The Great Controversy Doctrine of Seventh Day Adventism

[sparkman]

An article by Proclamation! focused on the Seventh Day Adventist doctrine of the Great Controversy.

Apparently this is how Ellen G. White viewed the course of events in human salvation:

Pre-History

• Before time began, God the Father exalted Jesus to be equal to Himself (this violates the eternal co-equality doctrine of the Trinity
• God's exaltation of Jesus over Lucifer made Lucifer angry
• Angry, Lucifer rebelled and turned one-third of heaven's angels against God
• He accused God of unfairness in giving a law too difficult to keep, yet demanding obedience.
• God banished Lucifer/Satan and his angels to earth.

Warfare Moves to Earth

• Satan deceived Eve, thus causing humanity to sin.
• When Adam and Eve sinned, the Father took jesus into His inner council and allowed HIm to become the sacrifice for sin.
• Ever since, Satan and Jesus have been battling each other for the souls of men.

God Gives The Law of Vindication

• God gave the written transcript of His character on Mt. Sinai so we would know how to live.
• Jesus was born with inherited tendencies to evil to show us we can keep the law as He did.
• Jesus' death vindicates and exalts God's law.
• Ultimately God's people will become free of sin and prove God's law is fair and attainable.
• When God's people perfectly reproduce the character of Crhist, they will vindicate God's character, prove Satan to be a liar, and thus help Jesus win the conflict with Satan.

Law Wins, Loser Burned Up

• Jesus will place all confessed sins on Satan who will carry them into the lake of fire, where he, Satan "will bear the final penalty" for them.
• Finally, God's people have the power to "hasten [their] Lord's return" by throwing themselves into carrying the Adventist message to the world and keeping the law perfectly.
• The mark demarcating the saved from the lost is the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, while worshiping on Sunday is the mark of the Beast.

So, here are the issues I have with this teaching

• Jesus has always been fully God, so there was no exalting Jesus to be equal to God. This is an affront to the full deity of Jesus Christ.
• God doesn't need to be vindicated in front of Satan, hunan beings or any other being. He owes no one any excuses and he's not being judged by anyone. God judges; he is not judged or vindicated by anyone. SDAs claim that God must vindicate Himself to human inhabitants, the inhabitants of "unseen worlds" who have Adams who haven't sinned yet, and the angelic realm.
• This view of God proposes a God which is not in control, and God is in total control. God is Sovereign. This view proposes a dualistic view of the universe.
• Jesus was not born with inherited tendencies to evil. Jesus did not have a sin nature or he would need to be born again.
• God's people will not become totally sinless short of the resurrection, although they will "sin less" as they are progressively sanctified.
• Satan is not our sin-bearer..this is part of the trash I was taught as an Armstrongite. Jesus Christ bore our sins on the Cross and suffered outside the camp. The SDA and Armstrongite claim that Satan is the second goat in the Day of Atonement ceremony is not true. Read Leviticus 16, I Peter 2:24, and Hebrews 13:12. Each goat represented an aspect of Christ's atoning work..the first goat represented the blood sacrifice and the second goat represented Him carrying our sin away, and suffering outside the camp, outside of the presence of God.
• Sabbath-breaking is not the Mark of the Beast and neither is the Seal of God keeping the Sabbath. The Seal of God is the Holy Spirit, and the Mark of the Beast identifies those who do not belong to God.

This scheme of redemption is based largely upon a 2 hour long vision that Ellen G. White had in 1858. It is described in her book The Great Controversy Between God and Satan.

This also ties into the SDA belief in the investigative judgment. Since 1844, Christ has been reviewing the records of professed believers to decide who is worthy of eternal life. He started with dead professing believers, and continued forward. If there are any unrepented sins in their history, they don't pass the test and will be destroyed. When he gets to the living believers, their records will be assessed similarly. If they pass the test, and have no unrepented sins, they must remain sinless until death. I asked one SDA how he knows that he will remain sinless until death, once the investigative judgment occurs..he quoted Revelation 22:11.

While they believe in free will, somehow free will becomes lost once the person's record is examined according to him, and they can't sin.

This is what happens when you have a system that is based on works righteousness.

Attached are a few charts from the magazine concerning their teachings and a comparison with the biblical view.

This post borrows heavily from the Proclamation! magazine from Winter 2015.

http://lifeassuranceministries.org/2015_4ProclamationWEB.pdf

 

[blondieindahouse]

Works righteous! Exactly well along with all the creepy other stuff that can be uncovered. I was talking with a friend today that met a man who is SDA. She said he seemed like a christian. I told her the SDA are one of the most deceptive of false religions because they hide alot of what they believe. I encouraged her to look into the false religion and pray for a greater discernment.

 

[sparkman]

Works righteous! Exactly well along with all the creepy other stuff that can be uncovered. I was talking with a friend today that met a man who is SDA. She said he seemed like a christian. I told her the SDA are one of the most deceptive of false religions because they hide alot of what they believe. I encouraged her to look into the false religion and pray for a greater discernment.

