My parents were Seventh-day Adventists. Dad was the head elder in my early years, then, when I was eleven years old, he followed a call into ministry. When eighth grade rolled around for me, he was through college and into his first district as a pastor. Mom was a church schoolteacher for a few years. My brothers and I went to church school then boarding academy. I was baptized on May 3, 1969, by Elder George Carter. By all outward measures, I have essentially always been an Adventist.
And I believed it. Always. Not that I didn’t wonder about one thing or another, as we all do, but ultimately, I accepted it as I learned it. So, by all inward measures, I was also pretty much always an Adventist.
But what I did not know until later was that, in reality, I was an Adventist by inertia. I was set on a course, and nothing interrupted it, so I just kept going in that direction with less thought than I would likely have admitted to myself. Until I came upon something that threatened
to change course for me.
Every generation seems to face challenges to our faith. For my generation, it was the writings of Dr. Desmond Ford, a professor of religion at Pacific Union College. I was only vaguely aware that some were questioning basic teachings of our church, but I had no real interest because I was an Adventist. As far as I was concerned, those who didn’t accept what we taught were welcome to form their own denomination.
Then someone passed on some articles to me and asked me to read it for myself. Well, why not? Honestly, I didn’t even know which of our doctrines were in dispute. Maybe it was time to find out.
What I discovered was a system which accepted the timeline of the prophecies of Daniel but disputed that the investigative judgment began in 1844. In its place it offered … nothing. (A conversation years later with a member of the Biblical Research Committee who met with Dr. Ford at the Glacier View Conference confirmed that he had no idea whatsoever what the prophecy pointed to.)
I was irritated at the sleight of hand perpetrated by declaring something false but not presenting anything as truth, but something even bigger was at work. Deep from within me, a true believer, a Seventh-day Adventist who know what we believed and fully embraced it, rose up to declare that this was heresy.
Until that point, this had been my father’s religion. I only thought it was mine as well. It was when I examined it for myself, not as a class assignment but on my own and for my own reasons, that inertia was replaced by choice. I’m not here to keep peace in the family, or because I don’t know where else to be, or any other reason but that I choose this because I believe this.
So many of you know exactly what I mean because you also came to a point, whether raised in the church or having learned of it after childhood, where you made a conscious choice to belong. It’s good to reflect, from time to time, that you do have choices, and that this what you continue to choose.
But let’s not focus on what we have done to the exclusion of what He has done. Because, as the title of this piece indicates, it is not just informed choice that makes a genuine Seventh-day Adventist. We only have that choice because of the grace of God.
It was His grace that I grew up in a family that believed in God. It was His grace that they taught me to believe in the Bible as the source of Truth. It was His grace that the Holy Spirit spoke to me as I learned what the Bible stated, gently saying, This is the way; walk in it (Isaiah 30:21, NIV). It was by His grace that I was able to see error. Even the freedom to make a choice for myself is fully dependent upon the grace of God.
Your journey is likely quite different, so looking back you will no doubt find grace in other ways than what I received. But The grace has been there for each of us, so that we are not here only by choice, but because God has opened the way.
But there is more to my religion than the grace I received and the choice I made to believe. Grace and choice change everything, and I see that in my church.
So many times, I have seen the love of Jesus shine through people whose lives have been transformed. True, I have seen some of the most un-Christlike behavior in people who share the same beliefs, but whose hearts have not been touched by the grace that God offers. I suppose that is to be expected, because if the devil did not make every effort to infiltrate us then he would be doing a poor job indeed. Examples abound. But there are also examples of kindness, patience, humility, service, and piety, you will find those in abundance as well.
Sometimes it takes an outsider to remind us of what a blessing our church is. While a graduate student, I was driving a guest of the university to the airport. His job, on behalf of the U.S. government, was to make sure that aid to countries in South America actually did some concrete good. If we paid for a bridge to be built, he went to see if it was there. We were chatting about some topic I have forgotten when I mentioned my church in passing. He asked, with clear interest, what church I attended, and I told him. He repeated, very slowly and thoughtfully, “Seventh-day Adventist.”
Here it comes, I thought. What false impression was left on him by one of our graceless representatives? But it was out there, and I would put up with whatever followed, because by now this was truly my church, and I would take my lumps with her. But he surprised me.
“You people do a wonderful work. Everywhere I go I find Adventists doing important things to help people, and many times it is stuff no one else is willing to do. I am always honored to meet a Seventh-day Adventist.”
It is a really big deal that the fruit of the Spirit so lives in our people that we will do things that leave such an impression on an outside observer. It’s not always that dramatic, but the fruit is there. Sadly, there are also true stories of some egregious examples of falling far short of our high calling and doing damage to vulnerable people, for which I am sorry, but in spite of that the fruit still lives among us.
All the criticisms of leadership, diverted tithe, cutting words in the church lobby, and indifference of those who have inertia but no grace, cannot erase the evidence that our church is not just a set of beliefs. It is a denomination that endeavors to do important things that help people physically and spiritually. We do it in remote lands, in local cradle roll classes, in each other’s homes for game night, and in support of students who want to be in our schools. We do it in a thousand different ways because grace has fallen on us, and be believers so we become what our Father wants us to be.
How fortunate to belong.
Doug Inglish is the RMC vice president for administration. Email him at: [email protected]