 | Seventh-day Adventist Church: Encyclopedia II - Seventh-day Adventist Church - Doctrine
Seventh-day Adventist Church - Doctrine
Seventh-day Adventist doctrine is based on the Anabaptist protestant tradition. The Protestant doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers" is so central to the thinking of Seventh-day Adventists that members have always been encouraged to study the Bible to discover truth for themselves guided of the Holy Spirit. This may explain their reluctance to establish a creed. Adventist doctrine resembles mainstream orthodox trinitarian Protestant theology, with the exception of several areas.
Seventh-day Adventist Church - Sabbath
Seventh-day Adventists believe that Saturday, the seventh day of the week, is the Sabbath, based on the commandment found in Exodus 20:8-11 which reads, "the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God". They observe this as a 24-hour sunset-to-sunset Sabbath commencing Friday evening. Justification for this belief is garnered from the creation account in Genesis in which God rested on the seventh-day, an approach later immortalised in the Ten Commandments. To the Adventist the Sabbath is a celebration of God's creation and gift of redemption. The Sabbath provides a communion between God and their fellow man. [1]
Seventh-day Adventist Church - Hell and the state of the dead
Seventh-day Adventists believe that death is as Ecclesiastes 9:5 states, the "dead know nothing". This view maintains that a person has no conscious form of existence until their resurrection, which they believe is either at the second coming of Jesus (in the case of the righteous) or after the millennium of Revelation 20 (in the case of the wicked). This means that hell does not exist at the present time, and that the wicked will be permanently destroyed after the millennium of Revelation 20. (The theological term for this teaching is Annihilationism.)
Seventh-day Adventist Church - Baptism
Seventh-day Adventists practice Believers baptism by full immersion in a similar manner to the Baptists. It is argued that baptism requires knowing consent and moral responsibility and as such young children are only dedicated, which is symbolic of the parents, the community and the church's gratefulness to God for the child, and their commitment to raising the child to love Jesus. Seventh-day Adventists believe that baptism is a public statement that you commit your life to Jesus and is a prerequisite for church membership. Baptism, shows that the person has repented of their sins and wishes to live a life in Christ.[2]
Seventh-day Adventist Church - Second Coming of Christ
Seventh-day Adventists believe in an imminent, universally visible Second Coming of Christ which will be preceded by a time of trouble when the righteous will be persecuted and an Antichrist will exhibit great power on the earth. The teaching that Christ will be visible by all is based on Revelation 1:7 which says "every eye shall see him". They believe that this is the time that the event of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 where "the dead in Christ shall rise", along with the righteous living. It is believed that the unrighteous, or wicked, will be raised after the millennium.
Seventh-day Adventist Church - Spirit of Prophecy
One of the more controversial teachings of the church is that the "Spirit of Prophecy" is an identifying mark of the remnant church, which they believe was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. Although this is a traditional perspective, this is not adhered to by all. It seems fair to say that the majority agree that her "writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction."(28 Fundamental Beliefs)
Seventh-day Adventist Church - Creeds
Traditionally, Seventh-day Adventists have opposed the formulation of credal statements. For purposes of internal coherence, Seventh-day Adventists have formed a set of fundamental beliefs and prefer to view them as descriptors rather than prescriptors. However, divergence from the published position is not seen as acceptable by some communities within the organization. In 2005, during the General Conference Session, the church expanded its set of fundamental beliefs from 27 to 28.
Other related archives1 Thessalonians, 1800s, 1849, 1863, 1874, 1903, 1925, 1929, 1949, 1955, 1961, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 19th century, 21st Century, Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Anabaptist, Annihilationism, Antichrist, Australia, Baptists, Battle Creek, Believers baptism, Bible, Boy Scouts of America, Branch Davidians, California, Christ, Christian, Christian Research Institute, Christology, Criticism of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, David Koresh, Dr Desmond Ford, Ecclesiastes, Ellen G. White, European, Exodus, General Conference, Genesis, Good News Unlimited, Great Commission, Great Disappointment, History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, International Religious Liberty Association, It Is Written, James White, Jan Paulsen, Jesus, John C. Whitcomb, John Harvey Kellogg, Joseph Bates, Kellogg's, Leviticus, List of Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities, List of Seventh-day Adventist hospitals, Loma Linda, California, Lord's Supper, Los Angeles, Maryland, Matthew, Methodist, Michigan, Millerite, Millerite Movement, North America, Pathfinders, Protestant, Revelation, Sabbath, Sanitarium Health Food Company, Saturday, Second Advent, Second Coming, Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement, Seventh Day Baptist, Silver Spring, Structure and polity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Switzerland, Takoma Park, Ten Commandments, Texas, The Hope Channel, Third World, United Nations, United States, Voice of Prophecy, Waco, Walter Martin, Washington D.C., William Miller, World War 1, abortion, affair, alcohol, communion, conflagration, creation, credal, cultic, death, dedicated, denomination, divorce, education, episcopal, evangelical, evangelistic, hell, heretical, heterosexual, hierarchical, hospitals, independent ministries, inspiration, intimacy, marriages, orthodox, pioneer, potluck, poverty, presbyterian, prophetic, protestant, radio, resurrection, salvation, same-sex marriages, sins, sola scriptura, teaching, television, tobacco, trinitarian, unclean, vegetarianism
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Doctrine", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
