I grew up in the seventh-day Adventist church. I loved it as a child, being Adventist made me feel special. I still know their lingo and am familiar with all of their core beliefs.
The truth is that Adventists don’t all believe the same things. There are those who really espouse Ellen G. White and those that respect her but consider themselves “Sola-Scriptura”. If you had asked me a few years ago I would have told you that I was the latter. However, to be honest I didn’t study my bible much and relied on the pastors and teachers to tell me what to believe. I liked Ellen White well enough back then but didn’t care too much as to whether or not she was a prophet because in my mind the SDA were correct anyways with or without her. At least you know where I am coming from now.
I was personally afraid to leave SDA because even though the thought wasn’t clear in my head, the concern was that if I left I wouldn’t go to heaven. I believed that at the close of probation I would be found a Sabbath breaker and would get the mark of the beast. If you’re reading this blog now and this is what you believe please let me assure you that you are in no way saved by the Sabbath, not even in the end times. You are saved by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ shed for all of your sins on the cross. No matter how the end times go down this is still true.
That said I am going to start out this blog by describing the doctrine of the New Covenant with scripture. It was something that I was unaware of as SDA and it was what theologically broke the last tie I had with them. When I studied the scripture behind the New Covenant I found my Bible truly was a sword. That always sounded like nice imagery in the past, but it became practical for me in this study. I can’t share everything today, and it will probably take up my first series of posts to complete everything that I have to say on it. However I will start off by sharing what I have found to be the most powerful string of verses debunking SDA doctrine. In the next post I will tell you why these matter. Regardless of your theology or tradition the following verses should make you think.
Summary of the New Covenant in Relation to the Ten Commandments:
Deuteronomy 4:10-14 NKJV
…And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone…
The Tables of Stone = Old Covenant
I Kings 8:9, 21 NKJV
Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And there I have made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
Hebrews 9:1, 4 NKJV
Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
The Old Covenant = Obsolete
Hebrews 8:7, 13 NKJV
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. In that He says, “A new covenant ,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Armchair Theologian 
Ur teachings are wrong and can lead sm1 astray,plz seek holy spirit to lead u study ur bible very well.
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I did just that and this is what you see. Is there a specific verse you think I am mishandling? We could go over it together.
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I’m sorry friend, but what points are wrong?
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This fellow has simply quoted scripture and added no opinions to it. May be you are the one whose beliefs are wrong
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How can something that’s called by the Psalmist perfect, pure and right and also be called by James the perfect law of liberty have “faults”… You are missing something.
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Well think it through. We know that
1) the ten commandments and the rest of the torah are always definitively associated with the old covenant
2) the old covenant is said to be with fault
3) but components of it such as the law are not.
To reconcile all of the above I would say the old covenant law (all 613) were perfect in Gods intended purpose and use of them. But they were at fault in that they could not satisfy the Just wrath of God. We needed Jesus for that.
I don’t argue there is no law actually. Thanks for commenting and please keep reading.
If you want to see a comprehensive post that covers the law please check this out.
goo.gl/cY7rfC
My earlier posts are less comprehensive and usually only cover one Biblical thesis at a time.
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take care my friend! you may think that you are correct but its just defending yourself so as to make reasonable your departure from SDA .you can’t compete against your God it will cost you in the day of judgement.
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With respect, if that were true it would be easy to refute me with scripture and nobody can seem to do that. The best I get is a long list of verses not saying anything close to what SDA claim. It’s sad to be honest. I’m not fighting against God, I’m just trying to help honest souls out there with his Word.
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If you love God,you will keep his commandments.JOHN 14:15,
Who ever shall break one of the least commandments,shall be called the least in Heaven,MATHEW 5:18-19
Above all,Fear God and keep his commandments;for this is the whole duty of man.ECCLESSIASTES 12:13
………………………
REMEMBER TO KEEP THE SABATH DAY HOLY,BECAUSE THE LORD BLESSED IT AND HALLOWED IT,in six days u shall labour but the seventh,is the sabbath of the lord.
