Bible Interpretation

[M.A. Crawford]

What is going on in the Seventh-day Adventist Church? Why is it that a number of Adventist authors in recent years have begun to challenge distinctive church doctrines that have withstood the test of time? Why does it appear that some in the church are facing an identity crisis? Why does there seem to be an ongoing "theological battle" between the liberal "leftwing" and the conservative "rightwing" of the church that seems to be dividing our church right down the middle into two camps of thought?

WE ARE AT WAR! It is not a war of guns and tanks, but a battle for control of the human mind and of one's way of thinking. On the one hand are those who believe that the church needs to be "rehabilitated" and its fundamental doctrines "liberated" from, they claim, the nineteenth century way of thinking upon which the foundational pillars of the church are based. On the other are those who are opposed to tampering with any of the basic doctrines or beliefs of this church. But are the former individuals correct? Are church doctrines based mainly upon thinking that was characteristic of a little over 150 years ago, or are they based upon principles from the Word of God that are timeless?

The bottom line is: each individual must decide in his/her own mind as to which "camp" he/she will identify with. It is not a "church thing," but an individual decision. As an old saying goes: "Every tub must sit on its own bottom." Just to side with family or friends will not necessarily make one position right over the other! Also, there is no neutral position of which one can assume. One cannot vascillate back and forth between the two positions and expect to establish that which will stand the test when the testing time comes.

We shall continue our discussion on Bible Interpretation.

M.A.

[Richard Myers]

Amen, Brother Crawford.

There is a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The Bible is to interpret itself. Often a text that is being twisted out of its meaning can be seen in its proper context if the reader will continue reading before and after the text.

Like the Jews of old, many today wrest the Scriptures to their own injury. In doing so many in turn lead others also alway from Jesus.

In our Bibles we find life. "The excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it."  "This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send."

There is altogether too little study of the Bible and too much discussion about what it says. Let us learn for ourselves and then we may understand that life is imparted and sustained "by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God..." Matt. 4:4. Let us feed upon the Word, Christ Jesus.

In His love and grace,    Richard

[M.A. Crawford]

One of the master plans the enemy of souls is now employing to deceive those who faithfully look for the Lord's appearing can now be revealed. The old deluder knows that serious Adventists are students and believers of the Word, and he cannot change that fact. So what does he do? Instead of trying to get God's people to disbelieve the Scriptures, he tries to get them to REINTERPRET certain passages of the Bible in order to determine if God actually means what He says, or if He means something else in light of these days and times. When he has accomplished this, half of his objective has been achieved. When the enemy can cause us to question what the Word of God says concerning whether or not homosexuality is a sin; or whether or not it is all right to drink a little fermented wine with dinner; or whether or not it is all right to eat certain unclean foods; or whether or not it is all right to divorce and remarry for reasons other than those given by the Bible; then he has succeeded in causing us to DOUBT the Word which, if continually embraced, will eventually cause us to DEPART from God's Word altogether. When we have arrived at this juncture, we are placing ourselves on dangerous ground and in a position to be deceived and lost.

The fact of the matter is the Bible interprets itself. IT DOES NOT NEED OUR HELP! Certainly God is not so "absent-minded" or inept that He would inspire men, through His Holy Spirit, to write words of Scripture that would later need the "interpretation" of others in order to be understood. With all the individuals there are today who claim to have the "right" interpretation of Scripture, how would we know who is right? I do not plan to gamble my soul salvation on anything that differs from a plain "Thus saith the Lord."

If there are questionable passages of Scripture that we are not immediately able to understand, I firmly believe that if we pray about them and then WAIT ON THE LORD to reveal His meaning to us, I am convinced understanding will come. It might be a day, week, month, or more, but IT WILL COME.

M.A.

[M.A. Crawford]

As unbelievable as it may seem to Bible-believing Christians, we have arrived at a point in time when not a few Seventh-day Adventists are questioning whether the Bible is fully inspired or even reliable when certain passages of Scripture are brought into question. These individuals appear to be among those who are somewhat young, highly educated, and outspoken. Let me make it clear that there is nothing wrong with being young, highly educated, or outspoken. The problem arises when these qualities or attributes are used in ways that undermine belief in the basic doctrines of this church in general, and one's faith or trustworthiness in the Bible in particular. How have we arrived at this juncture?

