Left Adventism—So What?

KASPARS OZOLINS

Not all “former” Advent-ists and –isms are alike. One might be tempted to assume a similarity, though it doesn’t take much thought to realize that such an assumption is completely unwarranted. While onlooking Adventists and the outside world might treat formers as a monolithic group, when you bother to look even a little bit closer, you will find that there are in fact stark differences. People leave for different reasons. People relate to Adventism in different ways as formers. People end up in different destinations.

For example, after perusing online I found among several former Adventist Facebook groups one called “XSDAs.” It features an LGBTQ flag emblazoned on its avatar and is championing secular and atheistic thinkers (including former Adventists like Ryan Bell). I can assure you that although both I and this group call ourselves “former Adventists,” we share nothing in common (and even our reasons for leaving Adventism are undoubtedly different). 

With that in mind, I’d like to ask a series of questions to you, if you are a “former.”

You say you are a former Adventist, but have you decisively renounced Seventh-day Adventism? You no longer call yourself Adventist, but do you now call yourself a Christian because of particular convictions you hold? You say you have left a false gospel, but have you embraced the true gospel which alone can save? You say you no longer keep the Sabbath, the “seal” of the covenant, but have you been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit? You say you have rejected the Adventist “church,” but do you cling to the body of Christ (both universal and local)? I believe these are vital questions to ask oneself, though too often, sadly, they go unasked. 

Theological pitfalls do not magically disappear the moment one leaves Adventism

Theological pitfalls do not magically disappear the moment one leaves Adventism (and why should we assume they do?). Not all false doctrine is located in the Seventh-day Adventist church. So we are not “out of the woods,” so to speak, as soon as we leave Adventism. Whether we realize it or not, all Christians (including former Adventists) are truly like Pilgrim in The Pilgrim’s Progress. There are dangers in this journey of life on every side. Some we studiously avoid. Others we are aware of, but sadly we are naïve about them. Still others we may even be oblivious to. How are we to cross into that celestial city? Now, before you protest––no, this is not “Steps to Christ.” The call to vigilance and watchfulness is a biblical command: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim 4:16).

Before I list various potential pitfalls facing formers, some perspective is in order. If you have trusted in Christ alone for your salvation, you have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1:13). You have left an apocalyptic cult which instilled fear and perpetual worry in its members. There is real freedom in Jesus Christ, and our status is secure, unshakeable. If you have truly repented of your sins and believed upon God’s precious Son, you have eternal life, now and forever. You have been seated in the heavenly places with your Lord (Eph 2:6), and you cannot be snatched out of his hand (John 10:28). Always keep that perspective in mind, even as you stay vigilant and on guard for the many theological dangers you will have to confront after having left Adventism.

With that stated, here are a couple of challenges specifically for former Seventh-day Adventists that come to mind…

Theological liberalism

Seventh-day Adventism is often carelessly described by outsiders (and sadly even formers who should know better) as a “conservative” denomination. It is emphatically not. Adventists deny the verbal plenary inspiration of the Bible. They are repulsed by the concept of God having any wrath against sin and sinners. They paint Jesus as an example, one whose overcoming enables us to overcome, instead of seeing him as the Bible sees him, “the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.” They obsess over diets and physical health, and twist or misunderstand spiritual matters (almost to the point of resembling new age spirituality). Yet despite all this, for some reason too many formers think that when they leave Adventism, the first thing they need to avoid is anything that smells “conservative.” 

The term “conservative” is an admittedly tricky concept. Sometimes politics can get mixed in.

The term “conservative” is an admittedly tricky concept. Sometimes politics can get mixed in. Furthermore, the ever-present pejorative “fundamentalist,” although overused, can sometimes be apt in describing a kind of rigidity and coldness in religious practice. With that being said, however, biblical Christianity is all about “conserving” a very particular kind of faith and set of doctrines which have been “once for all handed down” (Jude 3). 

We do not innovate theologically, simply because we have found the truth, and the truth is in the person and work of Jesus Christ as the Bible describes it. In that sense, theological liberalism, as commonly understood, has much in common with the various 19th century cults (such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Adventism, and Mormonism). Both kinds of groups innovate theologically, and in so doing, split themselves away from historic Christianity (the term heresy in Greek originally meant a “faction”). In fact, virtually all doctrines espoused by liberals and the cults are simply rehashed versions of ancient heresies that the church rejected long ago.

