him.
Thanks for providing the “barometer;” If you scoff, we know its real.
I guess one criterion is as good as any other for you folks.
It’s hard to take anyone seriously if the use the NKJV (or any other “modern” mish-mash)
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