THE NEXT ADVENTISM
Rules or Values?
HOW DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES SHAPE OUR ETHICS AND THEOLOGY BY ZDRAVKO PLANTAK
Growing up as an Adventist, it often seemed to me that our moral and ethical concepts were primarily rooted in the rules. In our local conservative church, the focus was on observing the regulations and making sure that we complied with all that was required and expected of us. How many times was I reprimanded in my home church (and even more so in the academy I attended) and told that I am bad because I broke one of the rules! Of course, some of those rules were not biblical but cultural, having to do with hair length, or the type of clothing we could wear, or even if we could swim or play with a soccer ball on Sabbath aſternoons.
In this article, I’d like to address the challenge that continues to
face our faith community: How do we move past rule compliance to a more value-based position on how to live, both morally and ethically? I will concentrate on two areas that have traditionally been of
great importance to us: the Sabbath and salvation. In examining the basis for our understanding of these two vital aspects of our Christian experience, we can develop a more meaningful perspective as we relate to God and those around us.
The Fourth Commandment Te Ten Commandments stand out as an obvious example of the appeal to rules. By placing them in a highly visible place, such as the walls of our churches and schools, it would seem that Adventists are endorsing our ethical principles by an appeal to this list of rules. Since the Sabbath, as the longest commandment, is a major part of this list, it’s not surprising that we oſten begin there to
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