Who We Are

1. ADVENTISTS AFFIRM is dedicated to upholding the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist church and supporting its leadership in upholding those beliefs.

Together with many other churches, the Seventh-day Adventist church is feeling the impact of liberalizing trends, eroding confidence in the authority of the Bible in defining belief and practice.

Therefore, a group of scholars and other interested people began this publication in the spring of 1987.

Positive response has been so strong and so wide spread, coming from church leaders, pastors, and concerned constituents alike, that the conviction has deepened that a conservative approach to issues facing the Seventh-day Adventist church is not only needed but welcomed.

2. The purpose of ADVENTISTS AFFIRM is to address issues involving doctrine and practice faced by the church, and to do so on the basis of the Bible and the writings of Ellen White.

3a. The intent is to affirm the fundamental beliefs of our church as confessed in the "Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists," affirm the Bible as the inspired word of God...

3b. ...affirm the Spirit of Prophecy writings as inspired counsel and illumination on the Bible, affirm the Bible-based lifestyle and piety of Seventh-day Adventists, and affirm the leadership of the church as appointed servants of the Lord.

While the articles published in ADVENTISTS AFFIRM seek to follow the principles of sound scholarship, they are intended to appeal to a wide readership.

The editor solicits the support and encouragement of perceptive constituents, editors, educators, pastors, and church leaders in affirming the validity and contemporary relevance of historic Adventist beliefs and practices.

4. ADVENTISTS AFFIRM is offered to its readers with the prayer that God will use it to help Adventist believers resist the tempation to "let the world squeeze you into its mold" (Romans 12:2, Phillips).

"God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reform. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the pleas or decisions of ecclestical counsels, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority-not one of all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain 'Thus saith the Lord' in its support" (GC 595).