Seventh-day Adventist Church
The history of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination dates back to the 1860s. Formally the church was organized and recognized as a group who stands for a number of causes and different issues. They have been reformed orientated in areas of civil rights, religious liberty, reforms in health and temperance, alcoholism and drug dependency, education welfare, and even aid development.
The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to make disciples of all people, communicating the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12, leading them to accept Jesus as personal Savior and unite with His remnant Church, discipline them to serve Him as Lord and preparing them for His soon return.
The Adventist doctrine resembles Trinitarian Protestant theology, with premillennial and Arminian emphases. Adventists uphold teachings such as the infallibility of Scripture, the substitutionary atonement, the resurrection of the dead and justification by faith alone, and are therefore often considered evangelical.
The global church is called the General Conference. The General Conference is made up of divisions are included of union conferences. These are generally ministered to by one pastor each. The local districts can contain one to many local congregations. Churches are governed by a church board formed by members of that church, with the pastor of that congregation.
Seventh-day Adventists observe a 24-hour sunset-to-sunset Sabbath commencing Friday evening. Seventh-day Adventists do not eat pork or other unclean meat as identified in the book of Leviticus and many avoid all meat for health reasons. They recommend being vegetarian. The use of alcohol and tobacco are also prohibited.
The official Seventh-day Adventist position on abortion is that it is permissible only in exceptional circumstances that present serious moral or medical dilemmas, such as significant threats to the pregnant woman’s life, serious jeopardy to her health, severe congenital defects carefully diagnosed in the fetus, and pregnancy resulting from rape or incest. While the general tone toward abortion is negative, the individual Adventist may take any position on the political range. Abortions are performed in Adventist hospitals.
History:
The Seventh-day Adventist Church arose from the Millerite movement of the 1840s in upstate New York, a phase of the Second Great Awakening. William Miller predicted on the basis of Daniel 8:14–16 and the “day-year principle” that Jesus Christ would return to Earth between the spring of 1843 and the spring of 1844. When this did not come about in the summer of 1844, Millerite Adventists came to believe that Jesus would return on October 22, 1844, assumed to be the Biblical Day of Atonement for that year. This lead to the “Great Disappointment” and the followers disbanded and then returned to their original churches.
The Adventist movement consisted of a small group of people who came from many churches through James White’s periodical, The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. They embraced the doctrines of the Sabbath, the heavenly sanctuary interpretation of Daniel 8:14, conditional immortality and the expectation of Christ’s premillennial return. The most prominent figures were Joseph Bates, James White, and Ellen G. White.
Ellen White and her many visions and spiritual leadership convinced her fellow Adventists that she possessed the gift of prophecy. The Seventh-day Adventist believes that Ellen G. White was the “Spirit of Prophecy,” an identifying mark of the remnant church.
This church was formally established in Battle Creek, Michigan, on May 21, 1863. Then later this denomination moved its headquarters from Battle Creek to Takoma Park, Maryland, where they remained until 1989. The General Conference headquarters then moved to its current location in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Belief:
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes God’s greatest desire is for you to see a clear picture of His character. When you see Him clearly, you will find His love irresistible.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes “seeing God clearly” requires that they see God’s face. They believe seeing and understanding His character is what’s most important. The more clearly they understand Him, the more they will find His love irresistible. When they begin to experience His love, their own lives will begin to make more sense.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes God most clearly reveals His character in three great events. 1. His creation of man and woman His giving them the freedom of choice. He created humans with the ability to choose to love Him or to hate Him! 2. The death of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, on the cross as our substitute. In that act He paid the penalty we deserve for our hateful choices toward God and His ways. Jesus’ death guarantees forgiveness for those choices and allows us to spend eternity with Him. 2. He fills every heart with hope: Christ’s tomb is empty! He is alive, living to fill us with His love!
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes knowledge of God helps them understand His love, character, and grace. Experiencing that love begins a lifelong adventure in growth and service. This knowledge and experience powers their mission to tell the world about His love and His offer of salvation.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes their Scripture is a road map. The Bible is God’s voice, speaking His love. The Bible speaks the Creator’s directions to them, like a detailed road map that clearly shows the exit ramp directly into heaven. It is also much like an owner’s manual for a life ready to be lived on the cutting edge of liberty.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes Jesus is the one who never changes in a universe that always does. Jesus is Creator, Sustainer, Savior, Friend, God’s Son, and God Himself!
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes that Jesus is one of the three persons, called the Trinity, who make up our one God. The Bible describes Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit as each being committed to our growth as Christians and to our salvation as their children. They made this salvation possible when Jesus came to Bethlehem as a human baby. He lived a life perfectly in accord with God’s will and then died innocently for all of our sins. He was placed in a borrowed tomb, but He came back to life three days later. Now he is in heaven interceding with the Father for us, preparing for our deliverance from sin and death.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes when God designed humans, He included special talents and skills that will help you become a uniquely valuable individual. God has also provided all of the energy and wisdom necessary to use them well.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes the seventh day (Saturday) is an extra-special part of the relationship. The Bible, from Genesis through Revelation, describes the seventh day as the one day God has set aside for focused fellowship with His people. God has named that day “Sabbath.”
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes God cleans away all our sins and replaces them with His goodness. They don’t have to be “good” for Him to accept them.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes Foot washing (which symbolizes our commitment to love others as Jesus loves us).
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes bread (“This bread is my flesh,” Jesus said, “which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:51, NIV).
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes wine or grape juice (“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” John 6:54, NIV).
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes Eternal life, peace, purpose, forgiveness, transforming grace, hope: Everything He promises is ours, because He’s offering it and He’s shown we can trust Him to do exactly as He promises. Accept His gifts, and you immediately become an active part of His family, and He joyfully becomes part of yours.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes the Bible to be God’s infallible revelation of His will, we present its full message, including the second advent of Christ and the continuing authority of His Ten Commandment law with its reminder of the Seventh-day Sabbath.
Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in affirming the Biblical principles of the wellbeing of the whole person, we make the preservation of health and healing of the sick a priority and through our ministry to the poor and oppressed, cooperate with the Creator in His compassionate work of restoration.
Seventh-day Adventists believes that death is a sleep during which the “dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). This view maintains that the person has no conscious form of existence until the resurrection, 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). Because of this view, Seventh-day Adventists do not believe hell currently exists and believe further that the wicked will be destroyed at the end of time.
Reference:
Official website for the Seventh-day Adventist Church : http://www.adventist.org/
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Seventh-day Adventist Church:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Oct 2013.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2480,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2013, October) “Seventh-day Adventist Church:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2480,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2013) “Seventh-day Adventist Church:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (October), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2480, (accessed).
