h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Please can someone from the Seventh Day Adventist Churc answer the following questions for me on their beliefs.

1) Why do you ban alchohol when there is nothing in the Bible to back up your ruling & why do you ban tea & coffe is that because they containe caffiene if that is the reason do you ban coke drinking chocolate & chocolate bars?

2) Saturdays are your holy days: How long are your church services & do you have any other sevices/meetings during the course of the week?

I'll look forward to your answers.

Thumper2002.

Hi, Thumper. Adventists do not drink alcohol because they believe that the body is a temple, and mood-altering substances like drugs and alcohol (which in large quantities aren't good for the body, anyway) aren't good for it. There's nothing wrong with eating chocolate, according to the Adventist Church. Tea, as long as it is decaffeinated, is fine. Caffeine is a stimulant, and so Adventists view it as something they shouldn't consume, either. Some Adventists ignore this and drink caffeinated beverages, anyway. Alternatively, some won't drink caffeinated tea or coffee, but will drink caffeinated soda.
Church services start at 11 AM (at my church--the time varies from location to location) and end at 12:30 PM. There's an optional Sabbath School (like Sunday School, basically) that's held from around 10 to 11 AM. These meetings are all on Saturdays. We have Prayer Meeting on Wednesday nights. Currently, many Adventist churches are doing evangelistic seminars related to September 11th. Many churches are offering these on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the evenings, and then after that will continue to do the meetings on Wednesday nights only.
If you're interested, I can give you more information
Thanks for your questions!
Kristy

Hi Kirsty
Thank you for your very prompt reply
So generally you only have 2 mettings a week.

Apart from the abstination of stimulated drinks and drugs your beliefs arent so different from the evangelical churches of the world.

What exactly are your beliefs on the second coming are they the same as the evangelical churches aswell?

Do the Adventists believe in the speaking of tongues, laying on of hands and miricles?

How evangelical is your faith?

Do you believe in the trinity & if so what passages of the Bibke to you use to back up your beliefs?

Why do you celebrate your holy day on the Saturday when we are now living under grace & NOT under law as the loaw regarding the Sabbath applied to the Jews and not the Gentiles?

Is there any other part of the Hebrew Scriptures that you take that literally?

As far as the abstination of alchohol is concerned Jesus himself wtater into whine at the wedding feast, further down in that same scripture it says do not get intoxicated but there is nothing to say do not drink. So is this a ruling of the church?

Do Aventists allow their members to have abortions?

Thank you so much for answering all of these questions and I hope we can continue to chat to one another.

Thumper2002 xxxx

Hi, Thumper. Well, I've updated my entry on Seventh-day Adventism, so it in many ways would probably answer your questions, but I'll answer them here for you, too.
We believe that the Second Coming is imminent, but we don't know when it will be, just that we should always be prepared. We believe that when you die, it's as though you're sleeping. When Jesus comes, He will take you to Heaven if He judges you to be righteous. There's no secret Rapture or anything like that. You won't be yanked up to Heaven while the people around you are scratching their heads, going "Where did s/he go?", for example.
We don't believe in the soul--we believe it was a mistranslation, and just referred to the people who believed in Christ.
"He shall make a new Heaven and a new Earth", as it says in the Bible--we take that literally to mean that we'll spend some time in Heaven while the Trinity work on fixing up our planet for us, and then they'll take us back to Earth.
We don't believe that the condemned will burn in Hell forever, just that they'll die "the second death", which is they will actually die, and not just be waiting for Jesus to come and get them.
Adventists do not believe in speaking in tongues, but they do believe in the laying of hands and miracles. The laying of hands doesn't always work, and depends entirely on what God wants to do. My father, when he was an Adventist pastor, once was blessed enough to lay hands on a woman who recovered her health. This was only thanks to God, and not because of any special abilities or powers that my father had. Miracles can't be worked by people, but only through people, and God is always the One who makes them work.
Our faith is very evangelical--of course, we want to convert others to our beliefs.
We believe in the Trinity, but I'm not well-versed enough in the Bible to tell you what verses we base that on. Probably the same ones that other churches use to substantiate that.
A Gentile was someone who didn't believe in the one God--we're not Gentiles, but we're also not Jews. The Sabbath is Saturday because on the seventh day God rested. Sunday is celebrated as the Sabbath by many Christians because it was a method used to unite the Roman empire--the ruler chose Christianity for his people, but gave them Sunday as their day of worship in order to pacify the pagans. Another reason some Christians use is that they believe Sunday was the day Christ ascended from the grave to Heaven.
We believe that many of the laws which applied to the Jews still apply to us. Of course, if anything in the New Testament changed a previous law, we follow the New Testament's teaching instead of the one it replaced. For example, "An eye for an eye" was replaced by "Turn the other cheek".
Adventists who are not vegetarians avoid unclean meats, just as the Jews do. This includes any products from pigs, certain kinds of seafood, etc.
Divorce is allowed, as is abortion. The Church chooses not to involve itself in politics, and won't stop any member from having an abortion. We don't practice excommunication, but it is possible to disfellowship someone...however, they would never be subject to that if they had an abortion; it's their personal choice to have an abortion.
Water in those times was not as safe as it is now. Wine was much weaker than it is today, and it took large quantities of it to actually get intoxicated. Since alcohol can be habit-forming in certain people's genetic makeups, that's another reason to avoid it.
We believe that the Bible speaks against "strong drink"--which would describe pretty much all alcoholic beverages available today to the average consumer. Because we also believe that "the body is a temple", we believe drinking alcohol is wrong.
If you have more questions, please let me know--I'm very happy to answer them.
Kristy

Hi Kirsty
Thanks once again for taking the time to answer my questions.

