Foibles of a Church
John,
I have been saying similar things for several years now, but I have not been able to put it together as well as you did yesterday!
I could only wish that the issues regarding Ellen White were the only issue that Adventists have to concern themselves about! True, there are SO many issues to contend with that I marvel at how resistant SDAs are in dealing with it! It has always been easier to quash the messenger than to deal with the Message.
Not that you would need this, but to benefit readers, I felt it would be helpful to list the doctrines of the SDA Church and point out does that are Scriptural and those that simply are NOT.
The site that was used as a reference was the official Seventh-day Adventist site (it is not a hyperlink for a reason)
http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html
Both the Old and the New Testament were and are the inspiration from God to men of His own choosing. (I hesitate to use the words ‘holy men of God’) because as humans they were sinners and sinners and holy are not compatible. This is basically true as stated by the SDA Church. I hesitantly give this a thumbs up because they will just as quickly claim that their version of the Spirit of Prophecy is equal or even superior to the Scriptures! So, in light of this, I will give it the FALSE doctrine designation.
The SDA Church uses these Bible texts to support its assertion: (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 14:7.). I have only ONE verse to refute their claim ...Zechariah 6:13 :
‘Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.’ [emphasize mine]
Ever bothered to ask yourself WHY, the Church never chose to use this verse?!
FALSE AS FALSE CAN BE.
Why this one was necessary is a mystery until I continued to read the rest of the statement. Evidently, the Father shares His power with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
If the Trinity is a FALSE doctrine can this one be true? How many words does it take to make a True statement FALSE?
Both essentially accurate, but they both contain inaccuracies that deem them as FALSE doctrines. Especially in making the Holy Spirit to be a Personality. EGW might teach this, but the Bible certainly does NOT!
True as stated.
True as stated.
What can I say? Or rather, how many times or ways does it have to be stated? The GC is inherently a book foretelling future events. How much confidence can you have in an individual who cannot even state Biblical history correctly? A couple of GC inaccuracies can be found at these articles from independent authors:
God's Time Table: Daniel 9: Time Facts or Time Fables?
Evidence Against the French Revolution Interpretation as Written in "The Great Controversy"
This is a convoluted doctrine because while they will correctly say that there IS a great controversy between Christ and Satan, they will then push upon you the book by that title supposedly written by Ellen White, which has been shown over and over to have been words taken from other authors of her day. See this article by a Secretary of the EGW Estate:
E.G. White’s Literary Work: A Hushed Update
Let me state it this way: Christ was NOT crucified on a Friday, nor was He resurrected on a Sunday morning!! It is all there for discerning minds...wich usually means Truth Seekers:
http://www.a4t.org/Sermons/Brown/
The only Truth in their doctrine is that Christ was Crucified and was Resurrected.
This statement is FALSE, FALSE, FALSE !!! It only takes a little digging which many ignorant people have done and found the Truth regarding the MOST Important story in the Scriptures!
This is a True doctrine.
Essentially a True statement, but caution must be taken regarding how an individual interprets the Holy Spirit to be. For brevity’s sake this is what the Holy Spirit is: It is the Omnipresence of God and His Son. It is how Deity communicates with the human race. How we are influenced between Truth and error, what is good and what is bad, another word for our conscience.
As I see it, this is an essentially useless doctrine. ‘Worshiping God would be more appropriate. Christ attended Church until He was threatened with stoning. Most Sabbaths He could be found healing sick people, both physically and spiritually. The existence of a denomination or Church depends on attendance. Salvation is NOT determined by your attendance to a church. This is another word for Salvation By Works. Can you understand why ‘Church’ was made into a doctrine? False doctrine.
This statement mentions the universal church and then it tries to separate itself from this generic church. What it fails to tell you is that this specific Church has been found ‘wanting in several areas, which is the point of this response by comparing all the doctrines to the Bible. Many are fundamentally wrong, others need to be elaborated on. Thus, this is another doctrine that goes under the FALSE heading.
