Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 130.94.162.133 (talk) at 02:57, 21 November 2002 (hopefully helpful expansion). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an evangelical Protestant Christian denomination that grew out of the prophetic Millerite movement in the United States during the middle part of the 19th century. Originally named the Church of God, according to historians of the movement, this group originally gained its more recent name from the teaching that the expected return of Jesus Christ in 1844 was fulfilled. Prophetess Ellen G. White received a vision that Jesus had entered into an investigative judgment of the world: a long process through which the world will be made safe thereafter against sin by clear proof of enduring principles of righteousness, and only after which would Jesus return to earth. This completion of the return of Christ may occur very soon, according to the church's teaching.

In addition to traditional Trinitarian Protestant theology, Seventh-day Adventists place particular emphasis on the seventh day (Saturday) as a Sabbath day of rest. Like their Millerite forebears, Seventh-day Adventists believe that the second advent (second coming) of Jesus Christ is imminent. The church is also known for the following:

• Founder, prophetess, and prolific author Ellen G. White
• Health message including vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine
• Belief in a literal six day creation culminating in a seventh-day of rest

While Adventist theology remains quite similar to its 19th century Protestant roots, one notable exception is the belief that death is a sleep during which the "dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). This doctrine hangs upon the notion that the body and the soul perish together at death and are resurrected as one at the second coming of Jesus.

See also:

• http://www.adventist.org/