Portal:Seventh-day Adventist Church/Selected article
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The theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church largely resembles that of mainstream Protestant Christianity, and in particular evangelicalism. Most significantly, Adventists believe in the authority of Scripture and teach that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. The 28 fundamental beliefs constitute the church's official doctrinal position.
The denomination also has a number of distinctive teachings which differentiate it from other Christian churches (although some of these beliefs are also held in other churches). Most notably, Adventists believe in the perpetuity of the Ten Commandments, the unconsciousness of man in death, conditional immortality, an atoning ministry of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, and an “investigative judgment” that commenced in 1844. Furthermore, a traditionally historicist approach to prophecy has led Adventists to develop a unique system of eschatological beliefs which incorporates a commandment-keeping "remnant", a universal end-time crisis revolving around the law of God, and the visible return of Jesus Christ prior to a millennial reign of believers in heaven.
In Christianity, the Sabbath is a weekly religious day of rest as ordained by one of the Ten Commandments: the third commandment by Roman Catholic and Lutheran numbering, and the fourth by Eastern Orthodox and other Protestant numbering. The practice is inherited from Judaism, the parent religion of Christianity; the Hebrew word שַבָת ("šabbat", read in English as shabbat) means "the [day] of rest (or ceasing)" and entails a ceasing or resting from labor. The institution of the Old Testament Sabbath, a "perpetual covenant ... [for] the people of Israel" (Exodus 31:16-17), was in respect for the day during which God rested after having completed the Creation in six days (Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8-11).
Originally denoting Saturday, the seventh day of the week (or, more precisely, the time period from Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall), the term "sabbath" can now mean one of several things, depending on the context and the speaker:
- Saturday as above, in reference to the Jewish day of rest, also observed by some Christian groups;
- Sunday, as a synonym for "the Lord's Day" in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, for most other Christian groups;
- Any day of rest, prayer, worship or ritual, as in "Friday is the Muslim Sabbath"
One who observes a day as a Sabbath is known as a Sabbatarian.
The word is also infrequently used to describe the annual Jewish Holy Days observed by a minority of Christian groups, also called High Sabbaths or High Day Sabbaths (John 19:31): the First and Last Days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the First Day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day of the Feast.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church believes that church co-founder Ellen G. White was inspired by the Holy Spirit and possessed the spiritual gift of prophecy which was exhibited in her writings. Her works are officially considered to hold a secondary role to the Bible, but in practice there is wide variation among Adventists as to exactly how much authority should be attributed to her writings. With instruction she claimed was received in visions, White made administrative decisions, gave personal messages of encouragement or rebuke to church members, and played a major role in doctrinal development.
The debate concerning the validity of her prophetic gift has always been heated, both from within and outside the Adventist church. This debate reached a climax in the 1970s and 80s, and since then the church's position has modified somewhat to place greater emphasis on her humanity and fallibility. Non-Adventists typically believe she was not a prophet, with many such as Walter Martin seeing her as a genuine Christian nonetheless, and some others as an unchristian deceiver. Criticisms include her literary borrowing from other writers, some of her doctrinal positions taken, and her alleged prominence in the church.
Typical mainstream Adventist scholars today believe:
- she was inspired by God... yet she was not infallible (without error)
- her writings are important to and relevant to the Adventist church today... yet must not form the basis for doctrine
- her writings are inferior to the Bible and non-canonical... yet superior to ordinary Christian literature
- she was culturally conditioned to some degree... yet she was not limited to the culture of her day only, but transcended it to some degree
- she borrowed from other authors... yet was not without discrimination in her inspired usage
There has always been significant variation in the Adventist church regarding White's inspiration. Today both critics and mainstream Adventists believe that segments of the church exist which overuse her writings. A small minority of the church believes she was infallible. Many "Conservative" Adventists tend to place greater emphasis on her writings and less emphasis on her humanity and fallibility than other Adventists. "Progressive Adventists" (usually referred to as "Liberal" Adventists) tend to view her writings as primarily devotional and pastoral in nature rather than doctrinal. It is generally known among Adventists that a large percentage of those in leadership positions do not believe fully in her inspiration.
Premillennialism in Christian eschatology is the belief that Christ will literally reign on the earth for 1,000 years at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it views the current age as prior to Christ’s kingdom. It is distinct from the other forms of Christian eschatology such as amillennialism or postmillennialism, which view the millennial rule as either figurative and non-temporal, or as occurring prior to the second coming. Premillennialism is largely based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6 in the New Testament which describes Christ’s coming to the earth and subsequent reign at the end of an apocalyptic period of tribulation. It views this future age as a time of fulfillment for the prophetic hope of God’s people as given in the Old Testament.
Historically Christian premillennialism has also been referred to as "chiliasm" or "millenarianism". The theological term "premillennialism" did not come into general use until the mid-nineteenth century, the modern period in which premillennialism was revived. Coining the word was "almost entirely the work of British and American Protestants and was prompted by their belief that the French and American Revolution (the French, especially) realized prophecies made in the books of Daniel and Revelation."
The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerites, a Christian denomination, in the United States. Around 50,000 people joined the movement that was to receive Jesus on October 22, 1844. Based on an interpretation of the event portrayed in Daniel 8:14, they waited to see the Second Coming as the event that was to be fulfilled on the appointed day. The specific passage reads, in the (King James Bible), as: And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. (Daniel 8:14)
Between 1831 and 1844, William Miller, a Baptist preacher, played a notable role in what historians have called the Second Great Awakening. The Millerite movement, named for William Miller, had significant influence on popular views of biblical prophecy, including upon the movement that later consolidated as the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Miller preached a set of fourteen rules for the interpretation of the Bible. Based on his study of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, Miller calculated that Jesus would return to Earth sometime between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844. After the latter date came and went, the date was revised and set as October 22, 1844 based on the yearly Day of Atonement in Karaite Judaism.
When Jesus did not appear, Miller's followers experienced what came to be called "the Great Disappointment". Most of the thousands of followers left the movement. A group of the remaining followers concluded after biblical study that the prophecy predicted not that Jesus would return in 1844, but that the investigative judgment in heaven would begin in that year.
Miller recorded his personal disappointment in his memoirs: "Were I to live my life over again, with the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God and man, I should have to do as I have done. I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment." Miller continued to wait for the second coming until his death in 1849.
Nine-week-old Australian baby Azaria Chamberlain disappeared on the night of 17 August 1980 on a camping trip with her family. Her parents, Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, reported that she had been taken from their tent by a dingo. An initial inquest, highly critical of the police investigation, supported this assertion. The findings of the inquest were broadcast live on television — a first in Australia. Subsequently, after a further investigation and second inquest, Azaria's mother, Lindy Chamberlain, was tried and convicted of her murder, on 29 October 1982 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Azaria's father, Michael Chamberlain, was convicted as an accessory after the fact and given a suspended sentence.
The media focus for the trial was extraordinarily intense and sensational. The Chamberlains made several unsuccessful appeals, including the final High Court appeal. After all legal options had been exhausted, the chance discovery of a piece of Azaria's clothing in an area full of dingo lairs led to Lindy Chamberlain's release from prison, on "compassionate grounds." She was later exonerated of all charges. While the case is officially unsolved, the report of a dingo attack is generally accepted. Recent deadly dingo attacks in other areas of Australia have strengthened the case for the dingo theory.
The story has been made into a TV movie, a feature film, a TV miniseries and an opera by Moya Henderson (Lindy). There have also been numerous books about the case.
