When is Sanctification completed? It's not completed at the end of our life. It is completed at the second coming. This is when we are changed.





And finally .... from Seventh-Day Adventists Believe p. 138



And page 145



Therefore ....

I have to disagree that Sanctification is the work of a lifetime. It is the work of well beyond our lifetime. It is the work of when we SEE HIS FACE. Then is when our Sanctification will be complete and we will be fit for heaven where sin can never again come to it's ugly head.

It's quite true, of course, that our sanctification will be completed at the Second Coming and that "the ultimate, all-comprehensive transformation of our lives into the image of God will take place at the second Advent."

It also true there will be no change in our characters at the resurrection. God will not make our characters different from the way they are when we go into the grave.

Sanctification is the work of a lifetime in the sense that it never ends in this lifetime but only when Christ returns.

Would you agree with that?

Really? What about that thief that died on the cross? When did he have time to develop a character fit for heaven?

Look, it's rather simple....At the resurrection we receive the life of Christ. Just as we came from 1st Adam as sinners, so from the 2nd Adam (Christ) we will be made righteous. "The law of sin and death" will never be part of our experience again. We will have a glorified humanity free from indwelling sin. We will be fully restored in the likeness and image of God.

Rob

Ellen White writes is several places, including Adventist Home, that there will be no change in people's characters between the time of death and the resurrection.

The thief you mentioned went into the grave with a totally surrendered mind and heart, and therefore he will come up with the same. God takes into account those who did not live long after their conversion.

She also wrote the following:

Our personal identity is preserved in the resurrection, though not the
same particles of matter or material substance as went into the grave.
The wondrous works of God are a mystery to man. The spirit, the
character of man, is returned to God, there to be preserved. In the
resurrection every man will have his own character. God in His own time
will call forth the dead, giving again the breath of life, and bidding
the dry bones live. The same form will come forth, but it will be free
from disease and every defect. It lives again bearing the same
individuality of features, so that friend will recognize friend. There
is no law of God in nature which shows that God gives back the same
identical particles of matter which composed the body before death. God
shall give the righteous dead a body that will please Him.

Paul illustrates this subject by the kernel of grain sown in the field.
The planted kernel decays, but there comes forth a new kernel. The
natural substance in the grain that decays is never raised as before,
but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him. A much finer material
will compose the human body, for it is a new creation, a new birth. It
is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

He [the believer] may die, as Christ died, but the life of the Savior is
in him. His life is hid with Christ in God. "I am come that they might
have life," Jesus said, "and that they might have it more abundantly."
He carries on the great process by which believers are made one with Him
in this present life, to be one with Him throughout all eternity. . . .

At the last day He will raise them as a part of Himself. . . . Christ
became one with us in order that we might become one with Him in
divinity.

>From Maranatha - Page 301

That's an assumption....



Now wait just a minute....You said that man takes his character with him to heaven. God's taking one's short lived life after conversion into consideration doesn't change the fact that he is a babe in Christ and therefore his character is heavily flawed.

The reality is that this cannot be. No iniquity will enter heaven. All will be perfectly reflecting God. Our glorified lives will measure with His.

Then sin will enter heaven. Also, Paul (not Ellen) says, "We will be changed...in a moment...in the twinkling of an eye...."

I must take Paul over Ellen. To do otherwise is to become part of a cult. No thanks!

PS: Besides, Ellen clearly stated she didn't have all light. She didn't claim infallibility. So I'll give her a break, but since you set her up as the measuring stick of truth I must place you in the category of a cult.

Rob

Rob. It depends upon which Ellen White you believe in:

Do you see a contradiction in those quotes?

So after the second coming, sanctification is COMPLETED and there will be no more growth in becoming more like God?

Gerry