What Should I Say To a Person Studying Adventism?
I’m wondering if you can tell me what to say/share with a person who has been looking into, reading, and sharing Adventist materials with me. (He was raised in a Christian home, was Wisconsin synod Lutheran for 50+ years of his life and raised his family in that faith.) I don’t know what caused him to dig into Adventism; I just know that he has been studying it for the last 2-plus years and is convinced the teachings are spot on.
At first, when he shared, I was intrigued because the Bible study materials were so deep and explained things so thoroughly. But I just couldn’t/can’t get on board with “the Sabbath,” because of what I know from my Christian upbringing.
Also, is there something beyond “Christ fulfilled the law”? When I said that to him, he asked, “Do you know what that means? Do you know what He really fulfilled of the law?” (Our conversation was interrupted at that point. But, I know the next time I see him it will resume.)
If you could tell me which of your podcast episodes to listen to (first) so that I can learn and know what I need to share with him. Or maybe which podcast(s) of yours I should share with him.
Thank you for time and assistance.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing! You have a difficult situation in front of you. First, what underlies the Adventist arguments is the Adventist worldview. Adventism does not teach the biblical covenants but insists that there is only one covenant expressed in different ways throughout time. It insists that the Ten Commandments are eternal, and that they still apply to everyone everywhere today. They do not teach that Jesus completed the atonement at the cross but that He only began His work and continues it in heaven today in the supposed “investigative judgment”.
Further, they teach that humans do not have immaterial spirits separate from their bodies that are born dead in sin and must be born again. This belief leads to their doctrine that when we die, we die like animals, that God retains our memory in His memory, our bodies go into the grave, and when He resurrects us, He essentially downloads the memory of us into new bodies. This belief is also linked to the belief that God is somehow corporeal, that He has a body. They deny that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit share SUBSTANCE, thus they have the “godhead” and what their prophetess called “the Heavenly Trio” or the Three Worthies of Heaven.
Here is a link to an article that will help you understand this worldview: What Is Seventh-day Adventism?
I suggest that you listen to our podcasts on the biblical covenants; they begin with number 26 and include numbers 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, and then the series on the book of Hebrews that succeeds the covenants series. Also, listening to our series on the Adventist 28 Fundamental Beliefs would be helpful: https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/2021/10/04/inspecting-adventisms-fundamental-beliefs/
Hebrews 10:1 and Colossians 2:16, 17 clearly say that the law was shadows pointing to Christ. Adventists will edit the biblical statement that Jesus fulfilled the law and attempt to explain the specific “parts” of the law He fulfilled. Yet Jesus was clear that He came to “fulfill the law”. Furthermore, He said that He was greater than the temple—everything that the temple contained and represented is realized in the person of Christ, and that includes the entire law. Adventism is experienced at redefining the words of Scripture and saying what they want the Bible to mean. Here are a couple of videos that should be helpful to you:
Although we are not currently publishing a printed version of Proclamation! magazine, all our back issues are online here: https://www.lifeassuranceministries.org/
We have also added your name to our weekly Proclamation! email updates. You may need to add the email address LifeAssuranceMinistries@gmail.com to your contacts in order for the email not to be directed toward your Spam folder. These emails will arrive every Friday. Archived articles are available at ProclamationMagazine.com.
You might also enjoy our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/FormerAdventist/featured
Also, you might like to subscribe to our podcasts here; many say these help them unpack the Adventism hidden in the recesses of their minds: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/former-adventist/id1482887969
Please feel free to email anytime! We are happy to help in any way we can.
Help With Exit Letter
I was hoping for some help in writing a letter to my SDA church requesting a drop in membership.
I am ready to make the final decision. It’s a birthday present to myself! Listening to the podcasts and other ministers such as John MacArthur, I feel convicted to leave the SDA faith. My husband and I both feel this is important to do.
Short and brief. Thank you for your time.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Praise God!! This is such good news!
We have seen many types of exit letters, and we personally favor “short and sweet”. Some people find this an opportunity to state their theological reasons, and that is a really good exercise for the letter writer. It organizes and articulates what they have come to believe, and it’s a really good experience personally.
Yet the Adventist Church will not really benefit from your sharing all your reasons. They may not read it carefully, or they may read it and feel compelled to argue—or to ignore your reasons and perhaps equip their members to deal with the arguments from their perspective.
When we left, we simply wrote to the local church (that is how membership has to be handled; it is held at the local level, and the organization will not even consider your request “official” if you do not write to the local church: the pastors and elders) and stated that we wished to have our names removed from membership and to please let us know that they acted on our request.
We did not articulate our reasons, but we did send a CC to the local conference office. Email is official correspondence and carries a time and date stamp, so emailing the local church and CC’ing the conference office is effective.
You can simply state that you wish to have your membership removed, and it won’t hurt to state that you no longer believe Seventh-day Adventism to represent the biblical gospel, and you are leaving. They may or may not try to contact you to have a meeting—but you do not have to meet with them. In fact, if they do reach out, our general recommendation is not to meet; they are skilled at “unfair” argumentation that drives one into a corner and generates all the old guilt.
Our general recommendation is that you consider this exit letter to be correspondence with an organization that is deceptive to the core, and thus be brief and direct with a minimum of information and do not engage in ongoing conversation with the pastors or elders. And as I said, request confirmation that they have acted on your request.
Many churches ignore these requests and do not take action, and thus another request needs to be sent. I would not let the matter go; they have an obligation to deal with your request.
All to say, from our perspective, short and sweet and very direct is the best way to go.
There really is no “wrong” way to write this letter, and you can discuss this together and pray that the Lord will give you His wisdom and words. All to say, though, you do not need to say a lot. Sometimes “less is more” and keeps things clear without the obfuscation of their attempts to have discussions. They may still ask you why you are leaving, but again—I would not meet with them, and I would simply state my request again.
I Didn’t Know There Were Others Like Me
I just found your podcast last week, and I have to say, you guys are amazing!
I just finished episodes two and three and I am sitting here at work crying. I didn’t know there were others that felt like me, and I am so happy to know there are.
Keep up the great work, and thank you for being there.
—VIA EMAIL
- Should We Leave the “Isms”? - May 9, 2024
- May 11–17 - May 9, 2024
- We Got Mail - May 9, 2024