Is the Seventh-day Adventist Church 'Christian'?

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Would Catholics and other traditional protestant denominations consider the SDA Church to be Christian and not a cult? Why or why not? And what is the SDA Church’s position on the trinity?
 
I believe they deny the divinity of Christ (or at least His eternal divinity), so “NO”.
 
Actually I could be wrong. I read up a bit on wikipedia and it seems their beliefs have developed over time from Arian to Trinitarian. So I might be commenting on either a sect within SDA or just an older set of beliefs they had about Christ.
 
Kanuckistani said:
Would Catholics and other traditional protestant denominations consider the SDA Church to be Christian and not a cult? Why or why not? And what is the SDA Church’s position on the trinity?
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I have no idea if or how many Catholics or traditional Protestants would or would not. But their fundamental beliefs speak of the Trinity and the resurrected Christ as Lord. And I might be wrong and someone can correct me if I am mistaken. But to my knowledge if a SDA wants to convert to Catholicism, the Catholic Church accepts their Baptism.

adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html
 
ConstantineTG said:
I believe they deny the divinity of Christ (or at least His eternal divinity), so “NO”.
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No…JW’s deny Jesus Eternal divinity and from my understanding SDA do accept the Trinity. However, they worship on Saturday’s and believe in soul sleeping like JW’s. And Ellen G. White is one of their famous female prophets.
 
Christian_Soul said:
I have no idea if or how many Catholics or traditional Protestants would or would not. But their fundamental beliefs speak of the Trinity and the resurrected Christ as Lord. And I might be wrong and someone can correct me if I am mistaken. But to my knowledge if a SDA wants to convert to Catholicism, the Catholic Church accepts their Baptism.

adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html
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Yes. I work for a parish and last time I checked SDA baptisms are valid.
 
The idea of saturday being hte primary day of worship in the Christian church is wrong, period and is not apostolic. It is the Lord’s day/
 
Kanuckistani said:
Would Catholics and other traditional protestant denominations consider the SDA Church to be Christian and not a cult? Why or why not? And what is the SDA Church’s position on the trinity?
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I think they have some aberrant beliefs but still Christian, albeit with some cult-like tendencies.
 
The SDA are held to be true Christians, and do share several beliefs with the Catholic Church: The Trinity, Christ’s divinity, the virgin birth, the atonement, the physical resurrection of the dead and Christ’s second coming. Their baptism is valid, but they accept only full immersion. They believe in original sin and reject OSAS.

As the spirit of 1800s America has rendered, they absolutely hate the Catholic Church. Hate it. It is the whore of Babylon and the Pope is the antichrist. They consider the Lord’s day (Sunday worship) to be the mark of the beast and predicted falsely that the Catholic Church would force Sunday worship by passing laws (Ha!). They teach that the soul sleeps until the last judgment and that hell is temporary, with those there simply being annihilated at the end time. They believe that Jesus is actually Saint Michael the Archangel (or vice versa, which is very odd since one is eternal and the other created).

They hold that the voluminous writings of their foundress, Ellen Gould White, are inspired by God, but slightly below the bible. She it is who taught most of their odd doctrines. I note here that she received an apparently organic brain injury, being in a coma for three weeks, and allegedly was mercury poisoned in the hat-making business - all before she began receiving the “visions” that produced their peculiar doctrines. Very oddly, they now accept abortion, in similar manner to Presbyterians.

There is a section on them in The Essential Catholic Survival Guide (Excellent resource, by the way), from which I have taken some of this. I know them well, as some family belong to this sect, as well as my former chaplain at work. Recently, their rumor mill has cranked up, and outright lies are being made up out of thin air. This is sad, and shows that they are divided between love of Christ and hatred of the Catholic Church. I pray for them, as many of their number are fallen away Catholics.
 
po18guy, Thank you so much for what you just posted, I had pondered if they were legit or not for quite some time, and reading what you are saying, then backing up what I found on their own web sites, this makes it clear, they are not Christian. Their view on abortion is that admisable only under “certain” conditions. That’s not a red flag, it’s a loudly ringing bell that something is wrong.

If anybody is baptized by them and chooses to be baptized in the Catholic church, they are perfectly allowed to, and I highly recommend it. Same with that is also their stance upon the issue. They crossed a line in our faith that disqualifying them from being known as being of our faith for that very reason alone. Moving onto another, all important aspect, if they do indeed think Christ is some Angel, no matter what Angel it is, they have created an idol, and it’s not Jesus Christ, the Son of God they worship at all, which even before what I spoke of along abortion, disqualifies them to even start with.
 