Why is this a doctrine? Is this another way of justifying this Church’s affinity to join the World Council of Churches and be considered to be an ecumenical Church? For the sake of brevity and simplicity, this will be considered to be a FALSE doctrine.
My basic comment on this True doctrine is if no public confession is required, why is a ‘confession of faith’ permitted?
I will simply say that this is generally a True statement, were it not that it comes from the SDA Church. Christ did it once, most likely to emphasize the significance of the Day of Atonement. Today, we have the SDA Church which performs this quarterly and the Roman Catholics who perform a part of this ritual as often as necessary. Because the purpose of this message is to make comparison of the doctrines of this Church with the Bible, I will again state this as a doctrine.
I think I will let you, John, answer this one!
Take it away, John...! FALSE !!! I do not want to ruin this message anymore than I have already.
This is a basic Biblical tenet
This is a basic Biblical tenet, which is about the only one that the
Adventists can be applauded for...
Entirely Biblically incorrect. The Bible does NOT speak of tithing in the manner that it is practiced by this Church. Rather it speaks of OFFERINGS as shown in 2nd Corinthians chapters 8 & 9. FALSE doctrine! See this link:
http://www.a4t.org/Sermons/Misc/kelly-tithing.html
This is a basic Christian tenet.
This is a basic Christian tenet.
This belief ties in directly with the Investigative Judgment which is not Biblical.
FALSE doctrine.
This is a basic Christian tenet.
This is a basic Christian tenet.
This is a basic Christian tenet.
This is a basic Christian tenet...cut why is it #28?
It is very possible that I miscounted, but even if I did, can anyone believe that at least 13 doctrines are Biblically inaccurate.
Please put a wrap on this, John...
I appreciate that, Bob.
I do not consider Adventists so resistant in dealing with it as I do they
are blind to it. How so? We both know the answer to that.
As for the church doctrines; just so we remain on the same page, I would
assert the holy Spirit of God is not a separate being, rather, the Spirit
of the Father and the Son Themselves as They are ONE in that respect. They
are totally in tune with One Another. They are a Perfect Union, yet separate
Individuals.
So, the Adventists got the Sabbath right. So what? They swallowed the trinity
doctrine like a foolish trout.
I will state, however, the Bible authors were "holy men of God".
There have been a considerable number of holy men of God throughout the ages.
This cannot be denied. By "holy", I do not mean to infer without
sin. I believe most of them continue to rest in their graves.
That verse from Zech. is a very heavy one.
God shares His power with His Son only. Not "the" holy Spirit,
for His Spirit is that of He and His Son. I believe this to be rock solid,
hard core FACT. No third being in any "godhead" here. There are
only Two, God and His Son Who are so very closely in tune They share the
Same Spirit. The Perfect Model, if you will, for the universe. This is a
biggie for me. I believe I understand you to be with me on this. I just wanted
to be clear about it.
The only comment I have about the Great Controversy is that I am so very
disappointed and let down by it now. It is no longer on my desktop. Not even
as a reference. Although, I do still have Early Writings and Last Day Events
up here merely as reference points to misguided Adventists quotes.
Conscience! You got it, Brother! It is that Still, Small Voice!
When we say "church", I can only think of GENUINE deception. Many
who genuinely believe they are worshipping God, are genuinely deceived. There
is so much more to be said about this.
As for the remnant, God has had His Remnant throughout EVERY generation.
These remnant people are SPECIAL.
As for unity; this is all about compromise and being accepted into "Christianity".
The call to God's people is to come out and be ye separate
As for the Lord's Supper; I'm still hung up on that one. As you say, "doctrine".
As for the ministry in God's Temple; I understand it to be ongoing until
Christ throws down the censor and His Father, God, announces; "It is
Done"! Then, and only then, will the Plan of Salvation be complete.
It'll all be over but the crying. We may have a bit of one on one study yet
on that one.
Good for you for not advertising. God does not need us to finish His work.
Rather, He desires we be a part of it.
That's a wrap... jc