Hyper-grace theology

Grace is a precious, wonderful term. For the true believer, God’s grace is an inexhaustible fountain that will never cease to flow, either now or in eternity. For that reason, I have some reservations about the term “hyper-grace theology,” used as a description of a particular theological outlook. After all, no superlative could adequately describe God’s multi-faceted grace to us in Christ! Nevertheless, when properly defined, I believe it does capture a particular stance assumed by too many professing believers. This viewpoint exhibits itself in several key ways. One tendency is for its adherents to have a knee-jerk reaction against any call for holiness in the believer (usually involving throwing around the charge of “legalism”). Another is using the law vs. grace paradigm in such a way that one denies the presence of any commands from Christ placed upon the believer. 

Too many former Adventists, upon leaving a movement that had essentially deified the Ten Commandments, fall into the extreme of believing that God has not given new covenant believers any commands to obey.

Too many former Adventists, upon leaving a movement that had essentially deified the Ten Commandments, fall into the extreme of believing that God has not given new covenant believers any commands to obey. In some ways, there has always been a temptation to dismiss this or that portion of Scripture as being irrelevant throughout church history. The ancient heretic Marcion did this, rejecting the entire Old Testament and claiming that the God of the old covenant was evil and utterly different from the God of Jesus Christ. Other less extreme examples also may be found. Some groups have been tempted to view Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as not being relevant to Christians, since it was given prior to the birth of the church in Acts 2. Although Jesus does set up an impossible demand in that famous sermon (“unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees…”), in one sense everything we are called to do in the Christian life is an impossibility apart from the Spirit of God. 

We must be careful to distinguish the sole basis of our justification and salvation––the shed blood of Jesus Christ––from the call to Christian discipleship and a life of holiness. Emphasizing the latter in no way undoes or negates the former. The one who has truly believed upon Jesus Christ has been born again. He or she is a new creature in Christ, with new affections and desires. So when the Bible declares that we ought to strive for holiness “without which no one will see the Lord” it is emphatically not calling for works-righteousness but rather emphasizing the radical nature of the new birth. All those who believe in Jesus now live by the Spirit, and not by the letter, yet they do so in obedience and love for their Savior. Again, not even the least of my good works as a believer gives me any merit before God; nevertheless, those very good works were “prepared by God beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).

Church nomadism 

In leaving Adventism, there is a natural tendency to be suspicious of institutions, organizations, and any kind of church structures. Unfortunately, this suspicion rather naturally dovetails with the modern Western American mindset, which is deeply individualistic and focused on the self. Tragically, many experienced genuine abuse in Seventh-day Adventism, a fact which unfortunately contributes to their suspicion that Christianity and the church is corrupt. Some people, sadly, conclude that all they need is a “personal relationship” with Jesus (without getting into the messiness of the church). Such people overlook or are ignorant of the fact that the true universal church is the actual body of Christ. Furthermore, it is comprised of local congregations which are to be led and ministered to by qualified leadership. The New Testament gives instructions concerning these details and the proper functioning of the church. Not only is it terribly arrogant to overlook all of that teaching, it is not at all spiritually safe for the believer, who cannot function apart from the body (see 1 Corinthians 12). 

...one of the marks of genuine conversion is a love for other fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

In fact, one of the marks of genuine conversion is a love for other fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. First John 3:14 remarkably states: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers.” You cannot claim to love Jesus Christ and overlook or dismiss his bride, the church. Biblical Christianity means being vitally connected to (1) the universal church; all who have put their trust in Jesus Christ, (2) the local church; a local body of believers who are united under the Word of God and exhibit characteristics of a true church, (3) the historic church; the faith that has been handed down since the apostles, upon which it is built (Eph 2:20). The irony, of course, is that the cults that emerged from the “restorationist” movement in the 19th century left their biblical churches and engaged in a project of supposedly “restoring” the purity of the first century church. In “reinventing” Christianity, they ended up abandoning the apostolic faith. They had separated themselves from historic orthodox Christianity and from the teaching of the New Testament. Let that be a warning to those formers who are tempted to dismiss the church.

Theological Fadism

As Adventists, we were part of an organization that twisted or perverted virtually every single major doctrine of historic Christianity. But beyond even that, Seventh-day Adventism indulges in various theological preoccupations which are not the main thing in Christianity. This is no less serious an error than outright false doctrine. One can focus on many things, even good things that are found in the Bible, but if the gospel is not front and center of our Christian life and doctrine, we have completely missed the main point of Christianity. According to the apostle Paul, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (along with their many implications) is of “first importance” (1 Cor 15:3). Yet despite this fact, Adventism dwells upon the observance of days and food laws (Gal 4:10), indulges in fanciful eschatological speculations arising from false prophets (Mark 14:21–23), and is preoccupied with angels and extra-biblical visions (Col 2:18). It’s amazing how prescient the New Testament was about false movements like Adventism!

