Why I Am A Baptist And Not
A Seventh Day Adventist
By The Late D. B. Estep
"... Be ready ... to give ... every man ... a reason ... of the
hope that is in you ..." - (I Peter
It is out of the Bible I will give five reasons why I am a Baptist and not a
Seventh Day Adventist:
1. Because I have not found
in the New Testament one single sentence where God ever commanded a Gentile to
keep the law - not one. I am a Gentile and the church is a Gentile church. When
a Jew is saved the "middle wall of partition is broken down," and he
is NOT commanded to keep the law (Eph.
2. Because the Word of God
teaches me that I am NOT saved by keeping the law - and the keeping of
the Sabbath is keeping the law. In Romans 3:20-28 we read:
"Therefore by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is
manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets ... being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: . therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the
law"; and "For by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified" (Gal. 2:16).; and "Wherefore the law was our school-master
to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith ... for we are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal.3:14-16).
3. Because I do not believe
what they teach that Catholics were the first to observe Sunday as a day of
worship.
The Catholic church did not
begin until the fifth century after Christ. Anyone who knows history knows that
this is so.
Baptists are not
Protestants - we did not come out of the Catholic Church - the Catholic Church
came out of US.
Baptists of today are not all they ought to be. Some of them are so far from
the truth that they will never get back; but the Baptist churches were the
first churches of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It has not always been
known by the name "Baptist," but the early Christians believed just
what we believe, that all men are saved by faith, that no group or organization
within or without it has any jurisdiction over it. That was the New Testament
Church.
Now, who did start the
observance of the first day of the week as the day of worship? "Now upon
the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, very early in the morning, they came
unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain
others with them" (Luke 24: 1).
It is rather interesting
that the Lord Jesus arose on the first day of the week. The devil is shrewd. He
would be happy if he could get God's people to abolish the Lord's day as a day
of worship ... it would be a tremendous victory for him. If I worship on
Saturday, so far as I am concerned, I might as well worship Christ on the
crucifix. The risen Lord appeared to the disciples on the first day of the
week. Why did He not appear on the Sabbath "The same day at evening, being
the first day of the week ... came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto
them, Peace be unto you" (John 20:19).
The early disciples of the
risen Lord worshiped Him on the first day of the week, and you will search the
New Testament in vain for one instance where the New Testament Christians
worshiped on the old Jewish Sabbath.
And there is another
interesting fact. The early Christians gathered together their offerings on the
first day of the week.
"Upon the first day of
the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him,
that there be no gatherings when I come" (I Cor. 16:2).
Why not on the seventh day?
Adventists say that when we worship on Sunday we are worshiping on a heathen
day because Sunday means "the day of the sun." Every one of the days
of the week are named after a heathen deity:
Sunday means "The Day of the
Sun";
Monday means "Day Sacred to the
Moon";
Tuesday means "Day of Mars";
Wednesday means "Woden's Day";
Thursday is named for Thor, the "God of
Thunder";
Friday means "day of Sacred
Frigg";
Saturday means "Saturn's Day"; this
is the Jewish Sabbath.
4. Because of the difficulty of harmonizing some of the
practices and teachings of the Seventh Day Adventists, I will give you a few of
them:
If Christians are required to keep the seventh day, or the
Sabbath:
(1) Why do Adventists depart from their dwellings on that
day?
"For the Lord hath given you the Sabbath. abide ye
every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day"
(Ex.
If the Adventists are going to be consistent, the only thing
for them to do is stay at home on the Sabbath. That is what the Word of God
commands. They do not do that.
(2) If the Adventists keep the Sabbath, the seventh day, why
do they not keep them all - the seventh year, the year of jubilee? (Lev.
25:1-22).
(3) If Christians were to keep the law, they would have to live in warm climates.
"Ye shall kindle no fire through your habitations upon the Sabbath
day" (Ex. 35:3).
(4) If Christians are to keep the seventh day, then who is
to put to death all who fail to do so?
"And while the children of
The law doesn't mean a thing if you do away with the
penalty.
(5) If God required the keeping of the law to be saved, then
why did He not require the young rich ruler to keep the Sabbath? (Matt.
19:16-20). Jesus did not tell the rich young ruler to keep the law.
(6) If you are going back and take up the law of the
Sabbath, then what about circumcision? Why do the Seventh Day Adventists not
observe the law of circumcision? (Read Gen. 17:1-14).
(7) If the early Christians observed the Sabbath, why did
they "break bread on the first day of the week?" (Acts 20:7). They
gathered on the first day of the week to worship God in recognition of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
(8) If Christians are to keep the Sabbath then why did not
the New Testament writers command it? They commanded just the opposite.
"Let no man judge you therefore in meat, or drink, or
in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of Sabbath days, which are a
shadow of things to come" (Col. 2:14ff).
The law of the Lord is the law of the New Testament.
(9) Why should anyone insist on observing the sabbath, when
God said that
"And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her feast
days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and her solemn vows" (Hosea
5. Because, to me, the first day of the week has a greater
significance for this gospel age than the seventh. Not one time does God ever
command a believer to observe Saturday.
... Sunday is our day of worship, and there is a reason.
Keeping the Sabbath won't save you. Baptism won't save you. Good works won't
save you. Joining a church won't save you. The Lord Jesus Christ, and He alone,
is the Savior of every sinner. There is no other way. Hell is filled with
people who have joined the church and tried to keep the law, but have spurned
the Lord Jesus and His cleansing blood (Eph.2:8-9).
Seventh Day Adventists deny the resurrection by observing
the Sabbath. We come to church on Sunday, the Lord's Day, to worship Him who
"died for our sins, and rose again for our justification." We worship
a living Savior, and with thanksgiving, can sing:
"He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!"
If I worship Christ on Saturday I deny that His work is
finished, that He is a resurrected, living Savior. --(Copied from the