Reinder Bruinsma

We are often told: “You, Seventh-day Adventists, are different from other Christians! You are rather peculiar!” Indeed, many Adventist church members like to cite 1 Peter 5:9 in the King James Version and pride themselves that they are a “peculiar” people. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world many have never heard of Seventh-day Adventists or, if they know of their existence, have a rather negative view of them. In fact, Adventists are often better known for what they don’t do—smoking, drinking alcohol, eating pork—than for what they do!

I must admit that, growing up, I was often quite uneasy about my Adventist background. It was unpleasant to be “different.” This negative feeling did gradually fade away, but I must admit that I still find some of my fellow-believers rather “peculiar” and in the not so positive sense of the word. In this short article I want to highlight a few important aspects of Adventism that in the past have made us different. I will suggest how these features, in fact, have the potential to make us more “peculiar” in a positive way.

1. Adventists have almost everywhere constituted a small minority.

We were the only Adventist family in the village where we lived, some 25 miles north of Amsterdam. The less than 3,000 Dutch Adventists were seen as a small American sect among the different Calvinistic denominations. Undoubtedly, many fellow-Adventists of my generation have similar memories of what being an Adventist was like “when we were young.” Today, Adventists are still a small minority in most places. Worldwide, there is only one Adventist for every 358 persons. In the USA we find one Adventist for every 305 people, and in Europe the ratio is as low as 1:2,049.

But there is another side to the coin. Today, in 2024, we are a minority of over 22 million people. This means that there are now almost as many Adventists as, for instance, there are Sikhs in the world, and the Sikh religion is regarded as the fifth largest world religion! There are more Adventists than Jewish believers, who worldwide number just under 16 million.

We may be a minority, but we are far more numerous than many other religious groups! We have every reason to no longer emphasize our minority position but to claim our rightful role on the ecclesiastical scene. In the past we were “different”—largely because of our minority status. Now the time may have come to tell the world: “Look, we are here! Yes, we are still small when compared with the Catholic Church or the Methodists or the Southern Baptists, but we are not as small as you may have thought.” Moreover, you find Adventists in almost every country of the world. And listen: We have a contribution to make. We have resources and expertise. We deserve a place at the table when important social and environmental issues are discussed.

Our “remnant theology” suggests that we will remain a minority, but we are a minority to be reckoned with. We have something important to say and may have to be much more daring than we have often been in speaking up.

2. Can our enemies become our allies?

In its early history, the Adventist Church often found itself in a hostile environment. Our forms of outreach were not appreciated by other religious communities. Also, the Adventist end-time scenario, in which Sabbath keepers would have to face the fury of a Sunday keeping coalition, did not endear them to other Christians.

Today, Adventists are living in a totally different world. Tragically, quite a few church members seem not to be not aware of this, and, as a result, continue to treat other Christians as their enemies. In reality, institutionalized Christianity has suffered a dramatic decline in the Western world. All churches—Seventh-day Adventists included—are facing the challenge of preaching the gospel in an ever more secular and materialistic society.

The differences between Seventh-day Adventists and other Christians have not been obliterated and Adventists still have a “peculiar” message, but these other Christians are now, in fact, our allies. Together we must stand firm for the gospel of Christ in a world that has largely forgotten its Christian values. Let us not waste energy on fighting other Christians but recognize what other faith communities have done and are doing, while ensuring that our “peculiar” message gets heard.

3. The Sabbath—from being a burden to being a blessing.

Millions of believers have experienced that keeping the
Sabbath holy has been a great blessing. But all too often it was also a burden for many of us. It made us “different.” My place in the classroom of my secondary school remained empty on Saturdays, leaving my classmates wondering about my strange religion. Many church members lost their jobs and missed opportunities for promotion because they refused to work on Saturdays. Even today, in our 24-hour economy, insistence on having Saturdays off can cause serious problems. When sharing the Sabbath doctrines with others, their first reaction tends to be negative. It would upset their life and would mean a significant burden if they were to decide to keep the Sabbath!

But now, with the twenty-first century well under way, the Western World is suffering from an epidemic of stress and burnout. Medication can help people relax and can suppress the symptoms of their mental exhaustion. There is, however, no better antidote for a burnout, and no remedy for the relentless pressure of our society, than the divine prescription of one full day of rest, on the seventh day, after every six days of work. The Sabbath is a day of physical rest—of radically interrupting our daily activities—and a day of spiritual refocus. It is a day of connecting in a special way—with God, our family, and significant others. Far from being a burden it can become a blessing for millions around us. When will Adventists become more cognizant of having this unique selling point?

