Aunt Sevvy, is ours God’s only true church?
5 August 2024 |
Our church says it is the “remnant,” which we say means we are God’s only true church, because we obey the fourth commandment and have the spirit of prophecy. Yet the prophet has been dead for a long time, and it seems to me many congregations have become less loving and less focused on Jesus. Is our church still the remnant?
Signed, Maybe, Maybe Not?
Dear Maybe Not?
Aunty gets annoyed at the constant reiteration that this church is the only “right” one.
The identity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as the remnant church is based on linking two passages in Revelation, 12:17 and 19:10, to identify a “remnant” as those who keep the commandments—specifically the fourth one—and have the “testimony of Jesus,” which the church says is Ellen White.
Seriously, dear readers: is that all it takes to be God’s favorite? To go to church a day early, and have had among us (almost two centuries ago) a woman who copied some books?
What about “They will know we are Christians by our love for one another”? People say, “Oh, of course, that too. That’s taken for granted.” And indeed it is—literally. Some of us are more anxious to be “right” than to be kind.
Aunty very happily affirms that our church, to the extent that we put Jesus front and center, is part of God’s church on earth. But Aunty sees no merit in the notion that our organization is the only right church, or even that it’s the church God likes best. It may be the church you and I like best, because we may have grown up in it, or have had good experiences in it, and appreciate its teachings.
But the only right church? Think of what that makes God look like, to be willing to save only 22 million people out of eight billion—and not even all of those, apparently!
Seventh-day Adventists: this talk about being the only true church hurts us. It makes us arrogant and insufferable. It separates us from other Christians. We’re not being “exclusive” or “special” when we say this; we’re just being weird.
We must quit using “remnant church” as an excuse to be horrible to people we don’t agree with. We should focus on what the Bible says is the real good news: that because God loves us, we should love one another. That’s what will identify us as being God’s true church.
Aunt Sevvy
Aunt Sevvy has collected her answers into a book! You can get it from Amazon by clicking here.
You can write to Aunt Sevvy at DearAuntSevvy@gmail.com. Your real identity will never be revealed.
