“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2 ESV)
Beloved Adventist brothers and sisters, grace and peace to you in the name of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many of us have spent years and even decades beside you in the Adventist church. We have lived and breathed Adventism for much of our lives, made many friends, found our spouses, embraced the Adventist culture, and shared a common belief that we were in God’s remnant church. Collectively, we have many family and friends in the Adventist church whom we love and genuinely respect.
Yet after much study, prayer and reflection, we have become deeply concerned with the foundation of Adventism and the consequences of Adventist belief, at least as practiced among members and churches remaining faithful to historic Adventist teaching.
We make this solemn appeal out of deep respect, love and Christian concern for those who identify themselves as Adventists. We share the apostle Paul’s sincere desire to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. It is our hope and prayer that you will hear the love of Christ in our words. If you hear something else or if you have questions about what is said here, we invite and encourage your response.
This site is borne out of the belief that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not being preached or heard with clarity in the Adventist church. This is a pretty strong accusation, but not one without evidence. In the Valuegenesis study which surveyed Adventist elementary and high school students, only 33% of students in grades 6-8 and 57% of students in grades 9-12 agreed with the statement “We can do nothing to deserve God’s gift of salvation.” Conservatively, this means that 66% of students in grades 6-8 and 43% of students surveyed in grades 9-12 did not believe salvation outside of works was biblical–in other words they did not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)
“Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:16 ESV)
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7 ESV)
As the Valuegenesis research cited above implies, the gospel is not being taught with clarity in the Adventist church. Students educated in the Adventist school system represent the population with the best chance to reflect the results of Adventist teaching. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the students surveyed have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Christians are saved, which is by the unmerited grace of God for all who believe in Jesus. We are sadly left to conclude that the gospel has not been taught or heard with clarity in the Adventist church.
© 2009, For the Gospel
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