We have seen that there are many different
churches with varied beliefs, worship styles and structures. Christianity has a
long, sorry history of splintering, infighting, debate and disagreement. On
many occasions Christians have killed one another in large numbers over
theological disagreements. (See Constantine’s Sword by James Carroll.)
Is there one true religion which you must belong
to in order to make sure that you will be saved?
Most North Americans reject this idea, even most
Christians of all kinds. In a survey conducted in 2008 by the Pew Research
Center seven in ten Americans who are members of some religion agreed that “many
religions can lead to eternal life” and “there is more than one true way to
interpret the teachings of my religion.” Among Protestants two thirds agreed. A
majority of the most conservative Protestants agreed. Nearly two thirds of Seventh-day
Adventists agreed. Only Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses among faiths of any
significant size disagreed. In other words the concept
of one true church is not an effective way to reach all but a handful of people
today in the U.S. Canada is generally more secular than the U.S. and even has a
law against making defaming comments about other religions.
Those religions that are interested in
evangelism generally no longer make the claim that they are the one true faith
that has a monopoly on God’s truth. The Adventist Church has never claimed that
only Adventists will be saved, although some individual church members and even
preachers have made claims that seem to be very close to this.
What the Adventist Church does teach is that it
has a unique role in the history of Christianity which is highlighted in
Revelation 12:17: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make
war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have
the testimony of Jesus Christ.” However, we are not the only church to claim
the “remnant” label. If you search “Remnant Church” on the Internet, you come
up with The Remnant Fellowship Church, the Remnant Presbyterian Church, the Remnant
Westside Church, the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and many
others.
So in the Bible, there seems to be a group of
people that follows God’s commandments and has the “testimony of Jesus.” In the
New International Reader’s Version, this verse is translated as follows: “They
obey God’s commands and hold firmly to what Jesus has said.” So who does that?
Who obeys the commandments? Everyone, you might be tempted to say, but there is
one commandment that seems to have slipped away from the vast majority of today’s
Christians. That is the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day.” (Exodus
20:8) Most of Christendom worships on Sunday despite the fact that the first
Christians—the ones you read about in the New Testament—celebrated the Sabbath
from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday as remembered by the Jews from the
beginning of time. There is no place in the Bible that says that God changed
the Sabbath. That is an idea that came along later and evidently for the basest
of reasons; anti-Semitism.
So if we find a church that retains the Sabbath,
does that make it the remnant church? Being part of the remnant church is more
of an individual experience than an institutional one. The remnant, or the
people who are left over near the end of the full sweep of the Bible story,
keep God’s commandments and hold to what Jesus taught. If you would like to find
an authentic Christian experience then you need to find a group of believers that
strives to do just that. A church or fellowship that (1) takes the Bible
seriously, (2) tries to follow all ten of God’s commandments and (3) hold onto
what Jesus taught. And that brings us back to our topic: finding a church.
God is infinitely larger than we are. He is
deeper, kinder, more mysterious than we could ever imagine. The realms of the
universes, the extent of God’s kingdom is so much larger than we can fathom,
and so much more intricate than we can ever understand. In our simple, human
thinking, we do our best to follow God’s way and to keep His commandments. Is
it possible for one church on our planet to have all of the truth? And in
essence, is there one true church? Does such a thing exist?
That depends on what you are looking for in a “true
church.” If you are looking for a perfect organization that has no problems, no
sinners or broken people, then the answer is no. However, our responsibility is
not to find perfection, because that doesn’t exist on this sinful world
anymore. Instead, our responsibility is to find a church that strives to be
what Jesus taught the church should be. Our responsibility is to find a church
that tries to follow all God’s commandments, take the Bible seriously and have
a true relationship with Jesus.
I believe in my search for the “right church for
me,” I have found the church that comes closest to this standard. I have found
a church that follows the Bible and takes it seriously from Genesis through
Revelation. I have not found any other church that follows the Bible as closely
as this church does. Other people and churches have noted the Adventists’ pure adherence
to the Bible. For example, a Roman Catholic document states the following:
Perhaps the boldest thing, the most
revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The
holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. “The Day of the
Lord” (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures,
but from the Church’s sense of its own power. The day of resurrection, the day of
Pentecost, fifty days later, came on the first day of the week. So this would
be the new Sabbath. People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole
authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy.”
(Sentinel)
The Catholic Universal
Bulletin states: “The Church changed the observance of
the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her
by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only
guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the
Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.”
I want to be a part of a “consistent Protestant”
church. I want to be a part of an organization that follows the Bible as
closely as it can. This church is not perfect because it is made up of
imperfect people, but I think that it is the closest church to the truth that
we have available in this day and age. Search for yourself and find out if you
agree.
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