The Bible tells us quite clearly that as we near the end of time these kinds of things are going to happen. The Scriptures warn us of a "falling away" that shall take place just prior to Christ's return (2 Thess. 2:3). This falling away will entail a lack of confidence in the Word of God that will lead men and women to arrive at their own conclusions THAT ARE CONTRARY TO GOD'S WORD concerning life's questions that relate to salvation. As a result, some Adventist scholars and theologians have taken a very liberal approach to the way in which they view the relevancy of God's Word in today's world. Men and women, some of world renown and with large followings, are having their highly suspect and questionable teachings published in some of our leading publications and are causing many in our churches to fall prey to this snare of Satan. How is it that so many professed Christians can be hoodwinked into believing that which cannot be substantiated by Scripture?

We place ourselves in a position to be deceived when we embrace and accept the conclusions of men and women that conflict with a plain "Thus saith the Lord." There are some who appear to be more interested in what the writers of books and magazine articles say more than they are in what the Bible says. They will read religiously the works of these individuals while their study of the Word is found lacking.

There is nothing wrong with the reading of books and magazine articles AS LONG AS these works do not conflict with the words of Scripture. There are many fine publications that uphold and support the Word of God and Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation for mankind. And these are the kind of works that should occupy our reading time. If what one is reading does not exalt Jesus Christ and the Word, where salvation is concerned, one is wasting time reading it.

M.A.  

[Liane H]

I agree with everything you both have said, but having said that, I wish to bring this to another way of looking.

Yes, truth is a two-edge sword. When it cuts, your are either on one side or your on the other. No middle, the sword of truth is the dividing line.

When I was a young woman, I was very liberal, very political and over the years developed ideals about what and how the world should be.

Then entered Christ into my life. I found out that things are not what they appear to be and that there are different ways to look at values, morals and ideals.

A transformation takes place. It is not cut and dry, God know that we all don't change in the twinkle of an eye, but a slow process of having to change your thinking, your belief system and slowly there is a transformation from liberal ideals to christian values.

I know how hard that transformation can be. My mind rebels at change, how I have lived has kept me alive this long, why change now, but your heart says, God knows better and as you begin to read the words of the Bible, you begin to realize that things are not has they had seemed.

We all are not on the same road and all of come with baggage.  I have began to realize that having been raised in the SDA Church is no guarantee that you will stay in, you see Pastors of several generations of SDA leaving the church, but as many that leave, new ones take their place.

Truth is a two-edge sword. It cuts you in or it cut you out. But if your mind and heart are joined as one, you will stay, you will read your Bible, read the words from the SOP, study and let the power of the Holy Spirit transform you into a child of God.  

Yes, still even today, there are times when my mind rebels, but my heart knows what is being said is correct. What I am saying is, that not all of us are in the same place, and we must ever be gentle with those that are not in the same place that we are at. For truth is a two-edge sword, it cuts, and cuts hurt.

Sometimes God reveals things to us now instead of years ago, because He knew that we were not ready to handle it then.  Things I am learning today would have sent me out of the church and packing, throwing out every SDA and SOP book I had.  But Christ knows what,when and how much we can handle.  
I thank Him for His gentleness, His forgiveness and His love. To be like Christ is everything.

Liane      

[M.A. Crawford]

Sis Liane, your comments were very timely and much needed. Yes, God does know that we don't become mature Christians overnight. This is one of the reasons why He has delayed His coming: to give us TIME to change our way of thinking and become transformed into His Likeness. For, as you pointed out, this is the only way that we can be saved.

As you also stated, God knows exactly what we need and when we need it. He is ALWAYS right on time with what we need to be saved. As we near the end of time, whereas we once desired the "milk" of the Word (as babes in Christ) we now need the "meat" of Word (as mature Christians) as we prepare for the time of trouble that is soon to come upon the world. This is why the words of Scripture, in the lives of some, might "cut" and the meat might be difficult to swallow, nevertheless it is incumbent upon all who desire to be saved to BE READY when He comes by hedging ourselves in and all about with the UNADULTERATED Word of God.

M.A.

[M.A. Crawford]

"Esaias [Isaiah] also crieth concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." Romans 9:27.

