What Kind of Leading Do We Really Want?
by Debbonnaire Kovacs
Chapter 10 in The Monastery of the Heart is called “Direction and Counsel.” In our group, it seemed that last week’s “Mutuality” struck stronger chords, but this one resonated in me. It could be in part because I’m, as I like to say, “SDA to my DNA.” One of my great-grandfathers heard Ellen White speak when he was a boy. All the branches of both sides of my family tree for 4-5 generations back were Adventist. Not all still are, but our family reunions are still largely Adventist or shaped by Adventism. (Those who eat pork, for example, don’t bring it!)
For myself, I am beyond blessed to be able to say that I was raised in a Christian Adventist home. I didn’t know until I went to Atlantic Union College that some kids were told Jesus would love them IF. I was taught that God (all three of Him (and not male)) loved everybody, everywhere, all the time, no matter what. It was later (when I was 18, to be exact, thank you, Uncle Morry Venden!!) that my mother and I truly understood salvation by grace alone, but we knew, as we struggled along trying to be good, that God loved us! LOVED US!! AND YOU, TOO!!
In more recent years, I’ve learned a lot about other forms of faith, both Christian and non-Christian. They have things to teach us; we have things to teach them. The more I learn, the more Adventist I am. (Yes, really.) Adventist theology makes more sense to me, despite our family bickering and sometimes appalling blindness, than any other theology I’ve found.
So. Here I am, SDA to my DNA, and here’s a quote, without comment, from this chapter:
asks itself no difficult questions
that might require new efforts to answer.
The comfortable community
opens no new or challenging paths
that might bring down
criticism on the system
in which they exist.
The self-satisfied community
carves out no new directions,
risks no new questions,
that might disturb the sleepy apathy
that comes to anyone over time.
The placid community
foregoes its prophetic role
to live the God-life in the midst
of the profane
and chooses instead leaders
who maintain the system
in the spirit of the past,
but do little or nothing
to stretch it to the full height
and breadth and depth of itself.
How an Adventist can believe in salvation by grace alone and at the same time believe in the IJ, two compartment sanctuary process in heaven, and the must do, of perfecting character taught by EGW is beyond me. As I see it, cognitive disonance in spades which is why I left it years ago.
Which is why there are Confused and Confusing Adventists: they were not all taught the same things.
Thus, we reap what was sown. The cognitive dissonance is only possible for those who choose to ignore the implications of holding two or more contradictory ideas–and believe they are in unison.
The quotation above describes exactly the confusion in Adventism.
I think you missed my point, which is that one cannot believe the church's core teaching of IJ, perfect character, no mediator in the end and still believe in salvation by grace alone. For example, do you know if you're saved and have eternal life as John 5.24 says? Moreover that means right now, not hoping somehow you'll win the power ball when your probation closes and even then you can't know for sure. For those who may not believe everything EGW says, it's another matter.
A rich blessing to me was the wisdom of Morris Venden.
The idea of “prophetic role” kind of stuck in my mind. For some reason I was reminded of younger days being warned against getting mixed up in “the world”. Now that I am older I hear the world calling with a different voice. The world wants to tell me who to hate and who should die. That God loves those who help themselves and the others deserve what they get. This new voice calls us with the holy voice of Christianity.
We cannot minister to a world with which we are unaquainted, or which we do not understand. We must recognize that the body of instruction and tradition accumulated by Ellen White and others and taught to the Adventist people brought tremendous advantage to the church, but much of that instruction was intended for people living and ministering in the Victorian Era. And we know that much more of that information was drawn from outside the church than is generally acknowledged by Church officials, even today. Ellen White's library was chock full of non-Adventist books and tracts….
The Great Controversy theme itself is a message of confrontation and war-to-the-last-soldier that appealed tremendously in a romantic era 100 or so years ago. The postmoderns of today (for example) no longer see life as primarily a great controversy. As a church we must constantly be developing new and more contemporary metaphors through which to teach and dialogue, and most of those will reach us by studying the ways of the culture of our time, and modeling our Gospel presentation to first answer the most pressing questions of that culture.
"… but much of that instruction was intended for people living and ministering in the Victorian Era."
EGW's inspired comments were limited to those who were living in the Victorian age?? Where does that view come from?
