28 Fundamental Beliefs

History

Adventists have historically been reluctant to formalize a creed. In the October 8, 1861 Review and Herald, J. N. Loughborough wrote:{{Cite journal |author-link=Joseph Bates (Adventist) |author2-link=Uriah Smith |access-date=2006-11-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230759/http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/RH/RH1861-V18-19/index.djvu |archive-date=2007-09-27

• In 1872 a pamphlet was produced presenting twenty-five Fundamental Principles not to "secure uniformity" but "to meet inquiries" and "to correct false statements."
• In 1931 a list of 22 Fundamental Beliefs was produced and published in the Adventist Yearbook, and subsequently in the Adventist Church Manual.
• In 1980, the 27 Fundamentals were instituted by the denomination's General Conference. Fritz Guy was the secretary of the original committee which produced the 27 Fundamentals. They were discussed and adopted at the 1980 General Conference Session. Ron Graybill wrote the preamble. They are expanded upon in the book Seventh-day Adventists Believe: A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines. This elaboration does not constitute the "official" position of the church.
• In 2005 another belief was inserted, fundamental belief number 11 "Growing in Christ", in response to the requests of Adventists in developing nations for a statement on spiritual warfare. It was voted in at the 2005 Adventist General Conference Session held in St. Louis, Missouri, yielding the current total of 28.

Preamble

The preamble to the 28 Fundamentals states that Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed, and that revision of the statements may be expected during the church General Conference Session:

Theological beliefs

Please do not cut-and-paste the text of the 28 Fundamental Beliefs straight into this article, as this is a copyright violation.

Rather, summarize their content, put it into your own words, quote reliable secondary commentary on the points, etc. See the sections "Text" under Wikipedia:Non-free content#Acceptable use and under the section "Unacceptable use"

--

Doctrines of God

1. Holy Scriptures :"The Holy Scriptures are the infallible revelation of [God's] will." Adventist theologians generally reject the "verbal inspiration" position on Scripture held by many conservative evangelical Christians. They believe instead that God inspired the thoughts of the biblical authors, and that the authors then expressed these thoughts in their own words. This view is popularly known as "thought inspiration", and most Adventist members hold to that view. According to Ed Christian, former JATS editor, "few if any ATS members believe in verbal inerrancy". :Adventists generally reject higher critical approaches to Scripture. The 1986 statement Methods of Bible Study, urges Adventist Bible students to avoid relying on the use of the presuppositions and the resultant deductions associated with the historical-critical method.

2. Trinity :The Godhead (Trinity) consists of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

3. Father :God, the Father, is a personal and spiritual Being, who is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. He is infinite in wisdom and love.

4. Son :Jesus Christ, is God in verity. He is of the same nature and essence as the Father. In addition, he took upon Himself human nature, living as a righteous man on earth, dying for the sins of mankind, raised from the dead and ascended to heaven where he makes intercession for mankind.

5. Holy Spirit :

The doctrines of humanity

6. Creation :The Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of creationism is based on believing that the opening chapters of Genesis should be interpreted as literal history. Adventist belief holds that all Earthly life originated during a six-day period some 6000 years ago, and a global flood destroyed all land based animals and humans except for those saved on Noah's Ark. Adventists oppose theories which propose interpreting the days of creation symbolically. Although Adventists hold that creation week was a recent event, they believe the Bible speaks of other worlds populated by intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe, which pre-existed the Earth's creation week. Instead of being The Word's first creation, the Earth was most likely His last one. The sons of God of Job 1:6–12 are the Adams of unfallen worlds meeting in God's presence somewhere in the universe. Other inhabited planets are located in the vastness of space—well beyond the reach of space probes from our sin-polluted solar system, quarantined due to the infection of sin. :Adventists believe that inorganic matter was created prior to the creation week and was altered into its present form during the creation week. Therefore, the computed radiometric dates of standard geology are irrelevant to dating the creation of life on Earth. Since radiometric dating, says Webster, is an "interpretive science", he believes that for the Christian scientist “it would seem logical, almost compelling, to seriously consider” the Biblical account “for determining the time of Creation."

7. Nature of Humanity

The doctrines of salvation

8. The Great Controversy

9. The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ

10. The Experience of Salvation

11. Growing in Christ

The doctrines of the church

12. The Church

13. The Remnant and Its Mission

14. Unity in the Body of Christ

15. Baptism

16. The Lord's Supper

17. Spiritual Gifts and Ministries

18. The Spirit of Prophecy

The doctrines of Christian living

19. The Law of God

20. The Sabbath

21. Stewardship

22. Christian Behavior

23. Marriage and the Family

The doctrines of the restoration

24. Christ's Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary

25. The Second Coming of Christ

26. Death and Resurrection

27. The Millennium and the End of Sin

28. The New Earth

References

Sources

References

1. [http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html Seventh-day Adventist Church] {{Webarchive. link. (2006-03-10 Fundamental Beliefs)
2. [http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html/ Fundamental Beliefs]
3. Schwarz, Richard W.. (1979). "Light Bearers to the Remnant". Pacific Press.
4. [http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/orc/fb1931.php/ Online Research Center: Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists, 1931] {{webarchive. link. (March 1, 2007)
5. Scofield, Michael. (May–June 2000). "How the 27 Fundamental Beliefs Came to Be". Adventist Today Foundation.
6. [http://www.sdanet.org/atissue/books/27/index.htm Seventh-day Adventists Believe... FILE: index.htm]
7. "Fundamental Beliefs". [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]].
8. {{harvnb. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. 2005
9. [http://www.atoday.com/magazine/2001/11/adventist-theological-society-0 The Adventist Theological Society] {{webarchive. link. (2007-12-25 , an interview of Ed Christian by John McLarty.)
10. "Methods of Bible Study".
11. (2003). "Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine". Andrews University Press.
12. {{harvnb. Knight. 2003
13. {{harvnb. Knight. 2003
14. {{harvnb. Numbers. 2006
15. White, Ellen. (September 29, 2014). "Earth Antedated by Other Created Worlds, Ellen White Statements".
16. White, Ellen. (September 29, 2014). "Earth Antedated by Other Created Worlds, Ellen White Statements".
17. Ferdinand O. Regalado. "The Creation Account in Genesis 1: Our World Only or the Universe?". Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 13/2:108-120.