A doctrine is “biblical” if it is written in the Bible. A preacher is “biblical” if all he preach are written in the Bible. A religion or church is “biblical” if that church is the one written and taught in the Bible, and the Bible is the sole basis of their faith.
It is important that we make sure
that all teachings we follow are written in the Bible because:
(1) The
Apostles strictly forbid us “going beyond what is written”:
“Now,
brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit,
so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond
what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against
another.” (I Cor. 4:6, NIV)
(2) They
worship God in vain those following the doctrines and commandments
of man:
“And
in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'” (Mt.
15:9 NKJV)
(3) God will
punish and take away their part from the Bnook:
“For
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If
anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written
in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy
city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev. 22:18-19 NKJV)
So, let us examine those that
claim that they are “biblical.” Are they truly biblical?
THE METHODISTS
The teachings of the Methodists came from different religious groups
The teachings of John Wesley which upheld by the Methodists sects and other Protestants came from different
sources and not from the Bible. The “oldest Methodist doctrinal materials” are
the doctrines and historic worship of the Church of England:
“The
oldest Methodist doctrinal material, from the age of the Wesleys themselves,
describes the distinct mission of the Methodist people. The Methodists of the
Wesley’s age did not consider themselves to be a separate church, and they
accepted the doctrine and the historic worship of the Church of England.”
(Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, p. 20)
John Wesley copied and modified the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England into Twenty-Five Articles of Religion:
“A
second phase of Methodist doctrinal development came about when the Methodists
became American denominations (in the period 1784 and 1870). In this period
various Methodist churches adopted doctrinal statements that express more of
the fulness of Christian teaching. The Twenty-five Articles of Religion held
common by the AME, AMEZ, CME, and UM churches, as well as the UB Confession of
Faith (on which the current UM Confessions of faith is based) date from this
period.” (Ibid., pp. 20-21)
The Twenty-Five Articles of Religion became the articles of faith of
many Protestants sects like the United
Methodist Church
(UM), United Brthren in Christ (UB), African Methodist Episcopal Church, etc.
Another Methodist doctrinal materials are the Roman Catholic Creeds:
“A
sign of this is the growing use by Methodists of historic Christian creeds.
Although Methodists churces had used the Apostles’ Creed from the 1800s, they
also began to utilize the Nicene Creed from the middle of the 1900s.”
(Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, p. 22)
The Methodists also borrowed from the mainstream Protestants and the Arminians:
“In
matters of faith, there has been very little occasion for confusion or
difference; doctrinal quarrels have been noticeably absent. Historically,
Methodist have not built theological fences to keep anyone out; they have
stressed the foundational belief of Protestantism and have offered the
theological common ground…The theology is Arminian…” (Mead, Frank S. Handbook
of Denominations in the United States, 11th ed., p. 229)
What is worst, these prople claiming “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Alone), also believe that reason can
illuminate the meaning of the Bible:
“John
Wesley believed that reason guided by the grace available to all persons could
discern the existence of God and the need for moral responsibility; it could
even illuminate the meaning of the Bible.” (Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials,
pp. 38-39)
The Methodists are the followers of
Wesley:
“‘What’s
in a name?’ Followers of John Wesley have been called Methodists for over 250
years.” (Hetzenrater, Richard P., Mirror and Memory: Reflections on Early
Methodism (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 13)
Thus, part of the Wesleyan
traditions is the belief that reason can illuminate the meaning of the Bible.
Not only this, Wesley also believed that experience combined with reason could
clarify the meaning of the Bible:
“Wesley
valued experience especially as human contact with God, and he believed that
our experience of the divine also illumined our own spiritual quest and
(combined with reason) could clarify the meaning of the Bible.”(Ibid., p. 39)
The experience Wesley reffering
is not only the “experience of the divine” but also of the “esperienceof the
material universe.”
“Wesley
also believed that our experience of the material universe could teach us much,
even about spiritual matters…” (Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, p. 39)
Aside from reason and experience,
Wesley and the Methodists also used traditions in understanding the Bible:
“Our
emphasis on the sufficiency and primacy of the Scripture does not rule out the
use of Christian tradition or reflection …” (Methodist Doctrine: The
Essentials, p. 36)
Take note that the Methodists
claim that they are “Sola Sriptura” but they also teach that “the suffciency
and primacy of the Scripture does not rule out the use of Christian traditions.
This teaching of John Wesley that
upheld by the Methodists and other Protestant groups is against the teachings
of the apostles:
“Knowing
this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.”
(II Pet. 1:20, NKJV)
Will tradition help in
understanding the words of God written in the Bible? In Colossians 2:8, this is
written:
“Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colosas 2:8,
KJV)
Thus, the doctrines uoheld by the
Methodists are and their undestanding of the Bible are not biblical.
