A few months ago, I had a very enlightening—though somewhat unsettling—conversation with a friend who held a leadership position in a well-known Adventist institution. Though he’d been in the position for a while, he was struggling with his confidence in the denomination as a whole, discouraged about its vision and theological emphases.
I offered a sympathetic ear, noting that I sometimes feel a little disillusioned as well. But I then explained to my friend that I remain steadfast in my commitment to this movement because of the beautiful theology that Adventism, at its best, has at its fingertips. To be sure, I admitted, Adventism often isn’t at its best—and we so frequently wander down side streets that take us away from the core of that beautiful paradigm. But we at least have—built within our theological DNA—the potential for mind-altering, heart-captivating, and life-transforming bliss.
My friend responded with a hint of skepticism as he reflected on his experience within the denomination, wondering exactly what it was that I found so beautiful. He saw the truth and joy of the Sabbath, of course, and believed in the soon return of Jesus. But other than that, he wondered what I found so compelling. Could I explain it to him?
In a few paragraphs, via email, I explained how, fundamentally, Adventism was an attempt to explain and reflect upon the compelling truth that God is love. Everything stems from and flows out of this idea.
Through our grasp of the great controversy theme, where God has allowed Himself to be questioned and put on trial, and where He has committed Himself—even to the point of death—to freedom, we have incredible access to the truth about God’s character of love. He honors freedom, doesn’t control, doesn’t try to overpower His creatures by His might, but tries to win us by His love. Indeed, Ellen White’s statement in The Desire of Ages that “Only by love is love awakened” (p. 22) is perhaps the most clarifying sentence ever written.
Everything else we believe must be explained within this “God is love” paradigm and only makes sense within it. Thus, we believe in Sabbath because God is love; we believe in Christ’s soon return because God is love; we believe in healthy living because God is love; we believe God doesn’t torture people forever because He is love; we believe in justice and equity and works of compassion because God is love; we believe in honoring people’s freedom and agency because God is love.
Everything we believe is connected to this all-pervasive theme and doesn’t really make sense—or do us much good—apart from it.
What is so surprising and somewhat unsettling after sharing this brief explanation was my friend’s response. He thanked me for the explanation, saying it made a lot of sense, but then admitted that he’d never thought of or heard Adventism explained this way before.
Alarm bells immediately went off! Why?
Because here was a lifelong Adventist in a position of significant influence who had apparently never encountered a love-centered version of Adventism. Here was someone who had evidently never experienced a gospel-centered version of the faith.
If this was true for him—someone who was a leader in the Adventist Church—how much more might it be true for the many other millions of Adventists around the world who sit in our pews each week and receive spiritual care from leaders like him?
BUT IS THIS ADVENTISM?
For many of us, our understanding of Adventism may center mostly on the unique doctrinal features that our forefathers uncovered long ago, after much painstaking Bible study and reflection. Indeed, the “pioneers” of our faith identified teachings in Scripture that had either been neglected or altogether denied by many other Christians for centuries. And having thus identified these teachings, early Adventists made them the most prominent—perhaps even exclusive—feature of their preaching and reflection.
Thus, when one peruses the pages of early Adventist publications, they could perhaps be overwhelmed by just how much—and how often—the writers focused on and emphasized the ongoing perpetuity of the Sabbath, the nearness of Christ’s second advent, and the truth about what happens when a person dies.
Of course, our Adventist pioneers placed all these ideas within the framework of the work of judgment Christ was conducting in the heavenly sanctuary. They related to the last-day events to which the books of Daniel and Revelation seemingly point.
This is all well and good and, likely, what many of us think of when we relate to Adventism.
The problem is that such an understanding of Adventism may be seen as both stunted and incomplete, lacking a larger and more beautiful context.
Also, it’s precisely what Ellen White began realizing and pointing out.
Indeed, after a couple of decades of this approach to Adventism, she started banging a gospel drum, saying stuff like, “As a people, we have preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain,”—The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 560, and urging, “Of all professed Christians, Seventh-day Adventists should be foremost in uplifting Christ before the world,” (p. 891). She further noted that “many” within Adventism had “lost sight of Jesus” and that a re-centering of Adventist theology on the gospel was the precise message God had “commanded” the denomination to give to the world (p. 1336).
In short, for Ellen White, saying nothing of her fellow Adventists (both in her day and ours), Adventism was a love-centered revelation of God’s character, offering a robust explanation of the many facets of God’s story.
Just as significantly, Adventism was also supposed to embody these truths, transforming people into beautiful reflections of Christ’s love and grace.
Some may balk at such a version of Adventism, insisting it downplays our unique identity, doctrines, and calling. Others might say that such a picture looks nothing like the Adventism they’ve experienced.
Both of these responses are understandable—especially the latter.
However, it’s the version of Adventism to which I’ve committed myself, and in which I believe. It doesn’t at all deny our unique teachings or calling. It just places them within their proper framework and context, acknowledging, as Ellen White stated, “There is one great central truth to be kept ever before the mind in the searching of the Scriptures—Christ and Him crucified. Every other truth is invested with influence and power corresponding to its relation to this theme” (Ibid., p. 806).
Simply put, Adventism has no power or meaning apart from God’s love. Our doctrines can appear as bits of irrelevant and disconnected trivia, lacking the capacity to bring all-of-life transformation. Indeed—even more seriously—I submit that our teachings apart from God’s love, may become irrelevant, even lethally toxic and soul-crushing. They can lead to arrogance and pride in the hearts of some, and shame and bondage in the hearts of others.
Thus, our spiritual health and our future depend on our grounding this beloved movement on the solid foundation of God’s love.
