Rest and Reflect

23 April 2001

Dear Dale:

I appreciated the opportunity to talk with you by phone. I suspect we could have lengthened the conversation considerably. My own “Arminian-Wesleyan” experience would differ from yours in several ways, I suspect. But I have become increasingly concerned that the Adventist emphasis on human freedom and responsibility makes it more difficult for us to give proper recognition to divine sovereignty and grace. That’s part of the reason why your writings and the video are of such high interest to me.

As I see it, however, the Evangelical/Reformed tradition finds it more difficult to make peace with the critical issues which our increasingly secular age presses upon us. One of my doctoral mentors, for example, became an Evangelical Christian in his teen years, but lost his faith when continuing studies undermined his “inerrancy” view of Scripture.

What struck me about the video was that virtually every criticism leveled against Ellen White and Adventism can be paralleled with similar critical attacks against Scripture and Christianity: there is at least as much to question in Scripture from a “scientific” point of view as there is in the work of Mrs. White. Scripture certainly contains (conditional) predictions which did not come to pass; and the “great disappointment” with its aftermath shows striking parallels with that earlier “great disappointment” which nearly crushed Jesus’ disciples.

When, at my request, my earlier-mentioned believer-turned-atheist mentor read and critiqued the manuscript of my book, Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God? two of his comments struck me with particular force:

1. “As you would expect, the overall argument of the book does not convince me, though at a certain stage of my intellectual and spiritual development I can see that it would have considerably alleviated my doubts.”

2. “If I ever return to faith it will be as a Jew and not as a Christian.”

I could also add to the list of quotes his personal comment to me in conversation: “If I had maintained my devotional life, I never would have lost my faith.”

Speaking specifically to your interest in the “two covenants,” I would want to point out that the “new” covenant promise appears first in Jeremiah, a promise to the people of Jeremiah’s day. In other words, it was an “Old Testament” experience as well as a “New Testament” one. In that same connection, when Jesus says in Matthew 5 that he came to “fulfill” the law, the context indicates that he did not set the law aside, but made it even more rigorous, more demanding.

Thus I would take quite a different approach than the one found in your chapter 14 in Sabbath in Crisis (pp. 219-234, 2nd edition).8 At root, however, I surmise three key issues to be paramount in the experience of those who leave Adventism for an evangelical community:

1. Assurance. Paul (most forcefully in Romans and Galatians) finds assurance through a courtroom emphasis with Jesus as the all-sufficient sacrifice and advocate on our behalf. That perspective comes clearest in the Reformed and Evangelical communities. But the other New Testament road to assurance, perhaps more typical of Wesleyan communities, uses a family emphasis or model.

It is nurtured by the Gospel and Epistles of John and is best illustrated by Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. In that parable one finds grace and acceptance, to be sure; but instead of an accent on the price paid at the divine initiative, the parable highlights the human decision to return home to a loving and accepting Father. Some in Adventism have often gotten the worst of both worlds, suggesting a demanding Judge who waits to see if the prodigal son can do it right before granting him entrance to the welcome-home party. Salvation by works is always a distortion of the truth. The biblical view of obedience presents it as a grateful human response to divine grace.

2. Relations with Other Christians. When Adventism leaves a conscientious believer haunted with a sense of impossible demands, the discovery of gracious and buoyant evangelical Christians who do have assurance of acceptance through Christ, raises significant questions about the “truth” of Adventism. “Remnant,” “Babylon,” and “beast” can all become troublesome terms in this context. Here I find biblical models helpful.

A strident (sectarian?) separation seems to have been unavoidable at crucial points in the experience of God’s people: Israel and the Egyptians; Israel and the Canaanites; Judaism in the days of Ezra-Nehemiah; Christians and Jews in the days of Stephen. No wonder the Jews stoned Stephen – just read his blunt speech in Acts 7!

As for Adventism, events and circumstances in the 19th century made the scenario outlined in the book Great Controversy quite believable. But the book The Desire of Ages points to a quite different approach to people, one which seeks first to affirm people for their goodness rather than attack them for their evil. In this respect, the remarkable chapter 70 in The Desire of Ages (pp. 637-641) is crucial.

In interpreting the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, Ellen White notes that the judgment of the nations turns on “one point”: “what they have done or have neglected to do for Him in the person of the poor and the suffering” (p. 637). She goes on to claim for God’s kingdom those among the heathen “who have cherished His principles,” “who have cherished the spirit of kindness” (p. 638). Evangelicals often stumble at that point, wanting to include only those who have explicitly accepted Jesus Christ. Those heathen who are “good” in God’s sight, the “good” Moslem, the “good” atheist are all excluded – in spite of what Romans 2:12-16 seems to make quite clear.

Similarly marking a positive approach to others is the counsel given in Gospel Workers on how to work for others: “Speak to them, as you have opportunity, upon points of doctrine on which you can agree. Dwell on the necessity of practical godliness. Give them evidence that you are a Christian, desiring peace and that you love their souls. Let them see that you are conscientious. Thus you will gain their confidence; and there will be time enough for doctrines. Let the heart be won, the soil prepared, and then sow the seed, presenting in love the truth as it is in Jesus” (GW 119-20). “Come out of her my people” (Rev. 18:4) represents quite a different perspective. Clearly both are biblical, but circumstances and experience determine which emphasis receives priority. I focus on the growth and development of Ellen White’s experience and theology as part of the solution to these tensions.

3. Sabbath: Gift or Test? Traditionally, Adventists have linked Sabbath with eschatology, emphasizing Sabbath as a test, and hardly noting it as a gift. Thus if a monolithic view of Adventist eschatology collapses for whatever reason, then the Sabbath goes with it.

Quite frankly, I don’t know how one can experience a joyous Sabbath gift if one thinks of it first of all as a test – even though I would affirm that the Sabbath is a test in a more subtle way. If my wife were to insist that a timely arrival in the evening is a “test” of our love, it would be difficult for me to return home with joy. The same applies to the Sabbath.

Ironically, just when former Adventists are jettisoning the Sabbath, an increasing number of thoughtful Christians are casting longing eyes at the idea of Sabbath and writing some very good things about Sabbath (e.g., Marva Dawn, Eugene Peterson), even if their view of Sabbath does not include an emphasis on a specific day of the week.

With reference to all of the above, the extent to which I am willing to modify traditional Adventism is solidly rooted in Scripture, in my study of Ellen White, and in my knowledge of Adventist history. “Change,” “growth,” and “development” are all difficult words, especially for those drawn to the Evangelical and Reformed tradition (as over against those in the Arminian and Wesleyan traditions).

Particular end-time scenarios are very fragile in Scripture. Dispensational evangelicals (the true inheritors of the Adventist love for a precise series of end-time events), solve the problem by projecting all unfulfilled aspects of Old Testament prophecy into the future, linked with the rapture, rebuilding of the temple, and an earthly millennium. To make it work, dispensationalism even brings back animal sacrifice during the 1,000 years. I believe there is a better way of being faithful to Scripture and to our Lord.

This is far more than you bargained for, Dale. By God’s grace, good may come of it. May the Lord bless and guide you in your work.

Sincerely, Alden Thompson, School of Theology, Walla Walla College, College Place Washington 99324