Has anyone in the Forum had any experience with Seventh Day Adventist? Are they considered a cult? Or are they brothers and sisters in the Lord?
I have been attending a SDA church with a friend of mine here in Denver. They appear to come across as believers in Christ. Yet they have an emphasis on Saturday as the Sabbath.
Just wondering if anybody can provide some more insight.
Bro Blaine
I guess you will have discenment if it is just a docrinal idolization or a following of a false gospel as defined in the book of Galatians.
I believe they are not a cult and there are true believers. It is my understanding that they tend to believe following the OT law is sort of for Christians today.(beyond just sabbath keeping). They believe in soul sleep and annihilationism- neither of which I have a huge problem with, depending on which version of annihilationism they believe in.
A while back I heard a great audio message by Phil Johnson in which he classified the SDA church as a cult and provided ample evidence for them being one. I won't provide the link to it here because I'm not sure if that would be okay, but I'd encourage googling it if led.
EDIT:
The audio file will share this but one of the main doctrines of the modern SDA Church is that the Mark of the Beast is Sunday Worship. Hence they keep Saturday worship as the Sabbath.
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I agree with much of the research and conclusions shared in this talk below. Of course there are genuine believers and some true doctrines held by SDA. It was a re-hashing of the Adventist movement which had even more genuine believers involved but feel prey to dates and timing of the Lord's coming and there was a fall-out among them. SDA is basically an attempt to continue and gather in those large crowds in those days.
If the Lord does not build the house...
Seventh-Day Adventism a Cult? by Phil Johnson
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=25907&commentView=itemComments
Topic: Cult
Scripture(s): Colossians 2:16-23 \t
Description: I'm just going to read a short passage from Colossians 2 without comment to start with. I want to revisit the subject of Seventh-Day Adventism this morning, and I'm going to start with Colossians 2:16-23. This is a key biblical text, warning us against any cult or -ism or philosophy of religion that stresses human works things like legal obedience, ceremonies, dietary rules, asceticism, or other works you can perform and supposedly achieve holiness through ritualized self-denial. I'm reading from Colossians 2:16-23.
Glad to see that that message is part of the SI audio archives.
Dale Ratzlaff was a conservative, fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist (SDA). He received all his formal education in SDA schools, graduated from the Seventh-day Adventist seminary, pastored two Seventh-day Adventist churches, and taught Bible in a Seventh-day Adventist school for seven years. In the 1980s, while nearing the end of his doctoral program at Andrews University, he became convinced that the SDA doctrine of the investigative judgment and cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary could not be supported by Scripture, was contrary to clear biblical teaching and undermined the new covenant gospel of grace. His conference president told him that he either had to promise to teach all of the Fundamental Beliefs of the SDA church or resign. Because he could not do this in clear conscience, Pastor Ratzlaff with his wife Carolyn, who was a denominationally employed Bible worker, left the SDA denomination.
Since that time, Pastor Ratzlaff has written four books dealing with Adventist issues.
Truth about Adventist "Truth"
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Looking at some of these fundamental beliefs one would think that the SDA's is were an evangelical protestant denomination. They seem to have orthodox views on the Trinity and the Bible. But yet still insist that the believer is under the law and the Sabbath. That is Saturday as a Sabbath as well as the dietary regulations. There may be some other things to that would call into question as to whether this movement a cult or is there enough of Christ to acknowledge them as brothers and sisters.
It sounds like they have faith in Christ for salvation. But it's Jesus plus a whole lot of baggage associated with Him. Anyway we'll look over what has been posted and appreciate your input. Thank you so much.
Bro Blaine
I have had several encounters with SDA's personally, and also when I started the library at my church, had piles of their books that kept ending up in the review stack!
I do believe there are 7th day Adventists who do know the Lord. I have met them and examined them on a personal level, so it wasn't just theoretical. After doing research on them and their history, it appears to me that as a whole the SDA are a rare exception in that they started very, very far from orthodoxy and have--as time passed on--moved closer to orthodoxy. However, they are not their yet, as they still hold as highly as scripture, the teachings and writings of their "prophetess" Ellen G. White. Once they diminish their view of her writings, they will move even closer to orthodoxy.
And I definitely don't mean orthodoxy as defined by me, but as defined by the whole spectrum of evangelicalism.
Lots of good information from a former SDA minister at exadventist.com
In Christ,
Ive had a lot of dealings with SDA over the years. It really depends who you are speaking to ( in terms of SDA members and how orthodox they are) and when you speak to old-school SDA they are pretty much cultic.
Red flags
1. Designating anyone who attends church on Sunday to be a Sunday-keeper, synonymous with those errant people who are being deceived by the RCC.
2. Jesus plus Sabbath keeping is the norm, commandment keeping is part of their salvation plan, they have little teaching from the reformers as to justification by faith and they intermix sanctification with their justification anytime the Sabbath is mentioned.
3. Focus upon the RCC and Sunday keeping churches are normally designated by them as harlot churches approving of and following after the RCC denial of the Sabbath and the adoption of Sunday worship.
4. Judgmental towards non-sabbatarians.
5. Lack of freedom once you enter into SDA membership to visit and approve of other Churches. They are not as restrictive as J.w's or the Mormons but they do not cross over as many evangelicals can visit various denominations due to the acceptance of the essentials of the faith (statement of faith). SDA do not attend your Baptist churches or visit the evangelist at the Pentecostal church or attend meetings at your Presbyterian Churches.
Red flags denote their exclusivity based upon their dogmas, their adherence to the Sabbath necessity and their leadership frowning upon association with other believers outside of the SDA.
Now there's always exceptions and I've met a very few who venture outside the norms.
I have attended SDA activities when I was a child, I have SDA friends, but i don't think it is wise or even right to advice anybody seeking seriously about salvation to point them to SDA church or SDA materials.
I don't know, but may I ask Blaine why he found himself attending SDA church.
Brother Blaine,
I will tell you this short story, which is typical when I encounter SDA.
I had 2 friends that invited me to a "Bible Study", who I knew well and whom I trusted. We went to the Bible study, and I immediately found out that if you attended the study, you earned points, and the more people you brought, the more points you earned, until you could purchase things like ipads, computers, trinkets, etc. Red Flag.
So they started teaching about the end. I guess they were trying to convince people that the end was upon us and that we needed to do something about it. Their apocalyptic timeline was very skewed, and the means by which a person was saved was REALLY unclear. It floated between grace and works, and likely, just depended upon whatever the hearer could decipher out of the mess. They largely read out of Ellen G. White materials rather than the Bible. Also red flag.
So I got up and left and took my 2 friends with me.
I have encountered several SDA people, and ALL of them carried legalistic baggage with them--Sabbath keeping, no meat, etc.
Brethren,
I strongly encourage the listening to this message:
Seventh-Day Adventism a Cult? by Phil Johnson
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=25907&commentView=itemComments
If we start to accept SDA as biblical and part of the larger Church then Mormons and other groups like Jehovah Witnesses should be considered also.
Whether or not one likes Phil Johnson, he has shared the clear truth about Seventh Day Aventistism.
I used to watch that bald guy with the mustache on TV when I came across him. Of course I had no idea he was SDA back then. He was a good speaker.
OP asks about SDA;
"Are they considered a cult?"
____________________
Here's evidence;
http://www.ratzlaf.com/The-Cultic-Doctrine-of-Seventh-day-Adventism-9780974767970.htm
This discussion is locked.
