SDAinFLA

We believe in cessation because we don't see miracles. Why speak in tongues among those that believe? Why do we need miracles to show that Jesus is the Messiah? Most of us have access to God's Word and more than enough other materials...we don't need someone to perform a miracle to believe in God. However in other countries that may not have the same access that most have (ie Middle East, Africa, Asia) still see miracles. They still speak with other tongues, and people are still healed...etc. Just my thoughts, I haven't done any research to confirm this, it's just what my position is on this currently is, but I'm open to correction.

To answer the original question...the Law of God that existed in the Old Testament, is the same Law that exists in the New Testatment. Remember, a covenant is simply an agreeement. The Old Covenant was created after God gave Israel the 10 Commandments, Statues and Judgements. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. Ex 24:7-8 The new covenant, was not a change in the law, but rather a change in the power to keep that law through faith in Christ. Notice what Hebrews says - For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people...For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Heb 8:10,12 Notice the new covenant is not a new law, but it's placing the SAME law in your heart. The 10 Commandments is still the Law of God. It's not a different law in the New Testament from the Old Testament. Remember what Jesus response was when he was asked what's the greatest commandment - "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Matt 22:37,39 Jesus was not providing new light, but rather he was quoting the same light that they already had. Deut 6:5 says - "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Lev 19:18 says - "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." If you take an even closer look at these two commandments (love God and love neighbor) they are summarizations of what the 10 Commandments is telling us. The first 4 Commandments 1) Worship God 2) No Idol worship 3)Don't use God's name in vain 4) Sabbath - Summarize the first principle which is Love God The last 6 Commandments 5) Honor Parents 6) No Killing 7) No adultery 8) No stealing 9) No lying 10) No lusting - Summarize the secont principle which is Love to Neighbor. The statues and judgements are not all done away but they were specifics that helped the Jews understand how to keep the 10 Commandments. The letter of these laws may change with the times, but the spirit of these laws are still intact. So what was done away? The ceremonial laws relating to the death of Christ. All sacrifices, all commandments contained in ordinances are done away along with the penalty.

Why do you say the tribulation will be 7 years?

I believe in the 70 week prophecy, but this theory of a gap between the 69th and 70th week is one of the strangest doctrines I've heard. A 70 week prophecy that longer than 70 weeks?

America is not Babylon. America is the 2nd beast of Revelation 13. Babylon is a 3 fold union of paganism/occult and Catholicism and False Protestantism. When God's judgement hits this earth at that time ALL false religion will fall into the fallen category of Revelation 18

I was pondering on a question that's actually been on my mind for awhile now... As we read about God in the O.T. we see that God, a lot of the time, gave judement/ punishment right then in there. My question is...why do you think God does not strike people down today as he did in O.T. times. P.S. - there is no hidden agenda with my question...I am not asking this to pull someone into a debate...this is a question I honestly don't know the answer to and I thought some of you Bible scholars could assist me. Thanks, and God bless.

This is a question that I am not sure of the answer so I thought I would run it by my brothers and sisters at Worthyboards. In my experience, music plays a big role in worship. I believe that there is music in heaven and when we get there, there will be singing and instruments to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. However, in my denomination there is a mixture of all types of musics. If you go to some churches, they sing hymns If you go to some churches, they sing country gospel. If you go to another church you might hear gospel rap. Last night we went to a gospel concert and they were singing gospel reggae. I know that Lucifer was a master in music, but I'm not sure what part he is playing in Christian music today. What do you guys think?

