1. to the Seventh-day Adventist Church
RESPONDING to the
ISSUES and CHALLENGES
to the Seventh-day Adventist Church
In Relation to the
Spirit of Prophecy
Part I

2. Introduction
Challenges to our Fundamental beliefs and Historic Positions
They Claim that they are Adventists believing the original beliefs of the pioneers.
The Present day Adventists have changed the original beliefs of the pioneers.
Ellen G. White’s writings support the original beliefs of the Pioneers before 1900s.
Fundamental Beliefs of the pioneers differ from that of our present Statement of Faith.

3. Four Issues We Need to Resolved4
Four Issues We Need to Resolved

4. FIRST, ADVENTIST DOCTRINES AND PROGRESSIVE REVELATION1
FIRST, ADVENTIST DOCTRINES AND PROGRESSIVE REVELATION

5. “Progressive revelation" means God's continuous unfolding of prior revealed truth.
Ellen G. White, one of the principal founders of our church, wrote the following statements such as: "Truth is an advancing truth", "There are mines of truth yet to be discovered by the earnest seeker."

6. “Seventh-day Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed and hold certain fundamental beliefs to be the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. These beliefs, as set forth here, constitute the church's understanding and expression of the teaching of Scripture. Revision of these statements may be expected at a General Conference session when the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truth or finds better language in which to express the teachings of God's Holy Word.”

7. Emphasizing the crucial significance of understanding the past Adventist experience, Ellen G. White stated: "As I see what the Lord has wrought, I am filled with astonishment, and with confidence in Christ as leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history."8

8. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation
A. Nature and relevance of advanced light.
The light of truth advances constantly (Prov. 4:18). Ellen White wrote that "we shall never reach a period when there is no increased light for us ''10 "In every age there is a new development of truth, a message of God to the people of that generation.''11 This further development of truth and the new light, also designated as present truth, "is a test to the people of this generation who are accountable for truth that past generations were not accountable for.12

9. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation B. Its true source.
God is the source of advanced truth. "If God has any new light to communicate, He will let His chosen and beloved understand it, without their going to have their minds enlightened by hearing those who are in darkness and error."13

10. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation
C. Particular areas of advancement.
The areas of advancement are associated in a special way with the practical dimension signs of Christian life. They touch upon matters necessary for the perfection of the faith and of the faithful.14 New light is intended to lead God's people "onward and upward to purity and holiness.''15

11. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation
D. Conditions for Reception.
The prerequisites for the bestowal of new light mentioned by Ellen White generally focus on individual spirituality. They involve diligent and prayerful study of the Bible,24 living a righteous life,25 growing in grace,26 having a vital connection with Christ,27 walking obediently in present light,28 purging sin from the life,29 having an attitude of humility,30 following the light of health reform,31 accepting and applying the old truths,32 accepting the Spirit of Prophecy,33 being chosen and illuminated by the Holy Spirit,34 and advancing in proportion to the light.35

12. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation
E. Harmony with previous revelation.
Ellen G. White stressed a close relationship between old truth and new truth:
1. New Perspectives of Old Truth. The long established truths of redemption continue to offer new perspectives, "though old, they are ever new, constantly revealing to the seeker for truth a greater glory and a mightier power."36

13. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation
E. Harmony with previous revelation.
Ellen G. White stressed a close relationship between old truth and new truth:
2. An Unfolding of the Old. "The old truths are all essential;" "new truth is not independent of the old, but an unfolding of it.... It is the light which shines in the fresh unfolding of truth that glorifies the old. He who rejects or neglects the old does not really possess the old. For him it loses its vital power and becomes but a lifeless form."37

14. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation
E. Harmony with previous revelation.
Ellen G. White stressed a close relationship between old truth and new truth:
3. In Harmony with the Foundations of Adventism. New truth always will be in harmony with previous truth and will not divert the attention from Christ or the special Seventh-day Adventist mission.38

15. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation
E. Harmony with previous revelation.
Ellen G. White stressed a close relationship between old truth and new truth:
4. In Harmony with the Landmarks. Ellen G. White strongly defended the theological landmarks of Adventism that were discovered around the time of "Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast," she said. "They are seeking to bring in uncertainties as to set the people of God adrift without an anchor."42

16. Operating Principles of Progressive Revelation
E. Harmony with previous revelation.
Ellen G. White stressed a close relationship between old truth and new truth:
5. In Harmony with the Historicist Hermeneutic. Seventh-day Adventists interpret Scripture in a way similar to that of the Reformers and William Miller. Ellen White had a high regard for Miller's rules of interpretation, five of which she especially recommended."

