Response to “Adventist, Does Your Suffering Save God?”
What a spin-doctored load of nonsense question. It is a well known FACT that the pagan persecutions of Christians in Rome only seeded the ground for more people to become Christians BECAUSE THEY LITERALLY SAW PEOPLE BEING MURDERED FOR JESUS. All those martyrs had to do was say, “I renounce Jesus and will now worship Jupiter and Apollo; I don’t know what I was thinking,” and they would have NOT been torn apart by wild dogs in the Roman Colosseum!!!!!
They were WITNESSES for God, and their blood was SEED. Satan saw his plan was not working; the martyrs GREW Christianity, so he devised another plan: CORRUPT CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE AND BLEND IT WITH PAGAN DOCTRINE. Paul said after he died corruption would enter into the church big time, and it did.
YES, people who suffer for God ARE WITNESSES that His Truth is NOT a small matter, and people see that those people are willing to DIE for what they believe; there must be something to it. Adventists did not invent that idea that suffering upholds God: GOD DID. It shows how evil Satan is—cruel, horrible, a sick serial killer in disguise.
So bash us all you want; you are an AI and not even real I am very suspicious of this channel and who is behind it. I do not believe you are “former Adventists”. This is AI!
—VIA YOUTUBE
Responses:
From the editor: I actually find it funny that you think I’m AI. You can check out our website at ProclamationMagazine.com. Life Assurance Ministries has been ministering to questioning and former Adventists since 2000, and as @edwindevera7549 has said, I used to be the news editor for Adventist Today in the 1990s. I actually do know Adventism very well. You can read a wealth of articles and find links to our online books and magazines and videos on our website. We aren’t imagining what we say; we document our data and know from experience that the great irony of Adventism is that IT is the great deception. It masquerades as a counterfeit of Christianity but doesn’t teach the Biblical gospel, the true, infallible Lord Jesus, the classic Trinity whose persons share substance, nor the reality that the new covenant is NOT an extension of the old. It does not teach that the atonement was finished at the cross. Adventism is not true Christianity.
From original writer: @ColleenTinker your videos don’t look real, either a green screen, whatever, looks like AI , and okay you have a website; got it.
From another responder: A website that has helped a lot of people.
From a third responder: All that you just stated only serves to prove that Colleen is right about SDAs. They have the most fantastic Satan-centered message, in which HE is so much more powerful than even God Himself. You say that “Satan devised another plan to corrupt the church with pagan doctrine.” What pagan doctrine might that be?…
The other curious thing you said was that “Satan saw his plan not working.” I’m assuming you mean his plan to make martyrs of Christians. As if Christians are not being martyred today. Are you aware that hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children have been snuffed out because they were Christian in countries all over the world over the past centuries and even today? Or maybe because all these martyrs are NOT SDA, none of them count?
How Should I Think About Abusers?
Here’s my quandary: when I hear of predators arrested for unspeakable acts against children, I want them to receive capital punishment. Then I think maybe God wants the alive so He might save and transform them. I know about the millstone around the neck of those who sin against children, too. I don’t know what to think.
My father was a predatory pedophile. I barely escaped, but many young girls I know did not, including many close to me. I found out about these things after he died. When I learned about some of these sins against ones I loved, I felt like digging him up so I could personally punish him.
We had a friend who has been in jail with six charges of child abuse against him. The idea of his being executed is hard to imagine, but most predators are never reformed. If he got out of prison, I have reason to believe he would likely start again.
I’m not bitter. After years of wrestling with this I chose forgiveness for my father. I’m told he gave his heart to God before he died.
Sorry to drop all of this on you. I don’t know who to ask for help understanding how I should think about this.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: I understand what you are saying. Perhaps surprisingly, these kinds of stories are not uncommon within Adventist families.
People who are guilty of crimes against children or adults are not safe. We cannot act as if the crimes are “in the past” and start over and go on. Such people are unsafe, and they cannot be in the presence of the people whom they are likely to hurt. Furthermore, the damage done to the relationship is such that if the perpetrators are unrepentant, they cannot hope to receive forgiveness or restored relationships.
Now, regarding forgiveness: the best definition of forgiveness that I have heard came from the counselor years ago: “Forgiveness does not mean ‘forgive and forget’; it means to remember so that we avoid being hurt again. But it also means that carrying the weight of revenge or justice is too big for us; that weight will kill us. We have to hand the person over to God because He will be just, but we remember and protect ourselves from being close enough to get hurt again.”
Some years after I heard those words, our pastor preached a series on forgiveness and also did a book on that series. He made the point that if a person does not ask for our forgiveness, we cannot give them our forgiveness. He said that on the cross Jesus did not directly forgive those soldiers. They were not asking Him for forgiveness, but He turned them over to His Father. He entrusted them to His Father.
Pastor Gary said that when there is no “I’m sorry” from the perpetrator, we can only turn them over to God. We have to give up our desire to either receive anything from them that they SHOULD give us—like love, apology, repentance, acknowledgment of our hurt—and we entrust ourselves to God instead. He will fill the hole in our hearts. We give Him our hurt and shame and anger and pain and entrust our heart to Him.
But we do not need to feel obligated to receive those people back into our intimate circles. If they do not acknowledge their sin, we cannot trust them to be close. If they do repent and deal with the Lord, we may be able to accept them as a brother or sister in Christ, but even then their crimes may be so severe that we cannot be close to them.
The bottom line is that we allow God to carry the weight of justice. That weight will kill us, but Jesus knows. He took the pain of all the sins done TO us as well as the sins we have committed, and He is able to take care of the justice the perpetrator deserves. He relieves us of the burden of carrying the unfinished business between that person and us. He takes all the shame, pain, and destruction from us and deals with the other person.
As for your father, it’s fair to tell God how angry you are about him and how much pain and resentment you have carried. It’s fait to ask Him to show you how to trust Him with all the residual pain and to comfort you.
Your new life in Christ means that you can put boundaries between you and dangerous people. The Lord has given you new family, and He will provide all that you lose by letting go of those who are dangerous people.
Just remember that your Father is faithful; He will be just, and He will relieve you of the burden of justice and revenge. He frees you from expecting the perpetrator to make things right. He frees you from looking for the love and understanding from them that you OUGHT to have been able to expect. Now your true Father will fill your heart with His love and healing. †
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