#adventism

“Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. For there is none worthy of the name but God, whom heaven, earth and sea obey” — King Canute, Ruler of Denmark, Norway, and England (attributed)

The older I get, the more I dismiss the fervent fanaticism I see in those around me. And while I used to think about religious zeal as the sole purview of Christian sectarianism, I've begun to see it more and more in almost every ideological circle I encounter. One person may be a RINO (Republican In Name Only). Another may pay lip service to some transgender cause, reject another point, and be labeled a traitor to the struggle. There are environmental heresies, and there are Russian Ex-Pats who support Ukraine in their current conflict, but who are deemed to be subversive because of the country they were born in.

And the truth of the matter is... It's all nonsense.

The World will do what it does. The People in the world will do what they do, too. There is a reality that exists beyond the models we create in our heads. There's a landscape that will not change, no matter the stories we tell ourselves.

Heresies are nothing more than you and I arguing over which of the stories we're telling ourselves most closely matches our lived experiences, or the reality we assume undergirds it.

I mentioned in a prior post that I try to be accommodating with whatever group I am with.

In that post I gave a quote from St. Ambrose. Here are some from St. Paul.

Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God… —1 Corinthians 10:32

To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. — 1 Corinthians 9:21-23

Ecumenism has become the "Antichrist" among a large portion of the Christian community. Adventists fear it because they feel that to embrace it will result in apostasy infiltrating their Church, the very same could be said about the Eastern Orthodox Christian Community.

But the truth of the matter is that we are arguing over models, arguing over the way we think the world works, and none of us have the humility to stop and say…

"I don't know what's real. But I will do my best to live out the life I've been given in the way I think God intended me to live".

"We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. — 2 Corinthians 6:11-13

I loved Eastern Orthodox Christianity once, and the people of the Antiochian community I associated with. I also love the People in my Seventh-Day Adventist community too, the ones I continue to daily struggle with. And for all my criticism of other protestant groups, they're all trying to discern the mind of God in their own way. I honestly feel for their struggles, since I don't think they have really looked at nature - they look at God as a very human Judge - and not as the creator of Heaven and Earth.

They don't see him in every single blade of grass, and that must be difficult for them.

I've often wished I could have a spiritual mentor, a father, in the form of an Antiochian Orthodox Priest. I also understand that pillars of Christianity such as St. Mary of Egypt, or St. Simeon the Stylite didn't have anything like that - formal mentors. So I look to more mundane instruction, as both those Saints did, and many unnamed others who must have had to do so also, and I struggle forward.

I watched the recent Heliocentric video, and see in his assessment the same thing I experienced myself. Namely, Worship isn't about forming the perfect model of reality, your Orthodoxy or your Heterodoxy, or giving TED talks on your newfound wisdom. It's about priorities, and recognizing the reality that God comes first.

It's about knowing your place, and finding peace there.

🎶If they believe they have monopoly over salvation then it’s a cult🎶

👏🏾👏🏾

🎶It’s a conversion/fear tactic commonly used by cults🎶

👏🏾👏🏾

🎶If their policy is believe🎶

🎶Or be doomed to eternal suffering🎶

🎶Then unfortunately you might’ve been in a cult🎶

Hi!

I don’t know anything about adventists! But I know that the founder of the Bible Students (which became the jw later) Charles T Russel was influenced by adventists.

So I guess we’re kind of cousins!

The Great Apostasy Theory, which is preached by individuals such as the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries Dr. James White, Adventist Pioneer Ellen White, Unitarians, Joseph Smith, Jr., and has been modified by Sedevacantists, is not only unreasonable at first glance, but undermines its own position. The issue is that these people hold the Bible to be authoritative, and IF the Bible is authoritative, then they shouldn’t be Protestant, Unitarians, or Primitivists (aka Restorationists).

• P1. God will make Good his word.

Num 23:19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

1 Sam 15:29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

Ps 92:15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Mal 3:6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Rom 3:4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

Tit 1:2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,

Heb 6:18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.

Jas 1:17-18 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

• P2. Jesus is God.

Jn 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jn 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jn 5:18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Ex 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Jn 8:58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Jn 10:30-33 I and the Father are one.” Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Jn 20:28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Col 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

Phil 2:5-8 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature (or in the form of) God,     did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature (or in the form of) of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Isa 44: 6 “This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.

Rev 1:17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

• P3. Jesus promised that the Church would never be overcome by Hades.

Is 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Dan 2:44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.

Dan 7:14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Mtt 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Mtt 16:18-19  And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Mtt 13:24-30 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Mtt 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Lk 1:30-33 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,  and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Jn 14:16-17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be (or and is) in you.

Jn 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Jn 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

• C1. Therefore, the Church will never be overcome Hades.

• P4. Apostasy, extinction, heresy, and unbelief are of Hades.

Mtt 24:4-12 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

Mk 13:21-23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

Lk 21:7-8 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?” He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.

Acts 20:29-30 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.

2 The 2:1-12 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.  Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

2 Tim 3:1-7 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2 Tim 4:1-4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

2 Pt 2:1-3 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

2 Pt 2:20-22  If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” [see Prov. 26:11] and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

Jude 17-19 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Rom 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Gal 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

1 Jn 5:16-17 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

• C2. Therefore, indefectibility is a property of the Church.

Note that this does not imply that indefectibility is a part of being Christian, but only that it is at least uniquely a property of the mystical body of God that is the Church on Earth.

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917: "By this term [indefectability] is signified, not merely that the Church will persist to the end of time, but further, that it will be preserved unimpaired in its essential characteristics. The Church can never undergo any constitutional change, which will make it, as a social organism, something different from what it was originally. It can never become corrupt in faith or in morals; nor can it ever lose the Apostolic hierarchy, or the Sacraments through which Christ communicates grace to men."

• P5. If the Great Apostasy theory is true, then the Church is not Indefectible.

• P6. If the Church is not indefectible, the God did not make Good his word.

• C3. Therefore, if Christianity is true, then there was no Great Apostasy.