As we look at a new year, I have come to the conclusion that it
would do us well to look back at what we consider the pillars of
our church.  Most are familiar with what those are:  The
Sabbath, the Sanctuary, the State of the Dead, the Second
Coming.  These we are quite familiar with, as they are the basic
doctrines that make us stand out from virtually every other
Christian group.  

Ellen White wrote about this:  

The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events,
opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary
transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God's
people upon the earth, [also] the first and second angels'
messages and the third, unfurling the banner on which was
inscribed, "The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." One
of the landmarks under this message was the temple of God, seen
by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the ark containing the
law of God. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment
flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of
God's law. The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark.
I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of
the old landmarks. All this cry about changing the old landmarks
is all imaginary.  {CW 30.2}

However, our faith does not stand on these doctrines only.  What
our Adventist ancestors did discover did not rule out a large
amount of truth that had gone before.  They did not so much seek
to become separate from the truths that had been understood
before, as they desired to build on the foundation that had
already been laid.  These truths was well-known in some cases,
and others had been forgotten with time.   

As a matter of fact, some of these very foundational doctrines
were not rediscovered until some time after the first doctrines
were hammered out using the Word of God.

There was not agreement among early SDA's about the nature of
Christ, the Trinity, when Sabbath started, some areas of
prophecy, and perhaps most noticeable, the understanding of
Christ's righteousness and it's place in the whole scheme of
Christian belief.

And as strange as it may seem to some of you, even at the last
General Conference session, there was still ongoing work on
understanding and stating our beliefs as to keep pace with the
needs of the world church.  

Again, Ellen White wrote:

 Investigation of Doctrine.--There is no excuse for anyone in
taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed,
and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error.
The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many
years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are
infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can
afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close
investigation.  {CW 35.2} 

In this short paragraph, I see two things:  First it is implied
that we need to continually be seeking for a greater knowledge
of God and His Word.  Second, we need to be sure that we
understand what God is trying to tell us in His Word.  Not what
we want to hear.  Not what we would like to hear.  But what God
through His Spirit wants us to hear.  We need to continually
refreshing in our minds what we believe, and why, and be open to
anything new that the Spirit of God would teach us.

As we look at the Word of God for more understanding, we need to
be certain of the foundation that we rest our faith on.

1 Corinthians 3:11...  Paul writes:   For no other foundation
can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

That is the most important statement that can be made today.  If
the foundation is cracked, the building will shift and
eventually come to ruin.  When we keep referring back to the
foundation, remembering what we are building on, then the
building will be stronger and longer lasting.

Now as we look at the fundamentals of our faith, I like to see
it in two parts.  First is the fundamentals of Christianity.  As
Seventh-day Adventists, we must first be Christians.  If we are
not, we deny the whole basis of our being.  

The fundamentals of Christianity are not unimportant.  Since we
as Adventists often struggle with people over our understandings
of faith that go beyond Christian fundamentals, we tend not to
give those basics the importance due to them.  And there are
others besides Seventh-day Adventists who teach the basics of
Christianity.  Those who practice the fundamentals of
Christianity are brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are to
relate to them as we do to our brothers and sisters in our
fellowship.

And the basic fundamentals of Christianity teach us that all of
our value and worth are found in Jesus Christ, no matter what
denomination that we belong to.

Secondly, we have the fundamental beliefs that we hold as
Seventh-day Adventists.  These beliefs do not make us have any
more salvation than those who have not yet accepted them.  They
do, however, prepare us for two things.  First, they teach us
more about God's word and how He would have us to live in the
last moments of time.  Secondly, they help us explain to our
acquaintances and friends what is going on around them, and how
Jesus has prepared a way of escape from the kingdom of darkness,
and eventually this world of evil.   

Our special beliefs are another step in the process of
restoration that God desires to complete in this world.

Why is this needed?

