Last week, I started thinking about the things that I love about the Seventh-day Adventist faith. Then I started thinking of why I believe in the SDA message, why it attracts me and continues to hold me. I've traveled I’ve studied, I’ve met a lot of people with ideas different than my own. I've listened to articulate people make convincing arguments that strike at the very core of my faith, but what has kept me from being swayed?
Because at some point, it's not about what your parents want you to believe. It's not about what the teachers at your academies or universities are whispering in your ear. I'm not a person who wants to do what I've always done just because it's what I've always done. I have questioned things. I have occasionally rebelled against what I was taught. I even tried to ignore the Truth, yet it persisted, and I've been drawn back into this specific church. Not because it's my parent's church, but because in every experience I've had, and in every argument and idea that I've heard and considered, I have never found anything that could discredit the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist faith. It stands firm against every storm. Why?
Because it's Reasonable. It Makes Sense
God says: “Come let us reason together" (Is. 1:18). We are encouraged to reason, to study things out, to talk to each other and seek God out in prayer.
And so often when I'm studying the Bible in a group or listening to a sermon, I find myself almost surprised and so pleased to see that yes, this makes sense. This fits together. This is consistent. This adds to and builds on what I already know. It expands my understanding and strengthens still firmer the basis of my beliefs.
When others ask me questions about my beliefs, I used to get a little nervous, sometimes shy. I stumbled over my words a bit at times, but once again I'm surprised because somehow still it's all so clear and coherent. It makes sense.
This isn't true of most religions, even Christian religions. Years ago, our church participated in a church fair at the mall in Piqua. Sarah & I took our turn at the booth Friday night. We didn't get a lot of visitors, but we had a few, and we even got to chatting with two young men from the Mormon church. They were sincere, courteous and well-spoken, and we asked them some questions about their beliefs. (Keep in mind that these aren't just some kids who warm a pew somewhere; they are trained to evangelize and teach and convert others) and I honestly wanted to understand what it was they believed, but I found that the more they tried to explain it, the less I understood. The less sense it made.
Because It's Simple
Part of the reason what those young Mormons said didn't make sense was because it was complicated and convoluted. It was based, not on God's Word, but on the separate "enlightenment" of a man—a man considered by his followers to be a prophet adding to and ultimately changing God's Word.
What we believe is simple, because its foundation is firmly entrenched in The Word of God, The Holy Scriptures, The Bible.
We take the Bible as a whole, not dividing it or editing it according to our own inclination. There's no such thing as the "SDA Bible." Some might point out Ellen White who is considered to be a prophet. But Mrs. White has never been found to change God's Word or to alter in anyway what was already written.
Ellen White called herself"the lesser light pointing to the greater light." Her writings lift up and illuminate the teachings of Scripture. Never do they contradict. them. In the final words of her last public message she lifted up the Bible and said, "Brethren, I commend to you this book!"
I can enjoy and learn from her writings freely, because I know that they are in absolute harmony with Scripture. But if her writings were never written, or I had never known of their existence, I could still believe what I believe now — based solely on the text of the Bible.
The SDA Church has a Specific Message, a Purpose and a Point
Right now it's popular in the world to say “whatever you believe is TRUE FOR YOU." Or, “As long as you're living a moral life and you are basically a good person, YOU'RE OKAY"
There are churches filling up right now because they have stripped themselves of all doctrine and have in effect made themselves security blankets for lost souls. What do they believe? They say they believe in love. But what does that mean? They have no firm doctrines, and only the vaguest of standards. But people flock here. Why? Because they fulfill a need—the need to feel okay about me. But if one would only look a little closer it would be plain to them that their assurance is built on sand.
They have nothing to hope for, no real understanding of God or of what is to come! What they have is a warm and fuzzy feeling. And that's all some people want. In the end it will not be enough.
But, I believe there are many people honestly seeking the Truth. They want answers, specific answers. They want to know the purpose, the meaning of this life, and that is what we have to share with them.
The Seventh-day message provides answers. We are a church with specific message that is more relevant now than ever. We know what we believe and why we believe and we know where our Hope is (that hope is Jesus.)
Jesus Christ is at The Center of Everything the Church Teaches
What could be a more sure foundation than this?
When I have studied and learned about other religions and belief systems, what I have found most striking—from Catholicism to New Age—is the underlying insinuation that all hope lies within SELF, within ME. I am the only one who can save ME. Whether by ritual and penance or by getting in touch with my "inner strength" and "personal truth," I am the one who does the work in order to attain whatever reward there may be at the end of this life.
So, what I love most about the Christian church, and even more specifically, this Adventist church is the Truth at our very core—that Christ is our ONLY hope, our ONLY way to gain eternal reward. And better still, that He has already done for us what we could never do for ourselves, freely and without reservation because He loves us. In a specific and personal way He loves us.
The Adventist church may sometimes be singled out by its high principles and strict standards, and it is true that we have been given wonderful, clear and practical instruction on how to live this life, but Jesus His death & resurrection is the Center of all our faith. He is the beginning, the middle and the end.
CONCLUSION
I have a solid foundation that haş kept me since my childhood. I đon’t have to go out and explore every religion in the world or read every book or listen to every dynamic speaker to know that this is it. This is the church that God identified in Rev. 14:12.
“Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
****
Dylan Wagoner lives in Tennessee with his wife and four children.