I think there's a wide variety of beliefs within the SDA church, and some of them are more evangelical than others. However, if they hold the position that is outlined in the Great Controversy article, I have a lot of problems with that. And their doctrine of investigative judgment allows no security, but I see a lot of evangelicals who don't believe in eternal security as well.

I presented the materials to see if someone can clarify the points mentioned in the article. Maybe they will state that Ellen G. White was wrong on all of these things, but the Great Controversy and Investigative Judgment are still on their statement of beliefs.

Also, I do think many SDAs are Christians. I think they are doctrinally confused. I was saved and a Christian even while I was in the Armstrongite cult. It wasn't the healthiest place to be, and I think many Armstrongites weren't saved, but I was still saved even though I fully believed the false teachings. SDAs are not as bad off as I was. At least they don't claim they are going to be Gods in the resurrection, and that other Christians are all unsaved like Armstrongites did.

 

[Grace777x70]

I think some of the SDA's may be saved too. But there are lot's of people that think if they do good works..God will let them into heaven...as long as they go to church...give tithes, give to the poor, feed the hungry..etc. All good works for sure..but not able to "create righteousness" that is needed...that only comes through Jesus.

 

[sparkman]

I think some of the SDA's may be saved too. But there are lot's of people that think if they do good works..God will let them into heaven...as long as they go to church...give tithes, give to the poor, feed the hungry..etc. All good works for sure..but not able to "create righteousness" that is needed...that only comes through Jesus.

I was saved even while I believed such legalism. I think it made me appreciate God's grace much more when I understood it was false, and came to understand justification by faith alone. I think some SDAs already understand justification by faith alone..I have had a conversation with one younger SDA in the chat room, and I am pretty sure he understands and believes it.

But, obviously I still have some concerns about the group as a whole.

That guy doesn't judge me as unsaved, but another SDA insinuated that I might have lost my salvation due to not keeping the Sabbath anymore.

 

[Jayoish]

Works righteous! Exactly well along with all the creepy other stuff that can be uncovered. I was talking with a friend today that met a man who is SDA. She said he seemed like a christian. I told her the SDA are one of the most deceptive of false religions because they hide alot of what they believe. I encouraged her to look into the false religion and pray for a greater discernment.

They are no greater than the rest of these religions on earth. Each one of them pick and chooses which part of the Bible they will obey and add their version on the rest. None of them follows the Bible as it is and serve God as he want us to. When you find the church that follows the Bible without taking anything from it or adding anything to it, then you might want to go to that church. After all, that is what GOD said for us to do, to not add anything or take anything away from his word! He tells us this several times in Bible, starting at the beginning of the Old Testaments and ending with the last book of the New Testaments, and finally tells you the penalty for it. See the following scriptures: Deuteronomy 4:2 -- (2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.) and Proverbs 30:5-6 -- (5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.) and Deuteronomy 12:32 -- (32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.) and Revelation 22:19 -- (19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. )

I hope this helps someone,

Jayoish

 

[Grace777x70]

I hear ya'

And I wonder what their reaction would be when you tell them that Jesus is your Sabbath rest now?...wouldn't that be "heretic" material to them?

I was saved even while I believed such legalism. I think it made me appreciate God's grace much more when I understood it was false, and came to understand justification by faith alone. I think some SDAs already understand justification by faith alone..I have had a conversation with one younger SDA in the chat room, and I am pretty sure he understands and believes it.

But, obviously I still have some concerns about the group as a whole.

That guy doesn't judge me as unsaved, but another SDA insinuated that I might have lost my salvation due to not keeping the Sabbath anymore.

 

[wattie]

Yeah.. I think there are branches of the SDA movement-- in the Kingdom of the Cults book from Walter Martin, he wrote that they are a bit of a puzzle.

You get some SDA churches that are pretty clearly cult-like.. and then others that have changed their teaching generally back to main Christian beliefs.

Not sure what the situation is now. I have an SDA church goer in my work place.. they seem to have some beliefs aligned closely with the bible, but then will accept a lot of unbiblical things. They are also very self focussed and seem to be 'in the flesh' if you know what I mean.

But as with a whole lot of beliefs.. some people following these kind of systems of belief are actually saved, but just being fed the wrong teaching. You get this when God independently saves someone before.. or regardless of what system of teaching they are learning.

So you get people who are JWS but are actually converted.. Catholic but actually converted .. Mormon but actually converted etc..

They got the message of salvation aside from what they were being taught thru the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

 

[sparkman]

Yeah.. I think there are branches of the SDA movement-- in the Kingdom of the Cults book from Walter Martin, he wrote that they are a bit of a puzzle.

You get some SDA churches that are pretty clearly cult-like.. and then others that have changed their teaching generally back to main Christian beliefs.

Not sure what the situation is now. I have an SDA church goer in my work place.. they seem to have some beliefs aligned closely with the bible, but then will accept a lot of unbiblical things. They are also very self focussed and seem to be 'in the flesh' if you know what I mean.

But as with a whole lot of beliefs.. some people following these kind of systems of belief are actually saved, but just being fed the wrong teaching. You get this when God independently saves someone before.. or regardless of what system of teaching they are learning.

