The way to Hell is littered with Starbucks cups

I recently read an article in the Pacific Union Recorder written by the Union President, Tom Mostert. I was actually incensed enough to write the following response to the editorial staff. I'd be interested to know what you think. Please join in the discussion!

I grew up in the Adventist Church, and attended Adventist schools from kindergarten through college. I went to church every Sabbath unless I was ill. I didn’t smoke, drink, or wear jewelry. I examined package labels and shunned any snack containing lard (no matter how tasty it looked!). I didn’t wade in the ocean past my knees, read non-religious books, listen to non-religious music, play non-religious games or watch TV on Sabbath. I was a model Pathfinder, I sang in the church choir from the age of 9, and I ate just about every product that Worthington and Loma Linda ever made. I read the Bible all the way through several times, read Ellen White and even fasted and prayed for a day when I was 12. I was a good kid – got good grades, had nice Adventist friends, loved and respected my parents, and got along well with others. Mine was a traditional Adventist upbringing.

Thanks to my early instruction by pastors and teachers like Pastor Mostert, I grew up believing that I had to behave correctly or my sinful behavior would separate me from God. And in spite of being a “good girl” I was terrified at the prospect of the Second Coming, knowing I wouldn’t be good enough to qualify for salvation.

It wasn’t until I became an adult that I came to understand that salvation isn’t earned – and that relationship guides behavior, not the other way around. In time, I realized that if I am faithful in maintaining my relationship with God through time spent in prayer and in the study of His word, my lifestyle is informed – and reformed – by that relationship. When we accept Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, we cannot help but want to express our love and gratitude by living a life that is pleasing to Him.

Pastor Mostert’s article “0+0+0+0=0” was extremely disheartening to read, and is a good example of why so many intelligent believers have left our church. It is downright insulting for him to suggest that Adventists whose beliefs and/or practices differ from his own have modified their faith purely to suit their own convenience, thus insinuating that there are no legitimate reasons for differing from “traditional” Adventist teachings. Can he truly be claiming that it isn’t possible for Adventist believers to come to a new understanding of their faith through a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ?

There are so many confusing statements and blatant errors of understanding in his editorial I can hardly begin to address them: how does one “practice sanctification only in general terms” (we are left to suppose he must be referring to those who do, say or think things with which he doesn’t personally agree)? In what way does drinking coffee – or even wine in moderation – amount to zero incorporation of the Adventist health message (how does one deviation = zero incorporation)? Since when are all Christians called to be evangelists – what happened to the idea of Spiritual Gifts, and the illustration of the church as a body with different parts which complement each other? And how does the investigation of Ellen White’s authority as a prophet eliminate serious consideration of her writings? Pastor Mostert’s statements reflect a clear bias and a troubling lack of discernment.

The importance Adventist Christians place on the study of the Bible is one of the more admirable aspects of our denomination. In Mysteries of the Bible (p. 707) Ellen White reminds us that seeking new understanding of the Scriptures is vital to our spiritual growth: “When no new questions are started by investigation of the Scriptures, when no difference of opinion arises which will set men to searching the Bible for themselves, to make sure that they have the truth, there will be many now, as in ancient times, who will hold to tradition, and worship they know not what."

Mrs. White makes it clear that our understanding of Biblical truth – both as individuals and as a church body – should continue to grow as we draw closer to our Savior: “new light will ever be revealed on the word of God to him who is in living connection with the Sun of Righteousness." (Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 35.) In Christ’s Object Lessons (pp. 130, 131) she writes "the old truths will be presented, but they will be seen in a new light. There will be a new perception of truth, a clearness and a power that all will discern.”

The faith vs. works debate has been raging within the Adventist Church for well over a century. Undoubtedly the most well-known example in our church history is the 1888 General Conference session in Minneapolis. Staunch traditionalists G.I. Butler and Uriah Smith upheld that obedience to the law was essential to salvation, opposing Jones and Waggoner and Ellen White herself, who had changed her stance and accepted the “new light” that salvation was obtained by grace through faith alone. The Shut Door teaching is another example of an about-face in Adventist theology. If a prophet can be inspired to change her opinion on such vital issues, it stands to reason that we as individuals and the church as a whole should be willing to investigate our faith – and even change our “traditional” stance – as the Holy Spirit leads us to new understanding.

Pastor Mostert seems to be firmly entrenched in the Butler and Smith camp, trumpeting “Tradition!” and condemning those who have investigated their faith and found traditional Adventist views to be in conflict with what they have discovered for themselves through Bible study and a growing relationship with Christ. He would do well to remember that the people Christ rebuked most harshly were the Pharisees who ranked obedience to the law above relationship with God.

As a leader with significant influence within our church, I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead Pastor Mostert to spend less time finding fault with the beliefs and practices of other Adventists, and to focus his energies on developing a deeper relationship with Christ and living a life of love, which are the only things that can truly unite us as a church.

“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12, NIV