The church is not obligated to legally or publicly defend any sort of conviction or practice on the part of its members, merely because it is claimed that such convictions or practices are based on the conscience.  Only those conscientious choices, convictions, or practices sustained by the written counsel of God (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11) merit the public endorsement of the church and the commitment of church resources so far as the legal defense and protection of members’ conduct is concerned. 

A recent article on a leading liberal Adventist website makes the thoughtful reader wonder whether those so long inclined to criticize Ellen White’s eschatological worldview might soon be persuaded that her predictions are quite credible after all.

A new and growing urban legend in contemporary Adventism is the claim that the doctrinal authority of the Ellen G. White writings was not accepted by Ellen White herself while she lived, but was instead fabricated after her death by so-called “fundamentalists” in the church.  Is this correct?

Students can’t be blamed for protesting the enforcement of Biblical standards if they haven’t been led to recognize and understand the role these standards play in the Biblical worldview and in God’s eternal purpose for His church and for humanity.

Do the inspired writings uphold this distinction?

“The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out, the chaff separated from the precious wheat” (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 380).

Has this statement been taken out of context by those who believe it promises the eventual triumph of corporate Adventism through the shaking out of its apostate majority?

When one listens to theological discussions in Adventism today, online and otherwise, the use of the fundamentalist label is clearly not designed to win the respect of those to whom it is applied. 

Those who proclaim God’s last message for mankind, who seek first and foremost to be among that company who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12), need to be especially careful in vetting what they hear about both the church and the outside world. 

According to both Scripture and the writings of Ellen White, the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven and the cleansing of the soul temple on earth are clearly and irrevocably dependent on one another.