Are you Adventist in NAME ONLY?

[reddogs]

When we were young, we were strong with the Lord, we studied our Bibles and preached to our friends and nieghtbors. We were "David" in a land filled with "Goliaths", and we feared not and slew the "giants" of false doctrines and false truths without hesitation. We had the Bible as our standard, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as our map, and we went forward to Gods kingdom with many others who called themselves Adventist.

Then we paused as the journey was long, and when we started again there was a change. It started slowly when some in the Adventist church were influence by Desmond Ford and his movement. Then some began rejecting parts of the Bible or its Commandments, others begin fighting against the church doctrines and beliefs and went in their own direction rejecting all truth. Vices such as smoking and drinking began to creep in among those who still called themselves "Adventist".

A rising chorus of voices began to declare that much of what our church taught and did in both theology and lifestyle, was simplistic, legalistic, or just mistaken.

They claimed that the church taught that salvation was gained by works only and that because we saw ourselves as the remnant described in Revelation 12, and we believed that we had a unique end-time message found in Revelation 14 to share with the world before Christ’s return, the church was self-righteous, self-centered, and bigoted. In the view of these individuals, Ellen White was being forced on them, or at least was set up as some kind of final judge over almost everything pertaining to Adventism.

Now there is much talk, that the church should give room for "thinkers" and accept "diversity". Evolution is making inroads in our schools. Variations on prophetic interpretations are being pushed or it is thrown out altogether. These "Adventist" began to say they were being "persecuted" if they couldn't teach or push upon students and church members their views. If you want to be part of something, a family, a club, a assiosiation you have to have something in common, if you do not then it is very difficult.

If you now longer believe in something are you still part of it, if you are a Atheist and begin to believe in God can you still call yourself a "Atheist"?

Indeed it seems that unless one is with strong faith in God and good understanding of the Bible settles firmly upon truth "the wisdom of the worlds' great men will be too much for them" and they will be convinced by false teachers and doctrines to give up the truth.

 

[reddogs]

Some of these issues are a result of the social changes within society or Christianity itself of the last few decades and so affect the younger generation more than the preceding ones. What is it that young people, who have been raised in church and self-identify as Christians, actually believe? Is it connected at all with the historic Christian faith?

Some individuals who work in the social sciences have begun asking such questions. For example, Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, sociologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, began with data gleaned from the largest and most detailed study of teenagers and religion ever undertaken, the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Smith and Denton added the results of follow-up, face-to-face interviews with more than 250 of the youth who participated in the NSYR study. The authors then distilled the results in their riveting book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.

What Soul Searching reveals is a generation of kids who claim to be Christian, but many of whose beliefs are not even remotely orthodox. Smith and Denton said, "Rather more subtly, Christianity is either degenerating into a pathetic version of itself or, more significantly, Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by a quite different religious faith."

In Real Teens: A Contemporary Snapshot of Youth Culture, pollster and researcher George Barna, whose Barna Research Group follows religious and spiritual trends in America, summed up that "different religious faith" in a single word: "Whatever." That word, which is nothing more than a verbal shrug of the shoulders at the thought of absolute truth, "has become the mantra of the emerging generation."

What is ironic about this is that the majority of teens in the U.S. actually hold a very positive view of religion, and churchgoing youth consistently answered surveys like Barna's and the NSYR by stating that God and religion were very important in their lives.

According to Soul Searching, in interviews many teens "said things like, 'Oh, [religion is] really important, yeah,' 'It's the center of how I live my life,' and 'Faith influences many of my decisions.'"

Many religious teens do not hold to an orthodox Christian belief concerning goodness and salvation. Barna noted from his research: "Amazingly, even though they have personally prayed to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, half of all born-again teenagers believe that a person can earn his or her way into heaven."

Smith and Denton said, "Viewed in terms of the absolute historical centrality of the Protestant conviction about salvation by God's grace alone, through faith alone and not by any human good works, many believe professions by Protestant teens, including numerous conservative Protestant teens, in effect discard that essential Protestant gospel."

If religion is important only to help people live good lives, might it not also be true that the definition of a "good" life would differ from individual to individual?

