COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Proclamation! Magazine |
I had a phone call today from a woman across the continent. She was a Christian who was in an intense Adventist “situation”, and she needed clarity. She was helping a relative—a man who had spent his career as an Adventist pastor—who is very sick. His wife is a staunch Adventist medical professional whose life revolves around the church, and my caller felt stymied, unable to help.
Her sick relative seemed to have a softness toward spiritual things offset by his wife’s committed refusal to hear anything opposing Adventism.
After chatting for some minutes, I suggested to her that what her relative most needed was to hear God’s word read to him in context. She, having never been Adventist, wouldn’t know what he didn’t “know” because he uses words that mean different things to Adventists than they mean to Christians. Furthermore, his Adventist wife couldn’t complain if her husband was simply hearing the Bible read. After all, Adventists claim they read the Bible and use it alone to define their doctrines.
For the first time in our conversation, I felt a calmness come over the caller. “I can do that,” she said. “I think he’d be open to that. I’ll start today!”
Given his pastor-past and his grave condition, I suggested that she begin by reading one chapter at time from John’s gospel. There’s nothing better suited to reveal who the Lord Jesus is than the gospel of John! Adventists use snippets of passages from John to argue that Jesus is a separate being from the Father—yet in context, it’s impossible to miss that Jesus and the Father are one, as He Himself stated in John 10:30.
The beloved disciple portrays the identity of the Lord Jesus and His mission and ministry in clear, moving words. After Richard and I left Adventism, it was the gospel of John that cleared up all lingering semantic confusion I had inherited about the Lord Jesus from my Adventist worldview. I prayed with my caller that the Lord would reveal Himself to her relative and hold her in peace as she ministered to him practically and through God’s word.
Memory Verses Redeemed
Sometimes I fear that I sound like a broken record. (Does anyone actually remember what a broken record is?) I see myself writing and hear myself saying over and over that the most important thing we need as we leave Adventism—or any false teaching—is deep immersion in God’s word. I know that when I was an Adventist, exhortations to “read the Bible” (and also “the Spirit of Prophecy”) left me cold. Of COURSE I read the Bible—I was committed to trying to “be good”!
Yet my Adventism obscured the power of what it meant to read God’s word. I believed that what I knew of reality was based on “the Bible alone”—I truly had no idea that my worldview was built entirely on the interpretations of our prophet, Ellen White!
I learned memory verses throughout my childhood, passages plucked from Scripture and used to reinforce Adventism: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;” “Sin is the transgression of the law;”“The wages of sin is death;” “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;” “Here are they who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus;” “Be sure your sin will find you out;” “Come out of her, my people;” “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”—and so on. (Can you tell I learned my memory verses in King James English?)
It’s not hard to see why the idea of reading my Bible, as an Adventist, felt like another impossible duty. I knew nothing of contextual study—only proof-texting—and when I tried to read larger portions of Scripture as I believed I should, I found it hard to concentrate. Truly, contextual Scripture reading didn’t make a lot of sense to me within my Adventist worldview. Psalms and Proverbs seemed somehow relevant to me, but frankly, everything else tended to put me to sleep—and books such as Hebrews, Daniel, and Revelation positively annoyed me. They made no sense to me, and I couldn’t find within their pages anything that Adventism told me they taught!
…Scripture tells us to hide God’s word in our hearts so we won’t sin against Him (Psalm 119:11), but, he said, God’s word would never protect our hearts if we didn’t actually put God’s word into them.
Not long after leaving Adventism we were sitting in church one Sunday. I do not remember what passage our pastor Gary Inrig was expositing, but he gave us one of his personal observations that breathed life into one of my old memory verses. He remarked that Scripture tells us to hide God’s word in our hearts so we won’t sin against Him (Psalm 119:11), but, he said, God’s word would never protect our hearts if we didn’t actually put God’s word into them. I’ll never forgot his clear statement to us that memorizing God’s word is the way we hide it in our hearts.
There it was again—memorizing verses! I had built up a reservoir of resentment around mandatory Scripture memory. It seemed so—mundane, so rote—almost like a children’s assignment. (That was definitely my past Adventism talking!) I didn’t WANT to memorize Bible verses again—yet I knew that what he said made sense.
