Book: The Kingdom of the Cults - On the Seventh-Day Adventists (part 1)

[Continuing on from my previous posts here, here and here]

With regards to the Seventh-Day Adventists, Walter Martin took the position that they are not a cult, just merely unorthodox Christians. Martin attempts to prove his point through primarily looking at their theological statements, and historical writings, and then counter the various charges place against them by other apologists.

After looking through the entire appendix of his book The Kingdom of the Cults (pp. 535-628), I am of the conclusion that Martin has erred in his judgment of Seventh Day Adventism. However, I would agree with him that the current state of Seventh Day Adventism allows for evangelical Christians to remain in it, especially if they are not well versed in the doctrines of Seventh Day Adventism. In other words, I am of the opinion that the current state of Seventh Day Adventism allows for the possibility of a true Church of God to be found in it, despite the heresies of several Seventh Day Adventist distinctive doctrines. This is in part due to the evangelical language and clarification adopted by the Adventists in recent years, as Martin has shown.

In this Appendix, Martin goes through the history of the Adventists, then presented a rough outline of their theology, a look at their major prophetess Ellen G. White, answering some of the Adventists' critics, and then looking at some of what he feels to be legitimate problems with their doctrinal position.

With regards to their overall theological standpoint, Martin quotes from the Adventists' official teaching as found in the book Questions on Doctrine (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1957). In it, he showed that the Adventists are orthodox in their view of Scripture, their view of Christ, the completeness and suffuciency of the Atonement unto salvation, in their insistence of their belief in salvation by grace alone through faith alone. However, he also did highlight the unorthodox doctrines of soul-sleep, of annihilation as opposed to eternal suffering, and of the perculiar Adventist doctrines of the "Sanctuary" and of the "Investigative Judgment", the "Scapegoat teaching" and of course their strict Sabbaterianism.

Before I interact fully with Martin's position, let me just say that I think that Martin has done a thorough job of researching and presenting the evidences regarding the Seventh Day Adventists. What I disagree with are the conclusions which he draws from his evidences. Also, I agree with him that some critics probably have misrepresented the Adventists in certain areas of doctrine. One example of such a misrepresentation is that Adventists believe that Jesus had 'bad blood' through heredity, which the Adventists actually reject though one of its earlier members had once embraced it. Another example is that it was said that Adventists believe that Satan is their sin-bearer, which they actually deny (the "Scapegoat teaching" which baiscally states that Satan would bear all the responsibilities, NOT penalty, for all men's sins). Even for their strict Sabbatarianism, they later clarify that they do not think that other non-Saturday Sabbath keepers are unbelievers, at least not yet. As a mitigating factor for their critics, the Adventists' loose usage of words and concepts do them no good and are most probably the cause of many of the misrepresentations. In other words, they partly have themselves to blame for the many misrepresentations of their views. Their denunciation of Christians who keep the Lord's Day as our Sabbath, especially as they are framed in the past, has not helped them either.

The reason why I have earlier said that there may be true Christians in Seventh Day Adventism is due mainly to the relaxation of their suspicion level and the adoption of more evangelical sounding language in their statement of faith as composed in recent times, which could thus allow for true Christians to remain in the Adventist churches, albiet someone who either is seriously confused or does not understand much of what Adventism actually teaches or implies. And to these errant teachings in Adventism we shall now look to.

With regards to the doctrines of soul-sleep (the doctrine that the soul sleeps until judgment day, instead of immediately being with the Lord) and of annihilation (the doctrine that the souls of the wicked would be destroyed in the second death; not suffer from eternal torment), Walter Martin himself has done a good job of demolishing those two errors. Notwithstanding these errors, Adventism cannot be proven to be a cult based on these two errors, only that they are unorthodox.

The main point of contention that orthodox Christianity has with the Adventists relates to their doctrine of salvation, with particular emphasis on their doctrine of the "Sanctuary" and of "Investigative Judgment". With Dr. Anthony Hoekema which Martin attempted to refute (pp. 561-564), I agree with Hoekema and against Martin that Adventism is a cult, based upon their soteriological maze which ultimately denies salvation and justification by grace alone through faith alone. Yes, they officially say that they believe that they are saved by grace apart from works (p. 554), but after making my way through the semantic jungle they have woven over their doctrine of salvation, pardon me if I don't accept their assertion at face value.

In the next installment, I would like to post more in depth into the issue at hand.