Posted on 03/06/2009 9:51:50 AM PST by TaraP
I was thinking of attending there worship. I have admired many of thier teachings on Sabbath Observance Healthy Living, Chatiable Giving and Prophetic teachings. However I am not sure if all thier doctrine is sound.
I understand Ellen G White is the founder of this church In brief, she was a woman of remarkable spiritual gifts who lived most of her life during the nineteenth century (1827-1915), yet through her writings she is still making a revolutionary impact on millions of people around the world.
During her lifetime she wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books; but today, including compilations from her 50,000 pages of manuscript, more than 100 titles are available in English. She is the most translated woman writer in the entire history of literature, and the most translated American author of either gender.
Her writings cover a broad range of subjects, including religion, education, social relationships, evangelism, prophecy, publishing, nutrition, and management. Her life-changing masterpiece on successful Christian living, Steps to Christ, has been published in more than 140 languages. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Mrs. White was more than a gifted writer; they believe she was appointed by God as a special messenger to draw the world's attention to the Holy Scriptures and help prepare people for Christ's second advent. From the time she was 17 years old until she died 70 years later, God gave her approximately 2,000 visions and dreams.
Who are the Apostate Churches today? can they easily be recognized?. It is simple to recognize apostate teachings, such as acceptance of homosexuality or teaching another way of salvation other than Jesus Christ, but is there additional teachings of apostate we should be looking for?...If we are not observing the Saturday Sabbath are we apostate? Thoughts on this?
NO..But as Christians we do honor and observe GOD’s Holy Ten Commandments don’t we?
There is really a strait forward answer to this. First dont go by what other people say only go by the Bible. So then your next move is to study the doctrines where Adventists differ from other protestant churches and the cases they make for these views from the Bible. But be warned I did this and ended up a becoming a Seventh Day Adventist:)
True, but it is an issue in the many faiths which lie outside mainline, Catholics and Orthodox so I don’t feel I can recommend it as a definitive line in the sand as far as apostacy is concerned. As I said, we tend to define “the others” as apostate but that’s how it probably ought to be: it’s not really a faith if you believe many faiths are just as good as your own. This seeker should get her own answer from the “ultimate source” and ignore those of us making recommendations based on conflicts of interest.
When Paul preached to the Gentiles, they were founding new churches sometimes decades after Christ, and what Paul taught wasn't what Christ taught.
So if a modern day Paul were to teach the same things the original Paul taught with the same results, then would those new churches be discounted by you since they came about 2000 years after Christ?
Perhaps.
The 10 Commandments and Levitical laws were given directly to the Children of Isreal (Jews), correct?
The new Christians in Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, etc were not Jews and were not required to convert to Judaism. They weren’t required to observe the laws.
Were they ever commanded or directed to observe a seventh day sabbath as the Jews were?
Then ask yourself if you are a Jew or wannabe Jew.
And then does Galations apply to you?
I think there are good faith arguments against the Doctrine of the Trinity based on scripture and that one has to study the scriptures and seek heavenly guidance as to how to understand various passages. Clearly a large contingent of Catholic, Orthodox and Prostestant Churches (which, after all, originated in Catholocism) choose to make the doctrine the line in the sand. Others do not agree and I won’t presume to tell this seeker the Trinity is a hard and fast scriptural truth to all non-apostate churches.
We have an Old Testament and a New Testament.
Jesus did have the ability to change the rules, and He did.
I believe that Christianity must pay attention to tradition AND to Scripture. From the very EARLY Church, Christians understood that the “Sabbath Day” was now Sunday and not Saturday.
The problem I have, with supposedly “Christian” Faiths, who go directly to the text of Scripture is this:
They are using Scripture in a way it was not intended, by the very people who WROTE the documents. Much of Scripture was an oral history. Much of it was a rebuke of certain practices, when a group went astray. Never, in the New Testament, can you find a complete guide to what Christian Life was like, in the Early Church. The very people who WROTE Scripture expected those habits and traditions to be passed on, just as the other ORAL traditions had been passed on for years, before being put to writing.