So you get people who are JWS but are actually converted.. Catholic but actually converted .. Mormon but actually converted etc..

They got the message of salvation aside from what they were being taught thru the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, I was saved while a member of an Armstrongite cult. I believed a lot worse stuff.

 

[tanakh]

An article by Proclamation! focused on the Seventh Day Adventist doctrine of the Great Controversy.

Apparently this is how Ellen G. White viewed the course of events in human salvation:

Pre-History

• Before time began, God the Father exalted Jesus to be equal to Himself (this violates the eternal co-equality doctrine of the Trinity
• God's exaltation of Jesus over Lucifer made Lucifer angry
• Angry, Lucifer rebelled and turned one-third of heaven's angels against God
• He accused God of unfairness in giving a law too difficult to keep, yet demanding obedience.
• God banished Lucifer/Satan and his angels to earth.

Warfare Moves to Earth

• Satan deceived Eve, thus causing humanity to sin.
• When Adam and Eve sinned, the Father took jesus into His inner council and allowed HIm to become the sacrifice for sin.
• Ever since, Satan and Jesus have been battling each other for the souls of men.

God Gives The Law of Vindication

• God gave the written transcript of His character on Mt. Sinai so we would know how to live.
• Jesus was born with inherited tendencies to evil to show us we can keep the law as He did.
• Jesus' death vindicates and exalts God's law.
• Ultimately God's people will become free of sin and prove God's law is fair and attainable.
• When God's people perfectly reproduce the character of Crhist, they will vindicate God's character, prove Satan to be a liar, and thus help Jesus win the conflict with Satan.

Law Wins, Loser Burned Up

• Jesus will place all confessed sins on Satan who will carry them into the lake of fire, where he, Satan "will bear the final penalty" for them.
• Finally, God's people have the power to "hasten [their] Lord's return" by throwing themselves into carrying the Adventist message to the world and keeping the law perfectly.
• The mark demarcating the saved from the lost is the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, while worshiping on Sunday is the mark of the Beast.

So, here are the issues I have with this teaching

• Jesus has always been fully God, so there was no exalting Jesus to be equal to God. This is an affront to the full deity of Jesus Christ.
• God doesn't need to be vindicated in front of Satan, hunan beings or any other being. He owes no one any excuses and he's not being judged by anyone. God judges; he is not judged or vindicated by anyone. SDAs claim that God must vindicate Himself to human inhabitants, the inhabitants of "unseen worlds" who have Adams who haven't sinned yet, and the angelic realm.
• This view of God proposes a God which is not in control, and God is in total control. God is Sovereign. This view proposes a dualistic view of the universe.
• Jesus was not born with inherited tendencies to evil. Jesus did not have a sin nature or he would need to be born again.
• God's people will not become totally sinless short of the resurrection, although they will "sin less" as they are progressively sanctified.
• Satan is not our sin-bearer..this is part of the trash I was taught as an Armstrongite. Jesus Christ bore our sins on the Cross and suffered outside the camp. The SDA and Armstrongite claim that Satan is the second goat in the Day of Atonement ceremony is not true. Read Leviticus 16, I Peter 2:24, and Hebrews 13:12. Each goat represented an aspect of Christ's atoning work..the first goat represented the blood sacrifice and the second goat represented Him carrying our sin away, and suffering outside the camp, outside of the presence of God.
• Sabbath-breaking is not the Mark of the Beast and neither is the Seal of God keeping the Sabbath. The Seal of God is the Holy Spirit, and the Mark of the Beast identifies those who do not belong to God.

This scheme of redemption is based largely upon a 2 hour long vision that Ellen G. White had in 1858. It is described in her book The Great Controversy Between God and Satan.

This also ties into the SDA belief in the investigative judgment. Since 1844, Christ has been reviewing the records of professed believers to decide who is worthy of eternal life. He started with dead professing believers, and continued forward. If there are any unrepented sins in their history, they don't pass the test and will be destroyed. When he gets to the living believers, their records will be assessed similarly. If they pass the test, and have no unrepented sins, they must remain sinless until death. I asked one SDA how he knows that he will remain sinless until death, once the investigative judgment occurs..he quoted Revelation 22:11.

While they believe in free will, somehow free will becomes lost once the person's record is examined according to him, and they can't sin.

This is what happens when you have a system that is based on works righteousness.

Attached are a few charts from the magazine concerning their teachings and a comparison with the biblical view.

This post borrows heavily from the Proclamation! magazine from Winter 2015.

http://lifeassuranceministries.org/2015_4ProclamationWEB.pdf

If only the SDA would recognize that Ellen White was not a Prophet and treat her writings as open to criticism, in the same way one would any other writer then much of the distrust they attach to themselves would disappear together with her more bizarre teachings.

 

[blondieindahouse]

If only the SDA would recognize that Ellen White was not a Prophet and treat her writings as open to criticism, in the same way one would any other writer then much of the distrust they attach to themselves would disappear together with her more bizarre teachings.

That might be the case if the error were just with ellen white. Sadly, the rabbit trail is deep and the deception is vast