Truth and the Seventh Day Adventists
By Gretchen Davidson

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The Seventh Day Adventist faith is a fairly recent development in religious history. Since their organization on May 21, 1893, though, they have grown into a "world-wide community of over eight million members and millions of others who regard the Adventist Church their spiritual home"(adventist.org 1). That figure alone is no small feat, and when considered along with the massive missionary programs and number of institutions affiliated with and founded by the Adventist Church, one has to wonder what is so attractive about the Seventh Day Adventist faith. So I decided to figure it out by choosing to study the Adventist faith and attending their services at the Fairview Seventh Day Adventist Church in Fairview, North Carolina, speaking with members of the congregation, interviewing the Pastor of the Fairview Church, Robin Jester, and even participating in parts of their communion ceremonies. All of these activities have taught me a lot about a faith I, until recently, had no interest in or connection with.

One component of the Adventist faith that seems compelling and possibly an attraction for some, is their focus on the truth of what they believe. The Adventist idea of truth is logical and not based upon blind faith or emotional experience. They believe that everything is clearly set out in the Bible, and that it is absolute truth. They also believe in the truth of a modern day prophet named Ellen Gould White, and, though she is not a central focus of their beliefs, it is a common truth that the gift of prophecy from God was manifested in her.

The truth of the Bible as interpreted by the Adventists can be reinterpreted and examined at the General Conference. The General Conference is a meeting that the Adventists hold every five years wherein "revision of these statements [on the church's understanding of the Bible] may be expected" (Gallagher 1), representatives from local conferences all over the country come, and "the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truths," or they find "better language in which to express the teachings of God's Holy Word" (Gallagher 1). The General Conference is where the entire church would take a position on something or issue a statement, possibly taking a stance on an issue.

Locally, though, the individual churches basically decide for themselves; they "have quite a bit of autonomy" (Jester interview 9). For example, Pastor Jester of the Fairview Seventh Day Adventist church noted, "if we [the Fairview Adventist Church] want to build an addition, we do it" (Jester interview 10). Each local church is part of a regional conference, for example the Carolina Conference, made up of both North and South Carolina, and then each conference is part of a union. All of these unions together make up a division which, "basically take up continents, the Africa division, the North America division, etc." (Jester interview 10). All of these components are represented at the General Conference. The decisions made there and the revelations are accepted as truth and real guidance from God by the Seventh Day Adventist Church (General Conference 45).

Another component of the Adventist faith that defines their perception of truth is the teaching of prophet Ellen Gould White. Ellen White was a teenager in the 1840's and a Millerite, which was the movement upon which the original Adventists are based. The Millerites believed in the second coming of Christ and placed a date for his return on October 22, 1844. This was a vast movement until that date when Jesus did not appear.

The period following this event is known as the Great Disappointment because so many people abandoned the belief after Jesus did not appear. The Great Disappointment is "a common point of Christian history" (Jester interview 5), and it often becomes grounds for ridicule of the Adventists.

It was after this Great Disappointment that people went back to the Scriptures and reinterpreted the meaning behind Christ's second coming. They interpreted that Christ was not, in fact returning in 1844, but instead was beginning the final stage of judgement before he returns to Earth. It is described in the "Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh Day Adventists" as follows:

He was inaugurated as our Great High Priest and began His intercessory ministry at the time of His ascension [into Heaven]. [And] In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry. It is a work of investigative judgement…(5)

Many people have trouble with this aspect of the Adventist faith. They see this reinterpretation as a quick fix because they goofed before. Pastor Jester related outsider's attitudes to the Adventists about the disappointment in this way:

we get hit with that, you know, it's you guys, you start late, and you based your theology on a terrible disappointment. You say you went back to the Scriptures, and you found some answers, and you're just trying to save face. We get that all the time from people (4).

According to the Adventists, Jesus is currently working in that ministry of Heaven, setting it up for his followers, and he will return to Earth soon.

Out of these people who stayed with the Millerite movement after the Great Disappointment and reinterpreted Jesus' return, Ellen Gould White stood out as a "gifted author, speaker, and administrator" (adventist.org 1), and she grew to become "the trusted spiritual counselor of the Adventist family for more than seventy five years until her death in 1915" (adventist.org 1). The Adventists believe that she received divine guidance from God, and that she wrote to set up guidelines and counsels for her believers (General Conference 15).