Have we taken the time to really contemplate the meaning of this verse of Scripture and the implications it has for today? The children of Israel were God's chosen people to lead the nations of the earth into a knowledge of the True and the Living God in order that they might be saved (not unlike the calling out of God's remnant church [SDA] when it was organized). But something happened on the way to achieving this objective. Instead of remaining pure, undefiled, and free from the influence of heathen nations, many in the nation of Israel, time and time again, found themselves doing that which was contrary to the Will of God (again, not unlike today). As a result, God gave them over to a "reprobate mind" (Rom. 1:28) and called out a remnant that would stand for that which was right though the heavens fall.

Look at Romans 10:1-3: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Having a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. And why are these individuals ignorant of God's righteousness? The Bible says for they are going about trying to establish THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS (not unlike those who are trying to establish their own interpretation of the Scriptures).

What is the source of the knowledge of righteousness? It is the Word of God. When the enemy can cause some to question and reject a plain "Thus saith the Lord," the next step is to replace it altogether with their own interpretation. This is why one needs to be very, very careful when one begins to entertain and embrace the ideas and Scriptural interpretations of others that are at variance with the plain Word of God. We place ourselves in a very precarious position to be deceived when we begin to give credence to ANY INTERPRETATION other than the Bible interpreting Itself.

M.A.      

[Richard Myers]

Amen, Brother Crawford! We have a Lamp that will shed light upon our path. If we do not accept the Bible as it reads, then we shall be lost.

Sister Liane, thank you for pointing out how God meets us where we are and we ought to do the same with others. He is longsuffering and patient or else we would not be here today. He waited for me unitl He knew I was ready. I thank Him daily.   Let us be as you said gentle with one another. This in no ways means we have to give up the truth.

In His love and grace,    Richard

[M.A. Crawford]

"Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." Leviticus 18:22. (The word "abomination" in my Bible is translated sin.)

There are some in the Seventh-day Adventist Church who of late are of the opinion that a homosexual lifestyle is no longer a sinful one. This is in spite of what the Bible says to the contrary. They reason that the above text and others like it are passages of Scripture that had reference to the old world of "an eye for an eye" and, therefore, have little if any relevance today. If that is the case, the question is: would homosexuality be considered a sin only in the Old Testament?

"Wherefore God also gave them up TO UNCLEANNESS through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is AGAINST NATURE: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; MEN WITH MEN working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet....Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death...." Romans 1:24-32. Emphasis mine.

"Know ye not that THE UNRIGHTEOUS shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, NOR EFFEMINATE, NOR ABUSERS OF THEMSELVES WITH MANKIND...shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10. Emphasis mine.

In BOTH the Old and New Testaments, same sex relationships are very clearly denounced as sin that shall be punished, as will all sin. Sober-minded Christians will not be "hoodwinked" by the liberal interpretations of those who seek to place their own interpretation upon the Word of God. Those who attempt to "re-interpret" these and other Scriptures to suit their own way of thinking are doing so at the peril of their own souls.

M.A.  

[Richard Myers]

Amen, Brother Crawford, and at the expense of others whom they influence.

Richard

[Joan Rügemer]

May the words of right indignation, about the wrong attitude toward bible interpretation that many of our members and pastors are having, be here a moving testimony in the hearts of all the readers as it has been in my heart. It works strength and stability in me when a brother like you takes a firm unflinching stand for God and His word.

thank you Br. Crawford.
Joan

[M.A. Crawford]

Thank you, Sis. Joan, for your kind comments. God knows our hearts, and He shall continue to bless.

M.A.

[Allan F]

Happy Sabbath to all!

It was interesting to read through this topic.
We have to realize that the very end of this world is soon to come. And it is sad to realize that when the Bible finally was spread all over the world, so that everyone would have the possibility to read it, the faith in Gods word fell dramatically. For many centuries, the Bible was not easy to obtain, and often it was not allowed to have one either. But when the Waldensians and other christians read the Bible, (we can read in the GC that) they felt like having an interview with God.
I believe that many don't have the same feeling today when reading the Bible. There is a tendency today, to form the word of God into humanism in order to fit the standards of the world. In this way we have made God into a humanist. But neither God, his word or his followers proclaim humanism. There is a big difference between humanism and christianity. The first is the philosphy of man. The second is God's philosophy.

I believe that what we see today is just the beginning of the great delusion which the false prophet will work out in the last days.
But Gods word will stand for ever.

"Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith." (Jer 23:30.31)

Allan F

[M.A. Crawford]

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Proverbs 20:1.

