If you’ve identified as an Adventist for any amount of time, you’ve likely heard people talk about brave Martin Luther nailing his ideas to a door, even though they went against the church teachings of his day. Our denomination points back to how it took up the protest by proclaiming the truth of the Saturday sabbath. SDA’s rejected church tradition and chose scripture as the only authority on death. Our founders dove into prophecy, misinterpreted it, and dove in again to find more light. They went against the majority Christian interpretation of the Bible that said slavery was okay and became abolitionists.
All this happened between the 1830s and 1860s. New light was expected and promised, but no new light has come. Or if it did come, we haven’t seen it.
Why?
Has Jesus had no truth to reveal during the last 160 years?
Are we still protestants?
Do we still reject the authority of tradition?
Do we still reject a hierarchy of men who hand us our beliefs?
Do we live by the motto sola scriptura?
If the answer is yes, we would do things differently. Studies the General Conference organizes and sponsors, bringing Bible scholars together, would not be tasked with reinforcing a current stance. They would be exploratory, asking brave questions and addressing current dilemmas. Open minds would be required and efforts made to check personal agendas at the door. Truth would be sought for its own sake with as little control over the outcome as the apostles had when they drew straws. Maybe a flawed conclusion like William Miller’s would be made, but Jesus wouldn’t leave us there. Does our self-importance as a world religion make us so afraid of a misstep we stopped being a movement?
Does our self-importance as a world religion make us so afraid of a misstep we stopped being a movement?
Early Adventists had no standing among Christians and didn’t care. They were audacious enough to believe there was more truth to be found in the Bible and more human mandates to reject. I’m an Adventist who aspires to be like those early ones, examining what we “just do” and asking myself if it aligns with the Bible. Since I was a girl I noticed some discrepancies, small sometimes and other times larger with vast repercussions. I’ll explore some of these in my next posts and share how the Bible as my source of truth has blessed me, one audacious priestess in the priesthood of all believers.
