JUNE 1–8 COMMENTARY

“Little Times of Trouble”—Lesson 10

By Jeanie Jura

This week’s lesson sets out to instruct us in how to avoid and handle conflict. As such, it is a fairly good counseling session, but it falls short of being a good Bible study.

For example, in Sunday’s lesson, Romans 14:19 is used to show how to “avoid conflict”. The true irony of using this text is that it is taken out of context—that of Paul’s teaching that we are not to judge people for what they eat or the day they choose for worship. To have included the context would be to take the legs out from under two of the major Adventist doctrines—that salvation depends on the day of worship and on what you eat—so it is ignored, and one verse, wildly out of context, is used to prop up this week’s theme.

In fact, the theme of Romans 14 is not that of “avoiding conflict” but rather that of our freedom in Christ. Paul clearly points out that there is no relevance to salvation in the day one worships or does not worship or in the food one eats. The summation of his argument is that we are to avoid putting an obstacle in another’s path by our choices and to not judge others for their choices.

Obviously, not judging others will help cut down on conflict, but the lesson ignores the larger context which says clearly that those things are not important to one who is in Christ.

This would have been a good place to put Jesus’ own words about how to treat others—for instance, Mark 12:28-33 where He says that we are to love God and love our fellow man. (Of course to refer to this text would be to include the last part of verse 33: “There is no other commandment greater than these.” Since that would include the 4th commandment it obviously couldn’t be used here!)

Some Principles for Marriage

Monday’s lesson starts out with a typical Adventist misdirect by saying:

Marriage, like the Sabbath, is a gift of God to humanity that goes back to Eden. And, as Seventh-day Adventists, we know what the enemy of souls has done, and is still doing, to both the Sabbath and to marriage.

As is typical, this is stated as fact, and without relevance, without any Biblical support at all. This uses the classic ploy of inserting something extra Biblical—requiring the Sabbath for Christians—into something that is Biblical—marriage—to give it weight and legitimacy. It assumes something to be true, knowing that the average member in the pew won’t even think it through but rather will just agree.

The paragraph would be true and powerful if it referred just to marriage. It is very clear that the enemy—the devil—is working hard to tear down marriage and is becoming increasingly successful, even within the church. Adding the Sabbath is irrelevant and totally off-topic and it is inserted there just to give it support.

Then we turn to forgiveness. Using Ephesians 1:7 is a curious choice here. It isn’t talking about our forgiving others, only God’s forgiveness of our trespasses. Of course, that’s a good basis for passing on that forgiveness to others so it isn’t too much of a stretch.
But what caught my eye is this sentence in the first paragraph following that text:

True forgiveness is forgiving those who don’t warrant it, the way the Lord forgives us through Christ.

This sounds good and is, in fact, true. But if you look deeper into Adventist beliefs you will see the insidious, painful idea behind the Lord’s “forgiveness” of us.

In Adventist belief, at the moment of conversion, we are forgiven for all our sins up to that moment. From then on, each time we sin, we are lost and must confess that sin and ask forgiveness, or risk eternal loss. This will bring us back into the state of being saved—until the next sin. Without any understanding of, or belief in, the Biblical teaching that we are born spiritually dead, the whole understanding of “saved” and “lost” is put entirely into the physical realm and based entirely on our behavior.

1 John 1:9 clearly tells us that we must confess our sins and that when we do, God forgives them. But Adventist doctrine overlooks two crucial elements of this. First, at the moment of coming to Christ, all our sins—past and future—are forgiven, as they were paid for on the cross long before any of us were born. Second, sinning does not throw us out of Christ and back into the flesh; rather, as God is totally Holy, He cannot abide in the presence of sin so it puts us out of fellowship with Him. That takes us out of His protection and can open us up to the attacks of the devil. Simply confessing, with true repentance, restores that relationship. Our position in Christ is permanent and unchanging, it is just the relationship that is harmed by the presence of sin.

On a side note, the ending of that paragraph is jolting: “Otherwise, our marriage, if it survives (which isn’t likely), will seem like purgatory.” This a truly bizarre statement to find in an SDA lesson!

First of all, Adventist beliefs deny the existence of purgatory, and second, those beliefs also roundly condemn the Catholic Church for their belief in purgatory. So why use something in which you don’t believe as an illustration of anything? Particularly when you believe that the source of that idea is the work of the devil?

