Tag: Teaching

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The Most Divisive Book in Adventism – Questions on Doctrine

In 1957 a Book was Published that forever changed the Adventist church. That book is entitled Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine or simply Questions on Doctrine.

Evangelical Leader’s Questions

These questions were presented to certain Adventist leaders by leading evangelicals Walter Martin and Donald Grey Barnhouse. As a result of the answers Martin and Barnhouse concluded that Adventists may be deluded and wrong, but they were Christian brothers.

Evangelical Backlash on Martin and Barnhouse

While today that may not seem like a big deal, but at the time Adventists were almost uniformly considered members of a sub-Christian cult. Martin and Barnhouse took much flack from their evangelical brothers and sisters for stating that Adventism was not necessarily cultic.

Backlash inside Adventism

However, the shock-waves were not only felt on the outside, but on the inside of the church as well. M. L. Andreasen took strong exception to some of the views presented in the book. Most notably are the atonement and the human nature of Christ. Andreasen saw the book as a betrayal of fundamental Adventism.

Repercussions still Felt Today

Today, the waves are still felt as various independent ministries push the church to accept Andreasen’s position or to go on further down the road inside the evangelical movement. Much of the church does not realize it, but I would argue that this book and these meetings with Barnhouse and Martin have forever changed Seventh-day Adventism.

Conference Materials Online

I would encourage all to read the materials that come out of the Questions on Doctrine conference. Read this post for a link to the original book.

Here is a link to the page that will soon have all the presentations of that meeting. Here is the organizer Dr. Nam’s presentation.

In addition, you might be interested in Dr. Herbert Douglass’ very helpful summary of what happened in the mid 1950s to give birth to the book. See the very top of the list of documents. I really appreciate and respect Dr. Douglass’ work.

In addition, you might be interested in Spectrum’s comprehensive treatment of the conference as Richard Rice gave a daily walkthrough. The post are as follows: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.

In addition you might be interested in Bill Cork’s two summaries of the conference. His first is found here, the second here.

Finally, you might be interested in Larry Kirkpatrick’s comments on the conference and his presentation found at GreatControversy.Org

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Sabbath's Attack on Busyness

Wayne Muller’s book Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest provides a very helpful theological discussion of the Sabbath.

Muller notes that many of us use the standard greeting: “I am so Busy.” Many of us use our busyness as a “trophy.” We think that busyness is some sort of prize. Our culture prizes “busyness.” I know people who have 2 cell phones, a beeper, and numerous email accounts. All testify that they are busy.

What Are We Seeking In Busyness?

What are we seeking in this busyness? Too often we are seeking significance. We are somebody because we are doing something important. And if it is not important at least it is doing something. What are we seeking? We are seeking “more.” Muller describes this as:

In our drive for success we are seduced by the promises of more: More money, more recognition, more satisfaction, more love, more information, more influence, more possessions, more security.

What happens in our search for more? We lose the concept of “enough.” We lose the value of just being. We lose the ability to just enjoy and celebrate. We lose the knowledge that we cannot do everything. We lose rest. In short we lose Sabbath.

Sabbath and Last Days

Certainly the Devil knows what the Devil is up to when the principle of rest and the Sabbath is attacked. In the last days, God will have a people who will “keep the commandments of God.”(Revelation 14:12) That people will of necessity “Remember the Sabbath.”(Exodus 20:8) They will remember to rest. They will remember that this world that judges us totally by what we can “do” or what we can “accomplish” is against God’s designs. We must never forget that Adam’s was created on the 6th day and therefore his first full day was the Sabbath. Adam first rested before Adam begun to “subdue the earth.”(Genesis 1:28) In the last days, God wants us to “Remember” that even God rested. On the Seventh-day we come together to celebrate that we all can just get off the treadmill and rest.

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Creation and the Sabbath – John 5:17

Samuele Bacchiocchi continues his defense of the creational origin of the Sabbath by examining John 5:17.

In this passage, Jesus is accused of Sabbath breaking by healing a paralyzed man. Jesus answers by saying, “My Father is working is working until now and I am working.” Bacchiocchi notes that this has traditionally been interpreted to mean that God has been continually working (creating and preserving the world) since the original creation of the world and thus he is justified in working on the Sabbath.

How Is God Working?

Bacchiocchi notes that this view is problematic for a few reasons. First, God’s “working” and the “works of God” in the book of John are “repeatedly and explicitly” identified with Christ’s redemptive mission and not with God’s creation or preservation. So the works that we are talking about are “works of redemption.”

In addition, Bacchiocchi notes that the original term translated as “until now” does not mean “constancy” but “inauguration an culmination” of God’s working.

This term “until now” is speaking of a beginning and a end. Thus the term actually alludes to both the original culmination (sabbath) of God’s redemptive work for humanity and the final culmination (final Sabbath) of God’s redemptive work of humanity.

Jesus’ Defense

Thus, Jesus was defending himself by essentially saying, “God started God’s work of redemption in the beginning at the Sabbath, God will end God’s work of redemption at the final Sabbath. All of the Sabbath’s in between are for the redemptive work of humanity. thus I am not guilty of Sabbath breaking, but of keeping the Sabbath more fully.”

Thus Jesus tells us how to keep the Sabbath and also alludes to the creation to justify his redemptive mission which gives an endorsement of its Edenic origin.