hi chriscarol,
have you had a lot of encounters with sdas and the doctrines?
and did you mean our revelation seminars are secretive, or that we have a hidden agenda of getting people to join our church?
teresaq
Thank you teresaq for asking.
I pray that we can communicate in a loving and productive way as children of Our Heavenly Father.
To answer your question; in 1998 I was introduced to SDA thru my son-in-law. Y2K was coming and he was feeling stressed because of it and found comfort and solice in something that promised him "something" if he did what SDA was teaching.
I had never heard of any doctrine of the SDA church. I only knew that there was one some 10 blocks from me and 1 block from the church which I attend(Mennonite).
When my daughter told me of s-i-l's going to SDA I began to try to find out all I could about it. There was little to be found at that time since I did not have internet. I believe this was The Province of God because what it made me do was study deep in my Bible and my Bible alone to find out why I had gone to church on Sunday all my life if in fact the Sabbath was still in effect.
Of great interest in the 6 months of my study were Galatians 3-5, Hebrews, Romans, 2 Corinthians 3. I learned of the covenants and the difference in the Old(was to lead us to Christ) and the New(was the reality ). I had never really understood Christ's total sacrifice for all my sins even though I had been in church all my life.
I asked my s-i-l many questions of which most of the time there was an air of avoidance or he had all the right answers and when I specifically asked what lead him to SDA he said: "They had the truth". I asked where Jesus commanded us to keep the Sabbath and I am still waiting for that answer as I am from any SDA whom I have come in contact thru the internet.
In 2001 I obtained internet and that is where my real knowledge of what the doctrines really were came into focus. I had heard of IJ but try as I may I could not line it up with scripture. Soul sleep was a mute point to me since I told s-i-l that I was only trusting that God had a plan and place for me because I had seen it in His Word and I was leaving all the details to Him. My s-i-l said but it's the truth. To that I would add: "Who do you know who has ever come back from the grave to tell you what happens on the other side". This is what I know from what the Bible says, we are not to be concerned with death and I am not. I am concerned with life of which I have been given by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ John 3:16.
As far as the revelation seminars, yes I believe they are secretive and that they do have a hidden agenda to bring a person(who does not a living faith )to a mindset of what they must do to obtain eternal life. That to me is false. There is only one way to obtain eternal life and that is to believe in the Death for remission of sins, Burial for change and Resurrection for our Eternal Life.
I pray that everyone reading this will realize that I was asked the question and am only responding because I was asked. Thank you for understanding my reason for giving this information.
