Bible Question: Please tell me, is Seventh Day Adventism a sect or a cult. |
Bible Answer: Your choice of scripture leaves one wondering how it relates to SDA? SDA believes that when people died their souls go to sleep and that they do not go to heaven until the rapture. This belief cannot make or break your salvation it is just not based on the totatlity of what scripture teaches about death for the believer. They take this belief from I Timothy 4:14 where it says that God will bring with Him those that have fallen asleep in Jesus. But sleep often refers to death in the New Testament and this scripture simply means whoever died in Christ will have their dead body raised in the rapture (see verses 15,16 to get the proper context). They also believe that a person gets to heaven after being saved by living a life of good works and that a profession of believing in Christ is not enough to get into heaven. They base this beleif on James 2:18-20 where it says I will show you my faith by my works and that faith without works is useless. They aslo base this belief in keeping all the Old Testament Law in disregard of all of Romans where it teaches that the law cannot get you into heaven. They are law keepers and do not believe in salvation by faith alone, by grace alone. They believe in salvation by believing in Jesus and convenant keeping and for this reason they keep the Sabbath, which is Saturday. This is because the 10 Commandments say to keep the Sabbath Holy to the Lord as a perpetual statute. They believe that if you don't keep the Sabbath, but instead worship God on Sunday, you have the mark of the beast, but they have no scripture for this, they just believe it. Seventh Day Adventist therefor qualifies as a cult rather than as a sect of Christianity. |