Im probably totally wrong if I am please correct me wont you? Thanks.


From the answers I am getting from you and the general picture that is building up about your faith I am being given the impression that you build your faith up upon parts of the OT and parts of the NT.
Is it because of this that you accept divorce because the Jews allowed divorce, If this is the case then what about the NT where it is made very clear - 1 Corinthians ch.7v.39 states that once married the only thing that is allowed to end the marriage is death. Luke ch.16v.18 says: Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery and he that marries a woman divorced from a husband commmits adultery. Why do Adventists permit adultery when it very clearly states that adultery is a sin and is not acceptable in Gods eyes.

I believe you to be Christians because you believe in Christ as your Saviour so why dont you accept his teachings, this is the bit I find VERY difficult to grasp.

It sates in Matthew ch.19v.9 "I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the grounds of fornication, and marries another commits adultey."
Doesnt one of the 10 Commandments ban adultery?

How can you accept and allow members to practice abortion when it clearly states in the Bible that abortion is wrong. Exodus ch.20v.13 You must not murder. Genesis ch.9v.6 Anyone shedding mans blood by man will his own blood be shed, for in Gods image he made man. 1 John ch.3v.15 No manslayer has everlasting life remaining in him.
Psalm 36 v.9 With you is the source of life. This Scripture from Psalms I think really backs up that abortion cant be practiced and its Psalm 139 vs.13-16 where it gives a very clear and descriptive account of the unborn child and just how precious the unborn child is to God, so it really does amaze me even to the point of shock that ANY Christian denomination can allow their followers to practice abortion
Its not acceptable in either testament old or new. Since in the Bible God has made it VERY clear just how sacred and precious life is then how can the Adventists allow their members to practice abortion Im REALLY sorry to say this but I find it absolutely astounding to the point of shocking I just cannot believe that ANY Christian organization who love and accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour can willfully practice murder. In the eyes of athiests it is an acceptable practice but in the eyes of true Christians it certainly is not.

Please forgive me Kirsty I hope I have not offended you in any way and that we can still communicate with each other on my board but I really AM trying to understand your believes, if I wasnt interested then I would never have made the enquirey in the first place, this is how you learn by reading, exploring and asking questions and hopefully at the end of it making friends.

Obviousely Adventists are no different than any other Christian denomination they want to receive new members but with such beliefs I dont think that there is any way I could become a member, Im REALLY sorry.

One thing I forgot to ask earlier on and that is:-
Why do the Adventists class abortion as political.

Do you accept the WHOLE Bible as the divine and inspired word of God and are your beliefs actually based solely on the Bible?

I hoe I havent offended you in any way and that we will still be able to communicate with each other on my board.

Thumper.

Hi, Thumper. No, I'm not offended, don't worry. I answer questions like this all the time in real life, so it's no big deal.
Abortion in the US *is* political. The Supreme Court case of Roe vs. Wade made it political, when the Court ruled that it was okay to have an abortion.
Part of the reason that the Church doesn't take a stand on this issue is because of that; it's also because since Adventists don't believe in the soul, we don't believe that the fetus is actually a person yet--it can't function outside its mother, etc., for example.
I'm not trying to offend you, and I'm sorry that our lack of a stance on this has turned you off our faith...However, if you look at it from an Adventist perspective, it would make sense.
As for divorce, abuse is never tolerable, whether it's emotional or physical abuse. A husband or wife should never have to stay married to someone who abandons them, abuses them, or cheats on them. Adventists do not encourage or support adultery--just because divorce is allowed doesn't mean there are a lot of Adventists getting divorces. Along the same lines, many Adventists don't get abortions, either, even though the Church would not prevent them from it.
We think divorce should be avoided as much as possible, and encourage people to work through their differences. Certainly, I personally believe that neither divorce nor abortion should be entered into lightly.
Keep in mind that Adventists are not against the use of birth control/contraceptives, so we probably already have less "unwanted" pregnancies than people whose beliefs are against condoms, etc.
Divorce is legal in the U.S., and that's another reason the Church allows it--however, if the Church felt that the Bible didn't allow it, it wouldn't allow its members to be divorced. It's my understanding that until the 1960's, the Church didn't allow divorce, but that it changed its position on it.
We do follow all of Christ's teachings. We don't just obey parts of the Bible, we attempt to follow it exactly.
Just because the Church's interpretation of Biblical passages doesn't match another faith's interpretation, doesn't mean that it's not following the whole Bible...
Our beliefs are only based on the Bible, and we accept the whole truth of the Bible to be from God.
Hope this helped!
Kristy

Hi Kirsty

Im sorry its taken me so long to get back to you.

You say that the Adventists take the Bible litterally well how can they when they practice divorce and abortion?

The Bible clearly states in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that divorce and abortion are not acceptable by God OR Jesus and Ive sent you plenty of Scripture passagese from both Testaments to proove this so since Adventists take the Bible litterally then how come they ignore these passages of Scripture?

Do Adventists live under Law or under Grace because they cant live under both can they?

Thumper.

Well, Thumper, sorry to say but there are different interpretations of the Bible. Not every denomination believes the same thing...if an Adventist doesn't recognize an undeveloped fetus as being a living human, then that wouldn't be murder, according to our understanding. As for divorce, well, there is absolutely *no* reason someone should stay in an abusive relationship. Should a woman stay with her husband until he kills her? I know that's extreme, but it's a good point. I don't (and the Church doesn't) feel that divorce should be entered into lightly, but if there's abuse taking place, then obviously (to us, at least), the abused person needs to go some place safe, and divorce their spouse if there's no hope that he/she will become less violent/abusive.