It happened yesterday. There I was sitting in Taco Bell, minding my own business, eating a chicken enchilada bowl and reading my Bible. These two girls walk in (about high school age), they notice what I’m reading, and they immediately come over to introduce themselves.
They started out with, “We noticed what you are reading, and we think that’s really cool. Do you have a religious background?” I told them yes, and they explained to me that they are Seventh-day Adventists. Then they asked if they could sit down and have lunch with me. I thought to myself, what the heck, so they ordered their food and sat down.
The two girls are from California, where they attend some kind of Adventist academy, and they’re in Utah to sell books to raise money for their school. They said they’ll be here for three weeks and then they are going somewhere else for three more weeks. Half of the things they said and the way they acted reminded me of when I was a missionary. They were talking about what a character building experience it has been for them so far.
They shared a little bit of their beliefs and invited me to church with them on Saturday. They wanted to sell some of their books to me, but when I informed them of my current financial situation they offered to give me the books. They said they could pay for them with donations from other people.
Adventists claim to be evangelical Christians, but a few of their beliefs clearly set them apart. For one, they have church on Saturdays, so I asked them what they thought about other Christians who meet on Sundays. They told me they don’t condemn other churches, but they feel it is more in keeping with God’s word to keep Saturday as the Sabbath. Another thing they brought up was that they don’t eat pork and certain other kinds of meat. They don’t view diet as a factor in Salvation (or so they claimed in our conversation) and they don’t condemn others for eating meat. In fact, one of the girls said she is not a vegetarian, but she is still a member in good standing. I think they toned down this teaching quite a bit, though.
I remember talking to Seventh-day Adventists on my mission, and I used to know more about them, so when I got home I immediately looked them up on the Internet. Their website, adventist.org is pretty plain and does not publish a lot of doctrine. I found the following on their “Fundamental Beliefs” page: “Along with adequate exercise and rest, we are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but all of the unclean foods they’re talking about were identified in the Old Testament.
It seems strange to me that a group of Christians would want to go back to the strict laws of Judaism and try to make it compatible with Christianity. It seems to me that scriptures like 1 Corinthians 10:25-27 are quite clear:
25 Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience’ sake;
26 For the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.
27 If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake.
And see Colossians 2:13-17:
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Don’t get me wrong here. I agree that healthy eating is important, and that it is good to meet together as a body of Christ regularly to fellowship and worship Him. But in light of these verses, I’m not sure how they can say that Christians are under any obligation to eat certain foods or honor a specific Sabbath day.
Here’s the clincher: The Adventist movement came out of the Millerite movement, so named because it was led by William Miller. Miller had prophesied that Jesus would return in 1844 (the Bible is clear in teaching that no man knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return, but that we should always be watchful; see Matthew 25:13, Revelation 3:3). Christ’s return did not happen as predicted. Later, Ellen G. White declared herself to be a prophet and claimed that Miller was right about the time, but wrong about the event. She claimed that in 1844 the heavenly sanctuary had been cleansed—whatever that means. Anyway, she continued to teach many of the teachings of William Miller, while adding many of her own.
Anyway, enough doctrine for one day. I’ve decided not to go to church with them, but we had a fun discussion and I will probably read the literature they provided me with. I appreciated their kindness toward me and I admire them for taking time out of their summer to do something they feel strongly about. It’s good to see young people willing to do that. 