4. Are we living in the time of the end or in a time of new beginnings?

Adventist preaching about the nearness of the Second Coming was a major factor in the growth of our movement. But, after about 180 years, this theme has lost much of its momentum. As war is tearing its destructive path through Ukraine and the Gaza strip, there is every reason to place the current military and political developments once again in the world in the prophetic timeframe that once was a steady diet in Adventist preaching.

Preaching about the time of the end must, however, be combined with actions that show how the gospel can improve life, even in this final phase of earth’s history. “If I knew that Jesus would come tomorrow, I would plant an apple tree today.” This statement, which is often attributed to Martin Luther, has greatly increased in relevancy. Adventist should do more than they have done so far in showing the world what a healthy, balanced, lifestyle looks like. The link between Adventists and “Blue Zones” should not only be a Loma Linda phenomenon but can be duplicated in many places.

Adventists can do much more in reducing their carbon footprint and can be much more on the forefront in campaigns to reduce the consequences of climate change. They can become much more outspoken (and active) in the fight against poverty, racial discrimination, and gender inequality. They could have a much bigger role in peace projects. While reminding the world that time is short, we must be determined to plant as many apple trees as we possibly can!

5. Turning past “present truth” into today’s “present truth.”

From the beginning, Adventists have referred to their message as “present truth.” They were convinced that some aspects of the biblical prophecies had a special application for the very times in which they lived.

‘Present truth’ is a biblical term, inspired by 2 Peter 1:12 (KJV). Unfortunately, more recently this concept has mostly been restricted to the body of doctrinal truth that we inherited from our Adventist forebears. In other words: This present truth refers to a past understanding of truth, i.e. to aspects of the truth that were considered particularly relevant for the days of the “pioneers” of Adventism. A better interpretation of the text in 2 Peter would be: “truth” that is “made present”—that is actualized in what we (individually and collectively) say and do today.¹

We do well to study the historical development of our doctrines. But being an Adventist in 2024 entails more than knowing about our Adventist heritage and preserving the “present truth” of earlier generations. The truth we have inherited can easily become just “past truth,” if we do not succeed in making it present, so that it can continue to speak to us, and to those we seek to reach, in ways that are meaningful in today’s context.

In summary: As we seek to be faithful to our mission, let us critically look at what made us what we are today, and how these characteristics might be re-shaped so that they can help us to share our message in our day and age with greater effectiveness.

Reinder Bruinsma, PhD, has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church in publishing, education, teaching, and church administration in West-Africa, the USA, and Europe. He now lives in his native country, the Netherlands, together with his wife Aafje. Although retired, he is still very active in preaching, lecturing, and writing. Among his latest books is He Comes: Why, When and How Jesus Will Return. Email him at: [email protected]

¹   For a very informative essay about the concept of “present truth,” see: Roberto Badenas, “Dealing with ‘Present Truth’: 2 Peter 1:12 Revisited,” in: Reinder Bruinsma and Børge Schantz, eds., Exploring the Frontiers of Faith: Festschrift in Honour of Dr. Jan Paulsen (Lüneburg, Germany: Advent-Verlag, 2009), pp. 207-217.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
– Jeremiah 29:11

This article is about despair and about hope—in the personal realm, in the society in which we live, and in what is happening on a global scale. It is about the culture of despair that dominates the context of our twenty-first century lives. And it is about the culture of hope that flows from the good news of Jesus Christ.

A Culture of Despair

Dictionaries, and books that analyze our time, provide us with various definitions of despair. Some authors point out how despair results from being so much concerned with the present that it clouds people’s eyes for the future. Others emphasize that despair is, first, a deep discontentment with today’s culture and with our own role in it. All descriptions have in common that despair is a total loss of hope.  Former pastor and author Rob Bell pointedly said, “Despair is believing that tomorrow will be just like today!”

As I write this article, it was twelve days since the powerful earthquake destroyed parts or Turkey and Syria and left thousands of men and women in utter despair, silently waiting till the bodies of their loved ones are recovered from under the rubble. They have no idea where and how they will live a month or a year from now. Tens of thousands of wives and mothers in Ukraine and in Russia are despairing about the fate of their husbands and sons who are fighting in a war that is as terrible as it is senseless. A culture of despair envelops the western world as one crisis follows the other, and as leaders are unable to provide political and economic stability, while ever-increasing polarization rips nations and societies apart.  In his book The American Culture of Despair, sociologist Richard K. Fenn (b. 1984) writes about the cycles of crisis that create wide-ranging despair and are undeniable evidence that America, like other parts of the world, is running out of time. The recent Covid-pandemic caused millions of people world-wide to wonder in desperation whether they would also fall victim to this sword of Damocles that was hanging over our world.