So, that something can NOT be found in the Bible is much like saying that the “users guide” for your car, does not contain a map to Buffalo, and therefore, you are NOT allowed to drive to Buffalo. (That, of course, is not what your “users guide” intended.) Also, I understand your charitable view towards others of faith, and I mostly share that view. However, the "Millerites" who are now in the Jahovah's Witness and 7th Day adventist ranks are among the most hostile on the planet, towards other faiths. Their literature is full of hate and lies and historical inaccuracies, as well as some crack pot theories. They do not allow their members to explore other faiths, or to have much contact with other faiths. Understandable, since any Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical or member of most other faiths can poke holes in the Millerite theories.
I am a Gentile Christian...
GOD gave Noah 7 laws for every human being and the 10 Commandments to the Children of Israel, however we do not recognize 7 Noahide Laws, we have always recognized the 10 Commandments as Jews or Gentiles as the Law of GOD.
When I was a Baptist, the best part of being one is that Baptists never recognize each other at the liquor store.
Thank you for those Links!
I will explore over the weekend....
Jesus Himself summed up the laws as love God and they neighbor as thyself.
Gentile Christians are NEVER instructed to follow the 10 Commandments OR the hundreds of other commandments and laws given to the Children of Isreal.
If you disagree, please show me what you use for your opinion.
“and what Paul taught wasn’t what Christ taught.”
Could you qualify that?
JB
Most evangelicals and main-line protestants view SDAs cautiously. A huge number of links and commentary can be found here:
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/s18.html
I would also recommend this interview of Walter Martin on the subject here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050224182337/http://web2.airmail.net/billtod/martin.htm
SDA are at a crossroad. If they elevate the teachings of Ellen G. White to that of scripture, they will begin to seriously diverge from orthodox Christianity. Much SDA doctrine is biblically orthodox (Trinity, Salvation, Resurrection of Christ, etc). As such I am reluctant to place them in the same category as mormons or JW’s. But other areas are a concern, but of what I understand, it doesn’t elevate it to the level of a full cult.
Are you saying we are only to Obey the 7 Noahide Laws?
Idolatry is forbidden. Man is commanded to believe in the One G-d alone and worship only Him.
Incestuous and adulterous relations are forbidden. Human beings are not sexual objects, nor is pleasure the ultimate goal of life.
Murder is forbidden. The life of a human being, formed in G-d’s image, is sacred.
Cursing the name of G-d is forbidden. Besides honoring and respecting G-d, we learn from this precept that our speech must be sanctified, as that is the distinctive sign which separated man from the animals.
Theft is forbidden. The world is not ours to do with as we please.
Eating the flesh of a living animal is forbidden. This teaches us to be sensitive to cruelty to animals. (This was commanded to Noah for the first time along with the permission of eating meat. The rest were already given to Adam in the Garden of Eden.)
Mankind is commanded to establish courts of justice and a just social order to enforce the first six laws and enact any other useful laws or customs
*Rather than the 10 Commandments*?
“Jesus Himself summed up the laws as love God and they neighbor as thyself.
Gentile Christians are NEVER instructed to follow the 10 Commandments OR the hundreds of other commandments and laws given to the Children of Isreal.
If you disagree, please show me what you use for your opinion.”
What he summed up was the ten commandments. The ten commandments have to do with your duty to others and to God. For example if you love your neighbor you will not steel his car etc. And if you love God you will have no other Gods etc.
If we are not observing the Saturday Sabbath are we apostate?
Not necessarily, although I have been told by SDAs that. Almost all celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday because it is “The Lord’s Day”, the day of the week when He rose from the dead.
I know little about the SDAs, however I had a friend who was SDA and left (she was our church secretary) and she said that so much of it was all about E.G. White and her writings, rather than Christ. That sent up a red flag for me. They also believe in works based salvation. Also that Christ’s blood will not forgive sins until the end of the millennium, IIRC.
The SDA’s are one of many “Restorationist” churches (Like Mormons and JW’s) that came out of New England in the first half of the 1800’s (SDAs founded in NH, 1844). I have also read that the SDAs and JW’s have a common background in the teachings of William Miller.
Rea search BOTH SIDES CAREFULLY before making any decision. I wish I had.
Easily.
Jesus went to the lost sheep of Isreal, not the Gentiles.
He taught the Kingdom of Heaven and repentance and that he was the fulfilling of the law.
Paul taught primarily to the Gentiles and taught about the Church of Christ, salvation by grace, not works, etc.
Pretty easy to check that stuff out to see if I’m lyin’ to ya.
Do they believe in the Rapture of the Church?
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