Seventh-day adventist theology

"If our church doesn't get more young people soon, we're going to die," blurted the head deaconess during my pastoral interview. I looked around the room at the dedicated group of 60- and 70-year-old church leaders. I respected their openness about the reality in their church (and many other churches in North America).

When you don't have many, or any, young adults in your church, what do you do?

Here are four things that ANYONE in ANY CHURCH can do to activate young adults in your church whether you don't have many or any.

A society cannot live without laws, laws that protect the weakest from the arrogance of the strongest. Laws that help to regulate the lives of citizens and that set limits to the rights of some so that they do not invade the rights of others. Laws also establish the duties of citizens, who must understand that the fulfillment of duties goes before the demand for rights.

The observer of nature can clearly perceive the existence of laws that scientists over the years have been discovering. From the ease of understanding the law of gravity to the complexity of doing so with the laws of heredity, the human genome, and many others, we can draw the conclusion that nature is governed by laws.

It is interesting to note that those who willingly accept the laws of automobile circulation on the road or in the city, with its regulations and prohibitions (traffic lights, speed limits, the direction of circulation) think that there should not be moral laws for our society to function well and that everyone can do what they like in this respect.

Let us analyze the relationship of God's Law with the plan of salvation and sin.

When Sojourner Truth phrased her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech, she demonstrated that theology can be radically transformed when the gospel story is taken literally, and seriously, in the mind of a despised woman. With boldness, she confronted a clergyman who argued for the natural marginalization of women, based on biblical principles. The courage to confront her male rival is only outdone by the power of her re-interpretation of the gospel.

Arguments made for and against affirming same-sex marriage in Christian communities rely on typical moral background precon-ceptions about immanent and transcendent goods identified by Charles Taylor in A Secular Age. Arguments made only in terms of marriage's immanent goods have the potential to diminish the plausibility of a uniquely Adventist way of imagining the transcen-dent good: apocalyptic consciousness focused on the imminent-immanent restoration of Eden by Jesus Christ following the second coming. Comparing marriage to divergent sets of Sabbath-keeping practices-those that provide benefits exclusive to this world and those that aim at goods beyond this world-foregrounds the availability of a moral background for Seventh-day Adventist ethics that is closed to transcendent goods. However, practices that entail giving up immanent goods for the transcendent good of Eden-restored can be authentically sustained through communal recognition. Advent-ism should develop such practices of recognition both to alleviate losses incurred by gay, lesbian, and bisexual Adventists who make sacrifices for traditional marriage as a transcendent good and to reinforce the fuller sense of meaning found in self-denial for the sake of the soon-coming Savior.

In order to map out the extent to which the interplay between professional creationist and anti-creationist organizations in the United States determines the state of the creation/evolution debates, I shall proceed in three steps. First, I will present an example that characterizes the way in which professional creationism works in the United States. Second, I will review some key aspects of the history of professional creationism and anti-creationism in America. Third, I will present a sociological model that helps explain why creationism in the United States has developed in the way it has. This model is based upon the theory of social fields as developed by Pierre Bourdieu. Its main function is to make visible the way in which professional creationists and anti-creationists are attuned to each other with regard to their arguments, strategies, and the concepts they apply to Interpret their own actions and those of their opponents.

A igreja já aprendeu a ir para a rua. Agora precisamos aprender a entrar na sociedade. Como? Oferecendo serviços relevantes às comunidades ao redor das nossas igrejas e instituições. Para fazermos isso, provavelmente precisaremos utilizar a internet, pois atualmente esta é a ferramenta mais usada para manter comunicação direta com as pessoas, onde quer que elas estejam. Não vamos abandonar os métodos evangelísticos que temos utilizado até aqui. Ao contrário, vamos utilizá-los ainda mais à medida que aplicarmos esta nova abordagem. O objetivo deste artigo é oferecer uma proposta de como esse processo pode ser desenvolvido.

Aucun livre n’a été un sujet de conversation, de controverse, de respect et de persécution comme la Bible. Beaucoup ont sacrifié leur vie pour elle. D’autres ont consacré le leur à son service et à sa conservation. Nous ne trouverons jamais un autre livre comme la Bible, ni avec une histoire semblable. Des réformes énormes ont été alimentées par la Bible, des empires sont tombés, et malheureusement de fausses interprétations ont été faites à la demande, cédant à l’abus, créant de fausses théologies comme la théologie de la libération, la théologie féministe, le capitalisme, même le marxisme était enraciné en quelque sorte dans Bible.

This document is made available for those interested in Ellen G. White’s literary process. The document was compiled during the course of study of the Life of Christ Research Project, conducted from 1980 to 1988. The document was given to the publisher, Kevin L. Morgan, M.A., by Dr. Veltman’s secretary, E. Marcella Anderson King. Referencing has been updated and it has been marked for materials that coincide with the EGW biographies, the Fannie Bolton Story, and Exhibits Relating to the Writing of The Desire of Ages. Highlighting marks points that were of interest to the publisher.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus does not use the word “generation” primarily as an indication of a time period, but rather in a wider meaning. Similar usage can be often found in the NT has well as in the OT. Both expressions can have a qualitative meaning and describe a race, group, or type of people. Consequently, “this generation” can denote a people sharing a common characteristic throughout history.
Further, Jesus always used the expression “this generation” in a negative sense (such as adulterous, wicked, perverse or sinful “generation”) to describe those who, despite their pious  appearance,  clearly  opposed  God,  his  will  and  his  followers –  those  who  persecuted them and even killed them. In their blindness, they refused all of the ways God tried to reach them. People with this attitude will always exist. Therefore Jesus’ disciples should not be surprised by their hostility; they ought to endure “until all these things have happened”. However, “this generation” is not eternal, and when Jesus comes again, it will “pass away”.