DO YOU KEEP ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS?
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Which commandments? It doesn’t say ten commandments. And the Bible doesn’t separate the ten from the rest of the 613.
Maybe you should study a bit more and think this through so your hermeneutic doesn’t cause contradictions.
Also, take a look at my post on the law.
goo.gl/cY7rfC
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Its true the old covenant signified the TEN COMMANDMENTS, BUT if it vanished away, we can’t serve in IT, hence, we need a New and an everlasting covenant, which is called Jesus Christ,
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I think you’re getting it. People will get confused when you say it that way though because they will think you mean there is no more law, and that you’re saying its okay to lie and murder.
Sometimes they might need to think that for a moment. Let the word do its thing on their heart. Let them see Jesus and new covenant rest. Remember, SDA have been holding a burden for a long time.
When they are ready you can show them that there is law in the new covenant. Just not stuff like the Sabbath. In fact 9/10 commandments are retaught.
When you like read my posts on the Sabbath and the Law of Christ. I explain this stuff there in detail.
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You are correct that we are now living under the new covenant. But does the new covenant imply a doing away of the ten commandments?
You are correct when you say in the old covenant the ten commandments were written on tables of stone. But does the new covenant imply that the table should now be broken.
What was wrong with the old covenant was not the law, but the heart of the people who entered into the covenant. Their hearts were not right. They entered into the covenant in self confidence and self dependence (Ex 19:8; 24:3,7). Like the people who saught Jesus after He had fed the five thousand, they thought they could do “the works of God” (John 6:28). This effort to work out what God had not worked in left them destitute of a true work of God in their souls, and so the ten commandments for them was just a code written on tables of stone – to be respected but never truly captivating the spirit. This was the failure of the old covenant – a people looking to a code (the law ), but whose heart/affections were never really drawn out to God.
The new covenant succeeds where the old covenant failed not because God now does away with His law, (as some mistakenly assert sighting verses like Colossians 2:14), but because God takes the same law (based on love) and writes it upon the heart of the believer. This is what the Bible asserts in both old and new testament about the new covenant.
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31: 31-33. The author of the book of Hebrews repeats this in Hebrews 8:9,10; 10:16 The new covenant is not about a new law, but a new heart.
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:25-27
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Hey thanks for reading and commenting. I encourage you to keep reading. I answer all your questions in the New Covenant series.
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I just have few observations to make.
First your bible commentary for the sabbath school quarterly is too malicious and egocentric,do me this favor,show your readers the lesson quarterly you are commenting from so that they can read it and compare with your notes,i believe they will understand better.First upload the quarterly then put your observations down.
Secondly you say you were an adventist reading Egw books, infact i was born an adventist and all these books have been at my father’s shelve but infact it is your noises that is making me read them. Adventist dont even tell people to listen to the pastor,we teach this read your bible,it will make you wise.
Now it seems the bible you are reading from that has an obsolete old covenant is a wrong one,infact this morning while was doing my bible devotion i understood that there is a certain bible which instead of using the 2300 day prophesy in Daniel,it has 1150 days,check your bible properly,it might be falling in this category. If you have the right version,kindly stop misleading God’s people because you want to live a wreckless life with a blanket of faith in Jesus. Does your bible remind you that by Faith Abraham did… And for that was counted righteousness. Does it tell you that Faith without Works is dead. Does it tell you God does not Change. When you are talking about the old covenant,what were the components of the covenant and the agreement to the covenant and who broke the covenant,is it God or man? A branch that does not produce good fruits or produces wild grapes He cuts it off,He says He can create a new descendant For Abraham from stones. The law and Commandments of God are as effective as they were even in the days of Prophets. The ten commandments is the guiding document right from creation the difference is when man sinned all they thought in their minds was sin and the law of God was not in them. He wrote for them the tablets but since Our God wants us be restored to former state where the law is automatic in our hearts Lastly,stop lying and deceiving. Read the bible and it is very encouraging that you read our Sabbath school quarterly, even those books of EGW read them.God is very faithful ,He will do the rest
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Okay more false accusations! Let me address.
