Posted on 07/01/2023 1:49:36 AM PDT by Cronos
Some of the Seventh-day Adventist founding fathers were Arians. Arians deny that Jesus Christ is God the Son, one being with the Father (consubstantial), equal to the Father (co-equal), and as eternal as the Father (co-eternal). The founding mother of Adventism wrote many Arian-like statements, such as “The man Christ Jesus was not the Lord God Almighty, yet Christ and the Father are one”
Modern day Arians include the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who published their version of the Bible called the New World Translation. In it they changed “and the Word was God” to “and the Word was a god”.
The Clear Word Bible is an Adventist production of the quality of the New World Translation. While not officially adopted as the official translation for the Adventist church, it remains popular and has been promoted from as high up as you can get in their hierarchy.
One interesting text is Acts 20:28. Look at how the real Bible (we’ll use the KJV here) compares to the Jehovah’s Witness and Adventist versions.
Acts 20:28 – KJV – Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
“Acts” 20:28 – New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses) – Pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the holy spirit has appointed you overseers, to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own Son.
“Acts” 20:28 – Clear Word “Bible” (Adventist) – Watch out for yourselves and for the sheep in your church. The Holy Spirit has selected you to be their shepherds and to care for them and feed them because they are the Lord’s property, which he bought with his own blood.
Hebrew Bible Hebrew Bible The real Bible uses “theos” which is translated to English as God.
The New World Translation adds in “Son” to avoid the blood belonging to Jesus as God. This changes the meaning completely.
The Clear Word Bible has a different angle – it changes “God” (theos) to “Lord” in the hope that people will miss the implication that this is God being mentioned, and allows for an Arian reading of the text.
It also changes Acts 20:28 from “church of God” to “because they are the Lord’s property” so that the words “which he hath purchased with his own blood” can be read in an Arian sense.
It should be noted here that in many Greek manuscripts, the text reads “church of the Lord and God” – “κυριου και θεου” (kuriou kai theou).
“Kuriou kai theou” would be quite acceptable because it still specifies God in “Lord and God”. The majority early on seem to have “God”; certain types of partial manuscripts have a majority as “Lord and God”; the oldest and most reliable have only “God” (which thus carried over into the Textus Receptus), as do the early Christians citing the text; and “Lord and God” was probably a later gloss/elaboration.
Ethiopian Crucifixion, Leaf from Gunda Gunde Gospels Ethiopian Crucifixion, Leaf from Gunda Gunde Gospels Dropping “and God” (or replacing “God” with “Lord”) seems to be a later change in some Aramaic and Syriac texts, primarily seen where Monophysitism was found. Monophysitism joined the two natures of Christ into one, and the concept of the “blood of God”, while legitimate, was probably seen as too supportive of Monophysitism in those areas, so some clarified it by making it mean “blood of Christ” or “blood of the Lord”. Hence “church of the Lord purchased with his own blood” or “church of Christ purchased with his own blood”.
The motivation there would have been to counter Monophysitism, not promote Arianism. Adventists have no motivation to counter Monophysitism, but they do have an interest in promoting Arianism.
That is why the Adventist Clear Word variation is very problematic, as it assists in demoting God the Son to a lesser being.
More proof for why Seventh day Adventists like Jehovah’s witnesses are not Christians
“The man Christ Jesus was not the Lord God Almighty, yet Christ and the Father are one.”
– Lift Him Up, p. 235.3 https://text.egwwritings.org/read/44.1815
– SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1129.7 https://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=5BC&lang=en&collection=2§ion=all&pagenumber=1129¶graphnumber=&QUERY=%22Jesus+was+not+the+Lord+God+Almighty%22
– Ms 140, 1903 (September 27, 1903) par. 28
https://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=EGWManuscript&bookCode=Ms140-1903&lang=en&collection=2§ion=all&pagenumber=1¶graphnumber=28&QUERY=%22Jesus+was+not+the+Lord+God+Almighty%22
The Clear Word was just some guy’s notes of his thoughts as he read his Bible. It wasn’t meant to be a Bible version.
“Two of the principal founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Joseph Bates and James White, were originally members of the Christian Connection Church which rejected the doctrine of the Trinity…Other prominent Adventists who spoke out against the Trinity were J.N. Loughborough, R.F. Cottrell, J.N. Andrews, and Uriah Smith…”
These SDA leaders denied Jesus’ deity and the Trinity. Joseph Bates, raised in the Congregational Church, repudiated the Trinity doctrine upon joining the Christian Connection Church
The SDA church eventually accepted that Christ was God, in fulness. The SDA church was supposed to be a church that would continually adjust its doctrines as they discovered reason to do so as the Word of God was studied.
Fanny J. Crosby’s favourite hymnal.
I just learned that Fanny J Crosby wrote so many hymns, 8000, that she had to use over 200 pseudonyms to be able to sell her work.
A Catholic website should never use the King James version of the holy bible as its primary text for a discussion of this nature.
Here is the same passage from Holy Mother Church’s Douay Rheims bible (itself the English translation of St. Jerome’s 4th century Latin Vulgate):
(Acts 20:28) Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
From the website Adventist.org:
“There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons. God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self-revelation. God, who is love, is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation.”
Sounds good to me, as does the rest of that page describing God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
I’ve known my share of SDAs, and I’ve never noticed a hint of Arianism; St. Nick would have to look elsewhere for people to slap. (The local Mormon temple would be a good place to start.)
And my SDA acquaintances long since gave up Millerism: one might say there’s not even a Bud of Millerism, but I digress.
SDAs and JWs aren’t the only ones whose response to scripture contradicting doctrine is to create new bible versions that are in-line with their doctrine.
Ellen White also taught a shut door message for awhile. She was wrong and guess what......she grew in grace. Like Peter was wrong and Paul had to admonish him.
Nothing like a ignorant fool who has no idea how noncanonical inspiration works.
Me thinks you just hate the Sabbath. If you think you hate the Sabbath now, wait till the real fireworks start.
The ClearView Bible was not meant to be new Bible Version. It was only meant to be commentary Bible.
I don’t even own one.
Let’s get real here. The Nicene Creed IS NOT PART OF THE BIBLE!
It was an imperfect document brooded over by a committee. In fact, Emperor Constantine was the one who dictated the ‘Homousios’ portion of the ‘Nicene Creed’ while still a pagan.
When Constantine became a Christian he accepted baptism from a Semi-Arian Bishop Eusibius of Nicodemia.
So when was Constantine right? When he was a Pagan? ...or when he was a Christian?
Sneaky ba$tards
So, don't read it. I know I don't. In fact I've never even heard of it. Why post this garbage? Do we need Elsie to post his "naughty pope" list to deflate your superiority index?
I remember back in the 70’s or so them using occasionally a version hardly anyone else used. I think it was something like the New Revised Version, or New American Bible, or something else. Does anyone else remember something like that have some knowledge of the SDA’s. I’m not a SDA but I have them in the family tree.
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