"THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too late

Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do.
And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with
– even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department.
Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. Romans 14.1: The Message

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#183325 - 09/04/08 12:22 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: John317]
Neil D Today, I ain't for sale. Check back tomorrow. Registered: 08/10/00 Posts: 13242 Loc: Ca., Id, Wa., Or. or somewhere...	Why are you trying to drag me into this? 10 years ago, I would have jumped in with both feet and so what if I stepped on someone's toes...Now, I don't care to... All I am saying is that we don't listen because we think we KNOW....The fact of the matter is that while we have a good generalized idea of what it is, we don't understand ALL details ad infinitum...We understand a good bit of the head knowledge, but the practicalities keep getting in the way. We have emotional baggages that keep getting into the way as well... We neeed more listening, and less talking.... _________________________ Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw
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#183330 - 09/04/08 12:38 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: Neil D]
John317 Registered: 11/13/05 Posts: 10402 Loc: CA	Originally Posted By: Neil D Quote: [quote] I'm not sure what Melvin believes, so I don't even know if he would say he believes in the SDA message and movement or not. But I think we must admit that there are many who do not know what it is. Others know and don't like it and are trying to change it. Really? Hmmmmmm....."others know it and don't like it"...hmmmmmm well that seems to be cause for concern, doesn't it....You sure that you understand what they understand the last message to be? Ellen White wrote with some concern about the time that she said would come when there would be attempts made to change the fundamental doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist church. She mentioned specifically that there would be attempts to change our teachings regarding the heavenly sanctuary and the Sabbath. Have you read these warnings and do you personally believe them? Do you believe that everyone who knows the Adventist message likes it? I don't think this is true. I think there is good evidence that there are some who do not like it and want to change it. My position is simply that there are people who do not like the Adventist message as contained in the books of Ellen White and in our publications and are out to change that message. Do you deny this? _________________________ Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... Surely some revelation is at hand;/Surely the Second Coming is at hand. W.B. Yeats
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#183334 - 09/04/08 12:45 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: Neil D]
John317 Registered: 11/13/05 Posts: 10402 Loc: CA	Originally Posted By: Neil D Why are you trying to drag me into this? 10 years ago, I would have jumped in with both feet and so what if I stepped on someone's toes...Now, I don't care to... All I am saying is that we don't listen because we think we KNOW....The fact of the matter is that while we have a good generalized idea of what it is, we don't understand ALL details ad infinitum...We understand a good bit of the head knowledge, but the practicalities keep getting in the way. We have emotional baggages that keep getting into the way as well... We neeed more listening, and less talking.... I listen all the time. I have spent years studying and listening to other people in order to find out what they are saying and what they believe. I read more by people I disagree with than by people I agree with. I have rooms full of books by such people. Most of my time is spent with non-Adventists and non-Christians. I constantly listen and try to understand what they are saying. I've spent over a year before with people just asking questions to find out their beliefs, before I even said a word about my own beliefs. I have no emotional baggage when it comes to talking about these things. What do you want to talk about? Let's talk about anything you want regarding The Great Controversy and the Adventist message, as long as we keep it on the topic and not make it personal. _________________________ Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... Surely some revelation is at hand;/Surely the Second Coming is at hand. W.B. Yeats
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#183336 - 09/04/08 01:18 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: melvin mccarty]
John317 Registered: 11/13/05 Posts: 10402 Loc: CA	Originally Posted By: melvin mccarty Too bad she lost sleep over it isn't it? Hundred and twenty years ago and people have been worrying about it all that time!!! What a waste of energy Do you believe in the Seventh-day Adventist message and movement? If so, could you briefly state what you believe that message is? Also, what is in The Great Controversy that you disagree with, if anything? _________________________ Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... Surely some revelation is at hand;/Surely the Second Coming is at hand. W.B. Yeats
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#183364 - 09/04/08 03:56 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: John317]
John317 Registered: 11/13/05 Posts: 10402 Loc: CA	From the website: http://www.gcreadathon.com/ The book The Great Controversy, written by Ellen G. White, is regarded by many as one of her greatest works. In it she describes Christian history from the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and continuing through early church history, the Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation, and later events, and concluding with the apocalyptic events foretold in Bible prophecy. Ellen was one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a Protestant Christian denomination that arose on the heels of the Second Great Awakening of the late 1700s and early 1800s. Adventists believe that Ellen had the biblical gift of prophecy described in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, manifested in divine illumination that allowed her to accurately describe the significance and bearing of events across the centuries, as well as to confirm how unfulfilled prophecies would unfold. The Great Controversy is one of Ellen White’s most published books, with millions of copies in print. Although written in 1888 and last revised in 1911, it continues to be published on a large scale to this day. _________________________ Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... Surely some revelation is at hand;/Surely the Second Coming is at hand. W.B. Yeats
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#183369 - 09/04/08 04:17 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: John317]
melvin mccarty Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 640 Loc: B,C.	Do you believe that the book 'The Great Controversy" is the Seventh-day Adventist "movement"? Do you believe that it presents an infallible description of reality? Do you expect to see "last-day events" work out exactly as predicted in the book? When do you expect these things to happen? I have listened to these things for more than eight decades and I am beginning to see that there is some smoke and mirrors involved here.
