We believe in One God - in three persons. Co-eternal, co-equal in terms of their ontology, essence, being. fully God. Neither of them derives life from the other.
In the Orthodox model the Father alone is unoriginate, while the Son and Holy Spirit are uncreated, the Son begotten of the Father before all ages, there never being a time when the Son did not exist, and the Holy Spirit likewise eternally proceeding from the Father, with the Son and Holy Spirit consubstantial with the Father, sharing His divine essence, all three being fully God. Each person of the Trinity has a distinct hypostasis associated with them, and in the case of the Son, his human nature and divine nature are in hypostatic union, and in Oriental Orthodoxy, are themselves also united, but in both Eastern Chalcedonian Orthodoxy and Oriental Miaphysite Orthodoxy, without change, confusion, division or separation.
@prodromos can confirm what I said about Eastern Orthodoxy and
@dzheremi can confirm what I said about Oriental Orthodoxy, although both might object to my grouping the two together, but I guess I am so moved by the close relationship of the Syriac Orthodox and Antiochian Orthodox, and the relationship between the Copts, the Alexandrian Greeks, and the monks of St. Catharine’s Monastery in Sinai, that I hope that full ecumenical reconciliation can happen, since both churches sing the same Christological hymn “Ho Monogenes.”
Now, to what extent does SDA theology agree or disagree with the above?
He is the incarnate Son of God so then fully God and fully man as a human. He had no sinful nature bent towards evil but had the same physical weaknesses of other humans of his day. He got hungry, tired, thirsty just like other men.
So to be clear, as a human, after his birth from the Virgin Mary, our Lord remained fully God throughout His ministry while having put on humanity, according to the SDA church?
Have you read the free online book "Desire of Ages"? Her commentary on the life of Christ?
I recently received an inheritance and purchased several theological books which I need to read, including the Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology (with contributions from Orthodox scholars such as His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, who prior to the Ukrainian tragedy which prompted his resignation was director of of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and who remains Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary, a predominantly Catholic country, and who is also an incredibly talented composer, the Oxford Guide to Early Christian Apocrypha, the Oxford Guide to Quaker Studies, How to Live a Holy Life by Gregory Postnikov, a biography of St. Herman of Alaska, an English translation of the Romanian version of the Philokalia, The Cambridge Companion to Sufisim, the Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology, the Oxford Handbook of Sacramental Theology, the Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology, the Oxford Handbook of Christian Art and Architecture, and several other volumes, plus several books on aviation, railways and transit including some rare early editions of Jane’s World Railways and Jane’s Urban Transport Systems (when new, in the 1990s, these cost like $400 a pop but now run at $2,000 or more for the latest editions). So alas I don’t have time to read any more Ellen G. White, but I have no doubt that you and
@Leaf473 can summarize these for me.
Ellen White accepted the fact that Mary was a good person, who needed salvation and was not born sinless. Ellen White said that only Christ was sinless and many protestant groups affirm that same point.
Did she express an opinion on whether or not the Blessed Virgin Mary was, as asserted by John Calvin, Martin Luther, Thomas Cranmer and John Wesley, and all the early church fathers, that she was a perpetual virgin, and did she express an opinion on whether or not St. Mary was the Theotokos as asserted by both the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 433 AD and the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD?
Also, how does Adventist theology differ, if it differs at all, from the Christology and Mariology of the Council of Ephesus or the Chalcedonian Christology and Mariology adhered to by the Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and most Protestants? And how does it differ from the Christology and Mariology of Nestorius and the Church of the East before and after the reforms implemented by Mar Babai the Great in the early sixth century?
some do some don't; Some Academy's are day schools and some are boarding Academies
None. My parents sent me to a day Academy so basically it was private highschool
eductation
yes
Very good. I am curious,
@Leaf473 what are your feelings on the Academy system?
It is right to worship every day of the week.
But it is not right to ignore God's commandments
So why then object to churches which make a point of worshipping on both Saturday and Sunday, such as the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, and the other Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches? These churches worship on Saturday and Sunday, indeed every Roman Catholic church I know of has masses on Saturday, because Roman Catholic priests are required to celebrate the Mass daily, as well as the Divine Office, and in the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches the Saturday services are particularly vital, and as
@Michie recently pointed out, the Sabbath remains the Sabbath. Since the Sabbath is the day of rest, it is particularly heavily used in the Orthodox churches for services commemorating those Christians who have reposed in the Lord, known as Soul Saturdays, in Lent and at other times, and also the Theotokos, and on Holy Saturday, the Great Sabbath in which God Himself rested in a tomb after his saving passion and glorious resurrection? No commandments are being violated, since the Sabbath is being honored and kept holy.
It seems to me the criticism of these churches is unfounded, and the main reason why the Roman Catholics are criticized is because of Ellen White’s unwarranted and historically inaccurate criticism of them in The Great Controversy.
Churches I have attended have not that in a number of cases.
Usually the nonSDA group renting from an SDA church is not in a position to build their own church yet.
So why is a particular SDA church whose ministers welcomed a continuing Anglican church for 30 years, now under the new ministers who took over post-Covid, treating the Anglicans like dirt and refusing to allow them to use the chapel on Saturdays at a time when the Adventists do not use it, effectively forcing the Anglicans to break the Sabbath Commandment according to the SDA interpretation of it, and furthermore have restricted the Anglican church to meeting once a week, and are likely to turn up the heat on the Syriac Orthodox congregation that the Anglican church arranged to also be housed there, which meets at noon weekly after the Anglican congregation used to meet at 10:30 weekly, before being cut back to one Sunday a month? Its not like there is anyone else trying to obtain that space on Sunday.
By the way, if you or another Adventist were able to mediate that dispute, which I only found out about last week, and restore the friendly relations that used to exist between the Anglicans and their SDA hosts under the previous pastor, and get the Anglicans their weekly worship back, and a slot for Evensong on Saturday, and likewise ensure the same is available for the Syriac Orthodox, and also slots for both churches on Wednesday and Friday, I would be grateful and furthermore my opinion of the SDA church would be improved to the point where I would be inclined to defend it as much as I defend the Roman Catholic church.
