For Adventists Only: His Kind of Peculiar?
Want to see a transcript of every conversation I've had about denomination in the last decade? Don't worry, it's only two sentences:
"Oh, you're a Seventh-Day Adventist? You guys don't _________, do you?"
{Word bank: shop on Saturdays, eat pizza, dance, play instruments in church, believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, drink soda, drink coffee, drink anything but water, celebrate Christmas, worship on Sunday, eat meat}
Bonus points if you know which of these are false. Hint: I'm eating pizza while I write this.
We shake our heads at the misconceptions we've experienced for 175 years, but could it be that we are, at least partially, at fault for the confusion?
The Adventist Church, more than anything else, is known for what we don't do. We capitalize on weirdness and not eating pork. We hoist Peter's claim that we are "a peculiar people" on a flagpole of jean skirts, hiking boots, and haystacks. We culturize eccentricity into a sub-society with its own comfort foods, inside jokes, traditions, and taboos, very little of which actually came from scripture.
Aren't selflessness, compassion, individual and personal care of the less advantaged, and service peculiar enough? Why do we think it's necessary to not do things to be different? Why do we add bonus levels to truth?
You want to know what should make us "peculiar?"
Isaiah tells us: "Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help."
"Oh, you're a Seventh-Day Adventist? You guys don't _________, do you?"
{Word bank: shop on Saturdays, eat pizza, dance, play instruments in church, believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, drink soda, drink coffee, drink anything but water, celebrate Christmas, worship on Sunday, eat meat}
Bonus points if you know which of these are false. Hint: I'm eating pizza while I write this.
We shake our heads at the misconceptions we've experienced for 175 years, but could it be that we are, at least partially, at fault for the confusion?
The Adventist Church, more than anything else, is known for what we don't do. We capitalize on weirdness and not eating pork. We hoist Peter's claim that we are "a peculiar people" on a flagpole of jean skirts, hiking boots, and haystacks. We culturize eccentricity into a sub-society with its own comfort foods, inside jokes, traditions, and taboos, very little of which actually came from scripture.
Aren't selflessness, compassion, individual and personal care of the less advantaged, and service peculiar enough? Why do we think it's necessary to not do things to be different? Why do we add bonus levels to truth?
You want to know what should make us "peculiar?"
Isaiah tells us: "Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help."
And it wasn't just in the Old Testament either. "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." (James 1:27)
I should side note here that I'm not claiming justification for a baby + bathwater situation. That's the part about refusing to let the world corrupt you. The Bible is truth. It has the blueprint for the best, happiest possible life. But anything not in the Bible that we add to it, walling it in with traditions and interpretations is in suspicion.
Guess what? All of that point making I did should be unnecessary anyway. The King James Version "peculiar people" is a translation blip. The Greek very clearly states "a people of His possession." All of this confusion, and it's just about belonging.
Don't you want to be His? Instead of banking on your weirdness, shouldn't you bank on being His? And if you're His, you'll be peculiar. You'll stand out. Because you'll be doing radical, life altering things for Him like caring for people instead of throwing money at them (or in the offering plate).
Be peculiar, but be His.
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