Unfortunately, theological fads are not exclusive to Adventism but can even exist to lesser degrees in genuine Christian denominations and churches. A perennial example is eschatology. Although we are to strive to understand and comprehend as much as we can about what God’s Word reveals to us about the end times, we can also get carried away by these things to the point that they almost seem to replace the gospel as our main preoccupation. If we’re not careful, such things can become obsessions in and of themselves, leading to needless bickering and debating between believers. Again, the search for knowledge in all of Scripture is an important pursuit, but it is far too easy to become unbalanced in this area.

…we must always keep in mind that Christianity involves the holding together of several deeply profound mysteries

Another example is the way in which many people get carried away by theological systems or various schools of theology. While systematic theology is vital (don’t ever let anyone make you think it is some kind of dirty word), we must always keep in mind that Christianity involves the holding together of several deeply profound mysteries (e.g., the Trinity, the incarnation, sovereignty and freedom). If we attempt to rationally resolve such tensions, we may end up going the route of the cults or of theological liberalism (both of which run rough-shod over multi-faceted theological picture that the Bible paints). Take God’s sovereignty, for example. On the one hand, we can become obsessed with God’s decrees and his secret will, to the point that we either ignore or minimize the way in which the Bible treats human decisions as genuine and consequential. On the other hand, others can become so attached to man’s freedom to choose that they end up seriously undermining the way the Bible portrays God’s absolute sovereignty (often in ways very shocking to modern secular ears). 

Doctrinal instability

Related to the above is what I have termed “doctrinal instability.” Upon leaving Adventism, it seems many formers enter into a kind of theological “Wild West” where loyalties and sides are constantly being changed. There can be a tendency to treat the many perspectives within Christendom as a kind of “theological buffet” with which one experiments to no end. In part I think this dabbling may be due to a restless spirit which is never satisfied with a theological system. Ultimately, the dabbler may reach the point of abandoning classic Christianity wholesale because of some inconsistency or oddity he encounters. Former Adventists can swing among all kinds of eschatological systems, for example, from amillennialism, to postmillennialism, to preterism, and so on. They often also have a desire to dabble with many denominations, finding a kind of exotic attraction to Roman Catholicism, or especially to Eastern Orthodoxy. 

I don’t believe such instability is safe for a Christian. For one thing, we ought to vigorously examine what exactly we plan to leap toward, before we take that step. It may be that the destination we select is not safe and may, in fact, lead to other avenues that are less biblical. As with the other categories, caveats are in order here. It is not inherently wrong to change one’s theological convictions in an area after sincere Bible study. But if you find yourself constantly changing camps, you should likely pause and consider why you are changing so often. A prominent example of one such former Adventist is Robert Brinsmead, who moved about from one theological system to another, before he finally abandoned Christianity altogether in the 1990s (For a fascinating read, see Martin Carey’s essay “Judged by the Gospel—The progression of Brinsmead’s Awakening“:

I’m not saying that apostasy is necessarily the destination of every individual who tends to jump around theologically, but it is nevertheless a valid and genuine concern.

A final note of encouragement

I don’t want to end on a negative note, so I’ll conclude with this encouragement. It is important and right to leave Seventh-day Adventism, but only for the right reasons. Leave for the gospel! And after you have left, remember why you left and continue to earnestly ask your heavenly Father to guide you in your new life as a believer. Remember that in running this race of life, you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:1–2). Following Jesus out of Adventism is worth everything. Knowing and loving the one who shed his own blood for us is the entire reason for Christianity. Along with Paul, it is my prayer that God…

…grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith––that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16–19).

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Kaspars Ozolins

Kaspars Ozolins was born in Latvia to an Adventist family. They moved to Los Angeles where Kaspars attended Adventist elementary and high schools in Glendale, California, and his father was an Adventist pastor. He met Ieva, his wife, while studying in Latvia before pursuing a doctorate at UCLA in historical linguistics. After Kaspars completed an M. Div. at The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, California, he served as a research associate at Tyndale House in Old Testament and the Ancient Near East. He is now on the faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as Assistant Professor of Old Testament Interpretation.

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