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Commentary on "Sequential Evangelism and Witnessing"
Day 4: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - Testing Truths
The very phrase "testing truths" is an SDA jargon. If you were raised in the SDA church you have probably heard it used so many times that you just assume that it is a Christian term referring to a Biblical principle. It is not. Google (or use your other favorite internet search engine) the phrase in quotes along with the word "Bible"-i.e. search for "testing truths" Bible. You will find plenty of Christian and apologetics websites about testing whether the statements in Scripture are true, but the sites that you will find using the phrase to mean a truth that distinguished real believers from professed believers have direct links to SDAism. This doesn't make the use of the phrase wrong, but it should cause you to consider why SDAism uses this phrase when others don't.
If you want to use the phrase "testing truth" then Jesus in the "testing truth" of Scripture-not Sabbath observance and diet as the lesson indicates. In John chapter 6 what the people were rejecting was Jesus Himself. John 3:18 declares this testing truth, "18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." The verse does not have an asterisk adding additional criteria to "Whoever believes in Him."
John 14:15 is one of the most frequently mis-cited verses by SDAs because they ignore Jesus' own Words that would describe what He means and insert their own doctrines. Jesus has defined what He means by commandments just before and just after this verse. The Bible will explain itself if you allow it to.
John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
John 15:12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
On what basis can someone conclude that they have a better understanding of what Jesus meant by His commandments than what Jesus is quoted as saying?
Critics of SDAism often say that Adventism has replaced the Substance (Jesus Christ) with the Shadow (the Sabbath). This is a perfect example of why that criticism is made. Instead of acknowledging the Scriptural teaching that the testing truth for salvation is Jesus Christ, this SDA lesson proclaims that Sabbath and diet are the testing truths.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised April 25, 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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