17. ATTITUDES TOWARDS NEW LIGHT:
Ellen White called for an openness to new light and strongly opposed the attitude that we have all the truth for our time.45 New light is not a private affair, for no one should claim that he or she has all the light.46

18. ATTITUDES TOWARDS NEW LIGHT:
Our brethren should be willing to investigate in a candid way every point of controversy. If a brother is teaching error, those who are in responsible positions ought to know it; and if he is teaching truth, they ought to take their stand at his side. We should all know what is being taught among us; for if it is truth, we need it. We are all under the obligation to God to know what He sends us.47

19. ATTITUDES TOWARDS NEW LIGHT:
The Bible is the norm for the evaluation of any new point. It is the "standard for every doctrine and practice.... It is the word of the living God that is to decide all controversies.... God's Word is our foundation of all doctrine."50

20. TESTS OF NEW LIGHT:
1. Is it Christ-Centered? Ellen White recommended a simple test to determine new light: "Does this light and knowledge that I have found, and which places me at variance with my brethren, draw me more closely to Christ? Does it make my Savior more precious to me and make my character more closely resemble His?"52

21. TESTS OF NEW LIGHT:
2. To the Law and to the Testimony. God "has given direction by which we may test every doctrine,&emdash;'To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them' [Isa. 8:20]. If the light presented meets this test, we are not to refuse to accept it because it does not agree with our ideas."63

22. TESTS OF NEW LIGHT:
3. Does it Produce Fruits of Righteousness? The most convincing testimony that we can bear to others that we have the truth is the spirit which attends the advocacy of that truth. If it sanctifies the heart of the receiver, if it makes him gentle, kind, forbearing, true and Christlike, then he will give some evidence of the fact that he has the genuine truth. But if he acts as did the Jews when their opinions and ideas were crossed, then we certainly cannot perceive such testimony, for it does not produce the fruits of righteousness.64

23. SECOND, ADVENTIST AND CHANGE2
SECOND, ADVENTIST AND CHANGE

24. More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the Trinity. For Joseph Bates the Trinity was an unscriptural doctrine, for James White it was that "old Trinitarian absurdity," and for M. E. Cornell it was a fruit of the great apostasy, along with such false doctrines as Sunday-keeping and the immortality of the soul.2

25. Theological change
The decade of the 1890s, fortunately, also witnessed a positive shift in Adventist theological focus in areas related to the Godhead. That shift found its roots in the Minneapolis General Conference session of The 1888 meetings had reemphasized Jesus and His saving righteousness areas of theological thought that Adventists had tended to downplay between the late 1840s and 1888.

26. The renewed emphasis on Jesus and His saving righteousness, however, called for views of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, and the divine nature of Christ adequate to serve as a theological basis for the new soteriology. It was Ellen White whose writings led the way in the theological shift.

27. Unlike her experience in the post-1844 period, during which she followed the lead of her husband and Bates in the formulation of the distinctively Adventist doctrines, in the 1890s she was at the forefront of the action, related to theological reformulation, through her major writings on Christ and His teachings.

28. Whereas before the Minneapolis meetings she had not been explicit in setting forth her views on the Trinity, the personhood of the Holy Spirit, and the divine nature of Christ, during the next two decades she would speak with great clarity on those topics. Thus she would uplift the "three living persons of the heavenly trio," stipulate that "the Holy Spirit... is as much a person as God [the Father] is a person," and repeatedly indicate that "Christ is the preexistent, self-existent Son of God." 6

29. Ellen White and change
But, you may be asking, did Mrs. White change any of her ideas related to doctrine and lifestyle? The answer is yes, but that answer needs to reflect the various nuances of the word "change" if we are to understand its implications. It is all too easy to overlook those nuances.

30. Ellen White and change
The result of such oversight is less than satisfactory in terms of understanding change in Ellen White's writings. Such change needs to be viewed as being of at least three distinct types:
clarification,
(2) progressive development, and
(3) contradiction or reversal.

31. Change as clarification
Change as clarification may be illustrated by Ellen White's treatment of the divine nature of Christ in her various presentations of the Conflict of the Ages story. For example, there is a vagueness, in her explanation of the authority of Christ in Spiritual Gifts (1858) and The Spirit of Prophecy (1870),

32. Change as clarification
that permits a reader to read her position as being either in harmony with her semi-Arian ministerial colleagues or in terms of Christ's always having had full equality with the Father, 15 even though that equality had been lost sight of by many of the heavenly hosts. Unlike other Adventist writers of the time, however, her statements could not be interpreted as being unquestionably semi- Arian.

33. That vagueness would change in 1890 with the publication of Patriarchs and Prophets. In that volume she clarifies what may have been implicit in her earlier statements by noting that "there had been no change in the position or authority of Christ"; Christ's equality with the Father "had been the same from the beginning." 16 The change in the above sequence is a change from ambiguity to clarity.