There are some in the Seventh-day Adventist Church who are lately of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with drinking a little fermented wine with dinner meals. But is this true? This may be true for others but I believe that, FOR THE CHRISTIAN, we are bound by a higher standard than the rest of the world. We are to follow after the example of Christ.

As I stated in another forum on a related topic, there are two types of wine that are mentioned in the Bible: (1) the fermented wine of Proverbs 20:1, and (2) the unfermented "fruit of the vine" of Matthew 26:29. Jesus changed water into unfermented wine (grape juice) because fermentation represents sin. Certainly Jesus would not be identified with any kind of beverage that would cause a person to take leave of his senses as fermented wine does.

An individual in another forum made the following statement on a similar topic: " I realized that Jesus probably did not use alcoholic beverages." My question to him is: Do you mean that you have to WONDER whether Jesus used an alcoholic beverage or not? Does he not know to whom he is referring? He has reference to the True and the Living God of the Universe who is the Second Person of the Godhead. As a result, it is UNTHINKABLE to me that one would even permit such a thought to come to mind!

We need to be very, very careful as to how we refer to the One to whom even the Holy Angels bow down and worship.

The Bible makes it very clear that we are to "abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22). Certainly the use of an alcoholic beverage, because of what it does to the mind and body, has no place in the walk of a Christian because alcohol is associated with worldliness.

M.A.    

[theo]

I think all this boils down to something very simple. We either live for self, or we live for Christ.

Whether it is bible interpretation, doctrines, lifestyle issues, or anything else, if we make self the focus we are in trouble. On the other hand if we seek Christ honestly in our hearts on every issue, we can't go wrong.

John 3:30-"He must increase, but I must decrease".

May Christ increase in each of our lives for we truly are living in earths last moments.

Theo  

[Richard Myers]

Amen, Brother Theo, amen!  

[M.A. Crawford]

"And he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every UNCLEAN and hateful bird." Revelation 18:2. Emphasis mine.

The fact of the matter is even in the Book of Revelation there is STILL a differentiation between clean and unclean animals. This gives New Testament (NT) credence to the clean and unclean animals of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 and lets us know that the designation is not relegated to the Old Testament (OT) as some assume. Not that it needs to because the Word of God stands on Its own recognizance. But what this means is whatever was designated as unclean in the OT is STILL unclean today. Common sense should tell us that certainly God would not point out something as being unclean in the OT but is now all right to eat during the NT era. This would establish a double standard and would be unfair to the inhabitants of the old world.

There are some, especially among first day believers, who believe that Peter's vision as recorded in Acts 10 indicates that Jesus cleansed all the animals. Therefore one can now eat that which previously may have been designated as unclean. But is this true? "No. In fact, the subject of this vision IS NOT ANIMALS, BUT PEOPLE. God gave Peter this vision to show him that the Gentiles were not unclean, as the Jews believed. God had instructed Cornelius, a Gentile, to send men to visit Peter. But Peter would have refused to see them if God had not given him this vision, because Jewish law forbade entertaining Gentiles (verse 28). But when the men finally did arrive, Peter welcomed them, explaining that ordinarily he would not have done so but 'God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.' Verse 28" (AFSG, You Wouldn't Do This, pp. 12, 13, emphasis mine).

M.A.    

[Richard Myers]

Amen, Brother Crawford!

Brother Allan, I was reading through this topic and came upon your post where you quoted "Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that
               steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the
               prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith."
               (Jer 23:30.31)

It reminds me of one of my favorite verses from Job. "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?"  God is not pleased with those who say "He saith" when He never said. It should give reason for many, all, to stop and consider what we are doing when we take it upon ourselves to act as teacher.

In His love and grace,     Richard

[Kevin Hellerud]

M. A. Crawford and Richard Myers you have over simplified the situation in a way that places you in danger of spiritual complacency. It is not a two sided issue!

First of all, what you label as liberal and conservative are usually about two different types of the different types of conservative.

Essentially the true liberal conservative split is those who believe that the Bible is inspired and those who think it is of purely human origins.

Theses other sub groups are conservative. The conservatives can be divided into the Fundamentalists and Non-Fundamentalists.  The Conservative, Non-Fundamentalist view is the school of writers that Mrs. White would consistently copy from when she discussed inspiration.  They believed that inspiration works with the person, background, cultural understanding and historical situation.  They take the Bible as God's word, and don't worry about everything being correct and agreeing. They don't worry about editing of the text. God is still behind it.  

