GROUP NAME: Seventh Day Adventist Church
FOUNDER: The church emerged out of the Mellerite movement; and was founded in 1863. One of it's foremost founders was a woman by the name of Ellen G. White. Her writings are still highly regarded today.
MEMBERS: Some put estimates of Church membership at around 15 million people.
SACRED WRITINGS: They would hold to the Bible as being inspired, but they also hold the writings of Ellen White very high.
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST VIEWS
GOD: Holds to the eternal God, creator of all things, but would lean more towards the views of Jacobus Arminius in their view of God's character.
THE TRINITY: Some of the founders of SDA Church would have been "Semi-Arian". They denied the Trinity, (men such as James White and Joseph Bates). It wasn't until 1931 that the church came forward with a Trinitarian sounding doctrine:
That the Godhead, or Trinity, consists of the Eternal Father, a personal, spiritual Being, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, infinite in wisdom and love; the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, through whom all things were created and through whom the salvation of the redeemed hosts will be accomplished; the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, the great regenerating power in the word of redemption. (Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh Day Adventists)
Later on in the 1980's in their Fundamental Beliefs they wrote:
The Trinity: There is one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons.
With that said though, there are still small groups and some members who would deny the Trinity and stick to their "Semi-Arian" roots.
JESUS CHRIST: The eternal Son of God. is what their official claim would be. Yet some of them within the group would link Jesus Christ and Michael the angel as one and the same person.
There still are debates within the Church over the Christ's human nature, but as of late the majority of them would agree with Scripture in that Christ was truly human yet sinless, and did not inherit the sin nature.
THE HOLY SPIRIT: They would consider the Holy Spirit to be God, but there are groups within them thare are teaching otherwise.
THE VIRGIN BIRTH: They would claim to hold to the Virgin Birth.
SALVATION: They claim that a person is saved through faith in Christ, but the difference is that they hold to soul sleep, so the person falls asleep, but is not resurrected until Christ returns at the end of a time of trial.
HEAVEN: They do believe that there is a heaven where God's people will be, but also believe that there are compartments in heaven. They believe Christ went to heaven where he's acting as a mediator for His people. Then they believe that in 1844 (Connected with the 'Great Disappointment') Christ moved from the "Holy Place" in heaven to the "Holy of Holies"
HELL: The SDA church holds to Annihiliation. They believe that the wicked will be cast into hell and destroyed. They believe that the resurrection of the wicked is at the end of Christ's 1,000 reign. Before the resurrection though, they believe that they are in a soul-sleep and know nothing until the resurrection to be judged and cast into hell.
SIN: Near the beginning of the formation of this group people like Uriah Smith and George Storrs attempted to take attention away from human's sinful nature. And liked terms such as "Physical mortality" instead of "moral depravity".
They have advanced a bit over the years to say that men do have a sin nature, but stop short of the scriptural view that is held by Reformed teachers. Even today some within the group are still trying to say that sin is just willful transgressions and doesn't involve an inheirited corrupt nature (Look at Dennis E. Priebe)
INSPIRATION/AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE: They claim to hold to the Inspiration of Scripture yet hold the writtings of Ellen White very highly.
THE RAPTURE: They reject dispensational theology and the Rapture.
THE SECOND COMING: They are looking for the glorious, visible return of Christ. There will be a time of trouble which will end with the return of Christ who will set up his Millennial reign in heaven, not on earth.
