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Many people are misinformed about the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, sometimes wondering if they are even Christian. They certainly are.
Seventh Day Adventists rightly claim to be so for a number of reasons, most of which they share with other Christian denominations.
Seventh-Day Adventists believe that Jesus is the foundation of their faith. All their beliefs are based on Him.
They believe in the eternal Godhead, consisting of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
They believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God and as their only creed.
They affirm that salvation is through faith rather than works, and that all who enter God's eternal kingdom must experience the new birth, which leads to a transformation of life and character by the re-creative power of God. Christianity is not a casual affair.
Adventists worship on the same day that Jesus did. Jesus worshiped on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. That's Saturday. The apostles too, who led the church after Jesus returned to heaven, followed His example. Adventists follow that apostolic example.
Adventists don't accept the right of any human agency to change something so basic to Christianity as that spoken, written and demonstrated by God Himself. Adventists so regard the Sabbath because God also said that it was a sign of a loyal relationship between Him and His people.
Adventists follow the Ten Commandments according to Christ's example. He regarded them as being important and eternal. Contrary to the thinking of some, the Ten Commandments were not " nailed to the cross". The Ten Commandments were never part of the ancient ceremonial laws superseded by the death of Christ. Jesus urged people to keep them, and demonstrated and spoke about how to keep them. They were written by the finger of God, and were given to humans to keep forever. The ongoing relevance of the Ten Commandments is only too clear: imagine the chaos that would result if governments ignored them. It's their literal adherence to the fourth commandment that makes Adventists almost unique among Christendom, because most other Christian denominations follow the decreed change of the day of worship from the seventh to the first day of the week- some 300 years after the time of Christ.
Adventists are baptised in the same way as Jesus was. Jesus chose to be baptised as an adult [see John 1:9]. Adventists don't baptise their infants because they believe that baptism is to be a choice made by mature, thinking minds. Even though Jesus never sinned, He still chose to be baptised by complete immersion. Seventh-Day Adventists maintain this practice as an instruction from Jesus [ see Mark 16:16.] It symbolises the death and burial of their old, corrupt and sinful life in association with Christ's death, and association with the risen Christ
Adventists believe the same things about death that Jesus did. Jesus was a funeral director's nightmare. According to the Bible, every time He went to a funeral, the corpse came back to life. The life- giving power of Jesus overwhelmed the power of death. Even so, Jesus still grieved over death, the end result of sin [see John 11:35. ] He said death is a "sleep" to be followed by a resurrection at His Second Coming [see John 11:23,24.] He taught that the ultimate destiny of all those who committed their lives to Him is eternal life.[see John 3:16.] We are also told that the ultimate fate of those who reject Him will be eternal death- not an eternal suffering in the flames of hell [see Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:14]
Adventists accept Jesus' version of the final events of this world. The "second advent" or second coming of Christ [His first was to Bethlehem] promises to be the climatic event in history. Jesus assured us that He is going to return [see John 14:3].
Because Adventists accept that all Scripture is given by inspiration from God, they believe that the prophetic statements in the Bible are vital to understanding the events at the conclusion of history [see 2 Peter 3:10-14]. The Bible will offer the only hope for humankind when the forces of good meet the forces of evil in an awesome showdown, as outlined in the closing chapters of Revelation.
The Bible tells us that not only will Jesus return to put an end to Satan's reign of sin, but that He will then take the redeemed of all ages home to heaven for a period of 1000 years, before returning to live forever in a remade world in which sin will not occur a second time [see Revelation 21:4].
Adventists claim descent from the same Father, as did Jesus. Rather than meekly assenting to the theories of evolution, Adventists believe that God created the human race in His own image, and that humans have been honoured by a God who invites us to address him as Father.This relationship is a special one, available to all who acknowledge that access to God the Father is through His Son [see John 6:44].
Seventh-Day Adventists look forward to the time when redeemed humanity will once again communicate face to face with God in a remade, sin-free world, as they did in Eden times.
Adventists believe that all people can respond to Christ's invitation to, "Come unto me" [Matthew 11:28] The Adventist church is neither selective nor exclusive. Adventists don't regard themselves as spiritual monopolists, as being the only followers of Christ who will enter His eternal kingdom.
They practise an open communion and welcome people of all denominational persuasions to worship with them.
As a church they are respectful of all denominations. They believe in freedom of religious belief and practice for all people and actively promote this.
Should you visit a Seventh Day Adventist worship service, you will be made welcome and comfortable. If you are a churchgoer, you will probably recognise many of the hymns and songs of praise.
You will feel comfortable with the generally relaxed style of worship. It will usually consist of some congregational or lay participation through singing, Scripture reading, prayer and, sometimes, even the preaching.
Worship in the Seventh-Day Adventist church is non-liturgical, rather it is characterised by its simplicity and dignity.
The main Saturday worship service is generally preceded by a less formal program, involving systematic Bible study, music and time for sharing with each other, and sharing of Jesus' love. If you would like to share this too, well, there's probably an Adventist church near you.
Drop in sometime................... Used by Permission - Signs of the Times |
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