Ellen White and her teachings are an important component of the Adventist religion and its beliefs, as "her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction" (Gallagher 8), but Pastor Jester made a specific point to relate to me that the Adventists do not rely heavily on Ellen White's prophecy, and they, in fact, "can go on forever, and explain [their] beliefs and practices in detail without ever mentioning Ellen Gould White." (Jester interview 11). Most religions with modern day prophets do rely heavily on the inspiration of those prophets, for instance the Mormons, who always have a living person to receive and interpret the Word of God.

I found it interesting, though, that Pastor Jester made such an effort to emphasize Ellen Gould White, when, in my reading, her teachings are emphasized as being the truth. I interpreted this deviation to mean that her prophecy backs up the teaching of the Scriptures and provides logical interpretation of the Bible for the Adventists.

The logical interpretation of the Bible was a factor that really stood out to me as important in my study of the Adventists. This was especially prevalent in the interview with Pastor Jester. The idea of truth that comes out of this is one of a logical understanding; there could not be another way to interpret the Bible correctly because most things are so clearly spelled out.

In the "Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists," the Bible is described as "the written word of God, given by divine inspiration through holy men of God who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (Gallagher 1). Many belief systems claim that same statement, yet they all disagree on what the Bible is actually saying.

The Adventists, though, believe that their interpretation is the literal and truthful one. They tend to look at the Bible and approach religion logically instead of by their experiences or feelings. This approach sets them apart from religions like Pentecostals, who rely heavily on feelings and inspiration (Jester interview 3). Pastor Jester explained the logical approach to Biblical interpretation thusly:

You'll find that the Seventh Day Adventists are not charismatic people…we're an extremely informational faith…And to be honest with you, when I approach this thing, it was highly informational, you know listen, the Bible says such and such, the Bible says if they speak not according to our word, it is because there is no light in them. So I mean the Scriptures present this stuff informationally, and it asks you to test the truth on the basis of revealed information. And so our church has tended to stay away from the experiential stuff…because it's obvious from the Scriptures that Satan can produce tremendous feelings…so if I am used to accepting experiences and all of a sudden an angel of light shows up, you know, boy this is quite an experience, is it right or wrong? (3)

This literal approach to the Bible is definitely an aspect that sets the Adventists apart from other Christian religions. It is common knowledge that almost every religion has its own interpretation of the Bible and adaptation of its teachings.

This is evident in the debate over which day of the week really is "the Lord's day." A common passage from the Bible regarding which day is held as holy is Revelation 1:10, where John the Revelator is in a vision and says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day."

This passage can be used to support both sides of the argument, depending on who is talking and what they hold to be the Lord's day. Many Sunday worshipping Christians use this passage as evidence to support Sunday worship, and Pastor Jester's answer to that, as an Adventist is, "the text doesn't prove a thing…you can't read into a text what it doesn't say" (Jester interview 4). That statement is an important aspect of the Adventist idea of truth. They take from the Bible exactly what it says and do not force the Scriptures to back up ideas that it does not explicitly address. They believe most of the Bible is straightforward, and, therefore, it can not be skewed to support something that it doesn't really address.

The Seventh Day Adventists take the creation account in the Bible literally. According to Pastor Jester, this is where the evidence for Saturday worship is found. After God created the world, in the Bible, it says, he rested on the seventh day. This is where the name Seventh Day Adventist comes from and the Saturday (Sabbath) worship.

Another aspect of the religion and its regard to truth that intrigued me was the explanation for why the Bible is here. Pastor Jester explained this phenomenon saying that before human kind was created there was a war in Heaven where one named Lucifer tried to take God's throne. Pastor Jester elaborated, "The Bible is pretty explicit that there was a war in Heaven… (Jester interview 1). He went on to explain that human kind was created amongst this struggle between good and evil, and that we were given a choice at the beginning, and we chose sin. This is where the Bible comes in, being created as a way out, or directions for salvation for human kind.

Pastor Jester explains, "there is a redemption that he offers to us, and, of course, that's the whole reason for Christianity…it's that redemption that we feel compelled to believe, trust in, and share with others…" (Jester interview 2). So according to the Adventists, the Lord offers us the Scriptures out of grace for human kind, whether we deserve it or not. Then, it is left up to the people to accept Jesus as their savior, so they can eventually live with him in the kingdom of Heaven upon his return to Earth.

It is accepted truth that the Bible is God's gift to mankind, our way out of the sin in which we currently live. This is carried on in to the idea that eventually all people, even and especially propagators of evil, will realize their error and repent and accept Jesus into their lives as a savior. This is meant to happen at the judgement upon Jesus' return.

