Frequently Asked Questions

The Bible frequently mentions the “Son of God.” But how can God have a “son,” and what should that mean to us?
Jesus is the Son not in the sense of having been created, but because He partakes of the same divine nature as God the Father. Adventists embrace the belief that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and is also fully God Himself and part of the Godhead. He was sent to earth to minister to us, live as our example, and ultimately bear the eternal punishment of our sins. He is now our advocate, our High Priest, the relatable link between us and God the Father.
Jesus is a perfect being that was willing to go through the ultimate level of pain in order that we could be redeemed from our selfishness and reconciled to God. Learn more about the Son of God and the depth of His love for us here.

Sometimes people ask, “Doesn’t the fact that there are four different gospels prove that the New Testament has been changed?” The simple answer is no. But the question itself reveals that there is a misunderstanding about how God reveals scripture. Many people think that God only provides holy books by dictating exactly what He wants to say through an angel to a prophet, who then writes those exact words down.
However in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, the only words written by God are the Ten Commandments. In the rest of the Bible God communicated truth to the prophets in dreams, visions, and by verbal communication. Then those prophets wrote those truths in their own words according to their own educational and writing ability. Thus God’s perfect, absolute truth was communicated in the imperfect language of men.

While the word “trinity” may not be in the Bible, the concept of this three-in-one Godhead is expressed in many places throughout the Bible. “I and My Father are one,” Jesus said in John 10:30. Jesus’ baptism was a time when all three members of the Trinity were involved. As Jesus came out of the water, the Holy Spirit came from Heaven. To the human eye, He looked like a dove. He hovered above Jesus, showing His approval. From the clouds, God the Father spoke, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
Before Jesus returned to heaven, He spoke of the Trinity. “Go…make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). We have to remember that God is not confined by time, space, or matter. God is beyond our human comprehension. God is the “High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15). This is one of the mysteries of the Christian faith. If we, as human beings, could explain the existence of God, He would not be God. If we could totally understand the mysteries of God, He would not be worthy of our worship.

The temple sacrifices and festivals were elaborate models of the plan of salvation. Rightly understood they predicted and explained the work of the Messiah. We are thrilled to read in the New Testament how Jesus is the Passover lamb that takes away the sin of the world. He is our high priest in the heavenly sanctuary. Entire books have been written outlining the details of the sacrifices and ceremonies of the temple services and how they find fulfilment in Christ. After Jesus died on the cross, those temple sacrifices and festivals were no longer necessary. Christ had come and His sacrifice was complete. New Covenant believers ask an important question: Was the 7th-day Sabbath a part of those festivals that became obsolete when Jesus died? Many honest believers think this is true based on the texts in Colossians 2:16-17.
Colossians 2:16-17 is as follows: So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Colossians 2:16-17.
Both linguistically and contextually we can demonstrate that the Greek word translated ‘sabbaths’ here does not refer to the seventh-day Sabbath but to two annual feasts (Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement) and to septennial sabbaths, that is, sabbatical years.
The word translated ‘festival’ in the passage refers specifically to the three pilgrimage feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Thus in this verse the apostle Paul is outlining the entire system of festival and sacrifice as being a ‘shadow’ of things to come. Paul said that Jesus is the Messiah who was to come, and the shadow cast by Him is the sacrificial and festival system of the tabernacle. The seventh-day Sabbath however is not part of the ceremonial law. It is part of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are not transitory but permanent. In the Old Covenant the commandments were written on tables of stone. In the New Covenant, which is also the everlasting covenant, the Ten Commandments are written on the believers’ hearts. This is clearly shown in the book of Hebrews:
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 10:16-17.

John Calvin’s Commentary on the book of Daniel, regarding “Michael”:
“Michael may mean an angel; but I embrace the opinion of those who refer this to the person of Christ because it suits the subject best to represent him as standing forward for the defense of his elect people.”