Despair has assumed global proportions as wars, natural disasters, hunger, and poverty ravage entire regions of planet Earth. But beneath these global dimensions is the anguish of the millions of individuals who have lost all sense of hope: people who have no roof over their head, as well as men and women whose relationships have been shipwrecked and who experience unbearable loneliness. Annually, in the United States alone almost two million people get the devastating diagnosis that they have cancer. Each year more than 800,000 people world-wide see no other escape from their misery than to end their own lives—that is: one suicide every 39 seconds!

The Antidote for Despair

Christians maintain that there is another way of looking at the world at large, and at our personal lives. They claim to have a message of hope, and echo what the apostle Paul wrote to encourage the believers in the city of Rome, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). For most non-Christians these words may sound quite hollow. Can there really be hope amid all the hopelessness they see around them, and which they so often experience themselves? The reply of the Christian is: Yes, there can be hope! The words of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah are as true today as when they were first spoken: there is a God who looks after us, and this God wants nothing more fervently than to provide us with a solid hope and firm trust in the future (Jeremiah 29:11).

It is crucial, however, that we have a clear concept of what real hope consists of.  For many, hope is little more than wishful thinking. Hope often is the unrealistic expectation of winning a big prize in a lottery, or it is focused on tomorrow’s weather. For others hope equals optimism. True hope, however, goes far beyond this. It is certainly good to be an optimist and to be able to see the good aspects of a given situation and not be entirely absorbed by its negative elements. True Christian hope is inextricably connected with our faith—with our trust in the One whom we have accepted as our Lord. Hope is, therefore, not just a matter of feelings. It is primarily an attitude, a state of mind. In some sense it may even be called a decision. It is a divine gift that can change our outlook on life and deliver us from anxieties. Vincent McNabb (1868-1943), an Irish poet and priest, expressed it like this: “Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace, that God gives to control our fears. Not to oust them.” ¹

Christian hope is centered in a Person—in the risen Christ. Faith in the risen Christ means the inner certainty that there is life after death; that there is a new world, even though many things seem to indicate that our present world is hopelessly falling apart. Our hope is not based on an idea. It is not based on a clever philosophy, but it is anchored in a Person. Not just in any person, but in the God, who created us, who sent his Son for us as our Redeemer, and who continues to guide us through his Holy Spirit. Our hope is based on our trust in who He is. With such a God there is always reason for true hope. Charles Allen (1913-2005), a well-known American Methodist minister once said, “When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God.”  The poet who wrote Psalm 147 assures us, The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope
in his unfailing love.²

A Culture of Hope

There is a widespread misunderstanding that hope is primarily a matter of emotion. It is difficult—or it maybe even impossible—to hang on to an emotion when circumstances deteriorate. In his book Making Hope Happen, psychologist Shane J. Lopez (who has been called “the world’s most preeminent expert on hope”), argues that true hope is active. People who have hope can imagine the future and dare to set goals. Hope precipitates action. Our faith allows us to harness the kind of hope that enables us to endure the present and set realistic goals for bringing about change in the future. At the beginning of this article, despair was defined as “believing that tomorrow will be just like today!” This is in stark contrast with hope, which is the trust that tomorrow can and will be different.

Seventh-day Adventists enjoy singing the hymn that Wayne Hooper (1920-2007) wrote as the theme song for the 1962 Adventist world congress, and has ever since been the favorite of countless church members: We have this hope that burns within our hearts … The sad reality, however, is that, for many Adventist believers, their hope is mingled with a firm dose of despair. They believe that Christ is coming back, and that He is the hope for our eternal future in a new and perfect world. But they have also been taught that before He appears on the clouds, when the dead of the past will be resurrected and those who are alive and expect Him will be changed from mortal into immortal, lots of terrible things must first take place. For many Adventists the prophecies about end-time events have been a source of deep-seated fear rather than the basis for a joyful expectation. Unfortunately, Adventist eschatology has often been part of a culture of despair, rather than the epitome of a culture of hope.

Seventh-day Adventists face the momentous challenge to create and nurture in their community a culture of hope. It is only when genuine hope becomes the main denominator of the Adventist fellowship of faith, that the Advent message of hope become attractive and credible.

Adventist Christians are called to first foster a culture of hope in their local churches. The ways in which they express and live their faith, and how they share it with others, must emanate hope in such a way that it can chart a path of positive Christian action—for the individual believers and for the denomination.

