Behavior in Adventism and its Relationship to Salvation

Introduction

Just the other day a link to an Adventist Review article appeared in the timeline ticker of updates in the upper right

Philippians 413 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

corner of my facebook page. From it one of my friends had commented on a quotation which was very much a disingenuous statement especially looking back on what I was taught growing up in Adventism. So in this article we are going to look at that quote and discuss how the behavior of an individual within Adventism is in fact used as a factor in determination of not only their walk, but in relationship to Salvation.

An Interesting Quotation

So let’s take a look at the quotation taken from this article: Adventist Review Article

“Our standards should be higher than those of any legalists because we understand that our behavior doesn’t determine our salvation, so why not aim high?”

The first thing that should be noted is that apparently the author of the article really thinks that the Adventists must be the most in tune, best, finest, legalists with the highest standards possible. That smacks of pride and reminds me of how Paul viewed himself looking back on who he once was:

³ For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh— ⁴ although I once also had confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:⁵ circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

Philippians 3:3-6

Remember that Paul was once Saul, and he was a member of the Pharisees, the adamant Legalists of the day. He attempted to bring the Christian Church to ruin before God caused him to be Born Again on the road to Damascus. This transformation can be seen in the next few verses of Philippians 3:

⁷ But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.⁸ More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.

Yet Saul, renamed on rebirth to Paul considered all the legalistic perfectionism of his past to be filth, useless, now that he has gained Christ and been found in Him.

If this is the case with Paul, what of the author of the article. It seems to me that he clings to the pride of legalism over anything else. Let’s break down the next portion of the quotation after the break.

Dear Adventist Friends: How Can You Worship in Spirit and in Truth?

Introduction

Well it has been far too long since I’ve posted an article here at U.A. and I apologize for that. It has been a very busy year especially full because of working on the Christian film The Thief in The Night which is now in post production. Now that I have a bit more time on my hands I plan to post articles more regularly, ass  always though it’s as the Lord leads.

Tonight we’re going to be looking at how The Word can be misinterpreted badly when something is given an incorrect definition and in order to do that we are going to look at the story of  The Woman at The Well.

A Bit of Background

In the time of Christ the Jewish people generally traveled around Samaria, for the Samaritans were considered inferior and unclean. In fact Christ did not teach in Samaria at all except on this one occasion. Once a Samaritan woman who came to the Lord out of faith for help- the Lord granted her request. This Samaritan woman came to Him though when He was not in Samaria but near to Samaria- what faith she had!

In this passage Christ has sent the Disciples away to get some food, when a woman came to draw water for the flocks she cared for, in the middle of the day. Ordinarily this was done in the morning however because of what this woman did with her life, to avoid the ridicule of others she came to get water in the middle of the day.

This is where she meets Christ and finds out about the living water, as she is never the same. I want to look at a short segment from this wonderful story.

19 “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, yet you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 Jesus told her, “Believe Me, •woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that •Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

26 “I am He,” Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.” John 4:19-26 (emphasis mine).

After the break we’ll take a closer look at this passage.

A Dangerous Role to Play

If I were still an Adventist I would NOT be playing the role which I am playing for my friend Writer/Director/Producer  Daniel Medina Jr. in his upcoming Christian film The Thief in the Night. Since however I’m now a Christian my Salvation is secure and I’m sealed by The Holy Spirit as a Guarantee/Down payment for a certain place in Heaven. No longer do I have to be afraid of falling out of…and climbing into Salvation.

I’ve said this a number of times in the past but that Adventist teaching of salvation is woefully inadequate, Jesus saves By Grace through Faith- PERIOD!

Salvation is not a revolving door, it is not the hokey pokey.

A Fair Fight between Christ and Satan?

What's wrong with this picture? A LOT.

I’m sure the vast majority of people who’ve visited this blog have seen this picture in some shape or form. It’s certainly a striking concept, it’s well done artistically and in that case it has merit. However what it depicts is a gross distortion of scripture, the Word of God is quite imperative, Satan was defeated on the cross this is not an even battle.

Jesus is God and Satan is a Created Being

The first thing that is so very wrong about this artwork is that it puts Jesus who is God at the same level of strength as Satan who is a created being. Remember all of creation came through the Voice of The Father, God the Son, the Word, Jesus Christ. Therefore Jesus Christ is in a position of superiority over Satan simply because He is God and His very utterance brought Lucifer, who fell from Grace and became Satan, into existence.

FAF 2012: Truthstreams of Living Water

Early Arrival

I made sure I arrived early in fact I arrived over an hour early, that wasn’t exactly by design but it was certainly God’s plan. Let me tell you I did not expect the main guest speaker for the weekend Phil Bubar to be the one to open the door and let me inside. It was very nice to meet Phil and get to chat with him a little before the first presentation. That said I was glad I got in as early as I did because it enabled me to set up my laptop and all it’s accessories, I needed to be prepared to Tweet or Facebook or whatever the weekend.

Surprise!

Once all my stuff was set up in the back of the room I went to talk to Richard Tinker because he had been talking about the possibility of livestreaming the event. Much to my (happy) surprise I found that indeed we were going to be sending the event out live over the internet, and with that knowledge I went back to my laptop, opened the page, and logged in.

FAF Weekend 2012: Worldview Alignment Needed: First Thoughts

A number of weeks ago I sat back thinking about how I would do coverage of FAF Weekend 2012 (FAF 2012). I felt really bad about so lousily following through on all my grand plans after my first FAF Weekend last year, I was determined not to drop the ball this year. Grand ideas flooded my overly creative noggin and I worried that I’d have pathetic coverage all over again- such is not the case this year.

I have a lot on my mind after this weekend. Both theologically and personally. I have new questions and old answers and new answers to old questions- there’s a lot bouncing around in my mind that hasn’t quite become grounded. There a lot of truth, about Truth (Jesus who is God) that I’m going to be contending with. That I’m going to be struggling with.

I’m going to be “working out my salvation with fear and trembling-” something we’re called to do, for a long time. And working out your salvation doesn’t mean that you’re worried about being saved or not…it means your studying into the depths of the Gospel and it’s ramifications to you on a personal level. It’s a call to never leave the awesome news, the challenging depths of the Gospel, but to feed on that truth and the Power of the Cross, and the washing of the Blood that was shed by Jesus Christ- the God Man- the Messiah. His blood shed for us- to quote our main speaker Phil Bubar-

“Christ became an ABOMINATION for us.”

Hello from FAF 2012 (Short Loud Video)

Here’s a short video of welcome to the Livestream viewers.

Watch the sound it is LOUD!

D. McAnders

Watch the Truthcast of the FAF 2012 Conference!

Hello Folks!

Please feel free to check out the Live Truth Cast of Former Adventist Fellowship (FAF) 2012 Worldview Alignment Needed Conference at the following address.

 
FAF Conference 2012

We hope you enjoy.

In Christ,

D. McAnders

My Commentary is up for this Weeks SDA Adult Lesson Study!

Hello guys!

I’m sorry I haven’t posted here in a good long while but I’ve been very bus with all kinds of projects going on.

For my Adventist friends who are going through the Book of Galatians in their Adult Sabbath School lesson I did the commentary on it for Bible Studies for Adventists for the current study about Paul’s Preaching Style.

Here’s a link to the page that overviews the entire week. Week 9 SDA Adult Lesson Study Commentary.

Check it out.

God Bless,

U.A.

Check out My Testimony on the brand new page!

I didn’t want my testimony to get lost in the shuffle so I gave it a page of its own.

You can find it through the side menu or the top menu or simply click this link.

See my Testimony
To God and God Alone be the Glory and Honor.

Ross C.