In and older post I demonstrated the Biblical teaching on food laws for new covenant Christians. You can find that study HERE. In this post I am going to present many of the same Bible verses that I used in that study and compare them to their Clear Word SDA Bible equivalent.
It is my aim to demonstrate how the SDA intend readers to understand their Bibles as they read them. Each SDA is trained to re-imagine certain verses as they come up so that SDA doctrine is preserved. By comparing the different passages in print we can identify the way such passages are intended to be read by their teachers and preachers.
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The Holy Bible
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The Clear Word
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| 12″All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ; 13″Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 1 Cor 6:12-13 ESV |
“Some say, “I’m free, and all things are lawful for me.” In one sense, that may be true, but while I’m free to do all things, I will not be mastered by anything except Jesus Christ. Some say, “Eating is part of life; that’s what the stomach was made for.” Or, “Sex is part of life; that’s what our sexual organs were made for.” But if all you think about is food or sex, God will destroy you. The body wasn’t made for over-indulgence in food and sex, but to reflect the Lord. It belongs to him.” |
First off, notice the qualifiers that the Clear Word inserts into the text where none such can be found in the Holy Bible. The Clear Word author will qualify a universal freedom in Christ with “some say”. And then he will narrow the teaching with “in one sense”. The Holy Bible is making universal declarations that entirely render SDA teaching on diet and health reform moot.
Then we see the Clear Word author brings sexual organs into the discussion. While the Holy Bible does provide an admonishment against sexual immorality it doesn’t get all the way down to the organs themselves. It makes one wonder why the Clear Word author thought it necessary to put that picture in everyone’s mind.
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The Holy Bible
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The Clear Word
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| “16 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.” Col 2:16 ESV |
“Don’t let anyone control your life by giving you a set of ceremonial rules about what to eat, what to drink and which monthly festivals or special sabbaths to keep.” |
Notice that the Holy Bible gives a blanket statement and the Clear Word has to qualify the type of food and drink. Paul doesn’t provide such a qualification, this could very easily be understood as any food and drink.
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The Holy Bible
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The Clear Word
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| “1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, ; 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, ; 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ; 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ; 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” 1 Tim 4:1-5 ESV |
“The Holy Spirit has explicitly told us that in the last days, people will give up their faith and turn away from Christ. They will listen to deceiving spirits and end up following doctrines of demons. Some will pretend to be loyal to the truth while teaching lies. Their consciences will be as insensitive as if they had been seared with a hot iron. Others will say that it’s wrong to marry and to eat the good things God created which we should receive with gratitude. God created everything. Nothing should be rejected which He has said we can eat, and we should do so by offering thanksgiving and praise.” |
Notice that the Clear Word author felt the need to add in decision theology here. I have no idea why that had to happen. Also he again puts in qualifiers on types of foods when the Holy Bible is using broad language that could apply to any food at all.
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The Holy Bible
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The Clear Word
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| “18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ; 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ; 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.” Mark 7:18-20 ESV |
“He said to them, “You mean that you don’t understand what I just said to the people? Can’t you see that whatever goes into a man from the outside, like dirt from his unwashed hands, cannot make him morally unclean? It doesn’t affect his relationship with God, because it goes into his stomach, passes through his intestines, then out of his body. [DELETED BY SDA] It’s what comes from his heart that out of his mouth that morally affects a man.” |
Why did the Clear Word author feel the need to leave out the phrase; “Thus he declared all foods clean”? Does he not like having those words in the Bible? Do they make him uncomfortable to read? They did for me when I was growing up, I despised this verse. I liked to pretend that the Translations just added it out of nowhere.
Some like to say that the KJV omits this, but as I demonstrated in my study on this, it is in the KJV too. It is just easily overlooked in 1611 English, more on that HERE.
