The SDA Church
This is something that I've not been able to understand personally. Why do many people consider SDA to be a cult? I grew up in the church and the beliefs are different, though many people have different beliefs hence why we have so many different denominations.
Although I do still associate heavily with the SDA and I also consider myself to be non-denominational. The reason being that there are something in the church that I don't agree with. One of them being the Investigative Judgment with does conflict with the Bible, and if it conflicts with the Bible, I toss it.
Ellen G. White
Another matter regarding the SDA church I've heard from outside sources it people criticizing Ellen G. White for plagiarism in books like The Great Controversy. She openly admits to borrowing from other authors, Mrs. White never tried to hide that fact. Mrs. White said she did this because they said what she was trying to better than she was able.
Another thing that irks me is judging these events by modern standards. If you're going to judge something like this, then it needs to be done in the by the standards of the time in which it happened. Now speaking of the time in which it happened, this form of literary borrowing wasn't uncommon in her day and not typically frowned upon unless someone tried to pass it off as original work, which she didn't.
Drinking Alcohol
Another is the belief that it's a sin to drink alcohol at all. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that modern Christians should drink. However I believe this matter should be taken into context from the time it was written. Is it a sin to drink, personally I don't believe it is.
Ephesians 5:18 (KJV) And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit
If it were a sin to drink at all, would the Bible not simply say 'Do not drink'. Got also created wine at the wedding at his mother's request. Now there is still a debate within the religious community where people practically trip over themselves trying to say that it was non-alcoholic wine, or grape juice. Again, I don't believe this.
I don't think the people who wrote the Bible were ignorant to the difference between the two, and I doubt they would have left something like that vague or ambiguous. If it was grape juice I believe they would have said grape juice. I think Jesus created wine, and he drank wine. The difference being he never became drunk or even got a buzz.
This is where the context comes in. The Bible obviously wasn't written in modern times. In the day and age that Jesus lived, most nearby rivers and running water sources were used as sewage disposal systems. Inside cities was the worst. This meant that drinking water could turn out to be a very lethal gamble with all the contaminants in it, and Jesus didn't have the option to run down to the Dollar Store and grab a 24-pack of Dasani Water.
Thus I believe he, like a lot of lower class people, drank cheap wine which probably had a low alcohol content. Again people might try to counter this view by saying that alcohol is addictive and dangerous, well, so is over eating, extreme sports adrenaline junkies and a whole host of other things. Anything taken to excess can be dangerous and potentially addictive depending on how the person reacts to it.
Personally I believe the church's exceptionally condemning view of alcohol is a holdover from prohibition back in the 1920s. So to sum this up before I type a book on the subject, I believe Jesus drank alcoholic wine but never got drunk because drinking water in his day wasn't always a good idea. In modern times with such easy access to fresh and clean water, modern Christians have no need to drink, and as it can be addictive it's best not to play with fire.
This is something that I've not been able to understand personally. Why do many people consider SDA to be a cult? I grew up in the church and the beliefs are different, though many people have different beliefs hence why we have so many different denominations.
Although I do still associate heavily with the SDA and I also consider myself to be non-denominational. The reason being that there are something in the church that I don't agree with. One of them being the Investigative Judgment with does conflict with the Bible, and if it conflicts with the Bible, I toss it.
Ellen G. White
Another matter regarding the SDA church I've heard from outside sources it people criticizing Ellen G. White for plagiarism in books like The Great Controversy. She openly admits to borrowing from other authors, Mrs. White never tried to hide that fact. Mrs. White said she did this because they said what she was trying to better than she was able.
Another thing that irks me is judging these events by modern standards. If you're going to judge something like this, then it needs to be done in the by the standards of the time in which it happened. Now speaking of the time in which it happened, this form of literary borrowing wasn't uncommon in her day and not typically frowned upon unless someone tried to pass it off as original work, which she didn't.
Drinking Alcohol
Another is the belief that it's a sin to drink alcohol at all. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that modern Christians should drink. However I believe this matter should be taken into context from the time it was written. Is it a sin to drink, personally I don't believe it is.
Ephesians 5:18 (KJV) And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit
If it were a sin to drink at all, would the Bible not simply say 'Do not drink'. Got also created wine at the wedding at his mother's request. Now there is still a debate within the religious community where people practically trip over themselves trying to say that it was non-alcoholic wine, or grape juice. Again, I don't believe this.
I don't think the people who wrote the Bible were ignorant to the difference between the two, and I doubt they would have left something like that vague or ambiguous. If it was grape juice I believe they would have said grape juice. I think Jesus created wine, and he drank wine. The difference being he never became drunk or even got a buzz.
This is where the context comes in. The Bible obviously wasn't written in modern times. In the day and age that Jesus lived, most nearby rivers and running water sources were used as sewage disposal systems. Inside cities was the worst. This meant that drinking water could turn out to be a very lethal gamble with all the contaminants in it, and Jesus didn't have the option to run down to the Dollar Store and grab a 24-pack of Dasani Water.
Thus I believe he, like a lot of lower class people, drank cheap wine which probably had a low alcohol content. Again people might try to counter this view by saying that alcohol is addictive and dangerous, well, so is over eating, extreme sports adrenaline junkies and a whole host of other things. Anything taken to excess can be dangerous and potentially addictive depending on how the person reacts to it.
Personally I believe the church's exceptionally condemning view of alcohol is a holdover from prohibition back in the 1920s. So to sum this up before I type a book on the subject, I believe Jesus drank alcoholic wine but never got drunk because drinking water in his day wasn't always a good idea. In modern times with such easy access to fresh and clean water, modern Christians have no need to drink, and as it can be addictive it's best not to play with fire.