I’m studying bible with a friend but my friend is adventist. Please send
me the real message about the “sabbath” and the day to worship God,
because my friend is convicted that the day is sunday.what can i do?

Answer:

My advice is that you avoid a big debate over the Sunday issue. Bottom
line, the day we worship God is not a salvation issue. It is definitely
worth discussing. In the end, I believe that there is a big danger in
what the Adventists do in trying to bring Old Testament lawkeeping into
Christianity. However, the day of worship issue is a relatively minor
part of this.

I think it is your job to be aware of the teaching of the Seventh Day
Adventist teachings and to be prepared to teach correct doctrine.
However, I suggest pointing your friend toward Jesus and toward the true
church and toward the loving relationships in your church and toward
correct teaching rather than debating Sunday worship.

Having said that, let me deal with your question. The Seventh Day
Adventist movement believes that Ellen G. White is a modern-day prophet.
Her teachings are taken as gospel truth. Let me say one thing, Ellen G.
White is not a prophet of God and her word is not inspired revelation!!!
You may want to do some research into this woman and her teaching.

Let me get to the false theology of this movement. Ellen G. White tried
to drag a significant part of the Law of Moses into Christianity. This is
not a legitimate thing to do. This is what was opposed by Paul in the
books of Galatians and Colossians. Adventists want to drag in some of the
dietary prohibitions of the Old Testament as well as Sabbath observation.
This sort of law-keeping for salvation is very strongly opposed by
Paul. To quote Paul, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if
righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.”
Galatians 1:8-9 are some pretty strong words, but they apply to the
law-keeping of the Ellen G. White movement. As for the Sabbath,
Colossians is very strong and quite specific. We are no longer subject to
the Sabbath. Colossians 2:13-15 makes it clear that we are not subject to
the Law, including the Sabbath. Colossians 2:16 specifically says we
should not judge anyone with regard to a Sabbath day. If someone wants to
observe a Sabbath, fine, but that is a personal thing. If they try to
enforce it, they are strongly condemned by Paul.

Now your SDA friend will try to defend the sabbath. He or she will point
out that God told Abraham that the Sabbath law applies forever. This is
true, but you must understand the language. The entire Law of Moses was
“forever,” yet Jesus specifically declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19)
SDA’s do not accept the teaching of Jesus in Mark 7:19. The Hebrew word
forever does not have the same meaning as our English word forever. It
means for all time until that particular period or age is ended. This is
how we understand the Jewish laws of blood sacrifice. They were for
“forever,” which means they were in force until something greater came
in. That greater thing has arrived. It is the law of Christ. Hebrews
chapters 7-10 makes it very clear that the OT laws have been superceded by
the work of Christ. This includes the laws about animal sacrifice, foods,
New Moons, the Sabbath and all the other parts of the covenant at Sinai.

Your SDA friend will point out that not all the Mosaic law has passed
away. It is true that some of the laws of the OT are still in force. This
is true because Jesus said that they still apply. It is still a sin to
covet your neighbor’s wife. It is still wrong to murder and to bear false
witness. The fact that these things are still wrong does not prove that
we must obey the Sabbath. This is false reasoning.

One more thing. It is an indisputable fact that the Christian church has,
from the very beginning, had their special day of worship on Sunday. They
called it the eighth day. They called it the Lord’s day (Revelation
1:10). If Ellen G. White is right then the apostles and all the early
church leaders were wrong. Who should we believe? The answer is simple.

I hope this gets you started. You ought to do your own research. It is
not hard. Be prepared to answer (1 Peter 3:15,16), but do not get into
useless arguments. Bottom line a Christian can worship on Saturday
instead of Sunday and still go to heaven. It is more important to get to
the underlying false theology of the SDA movement than to argue about the
day of worship.

John Oakes