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The Holy Bible
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The Clear Word
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| “2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ; 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ; 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. ; 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ; 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.” Romans 14:2-6 ESV |
“Some get hung up on the idea that what they eat will affect God’s love for them, so they eat nothing but vegetables. Others think their salvation isn’t affected at all by what they eat, so they eat anything. Don’t let those who think they can eat anything look down on those who are careful about what they eat. The reverse is also true. Don’t let those who are careful about what they eat stand in judgement on the eating habits of those who eat anything, because God accepts both. Don’t judge other people’s employees. Each employee is responsible to the people he works for, not to you. God will help him know what’s right and do it. The same thing applies to religions festivals. One person thinks he has to keep every Jewish festival, while another thinks those days are no different from other days. About non-essentials like these, everyone needs to make up his own mind. The main point in all this is to honor God and be grateful for what God has done for you. The same thing applies to what we eat or don’t eat. One person eats meat an dis grateful to God for what he has. Another person does not eat meat and is also grateful to the Lord for what he has. There is no reason to judge either of them, for they are both honoring God and are grateful, and that’s what really matters.” |
First of all look at the vast disparity in word count in the above passage. Clearly the SDA Bible needed some qualifications added at every turn. The author certainly out did himself here. Notice at the outset the author of the clear word twists the weakness of vegetarianism that Paul condemns into a matter of overzealous Christian Piety. After that he goes and adds in a salvation qualifier to diet for the other group. By saying “salvation isn’t affected” at all he implies that it is affected by some. Now we have works righteousness blatantly inserted into a text that is teaching the exact opposite!
Next, the Clear word qualifies “one who eats” with “think[s] they can eat”. So where as Paul is affirming that they can and do the author of the clear word is making the one who eats sound as if he is deluded. The Clear Word here is passing judgement on the one who eats, thus breaking the very admonishment that Paul is issuing.
The word employee in the Clear Word might read a little funny but it’s not necessarily in-appropriate for a paraphrase. There are technical reasons for this which are beyond the scope of my post but worth a google search if your’re interested. Also we see that the Clear Word puts qualifiers on days where as the Holy Bible speaks to any and all days. This was covered in an earlier post which you can find HERE.
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The Holy Bible
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The Clear Word
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| “3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” Gen 9:3 ESV |
“Many of these animals will provide food for you, and from now on, you may eat meat as well as vegetables.” |
Again, we have qualifiers added to the kinds of animals rather than simply leaving the teaching as it is, everything. If the author of the Clear Word really believed that distinctions between types was taught in this passage why did he feel the need to pencil it in?
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The Holy Bible
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The Clear Word
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| “15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food.” Daniel 1:15 ESV |
“At the end of ten days they looked healthier and were stronger than all those who were on the king’s diet.” |
Notice that the Clear Word changes appearance and fat into healthy and strong. This is a good illustration of how SDA lose the meaning of Daniel Chapter 1 altogether. These boys ate nothing but vegetables for ten days and got fat, which is impossible. Instead of this chapter being a miracle of God all SDA have is an object lesson on healthy eating.
Go try that and see if it works for you, if you can eat nothing but raw vegetables and water for ten days and gain weight I want to know about it. The idea here is that a miracle was performed by God which substantiated Daniels faith and testimony. Reading this narrative as a guide to healthy living is missing the point.
Conclusion
As with the other topics we can see how SDA have changed their special Bible to reflect their beliefs in much the same way that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses do to their special Bibles. I am going to keep this series going until I run out of viable topics. I think it can be helpful for current and former SDA to see where and how an Ellen White lens has been placed in their mind on these passages. Also I think it can benefit anyone in learning how to critically examine a text and draw concepts out of it rather than try to force them in.
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About ACTheologian
I am a layman who blogs my Biblical studies. Enjoy, please read with an open Bible and do double check with your pastor.
Armchair Theologian 
This is a really handy series. Keep it going
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If you don’t believe you can eat vegetables and get fat you might stay out of groups on Facebook like “What Fat Vegans Eat”, LOL.
You seem to almost have the impression that Adventists are saying you are a sinner to eat pork or something? No one is saying you can’t eat your pork, they just say that you shouldn’t. That God didn’t design it to be eaten. Oddly enough, you can watch 100% secular documentaries that suggest you shouldn’t eat pork either. It is a very disgusting animal.
I’m not sure what is so wrong with making the suggestion that God made certain things to be used for certain purposes. The same “christians” that will berate Adventists over the suggestion of not eating pork because “EVERYTHING created by God is good”, will often agree that you shouldn’t do drugs. But wait if we are to take it literal that everything is good, why isn’t marijuana and opium good? Each person will accept what they are willing to accept.
Want to keep eating your bacon, go for it. No one is going to (strike that, I mean should) condemn you for eating your bacon. The most important thing is that we strive to break through and submit our own will to the will of God. If you are doing that then congratulations. Do you think that God will punish someone who is trying to also submit their will by not eating bacon? What if you are right and God doesn’t care if you eat bacon? Are all the Adventists going to be punished for not eating bacon? God will come down and say oh you people, you gave up too much, you tried too hard to follow me, for that you will be punished!
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https://actheologian.com/2016/02/24/ellen-white-teaches-jesus-was-a-sinner/
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