Best products from r/adventism

We found 13 comments on r/adventism discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 12 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

Top comments mentioning products on r/adventism:

u/Draxonn · 6 pointsr/adventism

Hi. Thanks for your questions. I'm a lifelong Adventist, but I've spent some time studying through these things, so I'll give you my best answers. However, I second watching Tell the World. It is surprisingly good and tells the story of how Adventism started very well, including Ellen White's role. It should help you understand a little better. Now for your questions (and I apologize for the wall of text):

  1. I consider Ellen White to be a prophet, and her insights contributed greatly to the establishment of Seventh-day Adventism. However, I think one must ask what is meant by "prophet." Some people understand "prophet" as one who writes down the dictated words of God. Ellen White was not that. She drew heavily upon other authors to form her expressions and her work was edited as well. Uriah Smith, who formulated much of the Adventist understanding of prophecy had a difficult shift from the first understanding when Ellen White asked him to edit The Great Controversy for historical accuracy. Regarding her emphasis on health, as I understand it, God told her it was important, but she did much of the research for herself. Additionally, she referred to herself as a "lesser light pointing to the greater light" (the Bible). Although she had visions and received messages from God, she was clear that her writings were not to be used to settle doctrinal disputes. Only the Bible should do that.

    Understanding how Ellen White was "inspired" has helped Adventists understand how the Bible was inspired. God did not simply speak for men to record his words (except on rare occasion). Rather, he spoke to men who then expressed his ideas as best they could--in their distinct styles and contexts. Adventists do not believe in verbal inspiration, but rather thought inspiration (God gave the ideas, not the specific words of Scripture) in part because of what was seen in Ellen White's ministry.

    For myself, I have found Ellen White's writings to be a great help to my own understanding of God and his love. I highly recommend Steps to Christ, and the Conflict of the Ages series. To me, that is the real question--what difference does her work make in my life?

  2. Adventists in no way deny the divinity of Christ. He is not an angel, he is God. "Michael the Archangel" is understood as simply another name for him, recognizing him as leader of the angels.

  3. This is a topic I recommend studying further. This article gives an excellent explanation of how the Investigative Judgement makes sense of the gospel, in the context of various understandings of salvation. Regarding the timelines, that will require further study. Any pastor would be happy to go through it with you. W. A. Spicer's Our Day in Light of Prophecy, while a bit dated (and thus free online), gives an excellent explanation of all this. Marvin Moore's The Case for the Investigative Judgement is a far newer study of the topic which I quite enjoyed.

    Regarding the IJ, it is important to Adventism in terms of our picture of God as acting in history and having a plan laid out to establish his goodness to all who have questions. Details and dates are secondary to this fundamental idea--that God's goodness is in question and will be demonstrated before the entire universe through his interactions with humanity.
u/dorseyf94 · 8 pointsr/adventism

Reading this makes my heart happy. I'm absolutely sure that Heaven will be full of people like you, who were wooed to God's quiet calling.

One book that I can highly recommend for a more clear and concise view of Adventist beliefs can be found here: SDA Believe Book. I am not someone who was raised as an Adventist, but the reason I am one today is because they follow most closely what the Bible actually says and, because of this, a true, logical, and beautiful picture of the character of God is painted.

I know you want to go more lightly on Ellen White but I can't help but recommend "The Desire of Ages". It's a powerful glimpse into the awesome story of redemption, and presents a staggering view of Christ's great love for humanity.

The next book I want to recommend is a theodicy written by one of my favorite pastors. It's called "God in Pain" by David Asscherick.

I hope you're able to check out these resources. Blessings to you. I'll be praying for God's continued leading in you and your family's walk with Him.

u/Mstormer · 2 pointsr/adventism

While this may sound great on the surface and while much of what Maxwell and Jennings say have some validity to things, an overly reductionistic approach ultimately deprives justice of the legal/rights dimension. So much so that they inadvertently call the Bible into question when judgment comes into play. This is because judgement-focused passages in scripture undergo forced reinterpretation to fit the reduced framework. From a systematic theology perspective, this can do harm to a traditional understanding of the Sanctuary message, along with all other instances of judgment in the Old and New Testaments.

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It is totally true that salvation is entirely through Christ and trusting in Him. As we behold Him and His love, we change. I.e. 2 Cor. 5:14; 3:18; Eph. 2:8-9; Jn. 3:16; etc.

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It is also true that God is working through a legal process in the Great Controversy. I.e. 2 Cor. 5:8-10; Rom. 14:10, 2:6ff; 12:16-19 (cf. Heb. 10:30); Acts 23:2-3; Luke 12:45-48; Matt. 7:1-2; 12:36-42; 16:27; Rev. 22:12; Etc.

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Dr. John Peckham at Andrews Theological Seminary has an absolutely superb book related to this topic, entitled Theodicy of Love. The first couple chapters are a bit slow, but the rest of it is incredible, and probably the best explanation we have in Adventism for the Great Controversy and suffering from the perspective of love. His earlier book, The Love of God is also one of the deepest explanations of God's love that I've read. I've taken every course I could from him at AU.

u/voicesinmyhand · 1 pointr/adventism

>Is it OK to read the Apocrypha books in the Bible?

Why wouldn't a book be OK to read? You can read the DM manual to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons if you like, and if you want to vomit you could always read Freak Legion. Reading isn't much different from allowing yourself to hear what someone has to say, and we would hardly feel good about saying "Yo! Plug your ears, someone is saying something controversial today!"

>What is the difference between the Apocrypha and Gnostic books?

Maccabees covers a historic period that Kings and Chronicles simply miss. Tobit describes... well it describes something weird. The three additional chapters of Daniel give us some good stories for gaining wisdom and fairness. You get the idea.

u/SquareHimself · 2 pointsr/adventism

Ranko Stefanovich has a couple books on Revelation:

https://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Jesus-Christ-Commentary-Book/dp/1883925673

https://www.amazon.com/Plain-Revelation-Ranko-Stefanovic/dp/188392586X

The first one is a verse by verse commentary, and the second, called "Plain Revelation," is probably exactly what you're looking for!