Are Seventh Day Adventists a cult or a denomination?

[ayin jade]

Some SDAs believe that Jesus is Michael the Archangel. No Im not confusing them with Jehovah's Witnesses. I used to think they were on the fringe of being Christian but still Christian until I learned about this from SDAs.

Good explanation of how they believe as they should and where they go astray CARM.

From the writings of Ellen White, the founder of SDA (and there are many other examples out there):

"As Christ and the angels approached the grave, Satan and his angels appeared at the grave, and were guarding the body of Moses, lest it should be removed. As Christ and his angels drew nigh, Satan resisted their approach, but was compelled, by the glory and power of Christ and his angels to fall back. Satan claimed the body of Moses, because of his one transgression; but Christ meekly referred him to his Father, saying, "The Lord rebuke thee." Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4a, p. 58

"Moses passed through death, but Michael came down and gave him life before his body had seen corruption. Satan tried to hold the body, claiming it as his; but Michael resurrected Moses and took him to heaven. Satan railed bitterly against God...but Christ did not rebuke His adversary... He meekly referred him to His Father, saying, 'The Lord rebuke thee.'" Early Writings, p. 164

"Michael, or Christ, with the angels that buried Moses" (Spiritual Gifts, IV a, p. 158)

"There is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael (Christ) your prince." (Desire of Ages p.99)

"And before the context closed Christ Himself came to Gabriel's aid---Gabriel declares 'But lo, Michael, one of the Chief Princes came to help me" (Prophets & Kings, p.572)

[humbleseeker]

gnosis is one who seeks wisdom I am not a Gnostic cultist, but one who accepts the bible and what it says about God, I also believe that since the beginning of a formal organized church we have lost many of the spiritual asspects. I have studied the gnostic scriptures which have recently been found. I am on a spiritual journey.

[Vince53]

I am a Baptist who taught Christian high school for ten years. The few Seventh Day Adventist students we had were a very Godly, Christ-like group. The few that I have met in their homes were always Godly.

While I disagree with their theology, and I believe that the source of much of Ellen G. White's writing was her getting bonked on the head with a rock, they are not a cult.

[e lansing]

There are nice people everywhere and in most organizations. SDA i consider frindge. They believe Jesus is massiah. But there focus on water baptism and Saterday worship is so far out of balance it leaves them outside of true Christianity. They do have a wonderful understanding of nutrition. They do hold to the teachings of EGW more then the Bible.

[Isaiah 6:8]

Thank you all I will pass this on. I am Glad that watch weighed in as I trust him very much as we go back some 15 years now! I will I cautioned being careful with the majors. I Major on the majors. I did not warn him about the baptist Church, but only the SDA's.

[e lansing]

Thank you all I will pass this on. I am Glad that watch weighed in as I trust him very much as we go back some 15 years now! I will I cautioned being careful with the majors. I Major on the majors. I did not warn him about the baptist Church, but only the SDA's.

I thought you said that you would focus on the majors?

[Isaiah 6:8]

Well focus, on majors.. brat.

[wyguy]

This may help enlighten you to what the SDA church believes:

1. Source of Authority. Ellen G. White claimed to be, "a lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light." The official SDA Questions on Doctrine (Q.D.) states that, "the Holy Spirit opened to her mind important events and called her to give certain instructions for these last days, and inasmuch as these instructions, in our understanding, are in harmony with the Word of God, which Word alone is able to make us wise unto salvation, we as a denomination accept them as inspired counsels from the Lord" (Q.D., p. 93). (Emphasis added.) Mrs. White claimed to have received more than 3,000 "inspired counsels from the Lord" (i.e., visions) between 1844 and 1868. (From these "visions," she produced over 100,000 handwritten manuscript pages from which were published 54 books!) Therefore, SDAs have a new source of authority in their lives -- according to SDA's dogma, if an SDA does not accept Mrs. White as infallible, they have no salvation!

2. Mankind. Seventh-Day Adventists do not believe that the whole man or any part of him is inherently "immortal" (Q.D., p. 518). SDAs believe in "soul sleep" for the saved (i.e., no conscious existence from the time of death until the resurrection), and annihilation for the wicked (i.e., the body and soul are destroyed at death rather than experiencing everlasting torment). How, then, can one get to heaven?: SDAs believe that one can have immortality only on the condition that he comes to Christ through Ellen G. White; i.e., a works program, following salvation by grace with light of revelation through Ellen G. White as the infallible guide to Holy Scripture, apart from which one cannot have immortality.3 Then, at resurrection day, the body will be re-created (necessary because of soul sleep) for all those who believe in White's guidance and teachings (while non-SDAs will remain in "soul sleep" forever; i.e., will cease to exist [annihilated] and will not suffer everlasting torment).

3. Christ. Mrs. White: "Christ took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature ... Christ took human nature and bore the infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He took our nature and its deteriorating condition" (Q.D., pp. 654-656) (cf. Jn. 14:30). According to SDA, then, Christ acquired a sinful nature! Of course, if this could have been so, there could have been no sinless sacrifice, no hope for sinners, and no Savior.

4. Atonement. "Now, while our great High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ" (E.G. White, The Great Controversy [TGC], 1911, p. 623; TGC has since been retitled and published as America in Prophecy, 1988). SDA teaches that, though saved by grace, we are kept by the Law (i.e., "partial atonement"). Therefore, one must keep Old Testament dietary and ceremonial laws, paying particular attention to keep the Saturday Sabbath and the Ten Commandments, and most importantly, making sure to faithfully pay the tithe.

Even when speaking of being saved by the righteousness of Christ, Adventist writers refer to imparted righteousness, seldom to the Biblical concept of imputed righteousness. Calling it "Christ's righteousness," while insisting on the believer's perfection of character as a prerequisite to salvation, is at worst a thinly veiled works salvation, or at best an attempt to mix grace and works, something the Bible says is impossible to do (Rom. 11:6). Mrs. White's words are crystal clear -- one will not be forgiven until all sins are eradicated from one's life and one's character is perfected. Precisely the same heresy is found (besides many others) in Mormonism. It is not the salvation by grace alone through faith alone offered in the Bible.

5. Baptism. "

[Smalcald]

wow I didn't realize those things about the SDA, those are pretty big problems.