Sometime in the summer of 2006 I decided I couldn’t run from the persistent thought that I needed to hide God’s word in my heart, and I added a new habit to my days: I began memorizing slowly through books of the New Testament.
I wish I had the words to explain the ways that memorizing God’s word has continued to rewire my Adventist worldview and to show me reality. It’s not dramatic or even surprising most of the time. It’s subtle, but I have begun to see reality through different “windows” as I’ve encountered the most mundane details that I would normally not ponder if I weren’t trying to memorize them. As these details have become hidden in my heart, I have begun to discover that there really are answers to a great many ideas that cause debate and doctrinal conundrums.
Generation Z and—Mary?
A surprising new cultural phenomenon has begun to affect America since COVID: Generation Z—those born between 1997 and 2012, the generation following the Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha—is identifying as “religious” at noticeably higher percentages than older generations. Also surprisingly, the Gen Z males are identifying as religious at higher percentages than are the females.
Many of these young, newly-defined religious Americans are turning to religion as an antidote to the escalating depression and despair that intensified during the COVID lockdowns. Interestingly, a large percentage of these young men and also women are turning to the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches as they seek stability and solid foundations.
Drawn by the liturgy and apparent changelessness of these ancient denominations, many of these Gen Z -ers adopt Catholic doctrines without understanding what lies behind them. These newly-religious young people are largely un-studied in terms of Scripture. They are drawn to God and to the stability of religion that is not “human-run”. And yet—many of the specific doctrines they learn to embrace are rooted in tradition rather than in Scripture.
Even among many Protestant denominations there is an emphasis on the legacy of Christian tradition that attempts to stay connected to the early church. In fact, some Protestants even honor beliefs and practices that did not originate in Scripture but rather in the first centuries of Christianity.
A persistent submission to the words of the Bible, however, can clarify many of the details that seem murky. Let’s look at one particular doctrine embraced by Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and even some Protestant denominations: the sinlessness of Mary.
Catholicism sees Mary as worthy of veneration because of her role in bearing the Lord Jesus. They believe she is the “Mother of God”, that she is sinless, and that Christians can pray to her and ask her to intercede for them with her Son Jesus. She is viewed as a co-redeemer with Christ. Eastern Orthodoxy does not view her as a co-redeemer, but they do see her as sinless and as one who intercedes for saints on earth. They also call her the “Mother of God”. Even some Protestants, while they do not view her either as a co-redeemer or as an intercessor with her Son, nevertheless do see her as sinless and as worthy of honor by the church.
These beliefs are anchored in the writings of many church fathers and reformers and theologians through the centuries. Yet what is really true?
These beliefs are anchored in the writings of many church fathers and reformers and theologians through the centuries. Yet what is really true?
First, its necessary to explain the idea of Mary’s supposed “sinlessness”. I was surprised to learn, years ago, that when people refer to the “immaculate conception”, they were not referring to the conception of our Lord Jesus but rather to the conception of Mary herself! This belief says that Mary was conceived in a normal way but that God made her immune from either imputed or inherited sin. This is a Catholic doctrine. The Eastern Orthodox Church does not hold the doctrine of the “immaculate conception”, but it does teach that Mary was “all-holy” and never sinned. Even some Protestants have defended the idea that Mary was sinless, and this sinlessness was necessary for her to be the human mother of our sinless Savior.
Yet the Bible never suggests that Mary was sinless nor that she was in any way different from any other normal human being who was born dead in sin by nature (Ephesians 2:1–3). In fact, in her famed Magnificat—her praise to God which she uttered as she visited Elizabeth and after the unborn John leaped for joy in his mother’s womb as the pregnant Mary entered the house—Mary said this in Luke 1:46–48:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has looked upon the humble state of His slave, For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed.”—Luke 1:46–48 LSB (emphasis mine)
Do you see verse 47? Mary calls God her “Savior”! She knew she was an ordinary woman whom the Lord had blessed and called to do a work for Him that was unique in all history! She knew she needed a Savior—and she understood that God was her Savior. Further, she understood that He chose her to bear the Savior—her own Savior—fulfilling the prophecies that a virgin would conceive and bear a son (Isaiah 7:14) whose name would be “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
There is no suggestion anywhere that Mary was sinless. In fact, her sinlessness was not required for the Lord Jesus to be sinless. The idea that she had to be sinless to protect Jesus from inheriting “sinful flesh” is a man-made idea that is very like Adventism’s physicalist worldview: that sin is physically, genetically transferred through the generations, causing people to have sinful flesh.
