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Commentary on "A Love Response"
Day 3: Monday, June 4, 2012 - Not by Guilt
I want to start with something truly positive and even outstanding found in this lesson.
"And lest you be mistaken, you are unworthy, more than you can imagine. If not, the salvation offered to you wouldn't be from grace but from a debt God owes you, and do you really think God owes you anything."
This illustrates the hope that many hold out for SDAs. In the midst of gross errors, blatant mishandling of Scripture, repackaged legalism, and even denials of the simple Gospel truths, every once in a while there is a shining nugget of the true Gospel presented. As an SDA I grasped at every one of these nuggets as proof that SDAism was changing and that a wholesale shift was just around the corner.
It is a good lesson that guilt should not be our motivator. Where the lesson comes up short is that it doesn't provide the Biblical alternative. I think the lesson comes close when it describes that our experience of salvation and forgiveness motivates us "to witness to others about what Christ has done for us." But if you aren't sure if you really will be saved, exactly what has Christ done for you that you can tell others about? If the forgiveness you have experienced is conditional on your continued and future successful obedience, what has Christ really done for you?
The cracks in the foundation regarding the doctrines of salvation and forgiveness show up in the lack of enthusiasm to share what God has done. In my experience, SDAs are quick to tell other people how important it is that they observe the Sabbath and will talk endlessly about the health message but speak very little about salvation and forgiveness in Christ. There is a motivation to get other people to conform to the same works that SDAs are performing, but little apparent motivation to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised June 1, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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