The Fundamentalists believe that since the Bible is God's book it has to be absolutely perfect, at least in the original manuscripts.  

Despite the fight of Ellen White, Willie White, A G. Daniels,  W W Prescott and the faculty of Washington Missionary College among others against Fundamentalism, in the 1923 General Conference session had house cleaning throwing out the active non-fundamentalists (those who were willing to keep their beliefs to themselves and allow the Fundamentalists to run things got to fill the positions).  Actually in 1923 there were three groups. Those who were fundamentalist towards both the Bible and Mrs. White, those who were non-fundamentalists towards both the Bible and Mrs. White, and those who were fundamentalist towards the Bible but non-fundamentalists towards Mrs. White (Spicer was a member of that group.  By the way, Canwright, and Jones were both fundamentalists towards the Bible and Mrs. White, who gave up on Mrs. White as she did not reach their fundamentalist standard)

Now among the fundamentalists, at least in Adventism, but you can find at least 3 major subgroups. You can find similar subgroups among other denominations and religions.  They are the Evangelical Adventists, who focus in on certain key phrases of Paul which is THE WORD OF GOD. the Adventist Theological Society, and the Historic Adventist.  The big difference between then is which verses have the most impact on them. Which verses they see as THE INFALLIBLE WORD OF GOD. Some gravitate to some verses, others to other verses, and they become closed minded among the verses they like, and use these against the verses they don't like.

Here we run into a second issue, denominationalism.  The Evangelical Adventists are basically Lutheran in their religion.  The Adventist Theological Society is more Baptist, with a bit of Lutheran thrown in. The Historic Adventist are Methodists.  By the way, the Graham Maxwell position would be non-fundamentalists Methodists, with more in common with the historic Adventists than the other two subgroups.

There may be more sides than I mentioned here, but these seem to be some of the major groupings.  To simply make two sides, us and everyone else prevents you from taking an honest look at the situation and to evaluate where you are.  We must constantly study the Bible. We must constantly challenge our views to see if we are correct.  A two sided issue keeps us from challenging ourselves.

Also, we need to remember the spirit of the Pioneers.  They were kicked out of their churches because they did not want to hold to a creed, but agree on a few basic pillars, and outside of these pillars they would agree to disagree, just as long as they did not go into fanaticism. Babylon was those conserned about being right and everyone else wrong. The Adventist Pioneers came from both more liberal and more conservative churches and brought their liberal and conservative ideas with them. They encourage unity in diversity. These subgroups have always been in Adventism.  Sometimes we bind together for a common purpose, other times we fight and call each other names. M. A. C and Richard, be careful here that you are not trying to push some creed that would make James White spin in his grave if he knew how you wanted to make us all orthodox by your standard.

[This message has been edited by Kevin Hellerud (edited 12-29-2000).]

[Gerry C. Wagoner]

A solemn amen, bro Crawford.  Hello Kevin.

"MAC" what you say is accurate regarding a progressive wing of the advent church.  Who can deny this?

This wing promotes a radical redefinition of almost every doctrine of our faith.  Their ideas are often well-expressed, packaged neatly, and thoughtful.  Thus their danger looms large upon the nominal Advent believer.  And they (this progressive wing) are determined to take our church in a direction that we don't want to see her travel.
Brethren who are reading their Bibles faithfully, are better insulated against the invasion of these ideas.  What is needed?

Reformation is needed, continuing in the spirit of the reformers who sought to restore apostolic truth (thus their label "Restitutionists).  Sadly, this restoration may come at a cost, a break from the fallen company of those who have gone too far.  When? Not now.  God Himself will divide His people in righteousness, relieving us of the burden of starting our own race.  
 We, like Hosea, are entering into an experience whereby our lives are purified by the anguish expressed by unrequited love (Hosea & Gomer).  The people who sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb will know what it means to love a people who are unloving and bent upon their own destruction.  

For me it would be easy to gather unto myself likeminded brethren and worship in isolation of a worldly-minded remnant (notice the oxymoron).  But I don't believe the time has come--it doesn't yet hurt bad enough to sigh and cry over the camp--like Jesus does.

What is needed? Salt & Light.  Our Lord will provide both at no charge.  We may freely distribute among our dear brothers & sisters-- and to a wanting world.

gcw