AToday Probation Closes

I give Adventist Today a lot of grief because they can't seem to separate religion from their preferred leftist political views. It has hurt their mission a lot but I have to compliment them when they actually do a good job on an article. In the article Is Probation About to Close? by Loren Seibold we have an important issue discussed that is very much part of Adventism even though it is only occasionally spoken of in Adventist churches. The article begins with the peculiar Adventist belief that at some point Probation closes even though no one on earth would know that point has been reached. After that, you are either saved or lost and this probation is tied into what God does with the Investigative Judgment and whether the Christian has forsaken their sins and in some way perfected their character. He notes well that this is not a Biblical idea but a product of Ellen G. White. Seibold writes:

...They will say it is what the Bible says (it doesn’t) and that the whole of Adventist doctrine stands or falls by it. They will say that it is actually at the heart of the gospel, that in some twisted way it shows God’s love for us.

But just remember this: they are not defending the close of probation. Nor are they defending God. They are defending the notion that every word, every idea, that Ellen White expressed is straight from the mind of God. They are willing to toss God’s good character over the balcony if they can continue to say that a 19th century mystic was sketching out a precise plan for the Seventh-day Adventist “tribe.” 

I have defended Ellen White as a strong woman and church leader. I have great appreciation for what she accomplished. But I cannot defend some of the things she taught. It’s not just that many were copied from other writers. It’s not just that some of them were ridiculous, like seeing Enoch on Saturn. Or unscientific, like the earth being a mere 6000 years old, or masturbation making children into twisted, malformed monsters. Or racist, such as that black people are amalgamations. Or contemptuous of grace, as demonstrated by her repeated forays into perfectionism.

There was a time when the rejection of Ellen White as a prophet of God was, I thought the central need of Progressive Adventism. I still think that and mourn for the loss of Progressive Adventism into left-wing politics. But as I have said many times most all of the problems in the Adventist church can be laid upon the belief that Ellen White was a prophet of God. It has for a long time been my belief that a prophet cannot possibly be wrong and destructive as Ellen White has been to truly be from God. From the time when she was alive, her teachings could not be accepted by those who really thought about their religion and what she was saying. With repeated similar events marking the Adventist church about every 20 years or so. Along with the continual loss of members throughout the years who realized the problem.

Seibold gives a few quotes from Ellen White on the subject but considering what the defenders of Probation close have to contribute in the way of theology with their belief; from an article on SDANET entitled; The Judgment of the Living & the Close of Probation

"All Christians believe there is a close of probation, even though they don’t use the phrase. This might be at the Second Coming or after the millennium, but all Christians believe that there is a point when people can no longer switch sides. 

Unlike other Christians however, Seventh-day Adventists believe this event happens a short time before the Second Coming. And, many Adventists think this means that there will come a day when God will close the door of mercy and, even if they want to repent, God will no longer forgive them."

..."Probation closes before the Second Coming and not at the Second Coming because God wants to allow time to pass so that it is evident to angels and unfallen beings that people have made up their minds and are no longer going to change. Some period of time passes where, as much reason as God gives people to repent, no one does any more. And then, heavenly beings all agree that there is no point in waiting any further, and it’s time for Jesus to return to take His people home."

So what does that add to your religion? Really nothing. That God comes and His reward is with Him I can accept. The whole purpose of the Probation close to Adventist theology is built on supporting Ellen White. If what Ellen White really said was good it would not need any support but because it is built upon her and her view of the Investigative Judgment, the coming Sunday law, and having developed Christ's character perfectly reproduced in His followers, Probation closing becomes important. Adventist doctrine most definitely stands on that! It should not! That it does is the problem. 

Until progressive Adventism returns to its central focus of removing the damaging theology of the past, Adventism has no future. It will simply work to protect its traditions. It is nice that many of our retired Pastors and scholars repudiate the errors of our past with Ellen White. What it, however, calls for is for leaders who are still in the church to change things, not waiting until they retire but pursuing the truth even if it costs their jobs. The time for hinting to their churches that we have to make some changes in our theology without coming out directly like Seibold has done sends the wrong message. So many defend Ellen White and ignore that she needs to be criticized and that the evaluation of her as a prophet cannot stand. (I am not making any judgments about her as a person or a Christian, none of us get it all right)

Honestly, does it really matter if women can be ordained as Pastors if our church continues with damaging theology about God? I don't think so!

Sunday Law preoccupation among Adventists

In a Recent letter to the Adventist Review Claude Morgan, Religious Liberty director
Greater New York Conference Manhasset, New York writes the following:

I enjoyed Michael D. Peabody’s article, “Sundae Laws” (Jul. 24, 2008). Even though I have followed the subject of Sunday laws with interest for many years, I found a lot of interesting information that was new to me. I am concerned, however, that readers might reach the wrong conclusion if they read too much into Peabody’s remark, “Most Sunday Laws are no longer enforced and are generally viewed as anachronistic.”

For years I also have been saying, “Nobody is interested in Sunday laws but Adventists.” But that is no longer true. The reality is that a renewed climate favorable to Sunday laws has been developing quietly. Two examples: In its August 2, 2004 issue, Time Magazine featured a column by Nancy Gibbs titled “And on the Seventh Day We Rested,” which nostalgically eulogized Sunday Laws. In 2006, Christianity Today, one of the most
prestigious religious periodicals in the country, also ran a column contending that Sunday laws would correct the ills of society.

While Sunday laws are not a center of focus for most people today, the climate of our culture is definitely becoming a fertile seedbed for their rebirth.

