More Adventist Heritage Stories

October 22 is a memorable date for Adventists – the Great Disappointment day, when 170 years back in 1844 over 250,000 Christians hoped that William Miller was right, and Jesus would come to this earth, to end the pain and suffering forever.  Yet, here we are, 170 years later, still hearing of wars, pestilence, disasters, violence with no end in sight.

This past Wednesday Canadian capital was reeling in chaos, pain, shock, confusion, as violence erupted at the core of our government by a misguided gunman whose misconception of God’s will took lives.  As I teach World Religions class I always bring up the fact that the name “Allah” used by Muslims is the same as used by early Jewish and Syriac Christians, who spoke Aramaic and used Peshita as their Bible.  It is a generic word, same as English term “God” which may mean different things to different cultures.  Hence, what really matters is how we understand Who God Is, not just by what name we call Him. 

There is a significant difference between a god who “collapsed” on himself, is self-centered, is disconnected from life, creation and ongoing experiences, and is a transcendent principle, and God who is involved with and in His Creation at all times, going through each experience with his creatures.  There is a huge difference between god who uses his creation and makes creation do things for him, and the God who does everything for creation, who serves creation, who invests in and even sacrifices Himself, limits Himself for the sake of His Creation.

Our early pioneers emerged from an assortment of religious experiences and denominations, often with different perspectives on Who God is and what is His Will.  Church historians like to point out the fact that most of our pioneers differed with understanding of God.  Through decades of searching the Bible and being guided by the Spirit of Prophecy our church had formulated statements on how we understand God.  The very first doctrine had been set entitled “The Scripture – Holy Word of God” with emphasis that God is interested in us knowing and understanding Him. God invites us to reason together as He reveals Himself through people He chooses, at all times in different places, in different ways.  The Bible is a collection of people’s experience of God Revelation.  God reveals Himself!

The very next statement of our faith asserts that we believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three in one, of one nature but different functions and wills always working inseparably, as Ellen G. White put it “three living persons of the heavenly trio, three great powers --the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  Creation and Redemption are inseparable and cannot be understood without proper understanding of God as Trinity, eternal Love and eternal Savior.   And our “theology” determines the rest of our “….logies”, guides how we live, how we relate to one another.

On Wednesday night elder Clara Baptiste led the prayer meeting with focus on the primacy of the Word of God.  Read Psalm 119, the ode to God’s Law and Word, and reflect how important it is for our faith identity.