Friday, January 9, 2015

First Contact – Part 8 – Seventh-day Adventists



Shortly after joining the Church of Christ in 1980, I discovered that a coworker, Billy, was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church. As was my habit, I began questioning him about his beliefs and tried to understand some of the differences he and I had. At some point he suggested that I come over to his house and meet with a couple of other members from his church. The main topic of discussion was to be the Sabbath and why the SdA worshipped on that day rather than Sunday.

I told a church friend of mine, Steve, about this meeting, and he was eager to join in. Steve did a lot of mission work in Africa and was pretty knowledgeable of the Bible.

Well, the big day came. Steve and I drove to Billy’s house. As promised, two other men were there. We sat around in a circle in Billy’s living room and started our discussion. We probably talked for an hour or longer, but I don’t remember very much of it. However, one exchange stands out clearly in my mind.

While defending Sabbath day worship, one of the SdA members brought up Matthew 24:15-21, where Jesus is quoted as saying the following:

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.”

The SdA guy then followed up by saying, “Why would Jesus tell his followers to pray that their flight not take place on the Sabbath if the Sabbath was no longer a day of rest and worship?”

I sat in silence. I was a new believer and didn’t have many answers. Steve seemed to be stumped also, at least for a while. He said, “Well, let’s see, why would he say that? Hmmm. Why would he not want them to take flight on a Sabbath? Hmmm. Oh, I know, the gates to the city were closed on the Sabbath. That would make it much more difficult to flee the city. Yeah, that would be it.”

I was thinking, Now that was an obvious impromptu answer. They’ll see through that easily and have a definitive response. I was wrong.

I saw a look of concern come over one of the SdA members. There was a pause. No immediate response came. Finally they spoke again, but had nothing to definitively refute Steve’s explanation. I was a bit surprised.

Later, as we were departing, Steve said to me, “They don’t have a leg to stand on.”

I wasn’t that certain, but it did seem to me that Steve had gotten them on the run.

For some reason I never pursued having any further discussions with the Seventh-day Adventists. I attended one of their services, but that was about it. In actuality, I came to view the whole Sabbath vs. Sunday issue to really be a non-issue, mainly because of these words by the Apostle Paul in Romans 14:5-6.

“One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.”

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