#adventism

[inhissteps777]

Every step of the way, when you fall, and you have your shortcomings, He’s right there. When you have your victories, He’s right there. Give yourself grace, give yourself time to grow and appreciate it, because He’s growing with you. Every individual out here is experiencing a human life, a human experience and God is experiencing it with you. So when you go through things, He’s going with it. He’s right there with you. He’s talking to you. All you gotta do is talk back. I’ve walked on the beach every day, and I’m talking to God, I’m just talking. Like He the homie, I swear to God, I put that on my grandmama grave, I talk to Him. Next to me, like the homie, just like the people that you grow with. I don’t care if you gotta curse, you gotta cuss, you talk to Him as if you known Him since you was born, the way He knows you. It’s the truth. It’s the truth. - Kendrick Lamar

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

Heresies & Ecumenism

“Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. For there is none worthy of the name but God, whom heaven, earth and sea obey” — King Canute, Ruler of Denmark, Norway, and England (attributed)

The older I get, the more I dismiss the fervent fanaticism I see in those around me. And while I used to think about religious zeal as the sole purview of Christian sectarianism, I've begun to see it more and more in almost every ideological circle I encounter. One person may be a RINO (Republican In Name Only). Another may pay lip service to some transgender cause, reject another point, and be labeled a traitor to the struggle. There are environmental heresies, and there are Russian Ex-Pats who support Ukraine in their current conflict, but who are deemed to be subversive because of the country they were born in.

And the truth of the matter is... It's all nonsense.

The World will do what it does. The People in the world will do what they do, too. There is a reality that exists beyond the models we create in our heads. There's a landscape that will not change, no matter the stories we tell ourselves.

Heresies are nothing more than you and I arguing over which of the stories we're telling ourselves most closely matches our lived experiences, or the reality we assume undergirds it.

I mentioned in a prior post that I try to be accommodating with whatever group I am with.

In that post I gave a quote from St. Ambrose. Here are some from St. Paul.

Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God… —1 Corinthians 10:32

To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. — 1 Corinthians 9:21-23

Ecumenism has become the "Antichrist" among a large portion of the Christian community. Adventists fear it because they feel that to embrace it will result in apostasy infiltrating their Church, the very same could be said about the Eastern Orthodox Christian Community.

But the truth of the matter is that we are arguing over models, arguing over the way we think the world works, and none of us have the humility to stop and say…

"I don't know what's real. But I will do my best to live out the life I've been given in the way I think God intended me to live".

"We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. — 2 Corinthians 6:11-13

I loved Eastern Orthodox Christianity once, and the people of the Antiochian community I associated with. I also love the People in my Seventh-Day Adventist community too, the ones I continue to daily struggle with. And for all my criticism of other protestant groups, they're all trying to discern the mind of God in their own way. I honestly feel for their struggles, since I don't think they have really looked at nature - they look at God as a very human Judge - and not as the creator of Heaven and Earth.

They don't see him in every single blade of grass, and that must be difficult for them.

I've often wished I could have a spiritual mentor, a father, in the form of an Antiochian Orthodox Priest. I also understand that pillars of Christianity such as St. Mary of Egypt, or St. Simeon the Stylite didn't have anything like that - formal mentors. So I look to more mundane instruction, as both those Saints did, and many unnamed others who must have had to do so also, and I struggle forward.

I watched the recent Heliocentric video, and see in his assessment the same thing I experienced myself. Namely, Worship isn't about forming the perfect model of reality, your Orthodoxy or your Heterodoxy, or giving TED talks on your newfound wisdom. It's about priorities, and recognizing the reality that God comes first.

It's about knowing your place, and finding peace there.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy upon me, A Sinner.

[necklesslapras]

Day 9

i really wish someone else had been around to hear the noise i made upon opening the flap and seeing This Thing staring back at me

[magicaldogtoto]

Saw this post while looking up Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories, and ended up doodling this a while ago. I ended up not finishing it, but it’s still a funny image.

This feels like a nightmare Rose would have had at some point.

