| Author | Message | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 14062 Registered: 12-2003  |
So today I was reading in the October, 2012 Adventist World magazine. On pp. 32-33 is an article by the assoc. director of the Biblical Research Institute, Kwabena Donker, Ph.D. The article is entitled, "A Halo of Light: How Ellen G White came to appreciate the seventh-day Sabbath". Here is a quote from the article:
Reading this passage I suddenly saw something I had never seen before. I had always heard that Sabbath is the memorial of Creation, but I had never see it the way Donkor described it. And His description IS faithful to EGW's teaching. Notice that he said,
In the sentences above, the meaning of "Creation" is ambiguous; it might mean the act of God's creating, or it might mean the actual CREATION that God made. In fact, in the context, it seems more likely that the Creation to which Sabbath is pointing is the finished product of those six days of God's creative work. Nevertheless, however one might understand that word, Donkor explicitly states that Sabbath is a sign that signifies Creation. And that conclusion is unbiblical. Paul says in Col 2:16-17:
Sabbath is a shadow pointing to the reality of Christ. In the Old Covenant it was a sign between God and Israel of Israel's acceptance of the covenant. Never does the Bible say Sabbath is a sign pointing to creation. In Exodus 20:8-11 the argument for Israel keeping the Sabbath was explained in the fourth commandment: "For is six days God created the heavens and the earth…and rested on the seventh day." The point is that God finished His work. It is also important to realize that Adventist say the Sabbath was made on the seventh day of creation. Scripture says Creation was six days. The seventh day was the day God ceased from His finished work. Donkor, however, makes the case that Sabbath, a sign God gave Israel to foreshadow the Lord Jesus, was a sign to point to creation. That connection is completely unbiblical, and furthermore, it is pagan. We do not honor the creation. We honor only God, and the Sabbath was the foreshadowing of the incarnate God the Son. It was never a sign of Creation. What God made was very good, but we were NEVER asked to commemorate it. Roans 1:24-25 says,
By their subtle twisting of Scripture based on EGW's declarations, Adventism has succeeding in eclipsing the Lord Jesus and the Triune God by teaching its members that Sabbath is the memorial of Creation. Adventism has developed a worship of the creation instead of the Creator: they honor a created day as the sign of Creation. This conclusion is actually pagan; it teaches people to honor creation instead of the Creator. We are never to honor God's creation. We are to worship God alone, and the sign of the Sabbath was always to point to God's finished work, His rest which is now ours in Christ Jesus. Sabbath was a shadow of Jesus. It was never a sign of creation. Colleen | ||
| Katarain Registered user Username: Katarain Post Number: 267 Registered: 1-2012 |
The assumptions that are so bred in us! I always conceded the point about the Sabbath pointing toward creation by saying that it could point both ways, to creation and to Christ. This is a great post. Lots to think about. Thanks! | ||
| Gregkleinig Registered user Username: Gregkleinig Post Number: 69 Registered: 12-2010 |
Great post Colleen. When I was an SDA is used to think that even though I didn't agree with all the SDA teachings that at least the Sabbath was absolutely unassailable. How blind I was to Col 2 where it says the Sabbath (any SDAs reading this I challenge you to look up in the Greek which Sabbath is being spoken of) is a shadow - the reality is Christ. Creation took 6 days. Salvation took the life of the Creator. It is a no brainer. The Aussie. | ||
| Lyrical Registered user Username: Lyrical Post Number: 77 Registered: 4-2012 |
Colleen, Thanks so much for sharing your insights. I read the same article recently, but was too weary at the time to give it much thought (with the exception of another *sigh* over the idea that there was yet again another Sabbath article). Your observations about Creation and Sabbath are right on. The subtle deception seems barely discernable at times, but the implications of the deception are profound! Thank you for your ministry. Gregkleinig, "Creation took 6 days. Salvation took the life of the Creator." I love that statement! | ||
| Mjcmcook Registered user Username: Mjcmcook Post Number: 694 Registered: 2-2011  |
Colleen~ Thank-you for another insightful post regarding the sabbath and how it really is the centerpiece of the adventist "Worldview"~ I would go far as to say, that it is even more important than the investigative judgement strand. The deception goes so deep in all their doctrines, which originate with their false prophet, ellen g. white~ just like it does with all cults; including, Mormons, Jehovah Witness, and others~ their "Worldview" is warped~ ~mj~ | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 8042 Registered: 9-2006  |
Absolutely, whether hard line Adventist or liberal Adventist,whether they eat meat and wear jewelry and say so, or whether they don't eat meat, wear jewelry and say so, it always come back to the sabbath. Their religion is built around the sabbath, not the Lord Jesus and his finished work on the cross in his death, burial and resurrection,, but the creation rather than the creator. This is why it is entirely possible that most of them have not received salvation, but are in deep deception. River | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 14063 Registered: 12-2003 |