GodsMissionary said:
po18guy, Thank you so much for what you just posted, I had pondered if they were legit or not for quite some time, and reading what you are saying, then backing up what I found on their own web sites, this makes it clear, they are not Christian. Their view on abortion is that admisable only under “certain” conditions. That’s not a red flag, it’s a loudly ringing bell that something is wrong.

If anybody is baptized by them and chooses to be baptized in the Catholic church, they are perfectly allowed to, and I highly recommend it. Same with that is also their stance upon the issue. They crossed a line in our faith that disqualifying them from being known as being of our faith for that very reason alone. Moving onto another, all important aspect, if they do indeed think Christ is some Angel, no matter what Angel it is, they have created an idol, and it’s not Jesus Christ, the Son of God they worship at all, which even before what I spoke of along abortion, disqualifies them to even start with.
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Yet, let us remember that, despite the numerous problems in their doctrines, they are true Christians. Hard as that is to accept, it is based on their fundamental beliefs. They, of course, are horribly mislead, but that simply means that we must pray for them and interact with them as charitably as possible. Remember that many of their number are Catholics. And, their baptism is 100% efficacious. Even an atheist can baptize in an emergency, if their intent is correct, and they use water and the Trinitarian formula. True.
 
No. If you believe St Michael the Archangel is Jesus then you worship a false god.
 
Depends on what SDA you speak with. Their official doctrine is just barely within Christian orthodoxy. That being said, I knew a SDA pastor back in the 70s who had clearly Biblical beliefs and who ever substituted for pastor friends on Sundays when they went on vacation. He never insisted that only SDA are Christian like some do,.
 
The SDA’s ( along with other Arian groups ) subscribe to the “creature Christ” doctrine…
…Under this rubric they teach that Christ had a conditional Deity.
…That was gifted to Him by Ultimate God.

If creature Christ WOULD HAVE sinned then Ultimate God…
…Would have been forced to annihilate creature Christ, eternally.

In Catholic Theology we say God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit…
…In other words whatever it is that’s beyond our ability to grasp that makes The Father, “God”.
…Is the identical thing ( Substance ) that makes the Son & Holy Spirit, “God”.

In Arian Theology it’s very important to contrast the unchanging God ( singular Being )…
…With the creatures under Him ( the one Being which is God ).

If you were to ask a Seventh-day Adventist if they believed that God the Father…
…Could be eternally annihilated - the SDA would shake their head and say NO, impossible.
…If you ask them if it was possible that Jesus could have sinned and pass into a state of eternal non-existence.
…They would immediately say yes and nod rapidly.

SDA’s do not believe or understand the Trinity like Catholics or “Trinitarians” do…
…To them the Trinity is The Father ( the only wise true God ).
…The Son ( a creature which was made out of God’s Substance and exalted to Christ position ).
…And the Holy Spirit which is considered to be the omnipresence of God and Christ.

This is how they see it after exposure to Ellen White’s teachings…
…Ellen G. White is considered to be a Prophet by SDA’s.
…Ellen G. White claims to have been “shown” these truths by God and creature Christ.
 
Christian_Soul said:
I have no idea if or how many Catholics or traditional Protestants would or would not. But their fundamental beliefs speak of the Trinity and the resurrected Christ as Lord. And I might be wrong and someone can correct me if I am mistaken. But to my knowledge if a SDA wants to convert to Catholicism, the Catholic Church accepts their Baptism.

adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html
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The Catholic Church accepts all Christian baptism. As to whether or not SDA is Christian, I don’t know enough to say. SDA is just too far out there for me. No celebrating Christmas is too far off where I would want to go for a start.
 
mayogirl25 said:
The Catholic Church accepts all Christian baptism. As to whether or not SDA is Christian, I don’t know enough to say. SDA is just too far out there for me. No celebrating Christmas is too far off where I would want to go for a start.
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I think SDA’s celebrate Christmas, have Christmas trees, give presents, etc…
…I think the Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t do that.
 
Pythons said:
I think SDA’s celebrate Christmas, have Christmas trees, give presents, etc…
…I think the Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t do that.
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I worked with a SDA woman who pointedly told us all not to give her birthday or Christmas presents since her religion did not recognize those events. I don’t know what JW’s believe but probably similar.
 
They believe in JESUS CHRIST therefore they are Christian. No one can dispute that they have the Sabbath day correct according to the Holy Bible.
It’s a bit like eating fish. You eat the fish and leave the bones!
 
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