Alberto R. Timm
Contemporary Christianity has increasingly turned towards an existentialist concept of religion. For many Christians, the sense of being mystically related to Christ is much more important than any concrete commitment to God’s revealed will. Many today believe that the essential aspects of obedience derive automatically from this relationship with Christ without much human effort. What does not occur automatically is considered irrelevant to spirituality.
Contrary to some Adventists who accept this lighter perspective of religion, why does the Seventh-day Adventist Church continue to advocate for a distinctive lifestyle? Why does the church continue to recommend its members not to smoke, drink, or use drugs; to abstain from pork meat, fat, and animal blood; not to attend dances, nightclubs, cinemas, and other entertainment venues; to avoid wearing jewelry and to dress modestly and decorously; and, as much as possible, to be vegetarians?
If salvation, in Paul’s words, is “by grace,” “through faith,” and “not by works” (Eph 2:8–9), what reason would there be to maintain such a lifestyle? After all, do not many say today that what matters is the inner person, not the outer? To answer these questions, this article mentions ten pillars on which the Adventist lifestyle is based.
The Bible emphasizes that true religion is manifested outwardly through good works. When Paul stated that salvation is “by grace” and “not by works,” he also said that we are saved “in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph 2:8-9). Therefore, it is evident that we are saved “not by works” as the basis of our salvation but “for good works” as a result of our salvation.
Christ emphasized that a personal relationship with Him, to be genuine, must produce outward fruit (John 15:1-5). Highlighting that the Christian must be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (Matt 5:13-16), Christ also stated, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (v. 16). This means that the Christian’s “good works” must be visible and that when perceived, they will lead others to glorify God.
The Bible mentions several people whose outward behavior evidenced their relationship with God. For example, the people of Israel saw that the skin of Moses’ face shone “after he had spoken with God” (Exod 34:29-35). Samuel was recognized as “a man of God” (1 Sam 9:6). The Shunammite woman commented to her husband regarding Elisha, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly” (2 Kgs 4:9). The Jewish leaders, “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Therefore, true religion is reflected in outward behavior.
In all Christian denominations, there are some sincere people who live in communion with Christ and are genuinely motivated to obey. However, different Christian lifestyles make it clear that obedience itself is directly proportional to the degree of knowledge of God’s word and commitment to it. If Christ, our perfect example, “learned obedience” (Heb 5:8), why do so many Christians today insist that obedience is automatic?
Those who “did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thess 2:10) and who are not being sanctified by the Word of truth (John 17:17) claim a relationship with Christ devoid of a genuine commitment to “the will” of the “Father in heaven” (Matt 7:21). Attracted by religious existentialism, these professed Christians prefer to follow the dictates of their own conscience rather than submit to the normative principles of God’s Word.
When a person accepts Christ as a personal Savior, the true motivation for obedience is implanted by God’s grace in their heart. There is no place for personal merit, for “it is God who works in you both to will and to do” (Phil 2:13), and “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). But we cannot forget that practical obedience is only achieved through accepting Christ as Lord of one’s life. The great problem for many Christians today is that they are willing to accept Christ as a personal Savior but not as the Lord of their lives.
Greek philosophy, which greatly influenced our Western culture, taught that human beings are composed of an immortal soul (superior) imprisoned in a mortal body (inferior). Such a conception contributed to developing a fragmented and atomized view of reality. Consequently, religion came to be regarded by many as merely one aspect of human existence, evident in public religious services or personal devotional moments.
From a biblical perspective, however, the human being is an indivisible whole. Physical, mental, and spiritual faculties are interconnected. What affects one also affects the others. This means that true religion cannot be confined to a kind of inner mysticism. It encompasses all dimensions of human existence and is an inner principle that is reflected outwardly.
Based on this holistic view of the human being, Ellen G. White states that “A person’s character is judged by his style of dress. A refined taste, a cultivated mind, will be revealed in the choice of simple and appropriate attire.”1 She also asserts that “there is more religion in a loaf of good bread than many think.”2 Only a religion that lives in such a way that it encompasses all aspects of being can shine “to all who are in the house” (Matt 5:15).
One of God’s people’s greatest temptations throughout history has always been to conform to the behavioral values of the culture in which they live. This was the problem of the Israelites in the past (see Exod 34:10-17; Deut 7:1-11) and continues to be the great weakness of contemporary Christianity. Many Christians argue that they must assimilate the prevailing culture’s language, music, and practices to communicate the gospel to the world better. It is obvious that we need to communicate the gospel in a language understandable to those around us. However, we should never forget that “Conformity to worldly customs converts the church to the world; it never converts the world to Christ.”3
One of the most critical behavioral principles is found in Christ’s prayer for His followers: “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). The faithful Christian is not against culture, nor is he or she a victim of culture, but rather a powerful transforming agent of culture. Whenever cultural components conflict with the principles of God’s Word, the Christian’s stance should always be like that of Peter and the other apostles: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
The entrance of sin into the world occurred when Eve chose to prioritize her personal preferences over God’s command. Instead of obeying the divine instruction (Gen 2:15-17), she opted for what looked “good for food,” “pleasing to the eyes,” and “desirable for gaining wisdom” (Gen 3:6). Using the same criterion, the existentialist and postmodern society in which we live has denied the absolute values of religion so that personal tastes and preferences may reign over any normative principle.