34. Change as progressive development
A second type of change that we find in Ellen White's ideas across time is that of progressive development. An illustration of that dynamic can be seen in her approach to the topic of unclean foods.

35. From at least as early as 1850, some of the Sabbatarian Adventists had been raising the question as to whether it was appropriate to eat swine's flesh. James White hoped to settle the issue once and for all in November 1850 by publishing a powerful argument based on Acts 10 and other passages by which he sought to prove that the use of swine's flesh in the Christian era was quite appropriate. 17 In spite of James's forceful argument,

36. however, the issue refused to die a peaceful death. S. N
however, the issue refused to die a peaceful death. S. N. Haskell agitated the issue among the Sabbatarians in the late 1850s. Ellen White, in responding to Haskell, urged him not to press his views to the point where they would cause division in the developing church. "I saw," she wrote, "that your views concerning swine's flesh would prove no injury if you have them to yourselves; but in your judgment and opinion you have made this question a test.... If it is the duty of the church to abstain from swine's flesh,

37. God will discover it to more than two or three
God will discover it to more than two or three. He will teach His church their duty. God is leading out a people, not a few separate individuals here and there, one believing this thing, another that Some run ahead of the angels that are leading this people.... I saw that the angels of God would lead His people no faster than they could receive and act upon the important truths that are communicated to them."

38. To preach the swine's flesh issue at that time, she asserted, would be rushing on "without divine guidance, and thus bring confusion and discord into the ranks." 18

39. It should be noted that the Whites, along with most other Adventists in the late 1850s, were still using swine's flesh in their diet. As proof of the fact, James scribbled a note on the back of a letter from Ellen in which she was advising a sister to cook swine's flesh for her husband if he desired it. James's note read: "That you may know how we stand on this question, I would say that we have just put down a two-hundred-pound porker." 19

40. By 1863, however, Ellen White's writings had taken a new position on the swine's flesh issue. "Pork," she penned, "although one of the most common articles of diet, is one of the most injurious. God did not prohibit the Hebrews from eating swine's flesh merely to show His authority, but because it was not a proper article of food for man God never designed the swine to be eaten under any circumstances." 20

41. Three things happened that help account for the shift in Ellen White's teaching on this subject. First, a "new disease" (trichinosis) was discovered in hog flesh in the early 1860s and was receiving widespread publicity. Second, the long battle among Adventists over organization was finally concluded with the formation of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in May 1863.

42. With the extensive efforts to develop Adventist doctrine out of the way ( ) and the rigorous drive for organization accomplished ( ), Adventism was ready for its next progressive step lifestyle and institutional development ( s).21

43. The time, therefore, was ripe for the third element in the new equation in the Adventist approach to the use of swine's flesh Ellen White's health reform vision of June 6, 1863, which took place less than three weeks after the organization of the General Conference. That vision set forth a broad-based view of health reform that led to new emphases in later Adventism and Mrs. White's writings.

44. Change as reversal
A third type of change in the writings of Ellen White is that of contradiction, or reversal, of her earlier positions. The number of these in doctrinal areas is not numerous, but three come to mind.

45. The first has to do with October 22, 1844, being the termination date for the 2300 day/year prophecy of Daniel 8:14. By December 1844 she had given up the view that anything had transpired on October 22. The significance of her first vision must be seen in the face of that disbelief. What she had concluded be fore the vision to be darkness she came to see as a "bright light set up behind" the Advent people as they moved forward toward the kingdom.24

46. Another example of contradictory change, or reversal, has to do with Ellen White's understanding of the shut door. William Miller had taught that at the end of the 2300 days the door of mercy would be shut, human probation would be closed, and the work of warning sinners would be over.25 All Adventists (including Ellen White) who held that a fulfillment of prophecy had taken place on October 22 also believed that human probation had closed. Only gradually could they disentangle error from truth in this aspect of their theology.

47. But the shut door issue cannot be cleared up merely by calling on progressive/clarifying change. Here we also have an example of contradictory change, or reversal. On this point Ellen White admits to having held theological error. In 1874 she wrote: "With my brethren and sisters, after the time passed in forty-four I did believe no more sinners would be converted. But," she hastened to add, "I never had a vision that no more sinners would be converted." 27

48. Ellen White was in harmony with her husband's flexible position
Ellen White was in harmony with her husband's flexible position. Therefore, while she could categorically claim in 1850 that "we have the truth, we know it; praise the Lord," she could also claim 53 years later that "there will be a development of the understanding, for the truth is capable of constant expansion.... Our exploration of truth is yet incomplete. We have gathered up only a few rays of light." She had earlier noted that what is present truth for one generation might not be present truth, or a "test," for other generations.34

49. THIRD, ROLE OF ELLEN WHITE IN THE DEVELOPMENT DOCTRINAL BELIEFS3
THIRD, ROLE OF ELLEN WHITE IN THE DEVELOPMENT DOCTRINAL BELIEFS

50. Her role before 1850, before the doctrines were basically established, was largely to serve as a channel through which God, in a supernatural manner, directly corrected some errors or confusion in doctrines, and confirmed truth through her to the believers concerning that which He wanted them to know.