In 1888 Ellen White wrote:               

Already the doctrine that men are released from obedience to
God's requirements has weakened the force of moral obligation
and opened the floodgates of iniquity upon the world.
Lawlessness, dissipation, and corruption are sweeping in upon us
like an overwhelming tide. In the family, Satan is at work. His
banner waves, even in professedly Christian households. There is
envy, evil surmising, hypocrisy, estrangement, emulation,
strife, betrayal of sacred trusts, indulgence of lust. The whole
system of religious principles and doctrines, which should form
the foundation and framework of social life, seems to be a
tottering mass, ready to fall to ruin.--GC 585 (1888).  {2MCP
625.2}



Now let me ask  you.  If this were so in 1888, do you think that
it still applies today?

Rhetorical question, right?

What I am doing today is an introduction to where I want to go
for the next few months.  I first want to examine the doctrines
that are basic to the very understanding of Christianity.  We
need to know these like the back of our hands.

Then I will continue with the fundamental beliefs, the pillars
of the faith, in our fellowship.  After the fundamentals of our
faith, I will go on to explore the light that we have been given
in faith and lifestyle, that unfortunately, we have tended to
neglect. 

Now, I want us to spend a little time stretching our brains.  

I want you to spend a minute or two thinking about what the very
most basic beliefs of Christianity are, and we will then make a
list of them up here on the board.

(Some possible answers)

Christ Crucified

Creation

Atonement

Conversion

Baptism

Forgiveness

Sacredness of Scriptures

Justification

Sanctification

Trinity

Heaven

Substitution

Spiritual gifts

Communion

Tithes/Offerings



Now what about Fundamental Seventh-day Adventist beliefs that go
beyond these?

(Some possible answers)

Sanctuary

Second Coming

Non-immortality of the Soul

Law of God

Sabbath

Millennium

Tithe (change of emphasis)

Healthy Lifestyle (mental, physical, spiritual)

3 Angel's Messages

Babylon (fallen churches)

Non-eternal Hell fire

Creation (stronger emphasis)



As I look at these lists, a thought comes to my mind.  More and
more, basic Christianity is moving away from a real belief in
many of the doctrines that we have in the first list.  More and
more it will become our duty to uphold all of these to a world
that is losing it's grip on an understanding of God. 

Also, as we go through these studies, I believe that you will
find that they are inseparable from each other.  Each belief
tells us something about the next, and the next, and the next.  

Just briefly:  Creation is tied to Sabbath is tied to the Law of
God which is tied to atonement, (because we need saving) which
is tied to the cricifixion (our need) which is tied to the need
for conversion, which is tied to baptism, which is tied to which
is tied to  forgiveness, which is tied to the sacredness of
Scripture, because if the Word is incorrect, the rest has not
much meaning.

Truly, paraphrasing the song, "The circle cannot be broken." 
Truth adds to truth.  Precept upon precept.  Stone upon stone. 
A correct understanding of one thing makes the next clearer. 

On the other hand a misunderstanding of one can lead to
conclusions that are not biblically sound.

For example if you believe in an eternally burning hell fire for
the wicked, then Jesus was not totally truthful when He said
that only the righteous have eternal life.  

If you teach that God did not in fact create the world, then you
have trouble with God being a redeemer of fallen people.  In
that case the crucifixion was a cherade.  If we just happened
then there is no right or wrong. Evolutionists are right in that
case.  If there were no 7 day creation week, then Sabbath is an
invention without any real purpose, as it was to commemorate
creation.  

Here's another one.  If you believe that you are born guilty of
sin, and if you die before you are baptized you go to hell, then
infant baptism becomes necessary so that no infant suffers
eternal fire.  Also if you believe that babies are born guilty,
then you have a problem with Baby Jesus, who was born sinless. 
So that Jesus would not suffer a taint of sin, then you need to
teach that His mother was sinless through intervention of the
Holy Spirit.

Every belief has implications.  For you.  For your life.  

As we go through these next few months, I hope and pray that
with me you will dig into your Bibles, and let us make these
truths fresh in our hearts.  Let us make them real for ourselves.

Are you willing to take this journey with me?