In the book Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, a meeting is described that Satan had with his angels to devise plans to entrap God’s people in the last days. One of the main strategies established was to use intelligent and capable individuals from God’s own people to convince their brothers and sisters in faith that “the requirements of Christ are less strict than they once believed, and that by conformity to the world they would exert a greater influence with worldlings.”4 Isn’t this exactly what has happened in some Adventist circles, where contemporary culture, popular acceptance, and personal tastes determine the choice of clothing, music, movies, and other aspects of behavior?
We need to allow the normative principles of the Holy Scriptures to help us live more fully in conformity with God’s will (see Matt 7:21-23).
For the Greeks, the foundation of knowledge was self-knowledge. With a similar approach, modern humanism continues to proclaim today that the solution to human problems lies within oneself. This anthropocentric concept, centered on the human being, is the basis of self-help books published in recent years.
By contrast, biblical Christianity declares that the solution to human problems lies outside oneself, namely in God. This implies, first, that one must deny oneself (Matt 16:24-26) because “Self-surrender is the substance of the teachings of Christ”5 and “The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought.”6 In other words, we must die to ourselves so that Christ can live within us (Gal 2:19-20).
When this experience occurs, all aspects of life—physical, mental, and spiritual—are redirected toward the glory of God. In Paul’s words: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor 6:19-20). “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31).
In the Bible, we find several instances where the consecration of life to God led to changes in people’s outward behavior. When Jacob and his family reconsecrated themselves to the Lord at Bethel, they got rid of the “foreign gods” they had and the “earrings that were in their ears” (Gen 35:2-4). After rededicating themselves to the Lord, “the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward” (Exod 33:6). The self-denying lifestyle of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ’s first advent, was a constant rebuke to the ostentatious society of his day (Matt 3:4; see 2 Kgs 1:8). The religious reforms carried out by Nehemiah demonstrated what can be done when someone is more committed to divine principles than to personal interests (see Neh 13:15-29).
Today, the church needs genuinely committed people who imitate less media heroes and more good biblical examples.
Specific components of religion may not be meritorious for salvation, but the genuine Christian accepts them as symbols of dedication to God and union with the community of believers. For example, the practice of foot washing before the Lord’s Supper has no inherent power but represents a personal commitment to the example of humility left by the Master (John 13:1-17).
On the other hand, there are some practices that may not be intrinsically sinful but should be abandoned because of what they represent. For example, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not poisonous in itself but was chosen by God as a test of obedience (Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-13). Likewise, abstaining from wearing jewelry and outward adornments is recommended in the Scriptures as a symbol of personal renunciation and consecration of the heart to God (see 1 Pet 3:3-4).
Therefore, we must recognize that even in seemingly lawful situations, the faithful Christian has sufficient spiritual sensitivity to perceive that not everything is beneficial and edifies (1 Cor 10:23).
A synchronism of content from the biblical books of Leviticus, Daniel, Hebrews, and Revelation reveals that we live today in the antitypical Day of Atonement. In the ancient Jewish ceremonial system, while the high priest performed the rituals for the purification of the earthly Sanctuary, the Israelites were to afflict their souls in special consecration to the Lord (see Lev 16:29-31).
Today, according to Ellen G. White, “Christ is cleansing the temple [Heb 9:23] in heaven from the sins of the people, and we must work in harmony with him upon the earth, cleansing the soul temple from its moral defilement.”7
The expectation of Christ’s imminent return generates a special preparation and a lifestyle consistent with such an expectation (1 John 3:1-3). In contrast, the loss of this expectation negatively influences human behavior (Matt 24:42-51). However, true Adventist Christians abstain today from anything they would not want to be engaged in when Jesus returns.
Commenting on the life of Enoch, Ellen G. White states:
In the midst of a world by its iniquity doomed to destruction, Enoch lived a life of such close communion with God that he was not permitted to fall under the power of death. The godly character of this prophet represents the state of holiness which must be attained by those who shall be “redeemed from the earth” (Revelation 14:3) at the time of Christ’s second advent… . Like Enoch, God’s people will seek for purity of heart and conformity to His will, until they shall reflect the likeness of Christ.8
Professed Christians can be divided into those who live a religion based on the anti-Christian question: “Can I do this and that and still be saved?” and those whose behavior is guided by the Christian question: “What is the best way to live out Christianity?” We need to leave behind spiritual and behavioral mediocrity in order to pursue the highest ideals of Christianity. The church and the world need less rhetoric and more living examples of the transforming power of God’s grace.
There is a story about a child who had a unique behavior in the classroom, different from his unruly peers. One day, the teacher asked him why his behavior was different. The child replied that the reason was simply that he was the son of a king. Surprised, the teacher asked him to explain what he meant by this. The child then said he had previously lived in a small country where his father was the king and his mother the queen. But one day, enemy armies invaded the small country and captured his parents. In the firing line, they asked permission to speak with their son one last time. They were allowed to do so, and the father told him: “My son, your father, and mother will be shot, and you will be taken to a foreign country. But no matter where you are, never forget that you are the son of a king.”
“That is why,” the child concluded, “I have to be different because I am the son of a king.”
May the Lord bless us so that our lifestyle may demonstrate that we are truly children of a King, the King of the universe. “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31).
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1 Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1903) p. 248.
2 Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1905), 302.
3 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1911), 509.
4 Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1923), p. 474.
5 Ellen G. White, Conflict and Courage (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1970), p. 300.
6 Ellen G. White, The Faith I Live By (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1958), p. 87.
7 Elena G. de White, “The Danger of Talking Doubt,” Review and Herald, 11 February 1890, par. 4.
8 Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1890), 88.