“So…are you a socialist or a capitalist?”Smiling, I respond to my imaginary inquisitor, “I’m an adventist.”
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I believe there is hope because we do have pockets of unity. These strongholds of unity can be found in three areas, which Larkin focuses on and, in my estimation, provides hope for the future.
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Let’s stand in thankfulness for the work done by our Christian forbears and early Church Fathers. They’ve handed down priceless heirlooms born out of the careful study and thoughtful discussion in the early hours of our faith’s birth. Rejection of the creeds is to purposefully separate oneself from foundational Christian orthodoxy carried forward from the days before the legalization of Christianity.
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Most of us are familiar with the Easter narrative. In fact, many of us feel so familiar with the details that we don’t suppose there’s anything we have left unconsidered. Jesus died on the cross and rose again - that’s all there is to it. Three days no doubt felt like eternity to the disciples, but it is little trouble for us to rush between the cross and the empty tomb. We always do like to get to the good part.
But would you allow me to trouble you?
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“Why is there so much inconsistency within the Advent Christian denomination when it comes to the ordination of women?”
This question came to mind recently while watching a live podcast episode of Bible Banter that had Dr. Mark Woolfington on as a guest for the topic of discussion: Ordination Standards.
The broad discussion was centered around what ordination standards are in place currently, what should change, and what is needed in ordination standards for Advent Christians. As I was listening and watching, I made a comment about the need for consistency in ordination standards, which led to more discussion on the need for a commonly identified theological foundation in order to build more consistent ordination standards.
Thinking about the inconsistent ordination standards, methods, processes, and practices got me thinking…
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Advent Christians managed to make biblical authority meaningless even as it was being celebrated. What will we do today?
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To define Christian character or biblical morality one must acknowledge that (1) there is absolute truth and (2) there is absolute right and wrong. This begs the question, “From where do we receive truth and our concept of right and wrong?” We need look no further than the nature of God who in Himself is good, just, and moral.
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Among the Advent Christian faithful, there has been a palpable sense that we are in the midst of an identity crisis as a denomination. It begins with the common report that the majority of people who fill our pews do not identify as Advent Christians. Of the few who do embrace that identity, many are progressively joining the ranks of the elderly…
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“What did the Adventist publications say about women earning the right to vote?”
This was one question that came to my mind while I was visiting Aurora University, doing some research in their Adventist archival collection. I was entertaining questions in my mind about how Advent Christians reacted publicly to major current events. Case in point – the ratification of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women (who were legal US citizens) the right to vote. And so, I began to read.
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Just over one-third of the way through the fall a holiday makes its annual appearance. For some it is a night of masquerade, mystery and the thrill of trick-or-treat, or harmless pranks. For others it is a night of spiritual significance, both good and bad; and for still others it holds nothing at all. That holiday is Halloween, October 31st.
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Here is a question for you. What does God in His holiness require as the cause or basis of His forgiveness of sinners? Is it a life of perfect obedience or faith in Jesus Christ? Yes, this is a trick question but an important one.
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Growing up in my home church I heard about these people called “Mormons,” and I was told hardly anything about them or what they believe and I even felt that I was being told that Mormons were born-again Christians, but they simply had some weird doctrines. As I got older, I met some Mormons and befriended several. Even they, however, struggled to tell me exactly what they believed as Latter Day Saints. If I were to summarize all of the answers I received, It would go something like, “It’s complicated.” Eventually, I decided to stop asking people about Mormonism and investigate it at the source.
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One of the most common attacks on the Trinity focuses on the deity of Christ. The skeptic might say, “If Jesus was God, then why didn’t He just say, ‘By the way, I’m God’?” For emphasis, they might even grab your Bible, flip through the pages, and challenge you by saying, “Show me one verse where Jesus said that He was God. You can’t do it, because He never said it!”
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In order to defend the doctrine of the Trinity, one must first know what the Trinity is, and what it is not. I add “and what it is not,” because often skeptics will try to attack this doctrine by setting up a “strawman” (A distorted version of an opponent’s position that is attacked rather than the real thing).
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Over the past few months we have all had a lot to think about. Few people alive today had experienced a global pandemic prior to this year. This is a new experience across the board…
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Without belaboring the basics, I thought it would be interesting to consider what special contribution Adventism can make to the season of Lent. At first glance, the two might appear to be strange bedfellows. While Lent looks to our past and present condition, Adventism by its very nature looks forward to the future. To the uninformed, the essential message of Adventism is that the Christian’s hope should be fixed upon the day of Christ’s return, that day in which the reign of Christ will be fully revealed along with new heavens and a new earth. It is the message that God promises to set everything aright in the end, bringing all of Creation to the glorious end instituted by her Creator. It is the promise of a coming age far removed from our present condition, but which carries with it the assurance that we who have been joined to Jesus Christ shall live again to see all things made new.
The value this conviction brings to the season of Lent is that the hope of resurrection is necessarily preceded by the need for death.
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When you think of the Advent Christian Church, what is your conception of it?
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If we grasp the Bible's teaching on the nature of sin then we would understand how dire our situation truly is. We, apart from God's grace, are incredibly lost, men and women.
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To set the scene, I am taking a course in ethics at a prominent Catholic college (I’ll keep some details anonymous to protect the professor). Of my classmates, at least half of the class are Roman Catholic priest or members of a Catholic religious order (e.g. Society of Jesus/Jesuits).
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Two times in my adult life, I have experienced dramatic change in how I understood and practiced Christian faith. The first occurred in my early twenties with a transition away from a more emotionally based faith…
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