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Salvation the Seventh-day Adventist Way

February 7, 2010 at 6:19 PM Leave a comment

The other day, I introduced a subject concerning Seventh-day Adventism (SDA).  I would like to take a few moments to highlight the subject of salvation within the framework of SDA theology.  In general, those within the SDA believe that they are Christian and that the salvation the adhere to is found in Scripture.  Is it?  If it is, then of course Seventh-day Adventists can be Christians!  If not, then they cannot be Christians, and it is as simple as that.

As it is people who belong to conservative churches who espouse the biblical version of salvation may also not be saved.  Just because someone attends church, gives their money, gives of their time, prays and reads the Bible is not the indicator of whether they have authentic salvation or not.  In fact, only God knows who is and who is not saved.  What we are responsible for is making our calling sure.  We need to take the time to search Scripture to determine whether or not each of us has actual salvation.

These Blogs can be viewed two ways; 1)  that I am using this as a forum to attack individuals because I enjoy attacking people, or 2) I am making relevant comments which should hopefully push us all to review our own doctrinal beliefs.  Though it is the second reason that I am doing what I am doing here, there will undoubtedly be a number of individuals who prefer to believe that I am lying and that I am really doing this because of the erroneous belief that I allegedly love to attack people.  For those who insist that my reasons for writing and posting these Blogs is based on number 1 (even though I have clearly stated that my reasons are based on number 2, then to these folks I would say:  why are you judging me, when I have stated clearly what my intentions are?  why are you in the position where you believe you can see my “true” motivation, which you believe is simply masked by my denial of reason number 2?

In essence, those who insist that what I am saying here is being said because I merely want to attack have actually become judges, with evil intentions.  Because I point out what I believe to be irregularities in certain dogmas, this in no way means that I am throwing stones as some would like to believe.  Because I critique writings of people like Steve Wohlberg does not mean that I am critiquing Steve Wohlberg himself, but merely what he writes.  There is a major difference.  Wohlberg, like any writer has put his work out there.  People will agree and disagree over his reasoning and his conclusions.  There is nothing that precludes me from commenting on what he believes.  In fact, what I find interesting is that Wohlberg is so convinced of his own view, that he has no difficulty referring to people like me as deceived or deluded.  Why?  Because I do not accept his viewpoint.

We are taught in the Bible to be on our guard, to learn to rightly divide the Bible, to understand that Satan is roaming around doing his best to steal the truth from us before it even gets to us.  If it is important enough for him to steal it, it must be quite important.  In today’s day and age, there are those who say that all paths or at least many paths lead to God.  Jesus said the exact opposite.  Taken as a whole, the entirety of the Bible points to Jesus only.  There are no other “saviors.”  He is the only one, though He, Paul and others warned that many would come in His Name.

In my next Blog, I will tackle some of the aspects of SDA salvation – what it means, how salvation is received and how salvation is maintained.  These are important topics in my view.  Either they square with Scripture or they do not square with it.  Unfortunately, this is not an area that one can be in error over.  An error here means eternal death in the next life.  To the sentimentalist who believes only that God is love and in Him there is no sense of justice, holiness, or even wrath, I ask that you would take the time to search the Scriptures yourself, because either the Bible says one thing, or it says nothing.  To those who would ask, who says that what I believe is what the Bible actually says?  That is an excellent question and I would ask the same question of you.  All I’m asking is that you find out what you believe, and why you believe it.

When you stand before God, it will be you and Him.  When I stand before God, it will be me and Him.  This life is the life He has given in order that we can know the truth of His salvation.  It is either here or never, and salvation is worth knowing, and it is worth knowing whether we have authentic salvation or not.  To those who still disagree, then there is unfortunately nothing I can say that will change your mind.  For that, I’m really sorry.

Entry filed under: Atheism and religion, Demonic, dispensationalism, Life in America, Posttribulational Rapture, Pretribulational Rapture, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation.