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.

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.”

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.

Apologetics In a Moment: The Investigative Judgement

So is the Investigative Judgement Biblical Truth or something else entirely?

What do you think now?

If it’s something else entirely what should you do with it?

Should you continue to believe in it and those who teach it?

Please watch it in HD and pause the video to look up all Bible texts quoted especially in the credits.

What you do with this knowledge is up to you.

Ross

Coming to Reason: In Response to Dr. Tim Jennings…

…and his article that can be found here Is the Great Controversy zOver Gods Character True? posted on September 10th 2011…which is in turn a response to this article The Great Controversy: Living in a Worldview of Deception printed in the April/May/June 2011 Issue of Proclamation Magazine . Both articles make for intelligent reading and I recommend reading both for nothing than being a completest, I recommend reading them before you read the first part of my rebuttal to Dr. Tim Jennings of Come Let Us Reason.

Today I will be tackling Part One of Dr. Jennings article What Evidence is there for the Great Controversy in Scripture?

In the very beginning of this section he goes to the book of Revelation and claims that war in heaven as the one around which he’s choosing to base his argument for the Great Controversy being in the scriptures.

Initial Exploration

Very well, let’s look at the verse he chose and find if there’s a war there.

(Rev 12:7 [HCSB])
Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought,

As we can see there is a war in heaven, and as I’m about to reveal by putting things in context that is about the only thing that we can say is correct in Dr. Jennings use of the passage.

Midnight Musings: What About Soul Sleep

After many years of Bible study with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with a new digital camera I will be tackling issues  from my past beliefs and other Biblical topics with Midnight Musings.

In this first episode I take a look at the Adventist Doctrine of ‘Soul Sleep”.

Is it Biblical or does the Bible flatly refute it?

Feel free to comment on my findings below and suggest new topics.

U.A.

Faith Journeys in the Desert- My Video Testimony

I shared recently the list of questions and answers behind this testimony video, now it is my pleasure to share this testimony video with you. This video was shown in front of my church this morning as part of our sermon series The Journey and is about desert experiences. I hope this video help you come to a clearer understanding of Christ Jesus.

If it wasn’t for my Adventist upbringing I would never have had my breakthrough into true Christianity.

Glory to God.

Ross.