The problem identified by Goldstein parallels our own experiences in Adventism and many of us have left the denomination because we found that in practice, the church does not place the gospel at the absolute center of its teachings. Instead, we were brought up in a system that placed the burden of salvation on the individual through their ability to remember unconfessed sins and perform works of the law, specifically keeping the Sabbath. The church owes this legacy to Ellen White, who taught at best a muddled gospel message, creating a confusing picture of what Goldstein now identifies as the central church doctrine.
<span style="float: right; padding: 0 0 0 1.5em"><img src="http://www.forthegospel.org/gfx/great_controversy2.gif" alt="bible"></img></span>Nowhere is this more apparent than in her foundational teaching on the investigative judgment doctrine. In her book The Great Controversy, she writes, “Every man’s work passes in review before God, and is registered for faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Opposite each name in the books of heaven is entered, with terrible exactness, every wrong word, every selfish act, every unfulfilled duty, and every secret sin, with every artful dissembling. Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted moments, unimproved opportunities, the influence exerted for good or for evil, with its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by the recording angel” (pg. 548, 1940 edition).
Further, she states, “As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected. When any have sins remaining upon the books of record, unrepented and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book of life, and the record of their good deeds will be erased from the book of God’s remembrance” (pg. 549, 1940 edition).
Later she clarifies exactly what transpires during the investigative judgment, “All who have ever taken upon themselves the name of Christ must pass its searching scrutiny. Both the living and the dead are to be judged ‘out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.’ Sins that have not been repented of and forsaken will not be pardoned, and blotted out of the books of record, but will stand to witness against the sinner in the day of God ... Day after day, passing into eternity, bears its burden of records for the books of heaven. Words once spoken, deeds once done, can never be recalled. Angels have registered both the good and the evil. The mightiest conqueror upon the earth can not call back the record of even a single day. Our acts, our words, even our most secret motives, all have their weight in deciding our destiny for weal or woe. Though they may be forgotten by us, they will bear their testimony to justify or to condemn” (pg. 552, 1940 edition).
Ellen White further warned that without an understanding of the investigative judgment doctrine, the believer’s salvation is in jeopardy. “The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest. Otherwise, it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which is essential at this time, or to occupy the position which God designs them to fill” (pg. 554, 1940 edition). “It is those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of the atonement, who receive the benefits of His mediation in their behalf; while those who reject the light which brings to view this work of ministration, are not benefited thereby” (pg. 492, 1940 edition).
Even if the believer passed the searching scrutiny of the investigative judgment, Ellen White taught that it was only after the judgment was complete that his sins would be blotted out. “At the time appointed for the judgment—the close of the 2300 days, in 1844—began the work of investigation and blotting out of sins” (pg. 552, 1940 edition). If this doctrine is true, the believer is effectively still in his sins until the work of the investigative judgment is complete, suffering under the weight of each of them.
Furthermore, Ellen White said that anyone living at the end of time after the close of the investigative judgment would stand on their own merits, without a mediator. “Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above, are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort, they must be conquerors in the battle with evil” (pg. 485, 1940 edition).