Interested in knowing more about the church

[Dave-W]

Well, I don't think any Christian can condone losing control of your mental and physical facilities to say nothing of the spiritual dangers.

Agreed. But the Wesleyan Holiness movement went way beyond the biblical mandate to not be drunk, and insisted on absolute abstinence. The congregation I grew up in equated accidentally smelling alcohol with the sin of drunkenness; and about half of the sermons were about all of the “hidden” sources of alcohol in our homes like mouthwash and baking vanilla extract.

 

[BobRyan]

Must one abstain from alcohol to be a SDA member?

It is one of what we call "Baptismal vows" that each one takes before being baptized.

in this case - number 10 .. 10. Do you believe that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that you are to honor God by caring for your body, avoiding the use of that which is harmful? To abstain from all unclean foods, and from the use of all alcoholic beverages, tobacco, narcotics or any other type of drugs?

At "best" alcoholic beverage is recreational anesthesia -- at worst .. well it accounts for a lot of physical and emotional abuse in homes.

I get it, I can see why one would abstain for those reasons and would never want to pressure someone to give up their convictions if that is what they felt. That said I just cannot wrap my head around why the church says that Jesus did not make wine, or that it was not at the Last Supper.

The Bible says the Last Supper was the Passover meal. Christ also died on Passover. (1 Cor 5 - "Christ our Passover has been slain") .

Passover is part of the feast of unleavened bread celebrated at twilight and considered the first day of it. That means no leaven - not even brewers yeast to make wine. No leaven of any kind in the entire house - much lease drinking such a beverage. So the Last Supper was most certainly not alcohol.

The Greek term Oinos used in John 2 translate as "wine" is in fact "beverage" or more specifically "grape beverage" -- and whether it is assumed to be fermented or not depends on context.

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out of curiosity - you're saying you agree with SDA doctrine on everything except drinking alcohol??

 

[BobRyan]

Thanks for your reply, it is well thought out - but I cannot debate in the SDA community on why I disagree.

But to go back to beliefs, is this a foundational belief that one must hold to be SDA?

I think there is more of a "discussion" area on the SDA section of the board.

for example: Traditional Adventists-Discussion Zone

 

[tampasteve]

Out of curiosity - you're saying you agree with SDA doctrine on everything except drinking alcohol??

No, not really. There is a lot of overlap in beliefs, but not "everything". I lean more towards a Jewish view on most biblical matters, which isn't incompatible with SDA, overall...but also doesn't really fit either. That's why I'm best in the Messianic category right now.

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

It is one of what we call "Baptismal vows" that each one takes before being baptized.

in this case - number 10 .. 10. Do you believe that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that you are to honor God by caring for your body, avoiding the use of that which is harmful? To abstain from all unclean foods, and from the use of all alcoholic beverages, tobacco, narcotics or any other type of drugs?

At "best" alcoholic beverage is recreational anesthesia -- at worst .. well it accounts for a lot of physical and emotional abuse in homes.

Do you support medical marijuana? What about pharmaceutical pain killers? Would those disqualify someone from being baptized?

 

[BobRyan]

Do you support medical marijuana? What about pharmaceutical pain killers? Would those disqualify someone from being baptized?

I support all sorts of medical intervention including invasive medial intervention such as surgery and the horrifically lethal drugs (not even medicines... drugs) that put one to sleep, cause amnesia, cause the body to regress down to a state where even breathing would stop if not assisted. And in the case of cryo surgery for the heart - dumping your blood out into a heart-lung machine where a perfusionist has complete control not only of your body temperature but also the oxygen and drug content in your blood stream - and your heart is completely shunted aside as it is being worked on.

However the question from the author of the OP is about "Recreational drug use" --