Who is here and where do we start?

[StormyOne]

Okay, the place has been created... what's next? Where is everyone, and what shall we discuss first?

 

[RC_NewProtestants]

I posted my idea for the FSG at
http://christianforums.com/t7115389...rmer-seventh-day-adventists.html#post45729675

I suppose that will be the first step

We also need to make sure we have a link to this forum on the SDA Forum I would guess as a sticky

 

[Your Neighbor]

Okay, the place has been created... what's next?

 

[StormyOne]

dude, I'm not even feeling that.....

 

[mva1985]

dude, I'm not even feeling that.....

Stormy,

Do you know if Night got banned? I hope he didn't.

I've been checking over here and haven't seen hide nor hair of him.

 

[StormyOne]

Stormy,

Do you know if Night got banned? I hope he didn't.

I've been checking over here and haven't seen hide nor hair of him.

I have no idea.... I know he said he was on the verge, however I don't know...

 

[RC_NewProtestants]

Apparently Night was banned, he started a good bye thread to which I replied and then when I checked later it was gone. He had said it would likely be deleted as the powers did not want him to say goodbye. He said it was a perma ban I don't know if that is a year or more.

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

*lights a beacon for Night*

"Former" here, so you bes stuck with it, likesy or not. It will behave as long as you don't poke it with sticks or do anything else meanspirited.

It might be nice to start a thread telling our "stories" of how we each came to identify as Prog, Modern or Former. Just an idea... some familiar names here but it doesn't really know you all that well yet.

 

[freeindeed2]

Just checking in...

Moriah, good idea with the stories.

In CHRIST alone...

 

[Sophia7]

Okay, the place has been created... what's next? Where is everyone, and what shall we discuss first?

I'm here.

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

Free!

 

[DeanM]

I'm curious about a few things. Do you observe the sabbath on Saturdays still? Do you celebrate birthdays and Christmas in a different fashion than other Christians? When does baptism take place? How is it done? Do you believe in Hell? Are there more than one level in Heaven? Are we predestined to go to Heaven or Hell? Can non-SDA go to heaven?

Sorry to unleash so many questions at once, but i really have no idea how the SDA church works, or how a Progressive, Moderate, or Former SDA would answer these questions.

You don't have to answer all of them, but I'd like to know what makes you all different than other Christians.

BTW, I'm liberal, so I will not judge your answers nor debate. I'm just seeking some wisdom . . .

 

[Sophia7]

I'm curious about a few things. Do you observe the sabbath on Saturdays still?

I'll try to answer your questions, but some of my answers will be kind of general because there are lots of different views on things among Progressive and former Adventists. I'm a former SDA, as of about six or seven months ago. I don't observe the Sabbath anymore. I no longer believe that it is a universal and eternal moral commandment. Adventism also teaches that the Sabbath will be the final end-time test of loyalty to separate true Christians from false Christians. There's a wide spectrum of views on the Sabbath (and many other subjects) within Adventism, and many Progressives, even if they observe the Sabbath, don't buy into all of the eschatological interpretations. Also, there are many different ideas within Adventism about what kinds of activities are appropriate on Sabbath and which are forbidden (such as going out to eat).

Do you celebrate birthdays and Christmas in a different fashion than other Christians?

I grew up Adventist, and most of the Adventists that I know do celebrate Christmas. There are some in the Traditional and Historic SDA camps who believe that anything relating to Christmas is evil and of pagan origin, but that seems to be a minority viewpoint today. We did come into contact with a few people like that in our ministry. (My husband used to be an Adventist pastor but resigned over disagreements with Adventist doctrine.) Most Progressives/Evangelicals/Moderates would not eschew Christmas celebrations.

I believe that forbidding birthday celebrations is a JW thing. I've never heard of it being done in Adventism.

When does baptism take place? How is it done?

In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, baptism is done by immersion, traditionally after a person has studied all of the Adventist doctrines and accepted them. However, not all pastors make people affirm all 28 SDA Fundamental Beliefs before baptism. Some pastors view baptism and being voted into membership in the SDA Church as inseparable events, while others are willing to baptize people into the body of Christ without requiring them to join the SDA Church.

Do you believe in Hell? Are there more than one level in Heaven? Are we predestined to go to Heaven or Hell? Can non-SDA go to heaven?

Adventists do believe in hell, but they teach that it will be of limited duration, that people will be destroyed in hell, not tormented forever. I think that probably even most Progressives would agree with that. Even as a former Adventist, I still believe in annihilationism (or the conditionalist view of hell). It's not an Adventist-only doctrine although it is a minority viewpoint in Christianity.

Adventism's soteriological perspective is Arminian, so most Adventists do not believe in predestination in the Calvinist sense.

On the issue of whether non-SDAs can go to heaven, there are some big differences between the beliefs of Progressives and Traditionals. Adventism officially teaches that the SDA Church is the remnant church of Bible prophecy, and they cite their keeping of the 10 commandments, especially the Sabbath, as evidence of that. They think that Protestant Christianity has apostasized and followed in Catholic footsteps by worshiping on Sunday. They won't say that non-SDAs won't go to heaven, though; they say that there are true Christians in those churches who are now ignorant about the Sabbath but who will eventually be called out of their churches and forced to choose between worshiping on Sabbath and worshiping on Sunday at the end of time. This sort of thinking has traditionally caused Adventists to isolate themselves from and look down on other Christians as lacking in "truth" but not necessarily lost, as long as they are living up to the light that they have been given. Adventists have traditionally focused a lot of their "evangelistic" efforts on bringing the "light" of the Sabbath to other Christians so that they won't be lost in the end. Because many of us formers have changed our views on the Sabbath commandment, we are condemned by some of the more Traditional Adventists because they think that we know the truth but have rejected it.

Most Progressives would probably disagree with the Adventist remnant concept and wouldn't look down on other Christians for not keeping the Sabbath. And, of course, we formers disagree; otherwise, we wouldn't have left the fold of the "remnant."

Sorry to unleash so many questions at once, but i really have no idea how the SDA church works, or how a Progressive, Moderate, or Former SDA would answer these questions.

You don't have to answer all of them, but I'd like to know what makes you all different than other Christians.

BTW, I'm liberal, so I will not judge your answers nor debate. I'm just seeking some wisdom . . .

Progressive Adventists are probably less different from other Christians than Traditional Adventists are. I think what you will find here at CF is that most of the Progressive Adventists are not fundamentalists, though, and I'm sure that they won't mind your questions or judge you if you disagree with them on things.

 

[freeindeed2]

Sophia, for the most part I concur.

 

[Sophia7]

Sophia, for the most part I concur.

Formers and Progressives may disagree with each other on several points, but those are things that most of us probably would consider minor and not essential for salvation. Traditional Adventism makes major issues out of things that wouldn't even be on the radar of most Christians.

 

[freeindeed2]

Formers and Progressives may disagree with each other on several points, but those are things that most of us probably would consider minor and not essential for salvation. Traditional Adventism makes major issues out of things that wouldn't even be on the radar of most Christians.

That would be called 'majoring in the minors'.

In CHRIST alone...

 

[gcfrankie]

I am also here. Great answer Sophie 7 to Dean's questions.

 

[moicherie]

I'm here folks!

 

[Sophia7]

I am also here. Great answer Sophie 7 to Dean's questions.

Thank you.

 

[Sophia7]

Hi, moicherie.