As we have been considering in previous columns, Adventist Eschatology is modulated and recognizable by some typical traits. First, by the priority of Apocalypticism over Messianism; second, by the earnest and fervent defense of prophecy and prediction rather than by a contingent and open future; and third, by the radicalization of its pre-millenialist ethos over and against our surrounding secularized more post-millenialist socio-cultural context. All this ultimately has a consistent impact on the way we understand the church, human beings and finally our own end-time mission.
Refreshing candid and challenging. End time theology is not evangelical. The Glory of the Cross and the Glory of the Empty Tomb are the heart of the evangel.
This detailed and enlightening analysis of the profile the church is projecting highlights significant distortions in our body. It would be a very welcome development if it would serve to encourage an open discussion of what we as a church are doing, and how we need to do better as the earthly body of the Risen Christ.
PLEASE read Ronald Lawson’s article on Adventist Today.
“Encylcopedia of Fundamentalism: Seventh day Adventist”
He relates the history of SDAism use of KJV only with no knowledge of Hebrew,
Aramaic, Greek.
The continued insistence of the KJV when other translations were printed and
sold on the English market.
Provides the HISTORY of changes in Biblical Teaching at Andrews, other
Universities, the SDA Theological Society, the Biblical Research Institute
DUE TO “inbreeding” of Professors at these Universities and Societies.
This produced a Fundamental Approach – Creation of 6 day only, Young
earth, the embracing of “Male Headship” doctrine.
The change of GC President in 2010 increased more Fundamentalism in
church teachings.
Ron’s Encyclopedia article can be seen and read by “clicking” on the site
provided in the article.
A must for a short important History of SDAism and the Bible. And WHY we
have the type of Preaching we have from our pulpits. And views of Administrators
in Conference, Union, Division, and General Conference offices.
Jesus told us to proclaim redemption, not eschatology. He only spoke about end-time events when he was asked about them, yet that often is the first and foremost thing we present. So we shouldn’t be surprised that so much of the world isn’t listening to us and flocking to our churches.
So we move from an interpretation unilateral and limited to it becoming Present Truth because it now becomes the message for today. Pretty much means that the turth part of that does not really exist and it should be termed our present interpretation. That would be a lot more honest but of course not near as marketable as saying we have the truth! It is surprising to see someone who realizes the problems with interpretation yet wants to hold fast to the marketing concept of present truth. for more on the marketing of present truth see http://cafesda.blogspot.com/2010/09/defining-and-redefining-present-truth.html
Ron –
Thanks for posting the article on Present Truth.
And HOW Present Truth for our Founders is NOT the Present Truth of the “28”.
And if they were alive NOW, they would NOT be considered 2018 Seventh day Adventists.
Also the Seventh day Baptist appendage. That in the early 1500’s there were groups who
were moving to worshiping on the 7th day, including some Puritins, persons in Germany,
and that the Original Christianity that came to the British Isles included Sabbath keeping.
Thus the theologian has closed the circle of Present Truth. It is always what we believe and it will always be what we believe.
Present Truth is an illusion, a piece of propaganda to make the uncertain feel certain. It is a term I will no longer use and I hope that the Adventist church will also abandon the deception of Present Truth for a more reasoned truth that is subject to changing interpretations and even dare I say it…acknowledging that some things we thought were true were not. Because that is really the only way progressive revelation will work for anyone.
However it’s the holiday season, everyone is busy, and Spectrum has an unfathomable policy of arbitrarily throttling conversation on topics after thirty days.
I’m traveling & and won’t have much time to spend on developing this, and Hanz’ post will probably be closed before I, or anyone, can adequately discuss this, which could take months or years.
Meanwhile, our ADHD policy enforcers will have forced us to move on.
Hi @Cassie, we appreciate you expressing your concerns about our commenting policy. To clarify, the 30-day policy on closing articles isn’t “arbitrary.” It applies to every article, and is designed to keep the conversation moving forward on the most recent topics, instead of stagnating on older threads. Unfortunately, Discourse doesn’t currently have a way to retroactively close the article threads that existed before we instituted this new policy several months ago, so we have been manually closing those older threads as we come across them. But all current and future threads, such as this one, have an auto-close feature through Discourse that we are utilizing to keep the conversation flowing forward.
Hope this helps explain and thanks again for sharing your opinions.
“Present Truth?” Please define that. I’ve asked a number of theologians and church leaders to define it and they each had a different viewpoint. So, why do we waste our breath talking about it.
The problem I see with talking about “present truth” is that it invariably is used by people who are discussing aspects of prophecy and eschatology, NONE of which is of interest to more than a very limited number of people outside the ranks of our church. This means church members are talking to each other about “present truth” and whatever they think it means instead of getting involved in actually ministering God’s redeeming and transforming love to the people around them. Telling those people about “present truth” most often causes the object of the instruction to become defensive and repeated innoculations makes them so resistant to spiritual approaches of any kind that they become impossible to redeem. In other words, the proclamation of “present truth” is doing great damage to the work of God. If you need proof of how much damage the focus on “present truth” has caused, just look at how slowly the church is growing in North America and how many people are leaving the church. Instead, people need to be shown that God loves them. They need to see God’s love working in and through those who profess to be His followers and to feel it touching them. We need to stop talking about “present truth” and eschatology until we’ve been so deeply immersed in God’s love that we can view prophecy through the lens of knowing intimately how much God loves them.
The gospel is eternal. It says so in Revelation 14…the supposed heart of Adventist eschatology. That means that the gospel has always been and will always be relevant to the present, and to whatever generation hears and responds. Not so, the prophecy time line, puzzle piece game that we have turned Revelation and apocalyptic into.
Revelation is full of Songs and Praises to God
These are NEVER spoken in church or evangelistic meetings.
Isaiah is full of songs to and about God.
These are NEVER read in church.
Handel’s Messiah quotes heavily from Revelation. And the hymn, Worthy, Worthy is the Lamb, is one of my favorites.
The messages to the seven churches in Rev. 2-3, urging them to hold on amidst persecution, or to not allow themselves to be seduced by Roman promises of peace and prosperity at the expense of their allegiance to God and to the Lamb, is followed by the worship scene in heaven, in Chapter 4. IOW, the worship of God is what is held out to them to change their perspective on everything they were facing.
It would be good if we followed suit, and did what Revelation is saying: to sing praises to God and the Lamb and engage in authentic worship, rather than turning Revelation into a gnostic type of eschatology to which only the truly orthodox hold the key for admission.
Adventist theology, as a whole, including its Eschatology, pretty much ignores the core and base of Christian faith. “God on the cross/man resurrected” is taken for granted (at best). It’s the “Messianism” that brings a “good end” to the Apocalyptic.
It’s about "pre-emptive faith. The “end time message” has already been taken care of by “Come to me, and I will give you rest”. If “Christ on the cross and the empty tomb” doesn’t do it, then it’s hoped that the fear of judgement will?
Adventist Eschatology is built upon the back lash of a great disappointment. It is totally a self justification. “We were right after all, you just wait and see!” That is what makes compliance such a big deal. Shape up or get out… We aren’t going to wait for Christ to do the culling. He gave us a work to do. We know the goats as well as He.
