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Jo Mo is a vauled member of this forum.

Hi Alepte, Welcome to the forum. I am one of those people Gregory referred to above as someone having a long-term relationship with SDA's; but I hold several minority views. I won't get into those minority views now, since you are searching I don't want to Say anything that would confuse or discourage you. Like Gregory says, faith is a journey; not a destination. I myself was raised a devout Catholic - so much so I almost became a priest. As I read the Bible, I - like you - began to see discrepancies between scripture and Catholic doctrine; so I eventually became and SDA. As I continue to study, I also see discrepancies between my understanding of Scripture and Adventism. I have also come to the conclusion that spirituality is more about a proper relationship than about correct theology. If we truly love and trust Jesus, any questions we have on theology will be clearly answered by Jesus in the Kingdom; and because we love and trust Him explicitly, we will believe everything He tells us. In my humble opinion, not all theology is salvational. For example, Catholics worship on Sunday; and SDA's worship in Saturday; which is in accordance with the Commandments. Does that mean that if you don't worship on Sabbath that you will go to hell? In my opinion - NO! Some of the most devout and loyal Christians I know worship on Sunday. SDA's believe that pork in unfit for human consumption as stated clearly in Leviticus. Does that mean that people who eat bacon with their eggs in the morning will go to hell: NO! Do you love God with all your heart. strength and mind? Do you believe His is the only Name under heaven by which we may be saved? THAT is the essence of salvational truth, no matter what Christian sect you belong to. May God bless you with wisdom and discernment on your journey to His Kingdom!

Alepte: * Seventh-day Adventist accept the books generally accepted by most Protestants. IOW 66 books, 27 in the New Testament and 39 in the Old Testament. * Some Seventh-day Adventists are going to believe that the brothers of Jesus had Joseph as their Father from a previous marriage and other SDAs are going to believe that the brothers of Jesus had Mary as their Mother. * The book of Enoch is not accepted as canonical. * Some non-canonical books have historical value even if not a part of the Bible. * The SDA Chruch does not dictate the exact manner in which people pray to God. However most probably do not pray in the manner that you ask about.

Alepte: Welcome to this forum. There are a large diversity of people who come here and post in this forum. Some are traditional Seventh-day Adventists. Some have a SDA relationship, but, in some ways hold to minority views. And some are not Seventh-day Adventist in any manner. As an example we have a devout Roman Catholic who posts in this forum on a regular basis. In addition, Seventh-day Adventists are simply people who are on a spiritual journey. We are not all at the same place in that journey. This results in SDAs holding to a wide-variety of belief and practice. Yes, there may eb an official teaching on a doctrinal issue. But, that does not mean that all SDAs believe and accept it. On another aspect, there are doctrinal teachings that are important for spiritual life. Justification by faith is one. But, there are others that really are not important to one's salvation. Whether the Children of Israel spent 430 years in Egypt or 215 years is probably one question that is not important to salvation.

I Corinthians 15:29 BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD "Otherwise what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? The disciples were baptizing in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48, Acts 19:5, Romans 6:3, Gal 3:27). If HE was still dead - THAT would be baptizing for a man who was dead = baptizing for the dead. The argument Paul is making here is that Christ HAS RISEN from the dead. If HE has not risen then your faith is futile (verse 16-17). Baptism in His name would be useless. NOTE: Interesting that they were NOT baptizing in "the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." That came in with the Byzantine translation authorized by Constantine. There are two Greek manuscripts of Matthew that are older than the Byzantine, but the last page of Matthew is torn out of both of them. There is an Aramaic manuscript that is older than the Byzantine. Matthew 28:19 in THAT manuscript has Christ saying "baptizing them in my name." OK - come on - I know some of you have good answers to some difficult passages.

Hi BibleShockers, the passage is not difficult to understand when you keep it in context. Take it alone as you have posted and it can be confusing. Here a context verse. 1Co 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? Then after proving that Christ is raised from the dead he asks the reotrical question, Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? Co 15:29 The dead in this verse is referring to Christ. I'll reword it: If Christ has not been raised from the dead then why are we being baptized for a dead person? Then he goes on to explain the futility of living if Christ in not raised fro the dead. 1Co 15:30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die. It's really not too difficult to understand if we use truth as a foundation and match it with the plan of salvation. Norman