Charles H. Spurgeon on the identity of Michael:
“He it is whose camp is round about them that fear Him; He is the true Michael whose foot is upon the dragon. All hail, Jesus! Thou Angel of Jehovah’s presence, to Thee this family offers its morning vows.”
“Our Lord is called an angel. He is the angel of the covenant (Malachi 3:1). . . We read that Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels, and the dragon was cast down (Revelation 12). The fight is going on every day. Michael is the Lord Jesus, the only Archangel.”

John Wesley on the identity of Michael:
“Daniel 10:13—‘Withstood me’—God suffered the wicked counsels of Cambyses (a Persian king) to take place awhile; but Daniel by his prayers, and the angel by his power, overcame him at last: and this very thing laid a foundation of the ruin of the Persian monarchies. ‘Michael’—Michael here is commonly supposed to mean Christ. ‘I remained’—to counter—work their designs against the people of God. Daniel 10:21—Michael—Christ alone is the protector of his church, when all the princes of the earth desert or oppose it.”
“Daniel 12:1—The meaning seems to be . . . there will be yet a greater deliverance to the people of God, when Michael your prince, the Messiah shall appear for your salvation.”

Further reading: Book ميخائيل الرئيس العظيم
https://www.adventawakening.com/spiritual-books/#michael_1

The simple answer is that the Scriptures tell us it is not God’s will for our lives. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. Proverbs 20:1.

Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:6-9.

Is it really necessary to quote examples from the Scriptures to demonstrate that drinking alcohol is harmful and leads to decreased physical and moral capacity? Is it not true that every day in the newspapers we read sad stories about wasted money, spousal abuse, beatings, adultery, robbery, fights, murders, car accidents, arguments and diseases of the body which were induced by drinking alcohol? Even small quantities of alcohol impair the ability to use a motor vehicle and affect brain cells. If Jesus’ followers drink alcohol, what kind of example will they be for unbelievers? Will they not encourage unbelievers to continue in the ways of the world and reject the moral preparation necessary for Christ’s second coming?

Quite simply, the holy scriptures tell us that this is not God’s will for our lives.
“Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.” Deuteronomy 14:8.
The mind and the body are so intricately connected that if one is injured the other also suffers. If a person is strong and healthy they are better able to make proper moral decisions. One of the main purposes for all the instructions that God gives us in the holy scriptures is to help us make moral decisions. Additionally, Jesus is coming soon and we must be morally prepared for His coming. This will be more difficult if we eat foods that God has clearly shown us to be of poor quality and unhealthy. So, if we want to glorify God in our bodies and be ready for Jesus’ coming, we must be healthy. With this in mind you might ask Christians why they feel it is okay to eat pork, which is both unhealthy and of poor quality!

The belief that man has an immortal soul which never dies but passes on to a different stage after death is not found in the Bible. According to Scripture, when a person dies, he or she does not go directly to heaven to live with God nor to hell to burn forever, but instead enters a state of unconsciousness, like a deep sleep. Death, in the Bible, is simply the end of life; something God didn’t create, but entered humanity’s experience as consequence of sin.
The Bible does teach that there is a paradise God is preparing for those who are faithful, and of a place of torment and judgment for those who reject Him, but these places are man’s destiny only after Jesus’ Second Coming; not at the moment of death.

Check these Bible references for yourself: Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7; James 2:26; Job 27:3; Ezekiel 18:20; Revelation 16:3; Job 4:17; 1 Timothy 6:15, 16; John 5:28, 29; Acts 2:29, 34; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10; Job 14:12, 21; Psalm 115:17; Psalm 146:4.

To learn more about what the Bible teaches regarding death, resurrection and immortality, click here.

This belief creeped into the Christian church some 200 years after Jesus’ ascension, through influential Christian thinkers of the Roman Empire like Tertullian (c. ad 155–240) and Athenagoras (ad 133–190). They were late converts deeply rooted in Greek philosophy who shared Plato’s view of life, that man is made of body and soul (body is physical and evil, soul is spiritual and good). This Greek worldview meshed with Christian doctrines and generated unbiblical beliefs like Sunday keeping, existence of an eternal burning hell, and the immortality of the soul, among others.