51. Her role after 1850, after the doctrines had been basically established, may be summarized as follows:
A. She explains, clarifies, amplifies meaning (and sometimes even defines):
(1) Sometimes exegetically.
(2) More often homiletically.

52. Her role after 1850, after the doctrines had been basically established, may be summarized as follows:
B. She interprets prophetic symbols.
C. She shows inter-relationships between various passages of Scripture (that we might not otherwise link together). .

53. Her role after 1850, after the doctrines had been basically established, may be summarized as follows:
D. She provides extra-biblical (though not anti-biblical) detail.
E. She does not "exhaust" the meaning of Scripture:

54. Her role after 1850, after the doctrines had been basically established, may be summarized as follows:
F. Yet, she often refused to read other doctrinal material in order that she may not be influenced by what others wrote.

55. "I have not been in the habit of reading any doctrinal articles in the paper [i.e. Review and Herald], that my mind should not have any understanding of any one's ideas and views, and that not a mold of any man's theories should have any connection with that which I write." (Letter 37, 1887, to A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner, February 18, 1887.)

56. Role of the Holy Spirit through Ellen White in this discovery-of-truth process:
The visions were not a substitute for hard work, study, prayer, individual initiative. Generally, Ellen White did not initiate, taking the lead as far as doctrine was concerned.

57. George Knight answers: "Since it was obviously not the central doctrines, her contributions must have involved points of clarification in regard to certain biblical ideas and duties. Two such contributions come to mind. One concerned the meaning of the "angel ascending from the east, having the seal of God"--a point that Bates and the others had been struggling with

58. A second item had to do with her November 1848 publishing vision in which she told her husband of his responsibility to print a little paper whose influence would eventually go clear around the world Those were the types of controversial issues that Ellen White's visions brought to closure in the period running from mid-1847 to late 1849" (Joseph Bates, p. 103; see also p. 116, 153).

59. Ellen G. White's relationship to the "pillar" doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

60. "In Minneapolis God gave precious gems of truth to His people in new settings. This light from heaven by some was rejected with all the stubbornness the Jews manifested in rejecting Christ, and there was much talk about standing by the old landmarks. But there was evidence they knew not what the old landmarks were.

61. There was evidence and there was reasoning from the word that commended itself to the conscience; but the minds of men were fixed, sealed against the entrance of light, because they had decided it was a dangerous error removing the "old landmarks" when it was not moving a peg of the old landmarks, but they had perverted ideas of what constituted the old landmarks."

62. "The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God's people upon the earth, [also] the first and second angels' messages and the third, unfurling the banner on which was inscribed, "The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." One of the landmarks under this message was the temple of God, seen by His truth-loving people in heaven,

63. and the ark containing the law of God
and the ark containing the law of God. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God's law. The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks. All this cry about changing the old landmarks is all imaginary." (Mss 13, 1889 in CW 30-31)

64. CONCLUSION

65. FOURTH, HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS4
FOURTH, HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS

66. Prior to SDA's being officially SDA's beliefs were quite brief
Prior to SDA's being officially SDA's beliefs were quite brief we had eight we listed five on the Review masthead only two basic beliefs were listed on the newly formed Michigan Conference in its organizational papers. Only 16 beliefs have held 70% or higher in the amount of listings through the church's history.(We became officially the SDA Church in 1863.)

67. The number of beliefs listed varied from 30 in 1894 (a list issued by the then 1521 member Battle Creek Church) to 28 we hold today.

68. 1872 (Uriah Smith's list, and who went to great length's to say it was not a creed) we had 23.
1889 we had , as mentioned, we had 30.
1931 (first to go into the Church Manuel) we had 22.

69. 1932 (first fundamental beliefs authorized by the GC) we went down one to 21.
In 1941 (listed on the first baptismal statement authorized and printed by the GC) we climbed to 27 and that number held from 1950 (found wording to recognize the prophetic gift of EGW) to 2005 when we went back up to 28.

70. 1980 is considered the major rewrite
1980 is considered the major rewrite. New items added, some consolidated, but still ended up with 27 which held until 2005.

71. Only one doctrine, the Law of God, was in all statements from 1954 to 1980 (and holds today). The Word of God for the same time frame, was at 90% as was the Experience of Salvation, the Second Coming, and Death and Resurrection.
Uncovering the Origins of the Statement of Twenty-seven Fundamental Beliefs