Rest and Reflect

Love and mercy are more important than truth.

Ellen White was not a theological watchdog. Her role was as teacher (to expound scripture and direct – even us today – to the bible), guide (for the Adventist movement as it discovered its role as an end-time “present truth” movement), and pastor (to the individuals of her day and their specific needs).

The Adventist Church is not (or should not become) just another church. We are a “prophetic movement”; Jesus spoke of the gospel going to the entire world before the Second Coming. We are privileged – by virtue of our place in history and that the gospel has come to us from others – to be part of that movement, whose mission it is to take the “present truth” (that is the particular slant of the everlasting gospel that the people of the world need today) to every kindred, nation, tribe and tongue (Rev 14). Thus we should never form a creed, always be ready to listen to other views (potentially with greater insight than our own) and be slow to pass judgment on those who may not be convinced by what we believe is true. God’s redemptive work does not function through direct attack of falsehood, but rather the honest and most gracious explanation of plain truth.

Sin is not behavior – it is an attitude of the mind. What I like to call a “virus” that has infected the mind. When we understand sin in this way, we realise that we are all equally and 100% infected, helpless to heal ourselves or even help others. We should then never condemn our fellow humans for the illness that we have ourselves – but rather support and encourage each other to turn to the one who can save. We should then always fix our eyes upon Jesus and trust in his ability to heal us of all the damage done (unrighteousness). His death on the cross was proof of both our utter sinfulness and His (w)holy righteousness – that He is ABLE, WILLING and TRUST-WORTHY to save us.

Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on our behalf shows how much God loves us, and that He has forgiven us all before we have even repented (see the Prodigal Son story for example).

Jesus did not pick and choose who to save. He desires and is able to save us all. But he can only fix us if we surrender our will to him, just as a patient surrenders his all to a neurosurgeon – trusting completely in his ability to remove the tumor. Jesus cannot rid us of the “virus” of sin and heal the damage done if we continue to cling to the “old ways” (in our thoughts and our actions). We need to (as the bible describes), have a (re)newed mind, put on the new man, be born again – all metaphors that suggest that salvation involves a complete change of character – not a “patching of the holes”. Sounds impossible? For us perhaps, but that’s where the Good News comes it, it IS POSSIBLE for God to do if we let Him.

As slip and fall does not mean that a “runner” will not “finish” the “race”. He needs only to get up and keep running the race (“fighting the good fight”) with the “author and finisher of our faith”. So don’t get discouraged when you fail, remember that God is faithful to keep his promise to “complete the work he started in you”.

The process of salvation is not some legal loophole. Nor is it God overlooking sin. (That would not be fair, nor safe.) It is and always had to be a proper solution to the problem of sin – to rid the universe of the sin “virus”, once and for all. Confusing? It helps to understand that from the very first rebellious thought in the mind of Satan, serious questions were raised about the righteousness (or trustworthiness) of God himself and the way He chooses the run His universe. We call this concept the Great Controversy motif. So because sin is not a simple legal problem – i.e. a breaking of the rules, the solution cannot be purely forensic. It has to be practical — not only truly eradicating the “virus” and restoring a “right spirit” in those who have sinned, but also providing a good, honest answer to the legitimate questions about God that were raised by the sin problem in the minds of even holy, sinless beings (e.g. angels). I believe the way God chose to save us was the best (if not only) way to achieve both goals.

We must continue to search the bible for truth, to re-evaluate and refine our beliefs. The church is not responsible for what we believe. We are personally responsible for what we believe. “Let every man be convinced in his own mind.”

“Long-cherished opinions must not be regarded as infallible. It was the unwillingness of the Jews to give up their long-established traditions that proved their ruin. They were determined not to see any flaw in their own opinions or in their expositions of the Scriptures; but however long men may have entertained certain views, if they are not clearly sustained by the written word, they should be discarded. Those who sincerely desire truth will not be reluctant to lay open their positions for investigation and criticism….We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed.” Ellen G White (Counsels to Writers and Editors, pp. 36,37)

We can be assured of our salvation. Not because of any confidence of our own unswerving commitment to God, but rather because of our full confidence in God’s unconditional, unchanging commitment to us — to chase after us every time we run away, to pick us up every time we call, because when He looks at us He sees His poor children whom He loves so much:
“I do not hesitate to say that God’s view of the worthiness of His people will not be an issue in the judgment. God’s role in the judgment will be to defend His people, whom He knows to be worthy, not to decide whether they are worthy. Indeed, that is probably one of the most important reasons why Jesus will be present in the judgment. He will be our Mediator to defend us from the attack of the little horn, who, in the most ultimate sense, is Satan himself. That is my understanding of the investigative, or pre-advent, judgment. I believe it is the most widely accepted view in the Adventist Church today.” — Marvin Moore, January 1997 Signs of the Times

PARENTING
Kay Kuzma
Donna Habenicht – Seminar, Book 1, Book 2

MUSIC VIDEOS
Edgemont

ELLEN WHITE ISSUES
Graeme Bradford – More Than A Prophet
HMS Richards Snr
George R Knight – series
Alden Thompson – From Sinai To Golgotha, Escape from the Flames, Inspiration: Hard Questions, Honest Answers (Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 1991)
Woodrow W. Whidden II – Ellen White on Salvation
Herbert E. Douglass – Messenger of the Lord, There They Were

SALVATION/SOTIEROLOGY/GREAT CONTROVERSY/SANCTUARY
Graham Maxwell – Servants or Friends, Can God Be Trusted?
Herbert E. Douglass – God At Risk, Why God Waits
Leslie Hardinge – With Jesus in His Sanctuary

CHRISTOLOGY
J. R. Zurcher – Touched With Our Feelings

HUMAN NATURE/PERFECTION
George R Knight – I Used To Be Perfect, A Pharisee’s Guide To Perfect Holiness
Herbert E. Douglass – Should We Ever Say I Am Saved?
Martin Weber – Who’s Got the Truth? Making sense out of five different Adventist Gospels (Silver Spring, MD: Home Study International Press, 1994)

ESCHATOLOGY/SABBATH
Jon Paulien
Samuele Bacchiocchi
?Jacques B Doukhan
?Leslie Hardinge

PREACHERS/SPEAKERS/PASTORS/EVANGELISTS/MISSIONARIES
Doug Batchelor & Joe Crews – Amazing Facts
Mark Finley & Shawn Boonstra – It Is Written
David Gates – Gospel Ministries International
Dwight Nelson – Andrews University Pioneer Memorial Church
HMS Richards & Lonnie Melashenko – Voice of Prophecy

ADVENTIST HISTORY/THEOLOGY
Biblical Research Institute
LeRoy Froom – The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers
George R Knight – Adventist Heritage Series
?Gilbert Valentine

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