Seventh-Day Adventists
There is not enough information available for me to refer to the Seventh-Day Adventists as a cult within Christianity. There appears to be a lack of communication on this issue from the Seventh-Day Adventist Camp. While they do hold to the traditional Christian doctrines of the Triity, of Christology, and of the Atonement- there may be an area which they do not clearly speak about. There are actually three areas in which the Seventh-Day Adventists commonly wings questions. There involve the full extent of their beliefs on the Sabbath, Dietary observance of the law, and the identity of Jesus. While they do indeed believe that Jesus is the Messiah, they have not denied believing that he is also the archangel Michael. They have reported on their site that they do not feel that such a belief would make Christ any less coeternal and coexistent with the father than he is perceived by the traditional doctrines. So in this area, we ponder the question of to what extreme do they hold this view about Christ and the archangel Michael being one in the same. The second question and third question that needs to be answered in order to determine this is whether or not they believe that in order to be saved, an individual must hold to the Old Testament Sabbath and the Kosher(dietary restriction)laws. If they believe that a person must hold to these two views and keep them in order to be saved, then they are a cult because such an idea would be an addition to the canonized traditional Christian beliefs. There is a lot of truth promoted by the movement. Christians worship on Sundays and celebrate the birth of Christ as a result of the Roman presence that entered into the Christian faith in the first few centuries. However, Paul's writings state that it is not an issue to divide over because different people will hold the Sabbath on different days of the week. On dietary restrictions, while it would be healthy for all people to hold to the laws of the Kosher as well as all of the other Old Testament laws. Yet, all foods were pronounced clean in the New Testament if they are received with thanksgiving and this forms the traditional canonized Christian view. The view is that while the laws would be healthy to abide by, they are not necessary for the Christian because the Christian fulfills the laws through the sacrifice of Christ the Passover Lamb in the holy of holies of the body which is the heart. Thus, it is not necessary for Christians to fulfill the law through themselves because we can fulfill it through Christ. For the time being, the Seventh-Day Adventists will simply be labeled as a sect. However, if they continue to evade questions like they have in the past on various issues and continue to beat around the bush with the questions asked, then they will be labeled as a cult. If anyone has any information on the group and their full detailed beliefs with no part of any question commonly asked unanswered, then please email me or post a message on my message board at my website. I don't want to make a mistake by calling them a cult without having any credible info, but when they try to get around the straight forward answering of questons, than I am very inclined to conclude that they are a cult.
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Chad Harvey
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