Surrounded by a culture of despair, Adventists are called to be a people of hope, who impact trends and events by their counterculture of hope. Bringing hope to others will continue to strengthen their own hope—as the prophet Isaiah so powerfully underlined, Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:31).

Reinder Bruinsma, PhD, has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church in publishing, education, and church administration on three continents. He writes from the Netherlands where he lives with his wife Aafie. Among his latest books is I Have a Future: Christ’s  Resurrection and Mine. Email him at: [email protected]

¹  https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/vincent_mcnabb_105844

²  I lifted these two paragraphs from one of my recent books: Bruinsma, R. (2019). I Have a Future: Christ’s Resurrection and Mine. Autumn House.

By Reinder Bruinsma … Dutch Adventists are often described as rather liberal, but eating out on Sabbath has always been a no-no.

Great was their amazement when in 1995, tens of thousands of fellow believers descended upon the city of Utrecht for the General Conference session, and great numbers were seen to spread out all over the city on Sabbath in search of a restaurant. Those Adventists who have done a fair bit of traveling and have been in contact with church members in countries with different cultures have noticed that the praxis of Adventists varies considerably from place to place.

Nowadays, in most places, my wedding ring no longer causes offense, but when preaching in a rural church in Costa Rica, the pastor implored me not to create a problem in his church by wearing my ring. When I occasionally preach in the Ghanaian Adventist Church

in Amsterdam, my wedding band is no problem, but my wife’s simple necklace is frowned upon. To the dismay of many visiting fellow believers in Scandinavia, Adventists usually equate “low-alcoholic” with “non-alcoholic,” and the way some Australian pastors are dressed when they enter the pulpit would not go over well with most Adventist audiences elsewhere in the world. When serving for several years in tropical Africa, I learned that I must wear a tie and a jacket in church even when the temperature is in the upper eighties. This is what our African brothers and sisters were taught by western missionaries (from whom they also learned the still popular song: Whiter than snow, o Lord would I be!).

A world church must expect diversity

I could cite numerous other examples of how Adventist practices around the world vary, not just from country to country, but often from region to region within a country, and between population segments with different ethnic origins and cultures.

In her e-book From Sundown to Sundown, Dr. May-Ellen Colón, an assistant director of the Sabbath School and Personal Ministries department of the General Conference, compares Sabbath-keeping practices in fifty-one different countries. She concludes that, if you make a composite list of all things that in some places are deemed inappropriate to do on the Sabbath, and adopt that list, you can do virtually nothing, and if you make a similar list of all things that somewhere are considered okay, virtually nothing seems taboo!

Often people, when first confronted with practices elsewhere that would be frowned upon in their own Adventist milieu or when hearing and reading about customs that differ considerably from what they have grown up with and are used to, wonder how the church can remain united if we practice our faith in so many ways. Admittedly, there may be practices that are questionable in the light of some of the church’s teachings. But in most cases, we are dealing with culture and tradition rather than principle. In a church that has become truly global and has spread to almost all countries of the world, with countless differ- ent ethnicities and cultures represented, we must expect significant diversity in the way people translate their faith into everyday life. It means, in fact, that the church is alive. Enforcing total uniformity in the way people express their beliefs would not only be impossible, but also an unnatural sign of rigidity!

The reality of doctrinal differences

Some readers may react with a “so far, so good,” but would be adamant that diversity in the church must be restricted to practices and customs. They may agree that ethnic and cultural differences are acceptable in a global denomination such as ours, or maybe even enriching our community if we remain united in our theology. Adventists around the world should share, they say, the same approach to Scripture and the theology that results from this, as is expressed in the 28 Fundamental Beliefs. Well, the reality is quite different. Whether we like it or not, there is plenty of theological diversity in our church. In fact, this is not a recent development, but despite a growing consensus over time regarding our main teachings, diversity has existed from the beginning.

To say that the membership of the church is divided between conservatives and liberals is not very helpful. There are many shades of conservatism and many degrees of liberalism. Moreover, some are conservative in their theology, but not so in their lifestyle. And vice-versa. It may be better to speak of different streams or modalities. This is not unique to Adventists. As time has passed, most denominations have experienced the development

of different theological streams. This often led to schisms in faith communities, when the gaps between the various groups of believers became so wide that people felt they had no option but to go different ways. The Adventist Church is, in fact, quite an exception in that it has stayed together without many major secessions. Perhaps we could say that some of the independent ministries provide a haven for individuals and groups which feel that the denomination allows for too many voices which defend or even promote ideas that do not fit with traditional Adventist orthodox views.