Yet the Lord Jesus was sinless because He was never dead in sin! Unlike all of us who are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3), Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He Is God, and He was eternally spiritually alive, never dead in sin.
Even Jesus stopped His listeners from reverencing Mary. Look at this passage from Luke 11:27, 28:
Now it happened that while Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”—Luke 11:27, 28 LSB
Jesus was clear that Mary was not more holy or privileged spiritually because she was His mother. She, like those He declared “blessed”, BELIEVED God. She heard “the word of God” and kept it! She agreed to allow God to bring about a singularity through her that changed all of history: she bore the incarnate Christ!
Another detail that the traditional reverence for Mary teaches is that she was a perpetual virgin. This belief says that Mary was a virgin before Christ was born, as He was born, and forever afterwards. This belief is held not only by Catholics but by Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches as well as by many Lutherans and some Anglicans, Reformed, and other Protestants.
One of the arguments used to support this idea is that, just before Jesus died, He gave his mother into the care of his disciple John, not to one of His brothers. (See John 19:27). This argument then often explains that the brothers of Jesus were sons of Joseph, Mary’s husband, from a previous marriage.
Does Scripture support this idea?
First, Matthew 13:55 names Jesus’ brothers and mentions His sisters—and there is no hint whatsoever that these siblings had any mother besides Mary. Look at Matthew 13:55, 56:
“Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then [did] this man [get] all these things?”—Matthew 13:55, 56 LSB
We also know from John 7:2–5 that during Jesus’ ministry, none of Jesus’ brothers believed in Him. Yet His brother James was one of the people to whom the resurrected Lord Jesus appeared, and James became the leader of the fledgling church in Jerusalem and the author of what is generally considered the earliest New Testament book: James. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 where Paul tells us what the gospel is and names those to whom the Lord appeared:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. After that, He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.—1 Corinthians 15:3–8 LSB (emphasis mine)
We also know that the epistle of Jude was written by another of Jesus’ brothers, the one called “Judas” in the book of Matthew. Although Jude doesn’t identify Himself as related to Jesus except as “a servant of Christ”, he does identify himself as “a brother of James” (Jude 1:1).
From understanding that Jesus’ brothers did not believe in Him during His ministry but knowing that two of them became leaders in the early church, we can deduce that, at the time Jesus died, He knew that His brothers—unbelieving as they were at that moment—would likely not have been as able as John was to provide Mary with comfort and nurture. John was a believer, and Mary was also; John was the most likely one to provide a safe home for her.
We can’t say for sure WHY Jesus bequeathed His mother to John instead of to a brother, yet the fact that He did cannot be used as evidence that Mary could not have had other children after Jesus.
Even more to the point, when the angel came to Joseph and told him that Mary was going to bear a Son conceived by the Holy Spirit whom he would name Jesus “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), we also read this:
And Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took [Mary] as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.—Matthew 1:24, 25 LSB
Notice that word “until”. That word has a specific meaning related to time. Jospeh honored Mary’s virginity UNTIL she bore her firstborn Son. That word alone suggests that Mary was not a perpetual virgin. We don’t have to explain away her other children who are named in Scripture in order to protect her supposed virginity. She was a normal woman who had a husband who protected her and her child. God even instructed Joseph to marry her instead of quietly putting her away—and “marriage” to a perpetual virgin would not be marriage. God is the One who designed and gave marriage to humanity, and this passage alone reveals that Jospeh and Mary had a normal marriage after the birth of Jesus.
Concern For New Believers
My point in going through these Bible passages is not to argue over trivia. In fact, I do not believe that the perpetual virginity of Mary is a first-tier problem! My point in going through this brief look at Mary is to show that, in spite of what teachers and theologians may say, many beliefs and practices within the structure of Christendom exist on the basis of tradition, not on the basis of Scripture.
Even more, I want to show how much detail the Bible actually contains. It reveals all we need to know for life and godliness, and our doctrines and practices come from the apostles’—not the church fathers’—teaching and practice.