In fact, that is what the majority of youth believe. "In this context ... the very idea of religious truth is attenuated," Soul Searching said, "shifted from older realist and universalist notions of convictions about objective Truth to more personalized and relative versions of 'truth for me' and 'truth for you.'"

This rigidly individualistic view of religion "is not a contested orthodoxy for teenagers," the book said. "It is an invisible and pervasive doxa, that is, an unrecognized, unquestioned, invisible premise or presupposition."

Having completely digested the doctrine of inclusivity and diversity, it is no surprise that typical responses in the Smith and Denton interviews were statements like, "Who am I to judge?," "If that's what they choose, whatever," "Each person decides for himself," and "If it works for them, fine."

With a view of religion that is so intertwined with individualism and which rejects any transcendent truth, it is also not surprising that the majority of teenagers reject the very idea that religion is necessary at all.

So it is happening from the influence of many sources and is just indication of the drift away from God's truths and anything to do with the Bible and its truths?

 

[Dasdream]

Man did you really need to make such a long post about this? Simply Put. An Adventist by name only would be someone that is baptized, yet does not follow or do as SDA's do, are we one of those?

Sorry I just don't like posts where people ask a question then answer it themselves.

What is ironic about this is that the majority of teens in the U.S. actually hold a very positive view of religion, and churchgoing youth consistently answered surveys like Barna's and the NSYR by stating that God and religion were very important in their lives.

Where and how did you come up with this? Reality is, most teens don't care about God (around here anyway)

 

[reddogs]

They did a survey to see what teens care about and guess what, after all the indoctrination by evoutionists, atheist teachers and professors, the movies and TV shows they watch and other sources they are basically clueless or couldnt care less. But they've learned to give the "politically correct" answers, "its alright if its what you want"........

 

[Dasdream]

hmmm, strange, although i would say "it's what we have" God is with us wether we want to belive or not" It's what we have, not what we want. I guess, but aklright just wanted to know.

 

[Sophia7]

If you now longer believe in something are you still part of it, if you are a Atheist and begin to believe in God can you still call yourself a "Atheist"?

Indeed it seems that unless one is with strong faith in God and good understanding of the Bible settles firmly upon truth "the wisdom of the worlds' great men will be too much for them" and they will be convinced by false teachers and doctrines to give up the truth.

Red, are you saying that those who don't believe in all 28 of the fundamental beliefs shouldn't call themselves Adventists? If not, at which beliefs do you draw the line? Who is a true Adventist?

I've said this before, but my faith in God is not at all weak; my faith in the Adventist Church is at this point. The more I have studied, the less I can agree with some Adventist doctrines. On the other hand, I do still believe many of them. If I could be certain that God was leading me to another church, one that had more truth, I would go there. As it is, I haven't found that, and I won't leave unless I am sure that it would be the right thing to do. Where would you have someone like me go when I can't call myself a traditional Adventist anymore, yet I haven't found a better place to go?

Most traditional Adventists would say (or at least think) that if I reject "the truth," then it doesn't matter where I go because all the other churches are wrong, and if I turn away from what I once believed, then I'm deceived and lost. First and foremost, though, I will always be a Christian, and it does matter where I go because I care about truth.

 

[reddogs]

Sophia,

I am amazed at your spritual insight, THAT was the question I was seeking. So here is my testimony, I follow not a church, a dogma, a creed, or a preacher. I follow Gods Truth as he sees fit to unfold it to me in his Scripture, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the influence and leading of the Holy Spirit. So if these are made manifest in the Adventist church, that is were you will find me, if ever they change from God truth and follow another, I will travel on the road God directs me and it will not shake my faith as it is in God.


Make sure the "truth" you follow is "Gods Truth" and not another so you dont find yourself fighting against God..........

"Gamaliel stood up and counseled caution because of historical precedent, and he gave two examples involving Theudas and Judas the Galilean. Both men advanced Messianic claims for themselves, and they both won a following. But then each was killed, and all their followers were scattered. Their movements faded away. Gamaliel took the failure of both revolts as an object lesson which justified a policy of lassez-faire . His advice to the Council was, "Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. If, on the other hand, it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God" (vv. 38,39). "................