Are there different "sects" of Seventh Day Adventists?

mystery4 said:

Liberals and progressives are different. The definition you gave was that of a liberal, a progressive is someone who is between conservative and liberal. They are willing to accept change as God leads but still hold onto the basics that characterise us as Adventists. Generally they are conservative in their beliefs of the 28 fundamentals.

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icedragon101 said:

Liberals and progressives ,at least here in the US are one and the same. there is humanism at the base of the decision making, what I want, at least that is my take on it. Your definition of progressive would fall under Evanglical Adventist.

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• internal diversity of doctrine that may or may not include those of the Nicene Creed or other traditional formulations
• an embracing of higher criticism of the Bible with a corresponding willingness to doubt supernatural elements of biblical stories (e.g., the virgin birth)
• the rejection of biblical literalism and the inerrancy of the Bible
• differing views of God that may include unitarian beliefs.
• differing views on salvation that may include universalist beliefs
• an emphasis on inclusive fellowship and community, often applied in recent years to racial minorities and LGBT people, and to the ministry of women alongside men in the church.
• a willingness to consider and adopt viewpoints which have their roots outside of Christianity (e.g., other faith/philosophical traditions)
• a willingness to re-evaluate and modify beliefs in the light of modern scientific theories

Difficulties in definition

Diversity of opinion is a central characteristic of liberal Christianity, and one which makes it difficult to define with precision. Because of its relations to progressive thinking, liberal Christianity is often described as Progressive Christianity. In truth, there may be a a continuum of views from conservative to moderate to liberal. Thus among theological liberals, some would be more liberal than others, and among conservatives evangelicals may be "more liberal" than fundamentalists. It is quite possible for someone to identify as liberal or progressive in their politics and be strongly orthodox or conservative in their theological view.
Ultimately, the word liberal connotes a more progressive attitude towards Christianity based on individualism, in its emphasis on individual subjective experience, and liberalism, in its respect for the freedom of the individual to hold and express views which fall outside the boundaries of conservative orthodoxy and tradition. Disagreements between conservative and liberal Christians arise most frequently when the latter perceive that the former are exhibiting a lack of compassion, mercy, love and inclusiveness, and when the former perceive the latter to be abandoning essential Christian doctrines.

--from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Christianity

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Sophia7 said:

This is a matter of semantics. Liberals and progressives are not exactly the same. Some progressives are liberal, and some are not. Some are liberal on certain issues but not on others. They may have a wide range of views on theological, social, and political issues, for example. Probably most progressives are more liberal in general than most traditional Adventists, but not all progressives would fit into the liberal category.

Here is one description of the characteristics of liberal Christianity, and I think there are very few Adventists who would actually fit into this end of the liberal theological spectrum:

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icedragon101 said:

if we take the issues involved we can see the difference

1.The bible- is it accureate and the word of God and the rule for faith.
historics. yes
conservatives yes
evanglicals yes
progress maybe
liberals not not always.

Creation- was the world created in 7 literal day about 6-7 thousand years ago.

HA's - yes
conA's- yes
EA's- yes
proA's - maybe, maybe not the since sees to say other wise. it's not a major point. god was still involved
liberals - it is a metaphore and just realtiy any ways. science tells us that the earth is millions of years old and god may have been involved or not.

The chruch - The sda chruch is the remnat chruch with a message to the world. It it the true visible chruch and people who are not members are lost.
HA'S- yes, but the corproate chruch is "babylon"
ConA's yes
EA's - Yes and No. yes there is something unique about the SDA chruch, but it is the message. you do not have to be a member of the instution to Go to heaven, you have to be born again and have a personal relationship with jesus. We can borrow freely from other denomation as long as it passes the test of Scriptures. We aren't the only ones who know jesus, We are SDA because we believe that the SDA church had the most complete picture out there.
ProA's No the sda church is just one of manyother denominations.
liberal - Chruch is a social agency to bring social justice and to work out my own idiology on the world

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