THE PRESBYTERIANS
The Bible is not the only basis of Presbyterian teachings
Like the Methodists, the
Presbyterians also claim that the Bible is the only basis of their faith, but
in truth, they also disobeyed what the spostles strictly forbid – “going
beyond what is written.” Aside from the Bible, the Presybyterians have other
basis for their teachings:
“All
Presbyterian Churches declare that the supreme standard of faith and practice
is contained in the Scriptures, and most of them adopt the Confessions and Catechisms of the
Westminster Assembly as subordinate standards...” (The Oxford Dictionary of the
Christian Church, p. 1120.)
The Presbyterians claim that the
Scripture is the “supreme standard” of their faith and practices, however, they
also adopt the Westminster Confessions and Catechisms as their “subordinate
standards.” They also used the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed:
“Most
Presbyterians accept also the creeds of the early undivided Christian Church –
the Nicene and the Apostles’ Creeds.” (Bonnell, p. 201.)
The Presbyterians also borrowed
from the teachings of the Church Fathers and Schoolmen:
“In
the teachings of the Fathers and Schoolmen the term (election) plays an
important part in connexion with Predistination (q.v.). St. Augustine expoumds at length the belief
that gratuitous predistination to eternal salvation presupposes an act of
election on the part of God. Though the Fathers frequently use the terms
‘election’ and ‘predistination’ without distinction, some later theologians,
e.g. St. Thomas Aquinas give ‘election,’ as an act of the will, a logical
priority over predistination...The doctrine of election filled a central place
in the Institutes of J. Calvin…This belief was every where held by Calvinist
theologians…” (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, p. 450.)
John Calvin’s doctrine of
“election" and “ptredistination” (the so-called distinguishing doctrine of the
Calvinists – the Reformed and the Presbyterian churches) were borrowed (or
copied) from the Church Fathers, eg. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.
THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
The teachings of the Seventh-Day Adventists regarding Sabbath are beyond
and
against what are written in the Bible
against what are written in the Bible
The Seventh-Day Adventist
Church claims that they
are the “remnant church” or the remaining true Church because they are the only
people today that remained obedient to God’s law. The law of God they are
reffering to that they are the only people who faithfully obeying it is the
“Sabbath keeping.” However, if we are going to examine their doctrines
regarding Sabbath we can see that they are totally unbiblical.
(1)
They believe that the seventh-day Sabbath (the keeping of the Sabbath) was
instituted after the sixth day of creation:
“We
believe that the seventh-day Sabbath was instituted at the end of the creation
of the world in six literal days:” (Wearner, p. 102)
This
is not wahat is written in the Bible:
“Thus
the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work
he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it
holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
(Gen. 2:1-3, NIV)
The
Bible mentioned that God “blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on
it he rested from all the work of creationg that he had done.” However, no
where in the verse we can find that God instituted in that day the keeping od
Sabbath.
(2)
They believe that Sabbath keeping is as old as the world itself, widespread,
and bearing the sanction of the angels :
“The
Sabbath and its observance were…ancient and widespread, even as old as the
world itself, and bearing the sanction both of angels and of God.” (Ibid., p.
103)
No where
in the Bible we can find saying “the keeping of Sabbath bear sanction both of angels and God.”
The teachings that Sabbath keeping is as old as the world and widespread are
not only unbiblical, but against the teachings of the Bible:
“And
say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore with uplifted hand to the
descendants of the house of Jacob and revealed myself to them in Egypt. With
uplifted hand I said to them, "I am the LORD your God."
“Therefore
I led them out of Egypt
and brought them into the desert. I gave
them my decrees and made known to them my laws, for the man who obeys them will
live by them. Also I gave them my
Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the LORD made them
holy.” (Ezek. 20:5,10-12 NIV
According
to the Bible, the law of keeping the Sabbath was given to the Israelites (thus,
it was not widespread), and given after they were led out of Efypt (thus, not
as old as the world).
(3)
They believed that Sabbath keeping was committed to Adam:
“The
Sabbath was committed to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human
family.” (Ibid., p. 104.)
Saying
that the Sabbath was committed to Adam was totally unbiblical. This was what
God commanded Adam and Eve:
“And
the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the
garden; but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely
die.” (Gen. 2:16-17, NIV)
I
think these are enough to prove that Seventh-Day
Adventist Church
is teaching unblical doctrines especially regarding the keeping of Sabbath.
However, if needed, I can present more than a hunded unbiclical teachings of
the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
***MORE TO FOLLOW***
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