[an-unanonymous-messenger]

We all (well, most of us, probably) have heard of commandment number four, which says that we should remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. But how is one to do that? Probably taking a nap? Rest from labour? Sleep throughout the day? There will be many saying that it is meant for our rest, but how is one to rest? We see Jesus always working on Sabbaths (Saturdays), on which we would perceive that it is not lawful to do. Does that make Jesus a transgressor? Then that would not go well with the fact that Jesus lived a sinless life, hence dying and bleeding for nothing. But what does this mean? He obviously told us, that God made the Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath. We are not subdued to the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not our God, but rather the gift of God. The Israelites were enslaved for centuries in Egypt, growing accustomed to restless labour; but God brought in the commandment of rest, in order to save them from their past. And Jesus Himself, the Son of Man, is Lord of the Sabbath, and according to the Scriptures, He is our Sabbath, our relief of the Old Covenant, in which the people suffered the burden of the Law, which they could not bear. If you had a friend in deep suffering, even on the Sabbath, wouldn't you go and help him out?

[guardianspirits13]

Decided to redraw my Candle Girls from last holiday season, and a new friend of theirs that someone suggested I include- Kwanzaa!

Once again, happy candle month to all who celebrate!

[notyoujamie]

Doctor Who Advent Calendar —Day 6

[artalfons]

i imagine this is how remake part 3 is going to start.

[diminuel]

Baby's first snow

The prompt for today was "Crocodile showing baby Luffy snow for the first time"!

[camilleflyingrotten]

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

Why do people leave the Adventist Church?

Exit Interviews.

I thought I would do a self assessment, I wondered if it would be interesting to assess what my triggers were. So, going down the list…

Being “defined out” – people who feel that Adventism has been defined (including in changes to the Fundamental Beliefs) in ways that define them as being “outside,” and choose to accept that. Absolutely. But, related to Number 2.

Studying their way out – people who have been convinced by very extensive and careful study of scripture and theology that various claims of Seventh-day Adventism are not supported by the best available evidence. As noted, Absolutely. Related to 1.

Recent creationism – people who find the very strong insistence on a literal 6-day creation week less than 10,000 years ago impossible to reconcile with their understanding of science. Consciously not much of a factor - Creationism and Evolution both require confidence in the ability to interpret evidence from extremely esoteric sources. We have layers of soil, we have bones, pollen, plankton, lots of different stuff. We also have floods, cataclysmic events such as magnetic pole shifts, meteors, etc. Read Immanuel Velikovsky, or Chan Thomas if you really want to go down the rabbit hole into conspiracy theories. I don't have a lot of confidence in anybody's interpretation of anything, to be honest. We have models. The evolutionary model works to a certain degree within biology. In certain forms of Christianity, the creationist model also serves a purpose. Separate disciplines with different objectives. "The map is not the terrain". I can cope.

Hierarchy – people who believe the denomination should be more congregational and local rather than global, so that local cultural differences can be accepted, rather than requiring uniformity. Not much of a factor. Actually, a bit of a distraction. My interest in Orthodox Christianity didn't change my opinion much. My understanding is that the early Church had different liturgies from city to city - now it's uniform. I'm only now beginning to see the advantages of a local congregational model, but only within a highly specific liturgical context.

Institutional protection of sexual predators – people who have been horrified by the treatment of survivors of sexual abuse (including themselves or people close to them) and their abusers, including cover-ups and “moving along” Literally didn't affect me in any way. Not a factor.

Women’s ordination – people who believe that some women are called to pastoral ministry and should be in all ways equal with men in that calling Not a factor. Though, having studied Orthodox Christianity, I do think that while a woman can preach and give instruction, I have deeper reservations about the role of a Woman in officiating over a communion or other formal eucharistic service.

Morality of God – people who find the God who killed almost everyone on Earth in a Flood and commanded genocide of women and children after the Exodus morally unacceptable. PENAL SUBSTITUTION. I hated it, I saw no reason for it in a universe created by an omniscient and perfect God. The Old Testament stuff I could deal with. Anyone who's held a job with responsibilities knows that the best solution to a problem isn't always the most comfortable. Plus, the Old Testament is a collection of stories, not the inerrant word of God. Interpretation is required.