Hi all, I just wanted to add my two cents.... I am a Seventh Day Adventist. While I do understand the reason that the person stated that you are not a Christian if you go to church on Sunday, he/she was definetely wrong. Most Advenst also go to church on Wednesdays as well...so he/she would not be consistent in their theory. Seventh Day Adventist believe that the 10 Commandments come as a package deal. They cannot be separated (James 2:10-11). There are possibly 15 million SDA...so it is difficult for everyone to believe and teach the exact same thing. So you will run into SDA's that believe it is wrong to even go to church on a Sunday and then you have others that understand that it's not about the day that you go to church but rather the day that you keep holy according to God's command. While, I do believe the Bible is clear on this subject, I would never judge anyone that decides to go to church on Sunday. So my answer is to just pray and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you...then you know you can't be wrong. Love, SDA

DarkNeb, I'm having a hard time addresssing your second question because I'm not sure where you are coming from. What would be best for both of us if I break your second question into parts and attempt to address it that way. I will quote you and answer you accordingly. 1. I'm not sure whether you are talking about the earthly sanctuary or the heavenly sanctuary. However, when the writer of Hebrews wrote that Jesus entered the temple with his own blood, we believe the location of this particular sanctuary was in heaven. When Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary, Jesus entered the sanctuary as the High Priest and the sacrificial Lamb.Here is what happened in the earthly sanctuary: "Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat." Lev 16:15 So when Jesus goes into the heavenly places made without hands...He is entering as the High Priest, but He has His own blood...this signifies that His is also the sacrifice. (John 1:29) I haven't read the whole Bible but I don't believe that there is any record of Jesus ever tearing the veil in the temple. I believe that God ripped the veil...The veil was ripped because the old covenant was done away and so a sacrificial offering and the killing of a lamb was no longer necessary. This is why Daniel prophesied saying "...he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease..." Daniel 9:27. The fact that the earthly sacrificial system was done away with, then man could now approach God for himself and not have to rely on the priestly ministration for forgiveness of sins.

The Holy place is in heaven just as you suggested. We know that there is a temple in heaven according to John the Revelator "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail." Revelation 11:19 It is my understanding that the sanctuary on earth was a replica or model of the sanctuary in heaven. So if Jesus is the High Priest, then he would enter the Holy Place just as you suggested. "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Hebrews 9:11-12

spearmint, That is an excellent question. However, I believe God's Word alludes to the fact that devil cannot read the mind of man. Remember the story of Nebuchadnezzar? In Daniel 2 he had a dream right? Well he asked for his magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers to give him the dream that he had and the interpretation. Remember what they told him? "The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." vs. 10-11 We all know that the magicians, sorcerers, and astrologers, and Chaldeans (except Daniel and the others) were the devils people. If the devil was able to read Nebuchadnezzar's mind, I believe he would have told the dream to his people. But the mere fact that they could not lets me know that satan cannot read the mind. And because God can read the mind, He was able to give Daniel, not only the dream, but the interpretation. Thanks for reading.

Interesting post on the numbers game. I continue to believe that the Bible is inerant even though we read what appears to be a contradiction in scripture. I have known of such things for awhile now but this isn't a problem for me as I understand a little differently on how the Bible was inspired. Some of us believe in the verbal theory of inspiration. Believers in the verbal theory of inspiration believe that every word came from the mouth of God. Sorta like a stenographer in the court rooms taking word for word dictation. If we believe this, then I can understand what type of problems you can run into when dealing with these so called contradictions. However, if you and I can understand that the Bible was inspired in plenary form, meaning that it was thought inspired, then we can read these so called contradictions but still know that the Bible is and always will be inerant.

Hi Guys! This was a very interesting post by Wordsower. I read most of it and I think was respectful to that denomination...I appreciate that. However, let me say to you Wordsower, that I understand what you went through as many have had the experience that you have had. This is unfortunate, but it has happened in the past and even happens today. In this thinking, I want to turn your attention to the leadership of the Children of Israel...in certain times of the Bible the whole nation was given to idolatry and even in Christ's day they were legalists and hypocrites...and even though God originally made Israel His chosen people, they made many mistakes. Even the disciples had believed "The Christ" was going to come and break their yoke of bondage from the Romans, and set up an earthly Israel in that day...but again, this was a misunderstanding of Bible principles. The Adventist church has made many mistakes as well...I know people that were taught that if they ate meat they would go to hell. Some people were made to feel like they were sinners if they wore jewelry...etc. This list goes on and on, but do I credit this to Adventism itself? No, I credit this to people who don't understand the goal of the church. And even though we are a collective body of churches, many churches differ on certain issues. So you will hear some of us that have had terrible experiences in the church and others have positive experiences. I have had both, but as I study God's Word and understand more and more of what His desire is for me, I see that alot of the negative experiences stem from someone's misinterpretation of the Bible, or someone quoting what they thought the Bible said...or someone stating what Sis White said in misundersrtaning her intentions. The most important thing is that you have found Jesus. If you didn't find Him in the Adventist Church I have no problem with that...because God isn't coming to this earth for a denomination, He is coming for those of us who believe and do his will. If any of you would like to ask any questions about the SDA church, I would love to give you any information that I can. You can also reach me by email at stcyr2001@hotmail.com Thanks! Love, SDA