1) We do include a link the the quarterly. It’s on the left hand side of the page of each commentary. Feel free to download, print, and read alongside. We assume that your church provides a quarterly but if they do not we give a digital one just in case.
2) yes I was born SDA. We were encouraged to read on our own too. I wrote a story about my experience with self study as a child in adventism. You can find it in proclamation magazine on page 4. Here is the link.
Click to access 2015_4ProclamationWEB.pdf
3) Yes my Bible actually point blank says the old covenant is obsolete (Heb 8:13). I’ve cross examined in multiple functional equivalent translations and its consistent. The king James says “old” rather than “obsolete”. But I looked that up in a KJV dictionary and it meant obsolete in 1611.
Daniel 8:13 is possibly 1150 days. That is the interpretation I agree with. The more scholarly versions say 2300 evenings and mornings. The referent is to the sacrifices though. And there were two per day. That is why I believe it is 1150 days. I believe this is an old prophecy fulfilled in the BC era. That’s contextually consistent btw.
4) You’re mixing root and fruit. Paul is very clear in romans 4 that Abraham was not saved by works. Are you saying James contradicts Paul? No he isn’t. He is teaching that those who are justified by faith do good works. I have a post on this look it up. The key to understanding is that gen 15 happens chronologically before Genesis 22.
5) the Bible point blank says the ten commandments are passing away and obsolete (2 Cor 3)(Heb 8:13)(Heb 9:1-4)
I have explained this before and you still accuse me of lying and deceiving. Honestly I have to now accuse you of that because you’re rejecting clear scripture. Repent and submit to Gods Word.
6). God does not change. He does change his law though. Even you believe this, SDA believe ceremonial laws are obsolete. I’m really just saying you missed a few ceremonial laws that’s all. Good grief.
Read this post for proof
http://armchairtheologian.info/2014/11/14/the-la
7) I know how pride can lock one in to the religion of their birth. Please accept the possibility that yours just might be wrong. Evaluate them by fair and objective standards that you do other religions. Compare the SDA Biblical hermeneutic to those of others. It’s a painful journey but it’s one you do not just for yourself but also for your kids.
God Bless
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Had forgoten to say this, when you say your sabbath day rest is Jesus you are in other words saying Jesus was created and made holy and set aside. The bible explains what and when the sabbath day is.if i can quickly go to the account of Creation God first separates Light and darkness and calls light day and darkness night then evening and morning First day. The bible says on the seventh day God rested from all His work He had done and made it Holy. The first book of John tells us that Jesus who became flesh is the word that Created,without Him nothing was created. So Jesus who created rested on the seventh day. Exodus 20:8 explains what sabbath day He means to be remembered and be kept Holy.He gives the reason as to why it should be kept and observed,because on the seventh day God rested from all His work of creation and made it Holy.
Now from your argument that your sabbath rest is Jesus, you are definately telling Us that Jesus is not the Creator,because how could He rest from or in Himself. Secondly you are saying Jesus was made Holy and blessed by God.in other words Jesus and God are not one,Jesus is inferior to the Father because in other words Jesus was created by God
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Ironically you have very well explained SDA Arianism. Believe it or not SDA used to reject the deity of Christ. They didn’t confess anything close to the Trinity until the 1940’s.
But no you are wrong. When I say the new covenant Sabbath is Christ my intent, which is explained in my post on the Sabbath, is that Christ is the antitype fulfilment of the Sabbath day.
Just as you would say he is antitype fulfilment of the Passover or new moon. You do not say he is created because those are created.
Festival = annual passover
New Moon = Monthly Sabbath
Sabbath = Sabbath
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Colossians 2:16-17 ESV
http://bible.com/59/col.2.16-17.ESV
See it says all three were a shadow pointing to the substance of Christ. Shadow is the weaker created image. Substance is the divine antitype fulfilment.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 ESV
http://bible.com/59/mat.11.28.ESV
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