Pastor Jester's logic for everyone converting is, it will be the end of the war in Heaven because Satan will have no more followers and no one to tempt. This also continues into the idea that if God creates later on and they are tempted to question, there is the example of all of the repented souls of mankind to testify against evil. Pastor Jester explained why God uses the Bible to show us redemption instead of knocking out all evil:

I mean the fact is here that Satan tried to take God's throne, Satan tried to say that God was unfair with his government. That's what the Scriptures state, he called question on God, but if God just smacked him out of existence, wiped out the others that even questioned…what happens to all the other created beings, that at one point loved and trusted him? Now they're not too sure. (2)

All of these explanations fit together very logically, and create a stable system of beliefs. My only problem is that swallowing the whole deal, accepting it as truth, requires an immense amount of faith.

I found a conflict in all of the talk about logic and reading the Bible literally, and then the fact that the Bible itself has to be taken on faith. The belief that what the Bible says is ultimately true is a huge leap of faith. So I see a problem in describing this religion that doesn't put a lot of emphasis on experience, yet the whole basic principle for their beliefs, that is, the Bible is based on experience and divine inspiration. What if it was Satan disguised as an angel of light who inspired the prophets of the Bible?

Especially the words, Faith and Grace, make me see a disparity between not only believing everything the Bible says on faith, but also saying that anything but a literal interpretation of the Bible is wrong.

Pastor Jester explained this disparity, and the idea of taking the Bible on faith by looking at the prophecies. He explained that if you look at the Bible historically and read the prophecies and compare them to history, the phenomenon of them coming true is proof that people can trust further Bible prophecies, for instance, the second coming of Christ, without having it solely be on blind faith. He explained:

we can read the Scriptures, and we can find hundreds of places in the Scriptures, written, you know, millennia ago, where now, looking back at history, we can see where these people actually wrote. Take Daniel for instance. He wrote 600 years before Christ, okay, and he actually drills up to the very year in Bible prophecy when Jesus would be baptized…And we know Daniel was written 600 years before Christ even came because …if you've ever listened to Old English…they use the thees and the thous…[and] you can pretty well guess it came out of the 16 or 17 hundreds…the same for that, you can find the old manuscripts, and they're pre Christ time by 600 years. (2)

So the Adventists have a pretty logical explanation for having total faith in the Bible and its teachings, but I still have difficulties with the difference between thinking so logically and then also having to have so much faith in Jesus Christ.

I was very surprised when I talked to Pastor Jester, and he emphasized the Adventist belief in the logical interpretation of the Bible. From my reading, when I came across passages about the Seventh Day Adventists being commissioned by God to carry the Gospel around the world and ensure the welfare of those who accept the message of God (General Conference 30), I expected the Adventists to put a lot of store in accepting the word from God by a feeling they felt personally inside themselves. But when I interviewed Pastor Jester, and I asked him what attracted him about the Adventist faith, he went on to talk about the logic and the indisputable truth about how Adventists read and interpret the Bible.

I can understand the way all of these beliefs fit together and form one concrete truth, but I suppose I can not fully understand the ability to actually accept the whole deal as a personal truth simply because it is not my system of belief, and it is not something I hold as true, not because it lacks validity or the ability to relate to our modern culture. I admire the Seventh Day Adventists for their strong beliefs in their truth, and I also admire them for taking on what they feel is their responsibility to help the rest of the world come to the same truths that they have without force and in their own time.

When I visited the Fairview Seventh Day Adventist Church, I never once felt pressured or less significant because of my differing beliefs. I was also never made to feel like I was a sinner or a bad person. Instead I got the impression that the people of the Fairview Church were eager to teach me, open up to me, and help me come to an understanding of what they are about, not force me to convert.

In our interview, Pastor Jester even emphasized that he felt it was very important for Adventists not to feel spiritual pride because they had a greater responsibility than most. He said, "spiritual pride is a great temptation. Especially if you feel like you've had a special call or mission. And so my, a lot of what I do, is try and help people understand that we're not better, not even close, but we do have a special mission that we can't fall back on" (Jester interview 4).

I admire the Adventists for accepting their truths the way that they do, and I personally find it all a little easier to relate to than many religions because of the degree of logic behind all the beliefs. I sort of found a conflict in myself in dealing with the beliefs of the Adventists. I very much respect them, and I understand the logical explanation of things, because I, myself, am a very logical person. But that logic in me leads me to question the origin of it all. Now, this is more of a logical questioning of Christianity itself and not specifically Seventh Day Adventists, but I apply it here simply because this religion in particular so strongly emphasizes logic.

Overall, I felt very welcome in the Adventist community, and I would not be afraid to go back simply because it was pleasurable and a great learning experience. I would like to thank every member of the church for their kindness, helpfulness, and all of their information.