I had a conversation a long time ago with someone regarding the 70 week prophecy of Daniel. He went on to tell me that the 69th week was fulfilled during Bible times, but the 70th week has yet been fulfilled. I was just wondering how do you evangelicals explain the gap in time? This question is for informational purposes and I am not trying to persuade anyone to believe like me or to join my church.

TomPJr, Thanks for your repy on the definition of cult....however, I was looking for a definition of those that claim the church is a cult to respond. While I wait on this information...I wanted to re-open the original discussion of (drum roll) What happens to the wicked? I know that most of you have already explained why you believe that the righteous go straight to heaven and the wicked go straight to hell...however, can you guys recapitulate this information for me. Thanks and God bless.

RusyAngel, I understand your thoughts on this and even though I have a different view on hell... rather than argue my view on hell fire, I find it more necessary to make sure that you don't pass judgement on him. The thief on the cross excepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior in the closing moments of his life, and I pretty sure other people believed that he was on his way to hell. I understand why you say that...and you could possibly be right. However, unless God gives you insight on a persons final destination, we still have hope that we will see them by the tree of life no matter how bad we think they were. Thanks

This is a very interesing conversation unfolding....I was just curious because I have heard of this cult thing before and was wondering what is your definition of a cult. I know that different people have different ideas of a cult so I was hoping to know what your definition is then I can determine for myself if I am indeed part of that. I would also like to discuss some other things that were said also, but I'd like to know more about the cult thing. Thanks!

I absoulutely agree with this. We should worship God everyday of the week. Sun-Sat. However, I think we sometimes don't make the distinction between worship and keeping holy. Worship is sometimes defined as - "to render religious reverence and homage to." So worship can be done anywhere anytime. I can drive my car and worship God, I can go to work and worship God, or I can worship God at church any day. But there was only one day that was blessed and sanctified; and that is the 7th Day Sabbath. Worship is a part of Sabbath but the Sabbath isn't soley worship.

Stevehut, If it's Ok, I would like to respond to you: I agree 100%. It seemed like God's chosen people really had a misconception of what God was trying to show them. For instance the sacrifices were pointing to Christ, but a huge portion of them didn't understand. I would say that the Sabbath was the same thing...I believe the Jews didn't understand how to keep the Sabbath and weighed it down with all kinds of penalties, but Jesus was trying to show them the correct way to keep the Sabbath.

That sounds pretty logical, but then if we look at the 10 commandments in this light then why can't one say..."Well, it doesn't matter which god you serve as long as serve a god." God does give us certain freedoms on how we want to do certain things, however, I believe the Sabbath is not one of them.

hahahaha! I understand why your friend thinks in this way, however he is misinformed on the Sabbath issue. I cannot speak for all Sabbath keepers, however I believe most believe that the 10 Commandments are still binding upon all men which includes the Sabbath.