What are some of the areas in which we see a diversity of theological opinion? In the first place, we do not all read the Bible in the same way. On the one hand, there are those who maintain that a “plain” reading of the Scriptures is the only safe way to find Truth, whereas others have a totally different view of inspiration. For many, it means that everything was created by God in “recent” times within a period of six literal days. But an increasing number of church members, while firmly believing that God is the Creator, argue that the Bible is not a book of science, but a book of faith and theology and that it does not inform us about the “how” of creation but about the meaning of creation.

It does not take much effort to detect that the relationship between faith and works is approached in different ways. There are those who are sure that sinful people, such as we admittedly are, can reach a state of sinless perfection, while others consider this a blasphemous idea. Much discussion (and, unfortunately, much controversy) divides Adventists about such topics as the true human nature of Christ, and the issue of the Trinity. Views about the prophecies which, together with the input of Ellen G. White, have shaped the traditional Adventist end-time scenario, are widely divergent. For some, the old-time views are as valid as ever, while others feel that a re-evaluation is a matter of urgency. Aspects of our sanctuary doctrine, about the ordination of female ministers, and about gender identity, are other hotly debated issues.

What to do?

Unfortunately, we often find that people have come to a particular conclusion and are no longer willing (or able?) to listen with an open mind to the standpoints of others. The doctrinal positions have led to a serious degree of polarization, dividing (in many minds) the members into “genuine” Adventists, who are loyal to the Truth, and “apostate” Adventists, who undermine the Adventist message and mission.

It would be unrealistic to deny that this doctrinal diversity does not pose a challenge for the denomination. Understandably, church leaders want to keep us all together; they want peace and emphasize that unity in our thinking and in the way we present our message is a prerequisite for maintaining a vigorous mission outreach. However, they must also face the sad reality that members (young and not so young) leave the church in droves, because they feel that their church has left them and no longer answers their questions and fails, to a large extent, to connect the Adventist faith with 21^st-century life.

A faith community will inevitably become a museum if its major concern is to conserve the past. Instead, while traditional ways of understanding the Bible remain an important source of inspiration, in a living community, there must be an ever-ongoing search for a deeper understanding of what believing in Christ, and being an Adventist, means today and tomorrow. This process can create unrest and even a sense of uncertainty. Not all members will at any given time be on the same page and share in identical developments—including doctrinal development—and the church will not everywhere proceed in the same manner and at the same pace. Yes, a living community will be characterized by an underlying unity but will, at the same time, also exhibit diversity. The existence of different modalities in the church is not a sure sign of confusion and theological decay, but an inevitable, and even healthy, indication that the church is alive.

An acknowledgment that not all doctrines are equally important and that, perhaps, we should have fewer, rather than more, fundamental beliefs would reflect the thinking of a large number of (or possibly most) Adventists. Allowing for a responsible degree of academic freedom

for our theologians and for a measure of diversity in denominational publications, and for experimenting with non-traditional ways of being church, and with new ways of “translating” our message to reach new kinds of audiences—all these things certainly carry risks. But enforcing a one-and-only correct interpretation of what we consider to be biblical truth is no option—simply because experience has shown that this can never work!

Finally, one aspect must be highlighted. It is time to take another good look at global Adventism. We see strengths and weaknesses. We discern polarization and much theological diversity. However, if we analyze what is happening within the various “modalities,” we continue to see, behind all diversity, an underlying unity. We may think differently about the nature of Christ, but for all of us, Christ is the Lord and the “Author” of our salvation. We may keep the Sabbath in different ways, but we all continue to believe that the seventh-day Sabbath is a precious gift to mankind. We may disagree on aspects of end-time prophecies, but we are united in our conviction that “a great controversy” continues to rage and that history moves, maybe slowly, but surely, towards the climactic Coming of Christ. And this applies to most doctrines: we can gratefully acknowledge of a fundamental unity behind the significant diversity. Moreover, we must give one another the time and the space to grow in our understanding of biblical truth and be willing to learn from others as we prayerfully seek answers to our questions.

Keeping this in mind, we do not have to be obsessed— or even concerned—by the existence of modalities, but we can see the various theological streams as expressions of the rich Christian-Adventist experience that we want to share with people around us.

–Reinder Bruinsma, PhD, has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church in publishing, education, and church administration on three continents. He writes from the Netherlands where he lives with his wife Aafie. Among his latest books is I Have a Future: Christ’s Resurrection and Mine. Email him at: [email protected]