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The committees have made their suggestions for proposed changes to the Seventh-day Adventist 28 Fundamental Beliefs, and the changes were voted on and passed, ready now to go for final discussion and voting in San Antonio in 2015.

At first, I was not interested in this very much, as President Ted Wilson stated:

"None of the revisions change any of the fundamental beliefs, and many simply update and tighten the text, Ted N.C. Wilson, president of the Adventist world church, assured delegates when the talks started on Sunday afternoon. "I don't want anyone here in the room to think we are changing our beliefs," he said. "We are simply adjusting wording to make it clearer and more helpful.""

I respect our leader quite a bit, so accepted what he said at face value. 

However, last week a trusted Brother from Singapore sent me a email asking my opinion on the proposed changes, and said a couple of things that caused concern, so i went to the Adventist Review website and downloaded a copy of the proposed changes.  I see quite a few problems in them, and believe that some of them definitely are a "change to our beliefs".

http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/28-fundamental-beliefs-get-an-update

I haven't gone thru them all word for word yet, but right off the bat, the gender-inclusive language is a big yellow flag for me.  Below is one example of that.  Deleted words are in green, and added words are in red.

4.         The Son
God the eternal Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ. Through Him all things were  
created, the character of God is revealed, the salvation of humanity is accomplished, and the  
world is judged. Forever truly God, He became also truly human, man, Jesus the Christ. He was  
conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived and experienced temptation  
as a human being, but perfectly exemplified the righteousness and love of God. By His miracles  
He manifested Gods power and was attested as Gods promised Messiah. He suffered and died  
voluntarily on the cross for our sins and in our place, was raised from the dead, and ascended to  
heaven to minister in the heavenly sanctuary in our behalf. He will come again in glory for the  
final deliverance of His people and the restoration of all things. (Isa. 53:4-6; Dan. 9:25-27; Luke  
1:35; John 1:1-3, 14; 14:13 5:22; 10:30; 14:1-3, 9; Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4; 2 Cor. 3:18; 5:17- 
19; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 2:9-18; Heb. 8:1, 2.) (John 1:1-3, 14; Col. 1:15-19;  
John 10:30; 14:9; Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:17-19; John 5:22; Luke 1:35; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 2:9-18;  
1 Cor. 15:3, 4; Heb. 8:1, 2; John 14:13.) 

So now Jesus wasn't truly a "man", but he is a "human".  I'm surprised they didn't take the "he" out too!

The main one that a friend in Singapore was worried about was #18 "The Gift of Prophecy".

18.       The Gift of Prophecy   
The Scriptures testify that one One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is  
an identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of  
Ellen G. White. Her As the Lords messenger, her writings speak with prophetic authority are a  
continuing and authoritative source of truth which  provide for the church comfort, guidance,  
instruction, and correction to the church. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by  
which all teaching and experience must be tested. (Num. 12:6; 2 Chron. 20:20; Amos 3:7; Joel 
2:28, 29; Acts 2:14-21; 2 Tim 3:16,17; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 12:17; 19:10; 22:8, 9.) (Joel 2:28, 29; 
Acts 2:14-21; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 12:17; 19:10.

To make the changes here, which are many, easier to understand, the main sentence will be shown as it is now, and as it is proposed to be:

NOW: As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction.

PROPOSED: Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church.

The official comment made to support these changes is: The suggested changes seek to avoid giving the impression that Ellen G. White and the Bible are equivalent sources of truth. It has also been indicated that the term "source" is difficult to translate into some languages without conveying that idea that her writings are like the Bible.

I'm not happy with these changes.  First of all, the changes demote her from being "the Lord's messenger" to "her".  Secondly, "source" has been removed, which seems to indicate that her writings are not quite as good as we have believed them to be.  Thirdly, instead of providing "for the church", now her writings provide "to the church".  "To" makes her writings not for the unbeliever, but only for the believer.

What does everyone think?  Do you think that these changes are alright?  Is it good to make everything gender-inclusive?



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NB

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I agree with you that the changes seem to downplay the importance of the writings of EGW.



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Ed Sutton

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Tampering is often the first steps of tearing down.  



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Gibs

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Men wrote them in the first place so it is not out of the question that men will change it then to suit the present mindset

None of us here were happy in the first place when they come out with it and our consensus is the Bible and the Bible only must be our creed book.  Of that our pick is the KJV and not any of the new paraphrase books.

Of those paraphrases they will answer to God in judgment before long as some changes are a changing of His Word.



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webmaster

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I was recently given info about the proposed changes to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs of SDAs.  These were voted to be brought before the delegates at the San Antonio GC Session next year (2015).  That propelled me to make a video where i show my recommendations on how to fix the proposed changes.  What makes me wonder/upset, is that Br. Ted Wilson said that none of our beliefs are being changed, just the wording is updated, but especially in #18 about the Gift of Prophecy, it is very clearly bringing Ellen White down a couple of notches.

 

I recommend changes to the proposed changes in

 

#1, #2, #4, #18, #23

 

While not a fan of gender-inclusive language, there are several places where it makes sense.  Some of the places do not, like especially in number 4.

 

Anyway, i made a complete video, and then a highlight video about these changes.  If you like them, please give them a thumbs-up and leave a comment.  Even if you dont like them, or if you have other ideas on what to do, please leave a comment on the videos. 

 

May we lift up the Remnant church, and call for repentance when due.
long version 28fundamentals
 
short version


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