April May June 2010
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 2

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A R T I C L E S

 

 

 

Because we love Adventists

COLLEEN TINKER

 

The accusations are recurring and predictable: "I've never seen such hate." I'm sorry you were so hurt by the church." "Why do you bash Adventists instead of just preaching the gospel?""Jesus won people with love; He never criticized them or spoke harshly to them." "Why do you do this?"

The answer is simple: because we love Adventists. We resonate with Paul's prayer for the Jews in Romans 10:1-3:

Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation…For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

When Jesus cried out, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites" eight times in Matthew 23, He was not tolerating their unbelief with gentle comments. When Paul preached in the synagogues throughout the book of Acts, declaring the crucified and risen Christ to his Jewish brothers until they finally threw him out, he was not offending them because he had been hurt by Judaism. On the contrary, Jesus said the gospel would be an offense.

This issue of Proclamation! addresses the core issues of the Adventist doctrine of salvation: the defilement and cleansing of the sanctuary. Inevitably when we discuss the more esoteric details of our Adventist heritage, people respond, "I don't believe that! Whether the scapegoat is Jesus or Satan is not essential for my salvation. I believe in Jesus; that's all that matters."

 

The shape of the foundation

The details of the belief system we embrace, whether they are public or buried deeply in the founding traditions, matter. Everything that Adventism espouses is built on the pioneers' founding doctrines formulated to explain the Great Disap‚point‚ment. The great controversy worldview held by Adventists everywhere is rooted firmly in the doctrine of Satan as the scapegoat and on the belief that Jesus' blood transferred the sins of believers onto Him in the heavenly sanctuary, thus defiling it.

No matter how much one objects that he or she doesn't believe Satan will bear believers' sins in the end and pay their penalty, the fact is that Ellen White (EGW) said he will. Even if one can rationalize away the "inspired" words of the Spirit of Prophecy, Adventists still believe Satan is the scapegoat as a basic tenet of their faith.

 

Implications

Whether Satan eventually carries the sins of the saved to be punished for them, as EGW says, or whether he merely pays for his part in causing believers to sin, the Adventist doctrine of Satan-as-scapegoat is unbiblical and has grave implications.

Never is Satan connected, even peripherally, with making atonement, nor is heaven defiled by any supposedly transferred sin. The biblical-sounding words Adventism has grafted on top of the foundational doctrines do not change the fact that the Jesus of Adventism is limited and does not fulfill every type and shadow of the atonement. The Bible tells us, "He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (Heb. 2:17-18).

For Him to become like us "in all things", He had to bear both the guilt and the responsibility for human sin. Only Jesus, the Son of God, became flesh and "became sin" (2 Cor. 5:21)—while being completely spotless Himself.

 

Integrity

When we see the Scriptural truth about Jesus and His completed atonement on the cross once for all, we face a decision. Even if in our own minds we reject the prophetic status of Ellen White, we are double-minded if we also endorse an organization that holds unbiblical doctrines. James warns against this spiritual compromise: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded" (Jas. 4:8).

The risk of loss looks overwhelming; it feels as if we might lose ourselves. This fear of loss keeps many of us stuck, rationalizing Scripture and trying to make it fit our preconceived ideas and familiar great controversy paradigm. Yet Jesus said, "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mar 8:35).

The cost of integrity, however, is paltry compared to the peace of having a single-minded loyalty "in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus" (Eph. 4:21) and a clear conscience (Heb. 9:9, 14).

Moreover, Jesus has promised that He will provide all we need to eat, drink, and wear if we seek His kingdom first (Matt. 6:25-34).

We are not bashing our own former identity. We are, rather, appealing to our brothers and sisters who are still caught in cognitive dissonance and fear to trust God and His word. Embrace the Jesus revealed in Scripture, and allow Him to remove from your life all that is not from Him.

He is faithful, and He is more than enough. †

 

 

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