Hi. Many members of my family are SDAs. I thought that I knew what they believe about Christ. Where can I read that they preach a creature Christ? Do you mean the doctrine that some Adventists teach ie Christ and the Archangel Michael are the same?
Annie
SDA’s, at their base DNA are Arian / semi-Arian thus they depart from Scripture & Catholic teaching in their Christology…
…I will try to explain it.
Catholics and most all Christians repeat or accept the Nicene Creed as it clearly states what one believes in…
…Adventists: SDA’s, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christadelphians, World Wide Church of God abhor the creed.
…The primary reason: They believe Christ “
was capable of” Mutation to evil.
In Catholic Theology Christ is the Son of God Eternally & because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever…
…There was absolutely never a chance that Jesus could have screwed up and sinned, lost His salvation, etc.
…In the SDA’s belief rubric Christ was bestowed a “conditional” deity which He was free to keep.
…PROVIDED that He kept towing the line - if Christ didn’t - then the real God would have annihilated Christ eternally.
The SDA’s a ( all other Adventists ) will claim that when the Scripture says Jesus was tempted…
…It has to mean that there was a possibility of failure & that Christ yearned or lusted for evil.
…But that Christ overcame His own evil desires & thus showed us how to do it.
…To Arian, semi-Arian belief if there wasn’t a possibility of Christ loosing His own salvation.
…Salvation becames a farce & Mockery.
To Catholic’s this question is EASY to answer for we can simply say…
…That the Prophets in Scripture said God would come & save & that He WOULDN’T SIN.
…It’s that easy and there are nearly 100 Scriptures that say just that.
As far as Seventh-day Adventist creature Christ quotes they are almost endless and couldn’t be fit in a single post…
…I will put up a few of them so you can see what they are getting at.
…But 1st our Foundation.
Council of Nicaea
But those who say, “There was [a time] when he was not,” and, “Before he was born, he was not,” and “Because he was made from non-existing matter, he is either of another substance or essence,” and those who call “God the Son of God
changeable AND
mutable,” these the Catholic Church anathematizes (DS, 54).
The above simply systematizes what Sacred Scripture says about Christ so we can back up the above with nearly 100 Scriptures…
…I’m sure it’s more than 100 - it’s just I’ve found at least that many which attest to the Creed.
…Examples:
ZEPH 3:5
The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will NOT
do iniquity
Now, here are some SDA teachings
Ellen White, GCB Dec 1, 1895
Remember that Christ risked all; “tempted like as we are,”
he staked EVEN his own eternal existence upon the issue of the conflict. Heaven itself was imperiled for our redemption.
Longacre
IF it were impossible for the Son of God to make a mistake or commit a sin, then His coming into this world and subjecting Himself to temptations were all a farce AND mere mockery. IF it were possible for Him to yield to temptation and fall into sin, then He MUST have risked heaven and His very existence, and EVEN all eternity.
That is exactly what the Scriptures AND the Spirit of Prophecy say Christ, the Son of God did do when He came to work out for us a plan of salvation from the curse of sin. IF Christ “risked all,” EVEN His ETERNAL EXISTENCE in heaven, then there was a possibility of His being overcome by sin, and IF overcome by sin, He would have gone into Joseph’s tomb and neither THAT tomb nor any other tomb would EVER have been opened. All would have been lost and HE would have suffered “eternal loss,” the loss of ALL He ever possessed &; His DIVINITY AND His humanity and heaven itself would have been "lost & eternally lost It was possible for one of the God-head to be lost, and eternally lost - and IF that had happened, and it WAS possible to happen, “God, the Father”, would still have remained as the One and only absolute and living God, reigning supreme over all the unfallen worlds, but with all the human race blotted out of existence on this earth.
Ellen White
Though Christ humbled Himself to become man, the Godhead was still His own. His Deity could not be lost
WHILE He stood faithful and true to His loyalty
**
Ellen White**
Because of sin, his posterity was born with inherent propensities of disobedience. But Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God. He took upon Himself human nature, and was tempted in all points as human nature is tempted. He could have sinned; He could have fallen
Ellen White
Could Satan in the least particular have tempted Christ to sin, he would have bruised the Saviour’s head. As it was, he could only touch His heel. Had the head of Christ been touched, the hope of the human race would have perished. Divine wrath would have come upon Christ as it came upon Adam. Christ and the church would have been without hope.” ( Signs of the Times, June 9th 1898, see also Selected Messages Book 1 page 256)
We could go on and on with these but I think that’s enough to demonstrate how the SDA’s view Christ…
…To them Jesus was a creature Christ who had a conditional deity bestowed upon himself in front of the other angels.
…This is in fact what Ellen White said set off Lucifer - as he felt he should have got the deity and not Christ.
I was speaking of the continuous efforts of the Church leadership on behalf of unity. The perpetual dialog and prayer at the highest levels. We at CAF add our part, but we are at the one-on-one level, while the Church seeks Christian unity at the Apostolic level.