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ORGANIZATIONAL  BELIEFS -- IN  DOCTRINE



The  doctrine  of  original  sin

Roman Catholic Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church

     “...the Church has always taught that the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and death cannot be understood apart from their connection with Adam's sin and the fact that he has transmitted to us a sin with which we are all born afflicted, a sin which is the 'death of the soul'.[291] Because of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin....
     “‘We therefore hold, with the Council of Trent, that original sin is transmitted with human nature, ‘by propagation, not by imitation’ and that it is. . . 'proper to each'" (Paul VI, CPG # 16).”  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Section Two, Article III & IV,  #403 & 419. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/visible4.html#DEATH).

     "The spiritual disease that has infected all of us is sin...we are all in a sinful state because of the decision of Adam, the corporate head of the human race...by man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and as a result, all men sinned. That is, because of Adam's sin, all men became sinners.” (General Conference president Neal C. Wilson, in Adventist Review, June 28, 1990, p 8).


     "We are all sinners, whether we have ever done anything ‘wrong’ or not. It is not sinning that makes us sinners. It is getting born that makes us sinners....We are born sinners, and we sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin!...Since we are sinners by nature, we of ourselves are never going to be able to produce any obedience." (Morris L. Venden, well-known SDA pastor and author, in Faith That Works, p 161-65).


     "Man sins because he is sinful. He is not sinful because he sins...You don't have to sin to be sinful; all you have to do is get yourself born!" (Morris L. Venden, in To Know God: A Five Day Plan, p 23).


     "We are born sinful and subject to death--prior to lawbreaking...Clearly Adam's sin affected the race--constituted them sinners." (Issues: The Seventh-day Adventist Church and Certain Private Ministries, sponsored and authorized for publication by the North American Division Officers and Union Presidents of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, p 118).


     "We are born sinners..." (Adult Sabbath School Lessons Quarterly, First Quarter, Lesson #5, January 23, 1983, p 35).




The  immortality  of  the  soul,  with  perfection  necessary  for  heaven  being  gained  after  death

Roman Catholic Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church

     “Every man receives his eternal recompense in his immortal soul from the moment of his death in a particular judgment by Christ, the judge of the living and the dead....
     “Those who die in God's grace and friendship imperfectly purified, although they are assured of their eternal salvation, undergo a purification after death, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of God. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Section Two, Article 12, Section VI, #1051 & 1054. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/art12.html#HOPE).

     The Bible states that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20), not live forever. But the SDA church teaches that no one can overcome all sin in this life before Christ comes.  Yet God will not destroy you but will make you perfect and take you to heaven, giving you eternal life anyway. That is teaching the doctrine on the immortality of the soul, and of perfection being granted after death even though you were not ready for heaven!


     "...I will always fall short of my potential....for those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness...[are] striving after an elusive goal..." (Alden Thompson, professor of religion at Walla Walla SDA College, in Adventist Review, December 6, 1984, p 6).


     "...if we die to sin at conversion, are we going to sin anymore?...We will continue to sin as Christians--not because we want to, but because we're human." (H.M.S. Richards, Jr., in Voice of Prophecy News, May, 1985, p 2).


     “We will never reach sinless perfection in this life...” (R.S. Watts, Vice-President of the General Conference, in Review and Herald, May 19, 1966, p 4).


     "We should remember that only when Jesus comes can we be made perfect." (Taylor G. Bunch, Retired SDA minister, in Ministry Magazine, December, 1965, p 9).



The  Bible  is  imperfect

Roman Catholic Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church

     “...your Romish doctors strain every nerve to persuade us that Scripture is imperfect...” (Chr. Wordsworth, D.D., in Letters to M. Gordon, p 81, cited in Source Book for Bible Students, p 87-88).


     “VATICAN CITY, Italy - The Vatican criticized a literal interpretation of the Bible  and said the fundamentalist approach to scripture was a kind of intellectual suicide. A Vatican document said fundamentalism refuses to admit that the inspired Word of God has been expressed in human language... by human authors possessed of limited capacities and resources.
     “The 125-page document, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, was written by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, a group of scholars who assist the Pope in the study of scripture. It noted that a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible had been gaining strength. The Vatican is increasingly concerned about the number of Catholics, especially in Latin America, who have abandoned the church for fast-growing fundamentalist sects. The fundamentalist approach is dangerous, for it is attractive to people who look to the Bible for ready answers to the problems of life, the document said. Fundamentalism actually invites people to a kind of intellectual suicide. A fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible began during the Reformation, when Protestants showed an increasing concern for fidelity to the literal meaning of scripture.
     “The document said fundamentalism refused to admit that there was a human element in the transmission of the Word of God. One member of the commission, Jesuit Father Joseph Fitzmeyer, said fundamentalists failed to recognize that several years elapsed between the time Jesus spoke and the time when the gospels were written. There was no stenographer, no one with a tape recorder on that time, said Fitzmeyer.” (The Star, Manila, Philippines, 1994, cited in Presents of God Ministry Website, see also Chicago Tribune, March 20, 1994, p 27.  The Document “The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church”, was written by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, on April 23, 1993,  http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/pcb_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19930415_interpretazione_it.html).

     “In our study and presentation (of the Bible), we also must reject the idea of Biblical inerrancy and verbal inspiration, but we dare not treat the Scriptures as just another human document.” (General Conference president Neal C. Wilson, in Adventist Review, December 17, 1981, p 5).