Then we come to the reference to Romans 3:23 which we all learned:

…for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God

It’s too bad the author didn’t take that partial verse and put it into context. Let’s back up and read the complete thought starting with verse 21:

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Notice that it is apart from the Law, not through the Law that the righteousness of God has been manifested. Once again, a part of a text is taken out of context to support the lesson when the entire verse, if taken in context, would have destroyed other closely held Adventist beliefs. This is in no way “rightly handling” the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).

Tuesday: The Role of Anger in Conflict

This lesson presents a fairly good commentary on anger and its effect on us and our relationships.

Wednesday: Conflict, Abuse, Power, and Control

This lesson was good, as far as it went. What it left out is the often-overlooked fact that men can also be the victims of domestic abuse. In our society it is difficult, often impossible, for them to admit that it happens. To put this entirely in terms of women being abused is to miss a good opportunity to extend hope to the men who may be in the same situation.

Thursday: Forgiveness and Peace

This lesson was mostly good but there is a troubling sentence in the quote from EGW.

We are not forgiven because we forgive, but as we forgive.

Given the SDA understanding of forgiveness, this sentence seems to be saying that God forgives us only when—and how—we forgive others.

In terms of our relationship with God or our fellow man, sin disturbs any relationship and needs to be made right. But I know from my own history with Adventist beliefs that that is not the deeper meaning. It is usually put in terms of salvation—as if, when we don’t forgive others, God will “unforgive” us and remove our salvation. Then, we have to confess and be re-saved.

This sentence is one of those subtle, destructive, hopeless lies we all believed at one time.
The end of the EGW quote enforces that by quoting what Jesus said in Matthew 7:2 ‘With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.’

When read in context, we see that Jesus was not addressing forgiveness, but He was talking about not judging others. But when she put Matthew 7:2 into the context of forgiveness, suddenly it is saying that we won’t be forgiven (in context, saved) unless we forgive others.

Once again, our salvation is based on our behavior, at least in part, rather than entirely on what God did for us. This comes from the misunderstanding of the difference between our position in Christ—saved —and our relationship—our daily walk—with Christ.

Friday: Further Study

This lesson had a couple of good points. But I would like to expand on what is said in it.

Inconsistency in dealing with children can cause anger in the strong-willed child. At the same time, the timid child can be taught to distrust his or her own thoughts and feelings and ability to make decisions —never knowing what reaction will come. It leads to loss of confidence and to a feeling of hopelessness.

But read the last sentence of that quote:

“Thus are sown seeds of evil that spring up and bear fruit.”

This statement seems to ignore the Biblically sound understanding of sin and evil. The “seeds” of evil are already in all of us. We were all born spiritually dead and in the realm of sin, objects of wrath and without any good on our own. While mistreatment by others can stir up feelings and behaviors that are sinful, sin itself does not come into us because of the behavior of others. It is always there in our very nature. Romans 7:14–22 explains:

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.

So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

No one can deny that Paul clearly understood sin and its effects on all of us, starting with himself. This fact is clear in his anguished cry in verse 24 of that same chapter. He understood that no matter how much we may want to do good, our sin nature intrudes and makes it very difficult, in fact impossible under our own strength. In the forgiven, saved person, that sin nature will always be present until we are given our renewed bodies and our sin nature is changed forever. But Paul’s heartfelt message in Romans 7 is that it is the sin nature that prevails even in the forgiven person.

The following quote, however, drives home the idea that it is Satan that puts the evil in us:

That which Satan plants in the heart…

Again, this phrase reveals EGW’s serious misunderstanding of our sin nature and our spirit which is dead—separated from God—from the moment of our conception.

In the final questions Friday’s lesson, in the quote from the book on marriage, there is another subtle “Adventist-ism” that seriously downplays Jesus and His purpose in becoming human:

Just as Christ put Himself in our situation, to best relate to us, we should do the same with our marriage partner.

If one accepts Adventist beliefs, including the one that says Jesus came just to be our example and show us how to become perfect by perfectly keeping the Law, that quote above would make sense.

But that belief takes all the power out of His atoning work and puts the responsibility back on us to become as perfect as He was. What a hopeless, demoralizing weight of guilt as we know that we can never measure up. We know we can’t save ourselves, but if we think He came only to show us how to be perfect, it’s no wonder that so many give up in despair.

To sum up: there are quite a few good ideas and suggestions for mending and keeping relationships in this week’s lesson, but the whole lesson is infested with the often hidden, usually destructive, and mostly un-Biblical “Adventist-isms” that rob the gospel of it’s love and hope and turn it around to become a matter of our behavior, not of Christ’s free gift of atonement with Him.