When I think about the understandable pull of church tradition on Generation Z—young people who grew up in a fractured society and were cut off from their normal lives by the COVID lockdowns at a vulnerable age—I feel compassion.
When I think about the understandable pull of church tradition on Generation Z—young people who grew up in a fractured society and were cut off from their normal lives by the COVID lockdowns at a vulnerable age—I feel compassion. When I think about the growing numbers of people—many of them young adults and young parents—who are discovering that Adventism is false and are leaving the religion of their childhood—I feel protective.
Where will they go? Will they wander into unbelief—perhaps the most common destination for people who leave Adventism—or will they look for ancient comfort in the arms of liturgy, prescribed practices, and tradition which they were kept from knowing as Adventists? Will they learn new beliefs from the arms of tradition because they learned to resent the mundane reading of the Bible? Will they carry their distrust of the Bible with them—the distrust that they absorbed from being taught that it said what it did not say? Will they try to find a spiritual home in ancient rituals and reverence rather than in the living presence of our risen Lord Jesus?
I believe that the one thing we can offer the spiritually seeking is the gift of the normal reading of Scripture. God has given us what believers agree is the infallible, inerrant word of God. Our Lord Jesus, who IS the Logos—the living word of God—has left us this book in which He reveals Himself and His purposes. He does not trick us, and He does not lie.
When God makes promises, they will come to pass. When He tells us what “is”, we can stake our lives on those statements. We dare not approach Scripture on the basis of interpreters who may be explaining it on the basis of different theological constructs. We have to know that, just as in the writing of a book of science or history, there is authorial intent in the Bible. The words used are the words the Holy Spirit preserved for us through the millennia. The Jesus who came exactly as the prophecies foretold is the One who showed us that the actual words of Scripture reveal reality. He told His disciples,
“These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”—Luke 24:44 LSB
If we feel free to reinterpret and assign new meanings to biblical passages because the actual words seem obscure or impossible, then we have altered the meaning of the singular document that the Lord has given us to show us what IS.
When I think about how to help new believers and also people who are being uprooted from their old worldviews and are having to learn to live in truth and reality, I come back to a rather simple passage that, as an Adventist, I never quite understood. It’s found in Luke 10:38–42:
Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up [to Him] and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the preparations alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but [only] one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”—Luke 10:38–42 LSB
As an Adventist I felt a bit sorry for Martha, almost as if the Lord didn’t really understand her and diminished her importance. In fact, to an Adventist who had been well-trained to work hard and to please people, I felt that Jesus supported someone who refused to do her part!
Yet now I see what Jesus was saying. He wasn’t dissing Martha; He was releasing her from her drivenness to take care of everything at the expense of doing the necessary thing: sitting in His presence and learning truth.
In this story Jesus overtly stated that only one thing necessary, and that one thing is learning His word. He made it clear that learning truth from His word was more important even than serving food to all the guests. He wasn’t chiding Martha—He was inviting her to rest in Him!
One thing I know: the time spent hiding God’s word in my heart is never wasted time. The Lord allows me to do what He brings me to do without feeling as if I’m pulled away from the one necessary thing or by the one necessary thing.
Yet I have to say this: lest anyone reading this feel guilted into commencing a memorization program, ask the Lord to show you how He wants you to learn His word. Many people have found great comfort and insight from getting a notebook and copying Scripture, a few verses a day, starting at the beginning of a book and moving through it to the end. The point is to take time, to slow down and to ponder the details: verb tenses, prepositions, the audience, the speaker, the nature of the writing. Is it descriptive or prescriptive? Whatever method you use, as the Lord to teach you what is true and real and to ground you deeply in reality.
My prayer is that all those who discover the true gospel and leave Adventism will also discover the richness of the Bible. Jesus said it: there is only one thing that is necessary, and this one thing—His living Word—contains the answers to our confusion when we leave the religion that shaped us.
Our triune God is faithful, and He has given us the way to know Him.
Like Mary, choose “the good part,” which will not be taken away from you. †
- September 27–October 3, 2025 - September 25, 2025
- We Got Mail - September 25, 2025
- September 20–26, 2025 - September 18, 2025