I’m proud to call myself a Christian Seventh-day Adventist.
I love my denomination. However, I’m a Christian foremost, so I hope to make a difference in the Adventist church. No denomination is perfect. Every denomination can improve and become more Christlike.
With that in mind, Trailady points us to a dangerous tendency many Adventists seem to have. She observes while attending a big Adventist crusade:
It’s like watching the world series and it’s our team against everyone else. Should’ve heard the AMENS when the speaker shared truths that are peculiar to our denomination. However, on the one night that we heard the speaker focus on the Gospel, the amens were few & far between. Something’s WRONG with the picture when we are more excited about 29 doctrines than about Jesus Christ!
If you’re a fellow Adventist, what can we practically do to shift the emphasis back to Jesus instead of our doctrines?
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6 responses so far ↓
David Burdick // Aug 9, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Good question, Dee! From what I see, the work is God’s, not ours. We can play a small part as His tools, but He will work according to His schedule. We can do our part: study His words, get to know Him, let Him change us, let Him teach us how to represent Him to others. But we must keep being reminded, (and He will do the reminding,) that He is in charge and fully responsible for the outcome. Then He gets all the glory.
We can’t expect the Advent movement to change all at once. There’s the firstfruits, then the full harvest. We have a big shaking and harvest coming up soon. We will all get shaken, and shaken terribly. If we get ourselves ready, we’re more likely to be able to help the larger Adventist and non-Adventist communities.
What do you think?
dee // Aug 9, 2006 at 5:59 pm
David,
Thanks for your comment. It reminded me Ephesians 5:15-17:
Yes, the Adventist church won’t change overnight, but day by day, moment by moment, we can do our small part to move it towards the right direction. I think that’s what it means to get ready - making those seemingly small godly decisions day by day, moment by moment.
Joyce Hong // Sep 10, 2006 at 11:41 am
Your observation is telling. I don’t know that we need to ‘do’ something, so much as learn to view ourselves differently. In English, a noun is generally described by the words before it. For example, we describe a book as a ‘long, dull book’ or a ’short but inspiring book.’ How ever you describe it, it is still a book. What about members of our beloved church? How often do we hear them identify themselves as SDAs or Christian SDAs? With or without the describing word, “Christian”, they are still SDAs.
Do I sound picky? I don’t mean to be. How a person views themselves impacts every decision they make. The Seventh-day Adventist church is the repository of so much that is true, but we must not get confused about something so basic as who we really are. SDA merely describes a set of beliefs that the person has accepted as true about God. But ‘Christian’ is who the person is: I’ve been redeemed by the death of Jesus, my Savior and the very Son of God, and with Him I rise, free of the curse, to live forever - serving God in whatever capacity He chooses. This is who I am. Praise the Lord, always, and forever!!
dee // Sep 11, 2006 at 12:54 am
Well put, Joyce. Your enthusiasm is contagious. =)
Your comment reminded me of something Dallas Willard wrote. He stated we should concentrate on being the kind of person that does godly actions instead of focusing on doing the godly actions.
True “doing” flows only out of true “being.”
Jan // Nov 26, 2006 at 9:47 am
I know this is an older post, but I’ve added you to my subscriber list today, having just found you. I like what I see and have put both your blogs on my blogroll.
I sympathize with this common complaint, all the more because it has tried the soul of believers in all churches and in all ages, some more than others. It tried the soul of Christ in his day, as it did his followers in theirs.
Christian faith, Adventist or otherwise, has an enemy who hates our Lord. We live in a time Ellen White and others have called the Church Militant. It is a time of tares and wheat, the narrow and wide roads, the proud and the humble.
I would remind readers there is also the problem of talking about Jesus without trusting him. I’ve often found it sickeningly easy.
dee // Dec 2, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Jan,
Thanks for adding me on your blogroll.
It is so easy to talk about Jesus without really trusting him. I find that making the gospel central helps me trust Christ more and more.
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