RICHARD FOSTER
It is not uncommon to recognize certain problems with Adventist teaching and yet remain in Adventism anyway. There are multiple reasons why a person who recognizes problems within Adventist theology might end up being reluctant to leave. Oftentimes it is tied to comfort and familiarity. People who have grown up in Adventism, and have known nothing else, are reluctant to step away from all they have ever known and venture into the unknown. Still another reason for reluctance to leave might be family or friendship ties. A person’s family or friends may all be within Adventism, and a desire to avoid disappointing them, or a desire to avoid undermining fellowship opportunities with them—even a concern that certain relationships might be severed by leaving Adventism—can all play a part in a person’s reluctance to leave.
A third reason for a reluctance to leave Adventism might be that while the person rejects certain Adventist doctrines, they might still be really comfortable with a few of them and uncomfortable with the doctrines of Biblical Christianity on the same subjects. It is common to recognize the problematic nature of the investigative judgment, Ellen White as a prophet, the sabbath as the seal of God, diet being tied to salvation, and so forth, and yet still be wanting to keep Adventist doctrines such as the seventh-day Sabbath, the state of the dead, or annihilation of the lost.
Are these sufficient reasons to stay within Adventism? Is it ever the right decision to stay over these reasons that might make you very tempted to just continue on in Adventism, without bringing on any of the difficulties associated with leaving?
As one who has made the difficult—and potentially risky—decision to leave Adventism after many years within it, here are the reasons why I believe that leaving Adventism is always the better choice than staying.
1. Remaining in our perceived comfort zone is not what God calls us to do as faithful Christians.
The teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on this point in unambiguous. He tells us:
“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:38-39 NKJV).
Notice that Jesus teaches that following Him involves taking up a cross. By the nature of carrying a cross, we know that this will involve great difficulties at times. It might mean that bringing certain hardships upon ourselves for the sake of Christ our master may be inevitable. More specifically, Jesus says that he who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for His sake will find it. In the scenario of leaving Adventism, here is what the teaching means: you will lose the life you have known within Adventism. The life that has felt comfortable to you, normal to you—in many ways and at many times, you will lose that life if you leave Adventism.
Yes, you will have to go through the difficult season of loosing the life you have known as an Adventist, but you will find a life that’s much better in the long run, the life you are given from Christ.
Yet Jesus says if you lose your life for His sake, you will find it. Yes, you will have to go through the difficult season of loosing the life you have known as an Adventist, but you will find a life that’s much better in the long run, the life you are given from Christ. For the sake of new life in Christ, you must leave Adventism. For the sake of faithfulness to Him and what He teaches us, you must take up the cross of leaving your perceived Adventist comfort zone behind and finding the place where the real Jesus is worshipped and loved.
2. Remaining because of family or friendship peace and relationships, is not what God calls us to do either.
From Matthew 10 once again, Jesus says:
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:34-37 NKJV).
As God in the flesh, our Lord Jesus knew what being faithful to Him could potentially mean for family relationships. He didn’t leave us to be torn over the right decision on this issue, but He straight up told us that to love Him, to be faithful to Him, may involve harsh family divisions. The opposition to the true gospel of Christ which exists in the minds of most Adventists (and in the world in general), means that one’s embrace of the gospel and one’s willingness to stand for the gospel, will mean that you automatically wind up having the opposers of the gospel as your enemies—and, sadly, those enemies may end up being family or friends! But Jesus is clear, we must love Him more! Jesus is worth it! The true gospel is worth it!
Remember that even if there are divisions resulting between you and your Adventist family, that you are part of the family of God now. As one in union with Christ, you are a son or a daughter of God, a joint heir with God’s perfect Son, Jesus Christ. God is truly your Father, and all Christians are truly brothers and sisters.
3. A belief that a few Adventist doctrines might be right is no reason to stay within Adventism.
When I was in the process of leaving Adventism the Lord really helped me to realize this issue in its proper perspective. I realized that Adventism could be right about everything else, but if they got the gospel wrong, nothing else mattered. The gospel is the key and central pillar doctrine of Christianity. Without the gospel everything else is meaningless. Even if Adventism got the Sabbath right, the state of the dead right, annihilation of the lost right, certain prophetic interpretations right, even if they got all those things right, it would not matter one bit if they are wrong about the gospel. And to make matters worse, Adventism is not just wrong about the gospel, but very closely related to the gospel is the nature of Christ and the nature of God, which not surprisingly Adventism also messes up greatly.
