Sabbath approaches...
And I am feeling very introspective.
I love the Bible. I love its simplicity and its truth and how very, very easy it is to understand now that God has led me to a place where people teach the Bible, and the Bible alone. I believe I've said before that coming to the Adventist church from the kind of Christian I was before is like switching from a PC to a Mac. Suddenly everything is so plain, so simple, so uncluttered, that I have to ask myself why I didn't see through to it sooner.
Someone on Facebook believes that on May 21, 2011 the Christians will be raptured. She sent me to a very long-winded writeup about her beliefs, and I read through part of it and read some of it to Dan and we both were like... okay, first of all, the Bible clearly states that no man knows the day nor hour of Christ's return (at which time the Bible says the rapture will take place, in 1 Thess. 5). We have only the signs pointing to its approach to give us our indicators. So that's just straight-out unBiblical.
I haven't read through all of the writeup by any means. It looks so complicated and confusing and, to be honest, deceptive. I do want to go over it more because I feel I should at least know where she's coming from. I'm not going to just dismiss it without looking at it more.
But for me, I'll take simplicity. I'll take the Bible for just what it says, and no more, and only accept a doctrine if the entire Bible backs it up. The time prophecies in Daniel are not hard to understand at all... and they don't end in 2011. The "time of the end" began in 1844, according to the Scriptures. I agree with this girl 100% that time is almost up, but not for the same reason. We are in the final days of earth. It could all end in five years or five months. We don't know (although once the Sunday law is passed, I believe that's a pretty good indicator that Jesus will be showing up at any moment - and until it happens, He won't show up).
I've spent much of my life being told what to believe, and this is the first time I'm not Being Told. I was just shown what God says, left to decide for myself, and because I love God, I want to keep His commandments only, and not man's - and certainly not some strange, twisted doctrine that is not of God. Satan is very busy. He is trying to deceive people in these last days to believe almost-correct doctrines, and he's doing a good job of it. As Shawn Boonstra puts it, "If the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense or you'll wind up with nonsense."
Good article on The Abomination of Desolation
The husband is out on a run to get some Wal-Born (or the Rite-Aid equivalent thereto) before sundown, and I never did audio or washed the floor. I did finish the doll dresses, though.
He still has a cold, so we'll forego Bible study with the Richardses tonight and possibly church tomorrow. This will be okay if we have to do that because it will give me an opportunity to work more on my Satan study. That sounds really bad. We should know our adversary, though, right - and what we're up against?
I love the Bible. I love its simplicity and its truth and how very, very easy it is to understand now that God has led me to a place where people teach the Bible, and the Bible alone. I believe I've said before that coming to the Adventist church from the kind of Christian I was before is like switching from a PC to a Mac. Suddenly everything is so plain, so simple, so uncluttered, that I have to ask myself why I didn't see through to it sooner.
Someone on Facebook believes that on May 21, 2011 the Christians will be raptured. She sent me to a very long-winded writeup about her beliefs, and I read through part of it and read some of it to Dan and we both were like... okay, first of all, the Bible clearly states that no man knows the day nor hour of Christ's return (at which time the Bible says the rapture will take place, in 1 Thess. 5). We have only the signs pointing to its approach to give us our indicators. So that's just straight-out unBiblical.
I haven't read through all of the writeup by any means. It looks so complicated and confusing and, to be honest, deceptive. I do want to go over it more because I feel I should at least know where she's coming from. I'm not going to just dismiss it without looking at it more.
But for me, I'll take simplicity. I'll take the Bible for just what it says, and no more, and only accept a doctrine if the entire Bible backs it up. The time prophecies in Daniel are not hard to understand at all... and they don't end in 2011. The "time of the end" began in 1844, according to the Scriptures. I agree with this girl 100% that time is almost up, but not for the same reason. We are in the final days of earth. It could all end in five years or five months. We don't know (although once the Sunday law is passed, I believe that's a pretty good indicator that Jesus will be showing up at any moment - and until it happens, He won't show up).
I've spent much of my life being told what to believe, and this is the first time I'm not Being Told. I was just shown what God says, left to decide for myself, and because I love God, I want to keep His commandments only, and not man's - and certainly not some strange, twisted doctrine that is not of God. Satan is very busy. He is trying to deceive people in these last days to believe almost-correct doctrines, and he's doing a good job of it. As Shawn Boonstra puts it, "If the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense or you'll wind up with nonsense."
Good article on The Abomination of Desolation
The husband is out on a run to get some Wal-Born (or the Rite-Aid equivalent thereto) before sundown, and I never did audio or washed the floor. I did finish the doll dresses, though.
He still has a cold, so we'll forego Bible study with the Richardses tonight and possibly church tomorrow. This will be okay if we have to do that because it will give me an opportunity to work more on my Satan study. That sounds really bad. We should know our adversary, though, right - and what we're up against?