Desde o tempo dos pioneiros adventistas do sétimo dia, o estudo do livro de Apocalipse tem sido de suma importância. A defesa da doutrina do sábado, do quarto mandamento, em relação às grandes questões do tempo do fim, depende da maneira como se entendem algumas das visões de João. Para os adventistas, haverá um tempo em que os habitantes da Terra terão de escolher entre adorar o Deus criador em conexão com o dia de sábado ou a besta e sua contrafação do dia do Senhor. Porém, a identificação do sábado no Apocalipse é um desafio uma vez que a palavra “sábado” não ocorre no livro (PAULIEN, 2012, p. 25).
O presente capítulo analisa a alusão ao sábado em Apocalipse 12-14 por meio da intertextualidade com a narrativa da criação em Gênesis. Essa alusão já tem sido desenvolvida por Paulien (1988, 2012). Para ele, os paralelos verbais, temáticos e estruturais indicam uma possível intenção do autor do Apocalipse em aludir ao relato da criação. O objetivo do estudo é certificar se há bases textuais e linguísticas para a afirmação que Apocalipse 12-14 alude ao relato da criação de Gênesis e consequentemente ao sábado como seu memorial no tempo.

From the Editors' Introduction (xxix-xxx):

"In chapter 21, 'The Three Angels’ Messages as the Teleological Principle of the Adventist Theological System,' Dan-Adrian Petre argues that Adventist theology is based on a historicist understanding  of the apocalyptic prophecies. Petre offers an overview of the Adventist  theological system and its cognitive, hermeneutical, and methodological  principles. He introduces the three angels’ messages as the teleological principle and discusses the doctrinal development and theological content of the three angels' messages. He emphasizes the eschatological interconnectedness that reinforces the teleological character of the three angels' messages."

Lucille Spence Byard is one of the most pivotal figures in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Her rejection for medical treatment due to her race at an Adventist sanitarium on the Maryland-Washington, D.C., border in 1943 was the major catalyst for the formation of regional conferences, or Black-administered governance units, within the North American administrative structure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. However, almost since the day Lucy Byard was refused treatment, the major details of the event have been subject to the whim of the teller, and variant versions have become embedded in church lore. What has been particularly problematic, though, is that historians have not made the effort to explore what actually happened to Byard, which would require bypassing the entrenched legends and consulting primary sources. This article reconstructs the Byard event from primary sources, allowing the participants in the event, especially those of color, to be heard. What finally emerges is Lucy Byard the person-much more than just an icon of tragedy-whose last days sparked the most effective grassroots movement in Adventist history.

Given the emphasis on orthodoxy in early Christianity, it appears to go un-noticed that the real heresy of the patristic age was rooted in the linguistic practice of making apologies. Constraint on the use of argument, as understood from the Pauline corpus, framed crucial restrictions in forming Christian communities. The twentieth-century linguistic turn in philosophy prof-fers a warning to Christian philosophical societies about the need to ponder the practice of argumentation in their communities. I revisit key figures, i. e., Paul van Buren, J. L. Austin, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, who leave Christian philosophers with additional tools to dissolve the dilemma of a Christian's call to be a faithful witness and the Christian constraint on linguistic practices of argument.

Os norte-americanos têm obsessão pelo estudo de gerações. Em geral, as gerações são identificadas por determinados acontecimentos políticos ou culturais. Com a revolução digital, seria de se esperar que surgisse uma nova geração de pessoas, adeptas da conexão, da interatividade e que aproveitasse os privilégios das últimas tecnologias. Pois essa é a Geração Y, tema de documentários, artigos e reportagens. Por que é importante saber sobre a Geração Y? Jesus afirmou que Seus discípulos teriam o desafio de pregar a todo o mundo (Mt 28:19, 20), o que significa pregar a mesma verdade, mas não da mesma forma! Aí entra o problema: indivíduos da Geração Y possuem a mentalidade pós-moderna, a qual não admite verdades absolutas e estão abertos ao experimentalismo próprio de uma época em que não faltam opções de crenças para o consumo. Como atingi-los com o evangelho eterno (Ap 14:6, 7)? Como os cristãos, em geral, e os adventistas, em particular, podem manter sua identidade no mundo contemporâneo?

Via de regra, livros que respondem a esse tipo de pergunta são lançados em inglês e demoram anos até ser traduzidos (quando são!), chegando à língua portuguesa com muitas defasagens. Entretanto, apesar de ser algo novo falar sobre Geração Y, o livro Explosão Y: Adventismo, pós-modernidade e gerações emergentes tornou-se o primeiro livro sobre evangelismo de gerações emergentes no contexto adventista.