So the fact is that there is the Adventist way of salvation, which is faith plus keeping the Sabbath and Adventist standards perfectly, and confessing every individual infraction if there is a slip, in hopes that one’s name won’t be blotted out in the investigative judgment. But in addition to all these, there is the Adventist Jesus who, according to Ellen White, came at the risk of failure and eternal ruin.
…Jesus the God-man was fallible according to Adventism. This is both blasphemous and heretical thinking.
In other words, Jesus the God-man was fallible according to Adventism. This is both blasphemous and heretical thinking. In addition to this, Ellen White stated in Patriarchs and Prophets p. 357 that the blood of Christ did not cancel sin. This idea is completely contrary to what the Scripture says the real Christ did, which was to make propitiation through His blood (Romans3:25).
And lest we wonder exactly what propitiation is, the Greek word in Romans 3:25 is taken by Paul from Leviticus 16 in the Septuagint, and there the word speaks of what will be known to us as the mercy seat, the top cover of the ark which the high priest sprinkled the blood of sacrifice over on the day of atonement. In other words, what happened on the day of atonement in the Old Testament, happened with the shedding of Christ’s blood on Calvary, which was the removal and cancellation of sin. As a Christian friend recently said when I was explaining to him the investigative judgment, and what the Adventist Jesus is doing in the sanctuary, “That’s not the Jesus I know.”
Summary
How can we stay as part of a group that distorts the person and work of Lord Jesus so terribly? Is it not terribly disrespectful to our Lord if we stay part of a group that has doctrine which is blasphemous, heretical, idolatrous, and just plain contrary to Scripture? How can we stay as part of a group that distorts the way of salvation so badly, adding Sabbath-keeping, dietary laws, and other such things as stuff that must be done, lest a person lose salvation? If we have come to know the Biblical Jesus and the Biblical gospel, we cannot possibly abide these things in the least!
While the prospect of having to renounce Adventism can be disturbing and daunting, know that for those of us who have done it out of loyalty to Jesus Christ and the one true gospel there are zero regrets in having taken this step! And this is the key kicker: we do not call people to leave Adventism for nothing, just to drift aimlessly. No, not at all. The call presented in this article is to leave Adventism for Jesus Christ!
Leave Adventism for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, for the sake of His one true saving gospel!
Leave Adventism for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, for the sake of His one true saving gospel! Disentangle yourself from Adventism or any other group that undermines the person and work of Jesus Christ with their unbiblical doctrines, and worship with a church that exalts the true Christ and the true gospel! Find a gospel well where you can drink deeply of the water of life through worship together with the saints, hearing God’s word preached and exegeted properly, and participating in true Christian celebration of the Lord’s supper and baptism. I guarantee you that taking such a step will not only be honoring to Christ, but it will have a positive impact on your life and spiritual wellbeing beyond what you can imagine! †
- A Gospel Appeal for Adventists - July 18, 2024
- Adventism and the Sufficiency of Scripture - May 23, 2024
- Do I Need To Be Perfect? - March 28, 2024
I think you are stretching things a bit when you say the meaning of Jesus words regarding finding and losing one’s life means the old life one leaves when leaving the Adventist Church. The greek word here is “psuche” which speaks to one’s essence, soul, spirit, and breath. If one’s beliefs, what he has been taught from childhood as an Adventist, constitutes his soul then I can see your point. The Adventist physicalist orientation would agree because they do not recognize the existence of a spirit. But if our lives are more than our beliefs, correct or incorrect, then your premise is false. If a child who has not been taught anything religious yet in his life does not have psuche, then God has not yet bestowed life on him.
I think the inability to change one’s beliefs is a human trait for most people. That’s why when we former Adventists attempt to reason with our Adventist brethren so many are not capable of processing the information. They stubbornly hold to their beliefs because their psychological comfort is threatened. As you have rightly pointed out the pressure from friends and family to hold on to those beliefs is strong. Like some professionals who stop learning new things after they graduate from school some people ignore new information and are stuck in their comfort zone. If you ask an Adventist if he has learned all there is to know about God and the Gospel he will quote his oracle EGW or the editors of the book Adventists Believe. His attendance in church and his indoctrination with the Sabbath school lessons reinforce his beliefs. The longer these beliefs are held the harder they are to change. The bigger question for me is whether God considers our lives to be the sum total of our beliefs and prejudices or is our life something more basic and essential than what has been put in our minds.