| Author |
Message |
Insearchof
Registered user
Username: Insearchof
Post Number: 190
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Friday, March 31, 2017 - 8:03 pm: |     |
I received the April edition of AW today. Sometimes I browse them, sometimes not. Today I browsed through.
There is an article titled "Beyond the Cross - Making the Most of Easter" by Jarod Thomas.
Writ large are these words -
"Adventist faith CENTERS on the death and resurrection of Christ"
The emphasis is the authors. He states in the article "No question: the Adventist faith centers on the death and resurrection of Christ."
This statement is false! It is true that "CHRISTIAN faith centers on the death and resurrection of Christ"! Adventist faith CENTERS on the LAW.
I recall one of the last times I attended the Adventist church I grew up in (I attended there for 30 years all together). It was the Saturday before Easter Sunday and the principal of the Adventist school was preaching that day. His comments as he opened his sermon went something like this -
I know that tomorrow is when most of Christianity celebrates Easter and perhaps I should preach about Jesus' death and resurrection, but we are Adventists and I am going to preach about the law from the book of James.
My wife and I just shook our heads. We knew our time there was short and that preamble (and the sermon that followed) just confirmed the rightness of the path we had chosen.
Mr. Thomas brings up the tired examples of bunnies and Easter eggs having more in common with pagan rituals than with the risen Lord (really? Is this what he believes Christianity focuses on?).
I had forgotten how much I wearied of the Adventists attitude of 'lets talk about ANYTHING BUT the death and resurrection of Christ'.
Thank you Lord that we are free from that misguided foolishness.
Sorry to rant. It was just a sad thing to see, and even sadder to think that the author may truly believe that Adventism is all about the death and resurrection of Christ.
ISO |
Milan
Registered user
Username: Milan
Post Number: 4
Registered: 3-2017
| | Posted on Friday, March 31, 2017 - 10:35 pm: | |
I agree with you brother.Maybe just to add. There is no problem in preaching the Law but problem is if the Law is above Jesus. Law should guide us toward Jesus but in SDA the Law is everything. |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 15481
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2017 - 4:28 pm: | |
Insearchof, I understand your frustration. I have also heard Adventists expound on the fact that Jesus did the "work" of rising from the dead on Sunday, but He honored the Sabbath by resting in the tomb on Sabbath. The emphasis has been that the significance of Jesus' death was that He demonstrated the overarching sacredness of the Sabbath, confirming it for eternity to come.
Looking back, it's horrifying to realize that Adventism exulted in Jesus' death because it "confirmed" the sacred Sabbath. This backwards analysis reveals the camouflaged truth: Adventists worship the Sabbath. I know they would hotly deny this assertion, but to them, Sabbath is sacred—it is an idol that claims their deepest affections and loyalty.
We can chip away at the role of Ellen White or the lifestyle practices of traditional Adventism, but if we show that the Sabbath is obsolete for those who trust Jesus, their deepest passions flare. They love the Sabbath: the way it identifies them, gives them a break from their lives, promises eternal security, etc etc.
Sabbath, not Jesus, is the object of their affections. It is the LAW, not the death and resurrection of the true biblical Jesus, that defines Adventism.
Colleen |
Insearchof
Registered user
Username: Insearchof
Post Number: 191
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, April 09, 2017 - 6:07 pm: | |
That is so true (Sabbath focus). To drill it down from a more general 'law focus' to a much more specific and accurate 'Sabbath focus' more clearly defines where Adventists place their values.
My wife and I had dinner with a couple this weekend. They are Adventists and likely will be until death, but they caught us up on how things had been going at the church they attend. It seems that the pastor has a strong Gospel focus. He even said (from the pulpit, no less) that the Sabbath had nothing to do with salvation.
ISO |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 15484
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - 10:08 pm: | |
Well, I've heard Adventists say that for quite a while. They try to say that Sabbath-keeping is an evidence of loving God, not a requirement for salvation. What they don't address, however, is whether giving up the Sabbath would mean to them losing salvation.
It's easy to say Sabbath has nothing to do with salvation. It's another thing for an Adventist to say that giving up the Sabbath would have no effect on salvation. They believe that giving up the Sabbath would mean they had turned their backs on God...which of course would affect salvation.
It's all semantics. It's even deeper confusion than the straight Adventist doctrine. But it's not the gospel.
Colleen |
Lucybugg
Registered user
Username: Lucybugg
Post Number: 332
Registered: 2-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 - 8:51 am: | |
My SDA mother told me that keeping the Sabbath isn't salvational, but keeping it is obeying God. About every 6 months or so she questions me about not being SDA anymore. She cries and says she is worried about my salvation...not because the Sabbath is salvational but because I'm not being obedient. Sigh.... |
Grace2
Registered user
Username: Grace2
Post Number: 55
Registered: 8-2013
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 - 6:51 am: | |
@Lucybugg
Yep, I can relate to that! The Sabbath doesn't bring salvation but it's still very important, because it shows that you are saved. And since I don't buy into this anymore, I am on dangerous ground, deceiving others and jeopardizing my salvation.
Never mind that the NT nowhere demands Sabbath observance from Christians and that it explicitly says that the Sabbath is a shadow and we do not serve in the old covenant. They manage to twist and turn Scripture so it suits their ideas. JW and Mormons are a sect but they are the true remnant.
Why wouldn't they commemorate Easter? It's been done by the church fathers for centuries - even before the RCC emerged. Truly, the OT Sabbath is more important to them than the celebration of the death and resurrection at Easter. It bothers me. |
Resjudicata
Registered user
Username: Resjudicata
Post Number: 774
Registered: 4-2014
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 - 8:33 am: | |
Both Easter and the Day of Pentecost occurred on the First Day of the week. The Resurrection and the Day of Pentecost (the "Birthday of the Church")are the two most important events in Christian church. Unfortunately, BOTH of them fell on Sunday. Additionally, Palm Sunday - which was Jesus's triumph entry into Jerusalem, also occurred on the First Day.
Jesus was just dead on that last Sabbath. He spent the day in the Tomb. In Exodus 16, there was no Manna on the Sabbath. In John 6, Jesus unequivocally-declared that he was the Manna from Heaven. I think Exodus 16 is very clearly a typology of that last Sabbath, when our "Manna from Heaven" was dead and unavailable.
Adventists tragically CELEBRATE this. No wonder Adventists are so depressed! And the Birthday of Adventism is called "The Great Disappointment!" |
Philharris
Registered user
Username: Philharris
Post Number: 3239
Registered: 5-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 - 9:40 am: | |
Res,
To quote a favorite movie line on mine:
"You do have a way with words." 
Phil
(Message edited by philharris on April 19, 2017) |
Insearchof
Registered user
Username: Insearchof
Post Number: 192
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2017 - 7:00 am: | |
"Jesus was just dead on that last Sabbath. He spent the day in the Tomb. In Exodus 16, there was no Manna on the Sabbath. In John 6, Jesus unequivocally-declared that he was the Manna from Heaven. I think Exodus 16 is very clearly a typology of that last Sabbath, when our "Manna from Heaven" was dead and unavailable."
Res - this is a most interesting observation!
And, sadly, so true that they say "The Sabbath is not salvational but obedience is". I seem to recall that in Testimonies EGW clearly says that the deciding question asked at the Judgement will be "What did you do with the Sabbath?"
I feel certain it is phrased in the way or very similarly. I am not sure I want to dig for it but I clearly remember preaching that line in a sermon and using the actual quote.
I feel guilty about that to this day...
ISO |
