SDA Fundamentalism

[Gregory Matthews]

See:

https://atoday.org/our-turn-to-fundamentalism/

 

[Lone Ranger]

I applaud Reinder for speaking up!

I am not in the habit of quoting EGW, but she does say that "the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

SDA got into this position in the first placed because "good men" continuously "do nothing" at all levels of the church; local, conference, union, and division.

Ummm...which begs the question "Are there any good men...?"

[CoAspen]

Quote

.... but it does follow the same trail to confusion and pointless quips about "fundamentalism."

Maybe some examples from the article would be helpful as to why you make the remark. I am confused by yhour confusion!

[Gustave]

"The top leadership of the General Conference believes it cannot tolerate any deviation from what the world church has decided [defined]. After all, it is claimed, the General Conference is God’s special channel of divine guidance for this phase of world history, and therefore all units of the church must be compliant with what the highest authority in the church has voted. The unity of the church (understood in terms of absolute uniformity) must be maintained, and thus demands that measures be taken to ensure compliance with the policies and decisions of the church that issue from the GC. Most recently this has led the administrative committee of the world church to set up five committees that must evaluate whether or not leaders and administrative units of the church (conferences, unions, institutions) are in compliance with official church doctrine and church policies. It is interesting to note that each of these five committees (which consist of people with conservative views, who all work at the denominational headquarters in Silver Spring) must address specific areas of concern: (1) The “core policies” of the church. This description, of cause, begs the questions where the line is to be drawn between “core” policies and policies of lesser importance. (2) Creation and matters of origin. (3) Homosexuality. (4) The “distinctive beliefs” of the church. This description also could cause intense debate: Which of our beliefs are “distinctive” and which beliefs are not in that category and are exempt from the scrutiny of this committee? (5) Ordination".

Interesting, that looks like a Magisterium to me. 

[Gregory Matthews]

Of course it looks like a Magisterium, because it is acting like a Magisterium.

NOTE:  To others reading this, other than Gustave,  to support the idea that the above reminds one of the Magisterium, reference to the following Canon Laws of the Roman Catholic Church will be helpful:

Canon Laws:  750, 751 752, 753, 754 and 755.

It should also be noted that the College of Bishops, is the Roman Catholic group that can exercise the Magisterium.   One might easily be able to find in the SDA denomination something similar to the College of Bishops.

NOTE:  I am aware that some Catholics prefer that their church not be described as the Roman Catholic Church.  I do not mean to offend by constantly using that term.  It is probably a Protestant term that is commonly understood by Protestants to indicate the denomination headed by the Bishop of Rome.

 

NOTE:  Reinder  Bruinsma is a well known, clergyperson,  SDA scholar, academic, and administrator who lives in the Netherlands and commonly writes in English.

 

 

 

[JoeMo]

I kinda enjoyed the article.  I thought it was well-written and balanced.  While I don't agree with it entirely, I agree with much of it.

[Gregory Matthews]

From the article by Reindeer Bruinsma:

 

And in formal meetings about the key issues that supposedly have led to the non-compliance that needs to be addressed by disciplinary measures, prayer at times appears to be used in a manipulative way. Prayer, it seems, must help to convince those who are non-compliant that they are on the wrong path. A church that sincerely believes that God guides the church through his Spirit must let itself be surprised as to where the Spirit leads and not tell the Spirit what the outcome of a process should be.