The Adventist Crisis of Spiritual Identity

Doctrinal confusion in Seventh-day Adventism.

There are many troubled hearts in Adventism today, not only in the lay community but in the ministerial and administrative sectors as well. Almost everybody knows that all is not well with the Church and in a sense that is different from the problems of preceding years. Long cherished beliefs and traditions are being challenged as never before--and this time from within not without. Most of us have friends who have left or are leaving the community.

As one more involved perhaps than most I have attempted a sympathetic appraisal of the Adventist dilemma -- its crisis of spiritual identity. I write as a Seventh-day Adventist, a conservative indeed, though not traditional in many respects. At this very moment of writing some in high places seek to have my ordination annulled and the church membership of my wife and myself removed. Others in similarly high places think this would be a mistake. But this book is no sop to those who differ with me for personal or official reasons, but a prayerful attempt to suggest truth that is healing. Believing wholeheartedly that God was behind the Advent movement of the nineteenth century and that He has committed to Seventh-day Adventists not only significant but vital truths (though not infallibility) I have endeavored to honestly face certain of our doctrinal and administrative problems (acknowledged by most of our scholars and some of our church leaders) while simultaneously stressing the "plusses" in our denominational configuration. For those who believe "the everlasting gospel" of Rev 14:6 to be the heart of Adventism the best is yet to be for God is with us. No movement that refuses to make the Cross the center of all faith and practice can hope to survive.