I'm preparing the discipleship program and was wondering what were the baptismal vows. When i was baptised, i don't remember reading these vows myself. It's interesting to read them and to know what it says. Think i gotta tell Andrew before he's immeersed.
Seventh-day Adventists do not believe in baptizing infants. A person must be old enough to accept responsibility for his/her own actions. Baptism is by immersion. In order to be baptized, a person must agree to this set of thirteen baptismal vows.
1. I believe in God the Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit.
2. I accept the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary as the atoning sacrifice for my sins, and believe that through faith in His shed blood I am saved from sin and its penalty.
3. I renounce the world and its sinful ways, and have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and believe that God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven my sins and given me a new heart.
4. I accept by faith the righteousness of Christ, recognizing Him as my Intercessor in the heavenly sanctuary, and claim His promise to strengthen me by His indwelling Sprit, so that I may receive power to do His will.
5. I believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word, and that it constitutes the only rule of faith and practice for the Christian.
6. I accept the 10 Commandments
7. Ten Commandments as still binding upon Christians; and it is my purpose by the power of the indwelling Christ, to keep this law, including the fourth commandment, which requires the observance of the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord.
8. I look forward to the soon coming of Jesus as the blessed hope in my heart, and I am determined to be ready to meet the Lord, and to do all in my power to witness to His loving salvation, and by life and word to help others to be ready for His glorious appearing.
9. I accept the Biblical teaching of spiritual gifts, and believe that the gift of prophecy is one of the identifying marks of the remnant church.
10. I believe in church organization, and it is my purpose to support the church by my tithes and offerings, and by my personal effort and influence.
11. I believe that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and I will honor God by caring for it, avoiding the use of that which is harmful, abstaining from all unclean foods, from the use, manufacture, or sale of alcoholic beverages, the use, manufacture, or sale of tobacco in any of its forms for human consumption, and from the misuse of or trafficking in, narcotics or other drugs.
12. I know and understand the fundamental Bible principles as taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is my purpose, by the grace of God, to order my life in harmony with these principles.
13. I accept the New Testament teaching of baptism by immersion, and desire to be so baptized as a public expression of faith in Christ and His forgiveness of my sins.
14. I accept that the Seventh-Day Church is the Remnant Church of Bible prophecy, and that people of every nation, race, and language are invited and accepted into its fellowship. I desire to be a member in this local congregation of the world church.
5 comments:
Though I agree with most of the points. I hate to say this but I strongly disagree with points 6 & 7. The Law was constituted to show us the weaknesses of the flesh. If we try to keep those laws, aren't we not any better than the pharisees? Anyway brother, it is for your benefit to know that, only by grace or by works; neither can exist in the presence of the other, Romans 11:6.
oh the 10 commandments. I always find people misunderstanding the SDA stand on commandment keeping.
The law indeed was constituted to show us what sin is. If there is no law, there is no sin imputed upon us(Rom 5:13).One cannot know what is sin without knowing what is the law. If you drive along the expressway, how do you know you're speeding if not for the speed limit?
However, the law cannot justify(make us free from blame) us. Only accepting Jesus justifies us and that is the only path to salvation.
For Romans 11:6: It's by God's grace that we are saved, not by our works. Paul was explaning that God has chosen them not because of how good they were. That's why it's called grace. In the same way, God has chosen us and has saved us by grace. The passage is not condemning good works or advocating the abandonment of keeping the law.
James explicitly states that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:20, 26), and Paul makes it plain that God saves us by grace through faith for the very purpose of producing good works, even though those good works cannot earn our salvation.
"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Rom 3:31
Grace, works and obedience are complementary rather than contradictory terms.
I keep the law based on the motivation that i'm saved, not because i think it can save me.
Consider this: How can one exist both on Mt. Sinai and Mt. Zion at the same time? Law keeping wasn't meant to be. If we were made for law-keeping, wouldn't God just give Adam the Law from the very beginning? Yes, faith without works is dead, however, works here speaks of the fruits of your faith; The resultant effect in your believeing in God's goodness, in the righteousness of God you have in Christ, the operation of God's spiritual gifts in your life. However, if God (and only if) leads you to keep the Law to the best of your efforts, go right ahead. But remember this, in failing which, God will never condemn you, nor forsake you ever, again. Otherwise it wasn't God who told you to do this.
you have raised 2 issues: 1)The 10 commandments did not exist before Moses and 2) what is works.
There is much misunderstanding here and I'll address it in a subsequent post.
Oh! how can a christian shows his/her love for God?
(John 14:15) "If you love me ,keep my commandments"..
We are saved by grace and because of that we will follow our Savior's will ,as a sign of love and gratitude.
(1John 2:4) He that saith,"I know HIM",and keepeth not His commandments is a liar,and the truth is not in him.
Even in noah's time,abraham's time,Jacob's time,the bible said that they walked according to the will of the Lord..even the 10 commandments were given during moses's time,the law of God were put in the heart of His servants.
God's law is our mirror to know our sins,so that we can be able to confess it to our savior.If there is no law,there is no sin,and what is the reason Jesus died for us?
Is it a big thing to follow God's law compare to the sacrificed He has done for us?
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