Why Isn't this hymn in the SDA hymnal?

[Gary K]

As far as I know this hymn isn't in the hymnal. It's an amazing hymn that I've come to love in the last year or so. The only place I've found that has all three verses of this song is the Whitewell Tabernacle in in Belfast. The backstory on this hymn is something special.

Here is the backstory on this hymn. It is one of several that have grown up around this hymn.

Song story: The Love of God ⋆ Diana Leagh Matthews

Frederick M. Lehman, the 20th Century author and composer of the hymn The Love of God, wrote a pamphlet in 1948. He wrote the following account of writing the song in his pamphlet “History of the Song, The Love of God.” “While at camp meeting in a mid-western state, some fifty years ago in our...

dianaleaghmatthews.com

 

[reddogs]

As far as I know this hymn isn't in the hymnal. It's an amazing hymn that I've come to love in the last year or so. The only place I've found that has all three verses of this song is the Whitewell Tabernacle in in Belfast. The backstory on this hymn is something special.

Here is the backstory on this hymn. It is one of several that have grown up around this hymn.

Song story: The Love of God ⋆ Diana Leagh Matthews

Frederick M. Lehman, the 20th Century author and composer of the hymn The Love of God, wrote a pamphlet in 1948. He wrote the following account of writing the song in his pamphlet “History of the Song, The Love of God.” “While at camp meeting in a mid-western state, some fifty years ago in our...

dianaleaghmatthews.com

I would say it has doctrinal issues with the words " And reaches to the lowest hell."

 

[Gary K]

I would say it has doctrinal issues with the words " And reaches to the lowest hell."

I have lived in hell here on earth. So that word doesn't mean much to me. Anyone who grew up in a dysfunctional family knows what I'm talking about. My wife's family was dysfunctional and her parents were both school teachers. So dysfunctional families are far more common than most people realize. Her dad used to beat on her older brother while in class when he didn't pick up on what his dad was trying to teach him. Nobody cared enough to report his dad to the authorities and he was the school principal in an SDA grade school.

I remember all the shame I felt growing up from being abused and would never have told anyone about what I was going through up until I was in my twenties. So, this is something that gets hidden away and not spoken about. My wife felt exactly the same way I did.

 

[reddogs]

I have lived in hell here on earth. So that word doesn't mean much to me. Anyone who grew up in a dysfunctional family knows what I'm talking about. My wife's family was dysfunctional and her parents were both school teachers. So dysfunctional families are far more common than most people realize. Her dad used to beat on her older brother while in class when he didn't pick up on what his dad was trying to teach him. Nobody cared enough to report his dad to the authorities and he was the school principal in an SDA grade school.

I remember all the shame I felt growing up from being abused and would never have told anyone about what I was going through up until I was in my twenties. So, this is something that gets hidden away and not spoken about. My wife felt exactly the same way I did.

Ninth level of Hell was used back in the Middle Ages and still in some places, but has kind of faded away. But still is a false doctrine or teaching, so would be rejected.

 

[Gary K]

Ninth level of Hell was used back in the Middle Ages and still in some places, but has kind of faded away. But still is a false doctrine or teaching, so would be rejected.

It's a pretty sad commentary on the SDA church when one word in a hymn dedicated to expressing love for God will disqualify it. Theology is not more important than expressing love for God, especially in a church as corrupt as ours is now. In our local church the pastor preaches non-Biblical sermons and speaks at Project One events. The entire conference leadership has been taken over by this theology. The Florida conference barred Doug Batchelor from speaking in that conference.

 

[reddogs]

It's a pretty sad commentary on the SDA church when one word in a hymn dedicated to expressing love for God will disqualify it. Theology is not more important than expressing love for God, especially in a church as corrupt as ours is now. In our local church the pastor preaches non-Biblical sermons and speaks at Project One events. The entire conference leadership has been taken over by this theology. The Florida conference barred Doug Batchelor from speaking in that conference.

No, a doctrine or false belief, much like 'Easter'.

 

[Gary K]

No, a doctrine or false belief, much like 'Easter'.

On the Amazing Facts Panorama of Prophecy series John Lomocang sang the song under discussion here. So obviously no decision makers at Amazing Facts has a problem with the word hell. I find that really refreshing as to them praising God is of far more import than single word.

 

[Gary K]

Here are a couple of hymns I don't remember ever singing in church. That Episcopalians sing these songs as if they are prayers and they don't exist, to my knowledge, in the SDA hymnal is sad.