(brotherbernard;13576)
Greetings,I have already replied to a few threads on this board and have found the focus for the most part to be on Christ and the scriptures. I have confidence that this will remain so by those that guide and manage this site. I would like to offer my opinion and experience to you as a former SDA minister. I have a fair knowledge of how the organization thinks and what their purpose is. Let me say that I still have many friends in that denomination and that I feel their hearts are completely sincere. They love Jesus as much as anyone that I have met here on this board and others. The error that I now find in the SDA church I have found in other denominations and throughout the history of the Christian Church. Its just that their error has a different focus and a different emphasis than other christian communities. Their focus on the 10 commandments as still binding in its Mosaic form can be found as a contentious issue as far back as the first century. So too, their founder's early date setting - otherwise, why did Jesus warn us about it?Throughout the history of our faith communities of believers have taken a doctrine here or a doctrine there and used it to judge the faith of other Christians. It still goes on throughout the church! Are the SDA's pushy? Yes, they can be, but for each one member that is, I know 10 that are kind, gentle, and extremely loving. Are the SDA's wrong in their theological focus? Absolutely! But again I say, where do you find a church community that is completely free from some kind of theological error or over emphasis? Whether you parade the banner of tongues or entire sanctification or the necessity of baptism or TULIP theology or predestination or the soverignty of God or the believe in one version of the bible over another - each community has something that they use to judge other christians. Oh, one more - elitism! I have never attended a church or a christian community where I didn't find some form of taking the seat next to Jesus - you know, seating on his right hand or left hand. Didn't the disciples themselves have quite a problem with this? I hope you see my point here.My only focus as a Christian is Jesus. I take every doctrine and teaching and ask myself how it is to be understood in and through the Christ event - how does it glorify Him, how does it lift Him up. When the focus of a particular person and what they are teaching does not do that - when the focus becomes centered on the teaching itself or worse still, upon the individual, then I know that something is amiss. The fact that SDAs focus upon the Sabbath and the 10 commandments as a testing doctrine of salvation clearly moves the attention and focus away from Christ. That is their error. What is ours?Christ plus nothing,Brother Bernard
Hello Brother Bernard:Very interesting insights you revealed there.Tell me, are you still in the ministry somewhere else, or are you planning on ministering somewhere else, etc.?