Personally I doubt his exclamation that he had been saying for years that “Nobody is interested in Sunday laws but Adventists.” Especially when citing the Christianity Today article. The article in no way indicated that there was any reason to introduce further Sunday laws, in fact it includes this quote:

"Blue laws fell because they became politically untenable," said Bradley Jacob, associate law professor at Regent University. "Not only did non-Christians find them unfair, but even Christians found them silly, archaic, and legalistic."

The article was more a news article which covered a research project. As the Article begins:

Church attendees become more likely to use drugs and drink heavily when states abolish "blue laws." So says a recent study, "The Church vs. the Mall: What Happens When Religion Faces Increased Secular Competition?" The study also found that weekly church attendance and church giving decline after states repeal blue laws, which restrict commerce and labor on Sundays.

"They aren't quitting whole hog," said Daniel Hungerman, a study author and assistant professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame. Instead, those who attend weekly might go monthly, and monthly attendees might show up just at Christmas and Easter. While church giving decreased, the study found other charities saw a corresponding increase in donations.

When a blue law is in place, non-church-goers are about 10 percent more likely to drink heavily than churchgoers. After blue laws are repealed, the gap closes to about 5 percent.

For marijuana and cocaine use, the gap nearly disappears. Non-churchgoers are 11 percent more likely to smoke pot while blue laws are in place. After repeal, the two groups look almost the same.

Other than the title, there is nothing to support Religious Liberty Director’s statement that Christianity Today “ran a column contending that Sunday laws would correct the ills of society.”

Neither does the Time article in any way call for Sunday laws, it mainly bemoans the busy lifestyle of modern America. As the concluding paragraphs state:

With progress, of course, comes backlash from those who desperately want to preserve the old ways. Mom-and-pop liquor stores in New York fought to keep the blue laws to have more time with their families. Car dealers in Kansas City, Mo., pushed for a law to make them close on Sundays so they could have a day off without losing out to competition. Chick-Fil-A, a chain of more than 1,100 restaurants in 37 states, closes on Sundays because its founder, Truett Cathy, promised employees time to "worship, spend time with family and friends or just plain rest from the work week," says the chain's website. "Made sense then, still makes sense now." Pope John Paul II even wrote an apostolic letter in defense of Sunday: "When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of a 'weekend,'" he wrote, "people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see 'the heavens.'"

In an age with no free time, we buy it through hard choices. Do we skip church so we can sleep in or skip soccer so we can go to church or find a family ritual — cook together, read together, a Parcheesi challenge — that we treat as sacred? That way, at least some part of Sunday faces in a different direction, whether toward heaven or toward one another.

Nothing in modern America promotes the idea of Sunday laws to cause people to attend worship services on Sunday or prohibit Worship services on Saturday. For a Religious Liberty Director to make such statements as that in the above letter is to speak from a poorly informed and generally foolish position.

As to the Review Article on Sundae Laws; it is not freely available on the web other then the first paragraphs. Those sentences lead me to think the story does not give the full information about the origin of Sundae’s as that is still a hotly debated subject between Ithaca NY and Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Naturally being Adventist the Sunday Law idea is preferred: What few people realize about this simple dessert, however, is that it was actually invented as a loophole to avoid stringent Sunday laws that prevented the sale of “soda water” during the late 1800s -- http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=1994

What is Wrong With Easter...Nothing!

For the Gospel has a good article on the subject What is Wrong with Easter. It covers the recent Adventist Review article by George Reid on the subject. I recommend taking a few minutes and reading the article at For the Gospel. The Article begins:

“Should we participate in Easter celebrations?” This is the question posed in an Adventist Review article entitled “A Note About Easter.” Apparently there is confusion among Adventists about whether Easter should be observed. Increasingly, the answer to this question has been in the affirmative, with passion plays and Easter services becoming more widespread within the denomination. But this proliferation of Easter celebrations raises an important and potentially tricky question for Adventists — on which day should Easter be celebrated? After all, the Bible tells us that Jesus rose from the tomb on a Sunday (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). George Reid of the Adventist Biblical Research Institute has addressed this issue and appears to be very hesitant to recommend celebrating Christ's resurrection in common with the wider body of Christ. Of Adventists who endorse celebrating Easter, he says, “They are fearful we will be misunderstood, and for them it is important that we be seen as orthodox and acceptable to the society around us. They conform to customs around us, at times unthoughtfully. Actually this practice conveys another misunderstanding — the idea that we give special significance to Sunday because it was the resurrection day. A few of our churches have introduced Sunday morning services for Easter, which for many Adventists creates problems. We recognize that we are not treating Sunday as holy time, but the public may not catch the subtle difference.” Is the potential for allowing people to conclude that there is significance in worshiping the resurrected Savior on Sunday so unattractive as to do away with Easter observance entirely? Does the Sabbath trump the resurrection of Christ? These and other thorny questions are raised by Reid, a few more of which will be explored below.

My question is why don't we as local churches offer Easter Sunday morning services as an outreach to people who may not normally even go to a church except on Easter or maybe Christmas. Both of these days should be celebrated at our local churches if for no other reason then as a neighborhood outreach. Many Adventist churches will have special presentations for the Sabbath before Easter, why not another session on Easter Sunday?

We sing the old hymn "Tell me the story of Jesus" yet in a country with the culture of going to church on Easter Sunday we are afraid to open our churches and tell them the story of Jesus.

For you Adventist Churches that do offer Easter Sunday service, good for you!
Churches like Pleasant Valley Church and Kelso-Longview SDA church.