MJ--I agree. I believe the Sabbath deception is more important to the Adventist worldview than is the IJ...although the IJ is the framework that sentences everyone to eternal damnation if they don't keep the Sabbath! It's amazing to me how we let the SDA's intoning of the 4th Commandment completely fog us to the inside-out way they used it. They would state that the 4th commandment says Sabbath points to creation, "for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth…and blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Their argument then would state that the 4th commandment establishes the Sabbath as the memorial to Creation, and as such, we are to keep it. Sabbath was the crowning act of Creation, in other words... Om reality, the 4th commandment reminds us that God completed His creation in six days and RESTED on the seventh. Therefore, the Sabbath of the commandments was not a memorial of Creation; it was a pointing back to God's ceasing from His perfect, completed work. It was a shadow of God's REST, not of God's work nor of His handiwork. As the shadow of God's finished work, it "worked" both directions: it also foreshadowed Christ's finished work on the cross. The Sabbath was always about entering God's (not our) rest. It was never about creation, either the act or the product. River, I agree with your conclusion. Although most Adventists are completely unaware of the fact, they do hold the Sabbath as an idol. Even in their understanding of the significance of the day, they see it as linked to God's handiwork, not to His personal Rest given to us as a gift. Colleen | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 2845 Registered: 7-2007 |
Adventists like to point out that the fourth commandment says: "Remember," in Exodus 20:8. However they fail to realize that the Sabbath was first given to Israel a few weeks before that, at the giving of the manna - Exodus 16:23-30. If they look at the beginning of both chapters, they'll see the timeline - "...on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt." (Exodus 16:1) And then their arrival at Sinai; "In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt." (Exodus 19:1) Also they fail to realize that the 10 commandments are repeated in Deuteronomy 5 and in the 15th verse, God gives a different reason that Israel is to celebrate the Sabbath... "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." So it's like God is saying, in effect: "I'm God, so obey Me." Another thing they fail to realized is that God only blessed THE one Sabbath day, not all the anniversaries of it: the 14th, 21th, etc. etc. And yet ANOTHER thing they miss, is that God didn't go back to work on the 8th day. Adventists know that Israel kept the Sabbath VERY CAREFULLY. The Israelites didn't dare not to because they were stoned to death if they didn't. Yet, Hebrews 4:2-3 says that Israel DIDN'T enter God's REST. | ||
| Foofighter Registered user Username: Foofighter Post Number: 255 Registered: 7-2005 |
Asurprise, Good observation on the timeline. Love it! That will answer a lot of SDA arguments regarding "Remember". Carol | ||
| Jdpascal Registered user Username: Jdpascal Post Number: 318 Registered: 10-2003 |
SDA's like to say that the 'remember' of Exodus 20 refers to something that took place in the ancient past. The reality is that the word can refer to something that is said or happened in the same instant. We could be told to 'remember' our wedding anniversaries during the wedding ceremony. The anniversary didn't exist before the wedding took place.... ;) The reference to creation in Exodus 20 only tells us the 'WHY' of instituting the Sabbath for Israel. It does not refer to 'WHEN' the Sabbath was given. | ||
| Grace_alone Registered user Username: Grace_alone Post Number: 2119 Registered: 6-2006  |
I also notice that Donkor's words are flowery and elaborate in the style of EGW. It sounds so great, especially if you are conditioned to follow the "Sabbath truth". The Sabbath always comes first. Rarely have I seen an SDA argue for honoring your father and mother, or not coveting or not bearing false witness. It's always the Sabbath or "The 10 Commandments", which we all know, means the Sabbath. Sheesh! Where's Jesus??  Leigh Anne | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 8044 Registered: 9-2006 |
I think he was left somewhere between Genesis and Podunk Kentucky. Hey, you want to ease up on the flowery and elaborate words? You wanna give us writers a complex or something? River | ||
| Grace_alone Registered user Username: Grace_alone Post Number: 2120 Registered: 6-2006 |
No need for a complex, River. You always get right to the point. I think the flowery, elaborate words (that send you in circles) are so deceiving. I believe Ellen purposely meant to sound "biblical" which continues to confuse people in a way that causes them to remember things in the bible that aren't really there. Add the word "Sabbath" and voila! Instantly it's biblical! In reality it's a tool of the devil. Let's make it look as biblical as possible while we steer these people away from Jesus. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 2852 Registered: 7-2007 |
Grace_alone; Jesus is supposed to help them keep the Sabbath! | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 8045 Registered: 9-2006 |
You are right about the elaborate and flowery words of course. If anybody watched Stephen Kings 'The Stand' you remember the old woman people dreamed about who sat in the middle of a corn field, then on to Denver and the people came in lines to touch her. That show reminded me of Ellen white and how she must have sat and received the people. People would have wanted to touch her, or have her touch them. There was one indication where she sounded as if she wanted to dissuade them, but that seemed a pretty half hearted effort. Now, I've told on myself about watching Steven King movies, but hey, he's not nearly weird as Ellen. |
