Leaderboard

That's very interesting. I was raised SDA and I believed the whole "27" (it was 27 back then). When I started reading the Bible for myself, I started to find many contradictions with my Adventist faith (and many contradictions within the biblical texts). When I tried discussing some of these issues with SDA clergy, I also got the response - "Adventist scholars have been studying this for 100 years and have resolved these questions." I have since made peace with the realization that I will not have all the answers and that I do not need to have all the answers. As I worked my way through the SDA 28, Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, Luther's commentaries, the Catholic Catechism, Orthodox writers, etc. I concluded that the Catholic approach to and interpretation of scripture is not really any less valid than the 19th century New England innovations which led to the SDA, JW and Christian Scientist movements. SDA doctrine, teaching and practice is far from "perfect"; Catholic doctrine, teaching and practice are far from perfect. The same can be said of Calvinism, Lutheranism and others. Each of these traditions requires one to emphasize certain biblical texts and downplay or outright ignore others. This imperfection in doctrine and teaching is endemic to Christianity, since the founding documents are imperfect themselves. The imperfection is inevitable since the documents are rendered in human language, which is always fraught with ambiguities. I continue my search, but it's been liberating to recognize that I do not need to have the answers and I don't need to find a faith community with which I agree 100% (I doubt any exists). And even if such a faith community exists, such 100% agreement would be short-lived since my views are always being challenged, updated, modified, improved, refined etc.