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#183370 - 09/04/08 04:57 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: melvin mccarty]
John317 Registered: 11/13/05 Posts: 10402 Loc: CA	Originally Posted By: melvin mccarty Do you believe that the book 'The Great Controversy" is the Seventh-day Adventist "movement"? Do you believe that it presents an infallible description of reality? Do you expect to see "last-day events" work out exactly as predicted in the book? When do you expect these things to happen? I have listened to these things for more than eight decades and I am beginning to see that there is some smoke and mirrors involved here. Let me ask again: Do you believe in the Seventh-day Adventist message and movement? If so, could you briefly state what you believe that message is? Also, what is in The Great Controversy that you disagree with, if anything? _________________________ Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... Surely some revelation is at hand;/Surely the Second Coming is at hand. W.B. Yeats
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#183372 - 09/04/08 05:14 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: melvin mccarty]
John317 Registered: 11/13/05 Posts: 10402 Loc: CA	I believe the following paragraphs found in the Introduction of The Great Controversy. I know there are a lot of people who don't believe them and many more who know nothing about Ellen White or what she wrote. However, this thread isn't a debate about the woman or about whether she was a false prophet or a true prophet. There are other threads devoted to that issue. This thread is devoted to studying The Great Controversy and understanding what it says. Quote: Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the long-continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the Author of our salvation, and Satan, the prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God's holy law. Satan's enmity against Christ has been manifested against His followers. The same hatred of the principles of God's law, the same policy of deception, by which error is made to appear as truth, by which human laws are substituted for the law of God, and men are led to worship the creature rather than the Creator, may be traced in all the history of the past. Satan's efforts to misrepresent the character of God, to cause men to cherish a false conception of the Creator, and thus to regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love; his endeavors to set aside the divine law, leading the people to think themselves free from its requirements; and his persecution of those who dare to resist his deceptions, have been steadfastly pursued in all ages. They may be traced in the history of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, of martyrs and reformers. In the great final conflict, Satan will employ the same policy, manifest the same spirit, and work for the same end as in all preceding ages. That which has been, will be, except that the coming struggle will be marked with a terrible intensity such as the world has never witnessed. Satan's deceptions will be more subtle, his assaults more determined. If it were possible, he would lead astray the elect. Mark 13:22, R.V. As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His word, and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to others that which has thus been revealed--to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future. In pursuance of this purpose, I have endeavored to select and group together events in the history of the church in such a manner as to trace the unfolding of the great testing truths that at different periods have been given to the world, that have excited the wrath of Satan, and the enmity of a world-loving church, and that have been maintained by the witness of those who "loved not their lives unto the death." In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before us. Regarding them in the light of God's word, and by the illumination of His Spirit, we may see unveiled the devices of the wicked one, and the dangers which they must shun who would be found "without fault" before the Lord at His coming. _________________________ Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... Surely some revelation is at hand;/Surely the Second Coming is at hand. W.B. Yeats
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#183375 - 09/04/08 05:41 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: melvin mccarty]
John317 Registered: 11/13/05 Posts: 10402 Loc: CA	Originally Posted By: melvin mccarty Do you believe that the book 'The Great Controversy" is the Seventh-day Adventist "movement"? No, the SDA movement and church is not a book-- any book. However, there are books which contain the written beliefs and teachings of the Adventist movement. Certainly the GC is one of the main books that expresses our beliefs and describes our movement. If you have any disagreement with that statement, please feel free to tell what part of The Great Controversy does not describe the Adventist movement's beliefs. Quote: Do you believe that it presents an infallible description of reality? I believe the statement that Ellen White wrote in the Introduction to The Great Controversy and which I've pasted in the previous post. I have complete confidence in the book, Great Controversy, that it conveys the truth about the subject which Ellen White was told to write about. Quote: Do you expect to see "last-day events" work out exactly as predicted in the book? I expect the last-day events to occur in the way that they are communicated in the book. To go into more detail, we would need to examine what the book says. And this thread is a good place to look carefully at what The Great Controversy actually says. Quote: When do you expect these things to happen? There is no certain time for these things to happen. The events could happen in 10 years-- they could also happen in 25 or 50 or 100 years. The time is not important. What is important is the spiritual condition of God's church. When His people are ready, the events will happen. Christ could have come over a hundred years ago. Every generation since that time could have been the last generation. Some day Jesus will come, and when he does come, the generation alive at that time will be the last generation. It could be this generation, but whether we are or not, depends on our response to God. Quote: I have listened to these things for more than eight decades and I am beginning to see that there is some smoke and mirrors involved here. Would you care to say more? You say you have "listened" to these things for more than 80 years. Did you ever do more than listen to them? _________________________ Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... Surely some revelation is at hand;/Surely the Second Coming is at hand. W.B. Yeats
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#183575 - 09/05/08 10:43 AM Re: "THE GREAT CONTROVERSY" Readathon....Let's join; You're not too l [Re: John317]
rush4hire Registered: 05/15/08 Posts: 596 Loc: Kansas	Originally Posted By: melvin_mccarty Do you believe that the book 'The Great Controversy" is the Seventh-day Adventist "movement"? Do you believe that it presents an infallible description of reality? Do you expect to see "last-day events" work out exactly as predicted in the book? When do you expect these things to happen? I have listened to these things for more than eight decades and I am beginning to see that there is some smoke and mirrors involved here. 80 years? How old are you? Also. Does it count if we listen to the GC? http://www.truthfortheendtime.com/GC1.html I have read it a couple times and listened to it a few times. I listened to Early Writings several times. That books is powerful, (maybe 'cause it's like raw and uncut). I am a big fan of GC. I sold them house to house. One day I sold 8 GCs and I was very happy for that. I really felt like I was working for God. I hope to take up the LE work again soon. Pray for me, if you think about it... :) Right now I'm listening to the whole Bible on mp3 by Alexander Scourby. I'm in Jeremiah, but I think I could do GC after that. I like listening while I do other things. _________________________ I cant make a sig with 30 chrs
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