Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

DISCOVERING THE NEW COVENANT
First, I want to make clear that in one primary respect,
the Adventist Church is truly a Christian church. It believes
in the full divinity of Christ. In spite of the fact that during
the first decades of the church’s existence a number of
prominent Adventists taught that Jesus was the created Son
of God, not the eternal God, by the end of the nineteenth
century the church had clarified its position. Since then it has
taught that Jesus was the pre-existent eternal Son of God and
fully equal with God. In this Adventists differ from the
Latter-day Saints and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They have a
mainline Christian view of the Trinity. Adventists believe in
the authority of the Scriptures as God’s Word, justification
by faith in Christ alone, the literal return of Jesus at the
second coming (the reason for the Adventist part of its
name), the resurrection of the just, the punishment of the
wicked, and the importance of Godly living. Because of
these truths held in common with other believers, many have
accepted the Adventists into what is considered mainstream
Christianity.
On the other hand, Adventists hold some unique
doctrinal teachings that have puzzled the rest of the Christian
community and have raised some theological eyebrows.
Some of these are obvious, such as the celebration of the
seventh-day Sabbath on Saturday. They believe that this
observance is mandatory for all true Christians. They believe
that the seventh-day Sabbath, as outlined in the fourth
commandment, is binding for all time. And further, once this
“truth” is understood, to ignore it is to be in rebellion against
God. This is by far the most significant doctrine of the SDA
Church. While Adventists teach that a person is justified by
faith in Christ alone, they also believe that if one comes to
the understanding of the seventh-day Sabbath and chooses
not to observe it as a part of the sanctification process, that
person will lose salvation and will at the end time receive the
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