The Process (mind if I call you TP?) Thank you for you response. Let me try to answer the questions and comments you have given: You have to understand that I cannot speak for every Christian on what their intentions are when it comes to defining certain Biblical concepts. Some believe that the Bible is God's Word given to man word for word. Kinda like the person in the court room that types everything that is said during a case. I believe that God's Word was inspired through thought inspiration, which means that God inspired a thought and man was given the ability to express this thought in his own way as long as the thought had not been altered. Simply put the Word of God - is the teachings of God. (This is my interpretation) TP, my Mother used to have this saying and it would go like this: "When in doubt, do without." In other words, we know there are other scrolls not included in the "Bible" that might even be inspired by God. However we also must understand God permitted 66 books to be utilized in our current Bibles which let's me know that I can still receive salvation from the 66 books. This is the most important thing. So evn though it is debated in some circles whether these other books are inspired by God....I don't know. However what I do know is that the road to salvation is mapped out in the current 66 books of the Bible and that is most important thing to me. When Timothy said "Scripture" he most likely referred to the Old Testament scriptures, however the New Testament gives the New Testament Church instructions. It shows how the sacrifices in the OT pointed to Christ in the NT. So even though Paul most likely referred to the OT, it is also true of the NT as the scriptures written there are also profitable for doctrine, they are also for reproof, they are also for corection, and they are also for instruction in righteousness. I'm not sure of your question...are you asking me - Can the Bible historically tell us details of certain things? For instance the color of Jesus robe...are you asking me if we can utilize the Bible to tell us the color of Jesus robe? I would say no. But we can't use this model for everything however, the Bible does give historical accounts that were prophecies when written that now are historical facts. Daniel 2, talks about the 4 kingdoms (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome) Revelation 11 (Talks about the the persecution of the Bible ie. 2 prophets) The reason why we can trust the Bible on doctrine and not necessarily on historical details (like the color of Jesus' robe) is because the doctrines are more important to God. The Bible is not given to man to show the history of the world, that's why we have history books. However, the main focus of the Bible is for salvation and so I believe that God would make sure that it is profitable for doctrine. TP, I did suggest this, but this was far from what I meant as I probably didn't communicate this properly to you. God wouldn't have a problem communicating his message to us, however we have problems in receiving the messages he gives us. But is there anything to hard for God? Couldn't God just force man to understand and write exactly what He was thinking? Coudn't he put man in a trance and just sorta posses him while he writes? Even better...God doesn't even need man to write the Bible...He could've just wrote the whole thing himself and then given it to us. However, God uses human agencies to work with divinity in the salvation of mankind. So if God asked 4 different men to write about the salvation that Christ brought to the world, but all 4 of them mistakenly wrote the wrong color of Jesus robe, does this have a bearing on salvation? Now if one of them wrote that Jesus did not die on the cross....God is now responsible for the thought and would have to makes sure that the writer has the correct view of salvation. But our salvation is not stringent upon the color of Jesus robe, how many demonicas there were or did Jesus heal someone before or after they died. God could do anything He wants to. TP, sometimes God doesn't interfere in certain aspects...for instance Abraham took another wife, but we never find God actually correcting him on this matter. Moses got drunk...we never read that God punished him for that. Sometimes God allows for man to make mistakes...that's because we are human. I cannot answer the question of why God does this...but I have to always remember that His ways are not like my ways and His thoughts are not like my thoughts. God bless.

Great comments! I side with some of you in here and believe that the 10 commandments are still binding, including the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath or any of the other 9 commandments however doesn't save you. We are saved by Grace through Faith and not of works. So we have to understand that the Sabbath is still part of the 10 commandments, but in the same token salvation is not through works. We do not to work to be saved, however we work because we are saved. God bless!

Kat8585, You are most likely thinking about Matthew 27:5 - "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." and Acts 1:18 says "Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." These 2 accounts are most likely a succession of events. In other words it is believed that Judas hanged himself and later on the rope or branch broke in which his body fell headlong.

Butero, Thanks for your response. The questions that I asked were actually rhetorical. I asked these questions not because I wanted to know the answer, but rather I felt that we didn't answer the questions asked by "The Processes". I believe that root of his question wasn't simply did the girl die...or was she dying...etc. I believe what he was getting at was why sometimes the gospel writers might appear to contradict themselves and this was my basis for the whole post. You are welcome to respond with more research as needed, but there's no need to. And even though we disagree with the method of inspiration...the most important thing we agree on is that the Bible is inspired by God. God Bless!