| Author | Message | ||
| Chris Registered user Username: Chris Post Number: 1817 Registered: 7-2003  |
Check it out: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/januaryfebruary/season-of-adventists-can-ben-carson-church-stay-separatist.html?paging=off | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 8179 Registered: 9-2006  |
I notice in the numbers given of joiners, that they fail to take in the landslide numbers of people that are leaving, and I suspect the Adventist Church of dragging their feet in removing from the rolls. | ||
| Mjcmcook Registered user Username: Mjcmcook Post Number: 1652 Registered: 2-2011  |
River~ I believe it is so true regarding the numbers of people leaving and the "dragging their feet removing from the rolls." Would you believe the bottom line is $$$ ? ! Especially the resistance to removing members from the 'church books '? ! Many, many of the new members are in countries other than America~ The article was interesting~ I wonder how Billy Graham and his family might feel if they saw this article with Pastor Graham's picture intersecting with Ellen White? Whats up with that? ~mj~ | ||
| Mjcmcook Registered user Username: Mjcmcook Post Number: 1653 Registered: 2-2011 |
Chris~ Today a friend of mine who is in my Bible Study Group at Calvary Chapel e-mailed me the link you posted. She is a "former" Catholic~ we often have interesting conversations about our "former" misunderstandings about Scripture. We both are so grateful we are now free to be taught by the Holy Spirit and embrace the "Truth" of Scripture! ~mj~ | ||
| Resjudicata Registered user Username: Resjudicata Post Number: 410 Registered: 4-2014 |
What is even more interesting about the "landslide numbers that are leaving" is the why and the where. The mass exodus is happening in the US and Western Europe, where internet access is universal. Growth is happening in areas where there is little, if any internet access. Loren Siebold wrote over on Spectrum that it now costs $40,000 for each new convert they get in North America. He whined how they have had many promising candidates for baptism that quickly disappeared after reading about Adventism on the internet. That's the REAL story here. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 15036 Registered: 12-2003  |
Yes, Res...that's true. It's also true that Christianity in general is, if anything, less critically concerned about whether or not "sects" are Christian. It seems that a lot of Christians don't want to hear the truth about Adventism. Moreover, within Reformed circles following the Westminster Confession, the practice of and proselytizing to keeping Sabbath—even though it's a Lord's Day Sabbath—is increasing. I just read a document written by the Presbyterian friend of a good friend that argues for a continuation of Sabbath based on its "creation ordinance" and on the continuation of the 10 Commandments as the law God writes on Christian's hearts. What?! It could have been written by an Adventist except for a couple of nearly buried points saying Sabbath has been replaced with the Lord'd Day. Adventism is looking more and more like "Christianity"...or so it seems... Colleen | ||
| Ric_b Registered user Username: Ric_b Post Number: 2192 Registered: 7-2004  |
Very few teachings from Adventism align with Evangelical Christian teaching; Adventists have just become more adept at using "Evangelical" words (without their Evangelical meanings) to cloak the true teachings of the SDA church. This is why you have to "peel back the layers of the onion" and read documents like the Church Manual and the book of the Fundamental Beliefs, rather than settle for the simple statements. This is why it is often fascinating to look at the teacher's quarterly and not just the one being handed out. This is why you need to read the papers written by their seminary professors and their "research" institutes. Adventism may be carefully grooming itself to look more like a Christian church every day, but it is a careful disguise. -While they believe in the Father, Son and kind of the Holy Spirit, the doctrine they call the "Trinity" is not the same doctrine that the Christian church is referring to when they say Trinity. SDAism leaves out a foundational part of the doctrine, that the Father, Son and Spirit are consubstantial. Without that piece, the doctrine isn't really the Trinity. In fact, the Arianism debate, at the time of the Council of Nicaea hinged on the question of whether Jesus and the Father were consubstantial. The SDA rejection of the consubstantial doctrine is a harsh reminder that they continue to cling to their Arian roots. -Adventists have a warped view of biblical inspiration. Their view is based on the descriptions Ellen White gave of her "inspiration" and is under constant modification in order to maintain her status of being "inspired". Evangelical Christians believe that God inspired the writing of Scripture, not the writer. SDAs take the opposite view, that it was the person that was inspired. For the Evangelical Christian that means that while the person remained imperfect, and made errors in their everyday decisions and speech, when they wrote Scripture, God, working through man, was perfect. SDAs believe, and have confirmed for them by an Ellen White quote, that Scripture is penned by imperfect people so it can not be perfect. Belief after belief in SDAism is disguised to look like an Evangelical Christian belief, when in fact the actual SDA teaching is substantially different than Evangelical Christianity. I find it ironic that SDAs take advantage of the very thing that they decry about Modern Protestantism--the trend towards ecumenicalism. Because of the emphasis on a more inclusive, more ecumenical "Church", sects like SDAism are given far greater acceptance for their "differences". SDA leadership has realized that with the right disguise they can easily walk within the ranks thanks to this inclusive attitude. While I agree that the Reformed/Westminster Confession emphasis on the Sabbath (Lord's Day Sabbath) sounds eerily SDA, it is equally interesting that some of the most clear statements about SDAism belonging in the cult classification come from Reformed writers. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 15038 Registered: 12-2003 |
Rick, you are right. And I realize I may have sounded as if Adventism's beliefs and Christianity's may be more similar than earlier. Thanks for saying what you did above; they are NOT similar except on the surface. Even the dubious practices and beliefs that are creeping into many Christian communities don't change the underlying fundamentals of their churches. Even if local congregations are departing from the gospel in some ways, the statements of faith reflect (in many cases) orthodox beliefs. Adventism has no orthodox beliefs...at least not regarding the central tenets of the Christian faith. Colleen | ||
| Psalm107v2 Registered user Username: Psalm107v2 Post Number: 899 Registered: 10-2008  |
The SDA church wants to play both sides of the fence. They want to be "distinct", the "remnant" But if they stick to that side of the fence then anybody looking at their "truth" will see the false doctrines for what they are. So they want to look and have to look as evangelical possible. It will be interesting to see what happens when the spotlight hits the SDA church if Ben Carson runs. | ||
| Skeeter Registered user Username: Skeeter Post Number: 2067 Registered: 12-2007  |
It truly is sad that even many "Evangelical" churches are willing to compromise Biblical truth and instead of teaching God's word in CONTEXT just tell people what they want to hear. And WHY do they WANT to hear anything other than God's word ? to ease their own conscience ? So they do not "offend" someone ? God's word should not offend anyone unless they are living in rebellion,,, and if so... then maybe they NEED to be "offended" if that is what it takes to wake them up. | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 10252 Registered: 3-2004  |
Talking about Ben Carson, he was at the Republican meeting and spoke there on SATURDAY! I wonder what he really believes. Diana | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 15042 Registered: 12-2003 |
Interesting. Well, we know that He's an Adventist. That fact alone has to skew his worldview, even if he doesn't believe all the tiny details. Colleen |
