Over the past 2 years (since that summer in 2008), God has truly worked in my life. I'm convinced that I'm not the only Adventist out there who grew up in the system, believes the truth we were taught (check back later because I just began a small group Bible study on this topic that I'll be sharing), are very comfortable in their church and life, BUT aren't really convicted the way we need to be for the times in which we live. I call this the "comfortable Christian" syndrome.
I had no reason to think that I had a real problem in my Christian life. I knew the Sabbath truth and I honored it, I knew Christ is coming soon and I was looking forward to it. I was fairly active in my church in that I enjoyed giving vesper programs and helping out here and there. However, you wouldn't see me out going door-to-door or giving Bible studies. I used to have a corporate job and never felt compelled to share my beliefs with my non-SDA friends, you know I didn't want to push my beliefs on them. Does this sound familiar in your own life? Well, then one day I really listened to God's voice as He reminded me that Jesus gave His life for me (ok, I knew that and I accepted Christ as my savior so nothing new here) AND Jesus gave us a homework assignment. I always liked school and still take classes for fun here and have always been a good student except I was failing this class miserably. I hadn't even cracked the textbook open for this class.
Being a good Christian, being a good Adventist isn't enough. It doesn't matter if I know about the Sabbath, who the anti-christ really is, that a secret rapture is not taught in the Bible, or that we don't go to heaven when we die. What matters is that I have been convicted of it for myself, not just that someone else taught it to me, even if they taught it straight from the Bible. I NEED TO STUDY IT FOR MYSELF AND BE CONVICTED OF IT.
And this is why I'm blogging. I know I'm not the only SDA out there sitting comfortably in church every Sabbath and not questioning that I'm in the church that preaches Biblical truth, who hasn't been truly convicted of how important it is to dig in, and I mean really dig in, to the Bible yourself.
When my dad asked me, "how do you not know about Medio Persia", I didn't have an answer. About a month later, I was talking to him (now having an answer to his question) and I explained that when you grow up SDA you learn this stuff at a young age but that is very different than learning it as an adult, with an adult's understanding. He had been raised SDA but left the church and studied himself back into the church, as an adult. If you weren't raised SDA and you go to a prophecy seminar and learn this truth as an adult, you are blessed if you accept it. However, as a life-long SDA, you probably never sat in on a full prophecy seminar and listened as if you didn't know any of it with an openness to new truth. We never cover this in-depth in our quarterly Sabbath School lessons. Thus, here I am sharing with you because you found my blog. I believe God has asked me to share my journey because I was lucky enough to have a dad that I wasn't embarrassed to admit to that I didn't know this stuff the way I should. Maybe you don't have someone it's ok to admit this to. I am also a person who loves to study and learn so I've been studying my Bible a lot I want to share it with others.
I just began meeting with a small group of life-long Adventists and a few other Adventists in my church and I am calling this my "Trusting The Truth We Were Taught" series. As we go through it, I will follow-up with posting it here on my blog. This study approaches backwards from a normal Bible study. A study is usually structured to bring a person to accept the truth of the Scriptures. This one is designed for those who already accept the truth, but have never dug it out for themselves as an adult. The goal is for us to "have a ready answer" (1 Peter 3:15) and to become a constant witness to those we encounter so that we prepare ourselves for the soon coming and to finish our homework.
May God bless you as He has me.
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