"It is not alone those who openly reject the Testimonies, or who cherish doubt concerning them, that are on dangerous ground. To disregard light is to reject it. {CCh 94.2}
If you lose confidence in the Testimonies you will drift away from Bible truth. I have been fearful that many would take a questioning, doubting position, and in my distress for your souls I would warn you. How many will heed the warning? 121 {CCh 94.3}"
Maranatha
There will always be those who close their eyes to Present Truth, declaring that only the Old Testament is inspired and relevant, or at best the Old and New testaments suffice, leaving no room for the Reformers or messangers like Ellen White.
How interesting that now we appear to have a searching element of the church whose quest for truth is limited to what was given up to and including 1915. Did Ellen White declare, perhaps, that she would be and in fact is the final word for the Advent Flock? A serious question to those who truly search for refreshing draughts of truth and believe the Holy Spirit is still operative in the Little Flock today through the Body of Believers who manifest the eyesalve of the Spirit in their lives….
If I truly thought that EGW's admonitions were limited to the Victorian era and since the SDA church continues to support her work as having contemporary impact why should I maintain membership in such a church after, of course, trashing all the Red Books, etc?
How can anyone in good conscience support such a church or be a member of the organization if he sincerely believes what I have described above?
"If you lose confidence in the Testimonies you will drift away from Bible truth." Many of us see proof this. So sad.
Maranatha
The principles of the writings of Ellen White are biblical and sound. Let us be guided by common sense and the Holy Spirit as we apply them in a rapidly changing era.
How can it be said that the principles of the writings of Ellen White are Biblical and sound? The Bible says Christ went to the Father's right hand 2,000 years ago and EGW says contrary. Christ says if you believe you're saved and have eternal life. EGW says that's not only nonsense but a dangeous thing to say. IMO, her writings blantantly contradict core, Biblical truth, clearly and redundantly stated, esp. in John and Romans. I challenge anyone to make their case from Scripture without the aid of EGW in answer to what I've responded with on this thread, in the Spirit of Christ of course.
We might remember as well that Ellen White truly believed (mistakenly) that the Lord would appear in the clouds Oct. 22, 1844.The foundational principles upon which true religion are built are these: Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; Love thy neighbor as thyself.
Ellen White clearly demonstrated these in her life, and she never stopped growing in her understanding of the Plan of Salvation and the love of Jesus. Sometimes it's good to remember that prophets are never perfect; like the rest of us, they're just moving forward in faith, prompted in their growth by the Holy Spirit.
Personally, concerning the sanctuary service as found in Christian Scripture, and becoming Christlike, so forth, it all makes sense to me, and resonates so well with the wisdom taught even by other non-Christian religions. Its too bad that so many SDAs want to be fundamentalist, evangelical types with their Calvinist "I'm saved" theology. That is what got me in trouble at SMC, denying this, and based on my upbringing as a Calvinist, with some Assembly of God background to boot. I run amongst actual liberal Christians who seem more inclined towards a Christianity that teaches its possible to become so connected to the Divine that we can become actually 'good people' and in harmony with the Divine. Sixteenth century Protestantism did not have all of the answers on the gospel or did it suceed in separating from the Church of the dark ages and its ideas. And most SDAs I've had to deal with from coast to coast who hate the health message [for all f us New Age, peacenik, organic loving Calif hippies] and love the "I'm saved" theology, are a pack of neo-cons and pro-military fascists. Plain and simple. And as for being SDA in your DNA, no offense met, but most such are so full of spiritual pride, like the Jews of old, that they can't see things as they really are I'm afraid. Understanding of divine truth is not in anyone's DNA, its a divine gift of understanding and wisdom mostly understood only by the humble seekers of truth from everywhere who can divorce themselves from the culture they grew up in and look at things from outside of themselves, to gain a new fresh perspective. OK, I have said too much and too little as the good doctor said in Treasure Island.
Tom- In talking about Divine Truth"…its(sic) a divine gift of understanding and wisdom mostly understood only by the humble seekers of truth from everywhere who can divorce themselves from the culture they grew up in and look at things from outside of themselves, to gain a new fresh perspective."
And the practice of the self-styled intellectuals is apparently allowing current culture to color its interpretation of Scripture in various areas such as doubting a literal six day Creation, the Investigative Judgment, male headship, the health message, gift of prophecy in person of EGW, sacredness of the Sabbath, etc. O tempora, O mores!
Maranatha