It concerns me that many Adventists (Former and Current) attempt to define the Seventh-day Adventist church in narrow terms. I recently heard a pastor say the only unique doctrine of Adventism is the soon return of Jesus. Many former Adventists will tell you the only unique doctrine of Adventism is the investigative judgment. From my perspective, it is the complete Adventist theological package that is unique among the other protestant Christians.
I used to think the only real differences between Adventists and other protestants was we kept the Saturday sabbath and believed in the visible and imminent return of Jesus. But many decades later I see Adventism goes much deeper than the sabbath and soon return of Jesus.
For one, SDA are not Calvinists who believe God has predestined people to heaven and hell. We believe all people have a real choice to make between worshipping the true God or serving a God of false religon.
Another major difference is many protestant Christians believe in eternal hell fire for the wicked. The SDA view of death allows us to see a future where there is no sin, suffering, or death in the entire universe.
The Adventist view of prophecy is different in that we are post-tribulationists who believe the second coming happens after the church goes through global tribulation. Many other protestant groups teach a secret rapture where the church is taken out of the world prior to the final tribulation.
These are only a few examples of how the complete Adventist theological package is unique and the individual doctrines are weaved together like a rope and not a chain. If one or two strands of a rope break the rope will still hold, while if one link of a chain breaks then the chain is useless.
As an SDA, I share much in common with other Christians like the full deity of Jesus, the full atonement at the cross, and righteousness by faith alone. But even when I preach about what we have in common, I am filtering through my Adventist worldview.
Even my view of the Gospel is unique in that it comes out from the unique background of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the God of love who does not torture the wicked for eternity, and my view that all Christians need to prepare for a coming world tribulation.
Seventh-day Adventists are not the only one who believe in the soon return of Jesus. We are not the only ones who believe in keeping a seventh-day Sabbath. Thank goodness our uniqueness goes much deeper than our controversial view of the investigative judgment beginning in 1844.
It is the total package of Adventism that is unique and a brilliant example of how the entire whole of our church is greater than the sum of its parts.
True, there is no Seventh-day Adventism without the Saturday Sabbath or the soon return of Jesus. But there are some of our doctrines that can afford to be updated and revised without doing major damage to our world view as a unique group of protestant Christians.
If we as Adventists want to remain true to our prophetic identity then let us hold fast to the main tenants of our protestant heritage. Our main focus must be to show how every point of our Adventist doctrine points us to the truth about Jesus and what He accomplished for us at the cross of Calvary.
Stephen Beagles
(April 4, 2025)