Claims  infallibility – or  whatever  the  Church  does  or  teaches  is  correct  and  needs  no  repentance

Roman Catholic Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church

     “...not least among the blessings which have resulted from the public and legitimate honor paid to the Blessed Virgin and the saints is the perfect and perpetual immunity of the Church from error and heresy. We may well admire in this the admirable wisdom of the Providence of God, who, ever bringing good out of evil, has from time to time suffered the faith and piety of men to grow weak, and allowed Catholic truth to be attacked by false doctrines, but always with the result that truth has afterwards shone out with greater splendor, and that men's faith, aroused from its lethargy, has shown itself more vigorous than before.” (Pope Pius XI, in Quas Primas (on the Feast of Christ the King), Encyclical promulgated on, December 11, 1925, #22. http://www.newadvent.org/docs/pi11qp.htm).

     “In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility. By a 'supernatural sense of faith' the People of God, under the guidance of the Church's living Magisterium, 'unfailingly adheres to this faith.'
     “The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive nature of the covenant established by God with his people in Christ. It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this charism takes several forms:
     "’The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals....The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium,’ above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine ‘for belief as being divinely revealed,’ and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions ‘must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.’ This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Profession of Faith, Section Two,  Paragraph 4, Subsection I, #889 - 891. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/church4.html#CONSTITUTION).


     “The infallibility of the Magisterium of the Pastors extends to all the elements of doctrine, including moral doctrine, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, expounded, or observed.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Three, Section One, Chapter Three, Article 3, Subsection III, #2051. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/holy.html#MISSIONARY).

     The SDA church hierarchical organization has never repented from the wrongs committed and the rejection of God’s truth since its earliest beginnings in 1903.  For proof, see the book “Abomination of Desolation and Seventh-day Adventist Church History, Second Edition” at http://www.LightMinistries.com/id94.htm.




Christ  will  set  up  His  kingdom  on  earth  at  His  second  coming

Roman Catholic Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church

     “Therefore peace being made, and every evil suppressed, that righteous King and Conqueror (Jesus Christ) will institute a great judgment on the earth respecting the living and the dead, and will deliver all the nations into subjection to the righteous who are alive, and will raise the righteous dead to eternal life, and will Himself reign with them on the earth...” (St. Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes, Chapter LXXII, in Early Church Fathers, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VII. http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF_07/anf07_11.htm).


     “Though already present in his Church, Christ's reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled "with power and great glory" by the King's return to earth....
     “Before his Ascension Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel[561] which, according to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of justice, love and peace.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Profession of Faith, Section Two, Article 7, Subsection I, #671 & 672.  http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/creed9.html#THENCE).

     "The signs He [Christ] predicted are taking place before our eyes. World conditions are precisely what He said they would be just before His second advent....
     "What will happen when this new world Leader appears? What will the various governments do about it? How will the churches react? What will be the effect on the stock market? More important still, how will it affect individuals--you and me and everybody?...
     "Now He is about to do it again [healing the sick], on a global scale. His coming invasion of the world will have a similar miraculous result. Hospitals and convalescent homes will be emptied, their one-time occupants bursting with new life and vigor... Thousands upon thousands [of insane in mental homes] will rejoice at His touch upon their poor, confused brains....
     "Eventually raising the dead on a prodigious scale will be another of the first actions of the coming world Leader....
     "When you come to think of it, this will be a novel way to start a new regime....
     "Part of His master design is full employment for everybody. And the jobs He provides will never run out....Indeed the establishment of His kingdom will be the success story of the ages....
     "In the not far distant future He will take over the government of our world and set up His own kingdom of righteousness and peace...all those who are accepted as citizens of His kingdom have to experience a radical change in their minds, so radical indeed that it will be as though they had started all over again, like being born anew. They will have to think differently, and act differently...They will have to stop acting like rebels and take their stand with the loyalists....
     "Come, O man the world needs most! Come and bring an end to all strife and conflict! Come and make wars cease to the ends of the earth! Come and make all sick people well again! Come and restore the crippled and handicapped! Come and raise the dead! Come and take over the government of mankind! Come and commence Your reign of righteousness and peace! Come and bring in the glorious years of eternity!
     "’Even so, come, Lord Jesus!’" (Arthur S. Maxwell, well known SDA author, in Man the World Needs Most, p 76-83, 93-96).


     "We Still Believe...Jesus Will Usher in a New World Order....
     "He will come to inaugurate a ‘new world order’ that will be unlike anything the world has known. Someday soon, you and I will live in that new world....If Jesus were to come tomorrow, would you be happy in the new world He will bring with Him?
     "But neither democracy nor communism nor socialism is God's system. His eternal kingdom is built on different principles and will supersede all earthly governments and powers...and the next great event in the world history will happen when God sets up His kingdom that will last forever." (General Conference President, Robert Folkenberg, in We Still Believe, p 23, 28-29, 118-19).


     “Thus shall we anticipate the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom of peace at the second advent of our Lord and Saviour, who is the Prince of peace.” (Annual Council of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Adventist Review, December 5, 1985, p 19).


     “...the establishment of the literal kingdom of God ushered in by the glorious second coming of Jesus Christ.” (Douglas Devnich, Director of Public Affairs for the Canadian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, in Ministry Magazine, November, 1983, p 24).


     “We believe that soon Jesus will come to this world and usher in His kingdom of peace, joy, and righteousness.” (General Conference President Neal C. Wilson, in Adventist Review, December 13, 1979, p 6).