Sexuality – people who are gay, bi or trans and were told their very existence was wrong and excluded by both doctrine and practice. Problematic to be sure. While I knew that sexual immorality was wrong, I thought the way most "religious" people interacted with the marginalized was unhelpful and wrong. Not a proponent of "Tough Love", I felt that there should be better ways for supporting people going through what I consider to be challenges.

Fluidity of belief – people who are not rigid in their belief structures, and who “flowed in” and later “flowed out” of belief A big deal actually, but not in the way intended. I have certain beliefs that I hold to be bedrock. When it became clear that The God I grew up with was subject to his law but not his mercy, his justice but not his love. I realized that I couldn't be Protestant. I frequently reference coherence as a personal need - so, I needed a coherent metaphysic that I could live with. Adventism didn't provide it in particular, and neither did Protestantism in general.

Never believed – people who never really believed in supernatural things, in many cases despite being brought up in the church, and left once they were socially free to do so. Odd, I believe in all sorts of supernatural weird things. Yet my disbelief had more to do with the parody of God I was being offered by my faith, over how I felt a God should truly act.

Claimed inerrancy of Scripture and Ellen G White – people who have identified errors in the Bible or the writings of Ellen White, when both are (sometimes) claimed to be inerrant (noting that inerrancy is not mainstream Adventist doctrine in either case). Note that inerrancy is not a mainstream Adventist doctrine, as such, this was not a factor.

Inconsistencies within Scripture or between doctrine and Scripture – people who have identified inconsistencies within the Bible, within the writings of Ellen White, between EGW and the Bible or between the Bible and Adventist doctrinal positions. Writings are just that… Writings. They are written by humans and not handed down from on-high. One needs to extend grace in such things. Consequently, this was not a factor.

Desmond Ford, his treatment at Glacier View and the Investigative Judgement – people (usually old enough to have been around at the time) who accept Dr Ford’s critique of the Investigative Judgement doctrine, and/or who believe that his treatment by the denomination at the time and later was unfair. First, Desmond Ford's treatment was unfair. Second, it was inconsequential. The whole concept of Penal Substitution is flawed. So, a definite factor.

Exclusive truth claims – people who find it impossible, in a very large and very diverse world of almost 7.9 billion people that a small group of 22 million Adventists (about 0.3% of the global population) has the One True Way and the other 99.7% of all human beings are just wrong. Definitely a factor.

Seven to nine factors, though I haven't bothered with a weighted scale. Being defined out via study (#1, and #2) is pretty big, as is the rejection of what many Christians consider to be a CORE tenant of Christianity, Penal Substitution (#7 and #13). Most of the "Not a factor" assessments don't argue for staying within Adventism, rather, they just exist as inconsequentials - they weren't compelling for staying within the fold.

As I have said before, I have not been removed from the rolls at my Adventist Church. The people who keep me in their records are both extending a mercy, and somewhat padding their numbers. Many of them know of this blog, and feel that "there's hope for the lost lamb". Some were actively praying that I wouldn't become an Orthodox Christian. I was bitter about that in a way I wasn't when they were praying for me to remain Christian.

Well, their prayers have been answered for the time being, as I'm not nominally going anywhere.

Even as I remain heretical.

However, the current pastor and sermons not withstanding, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church needs to really self-evaluate their theology before I will ever feel comfortable in calling myself an unequivocable Adventist.

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God, Have Mercy upon me, A sinner.

[0-dantes-inferno-0]

In 2004, Square Enix partnered with Panasonic to release the Panasonic FOMA P9000iV alongside the release of the FF VII movie Advent Children

[thirstywaffles]

Cloud projecting his period cramps to beat sephiroth in a fight

[jesenipaints]

Sephiroth

[notyoujamie]

Doctor Who Advent Calendar —Day 1