If I Was Seventh-Day Adventist, I Might Become an Atheist, Too

Dr. Randy WhiteRyan Bell is an atheist. He has just declared his belief in disbelief of an Almighty.While atheists are a dime a dozen, Bell’s newly declared atheism has made the news because he was previously a Pastor. Bell took a year off to live like an atheist, and concluded his 12-month journey with a decision to commit himself to life-long disbelief.First, might I say, it is impossible to live like an atheist, so the year-long experiment was flawed from the beginning. Atheism isn’t a lifestyle, it is a worldview. Those with an atheist worldview don’t have a set lifestyle. Some are arrogant, others are humble. Some are wretched morally, others are pure as the driven snow. Some are grumpy, mean, and uncaring, others are kind, compassionate, and would give the shirt off their back. Since an atheist has no god upon which to base right and wrong, the atheist’s moral compass (yes, he has one) is self-determined.What has been lost in the recent string of Internet articles headlining the Atheist Pastor is that Bell was part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. When I was a seminary student, I took a class on American cults. One of our required reading texts was Anthony Hokema’s “Four Major Cults.” These cults were Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism and….Seventh Day Adventism. In all the blogs and news articles I’ve not yet found a sentence stating that Bell was the Pastor of a cult congregation.If I was Seventh-Day Adventist, I might become an atheist too. Sabbaterianism (Upon which Seventh-day Adventism is based) is flawed in its interpretation of Scripture, so fundamentally flawed that it has rightly been labeled a cult. The Adventists believe that a Christian is obligated to the Law, including the keeping of the Sabbath from evening until evening, and the keeping of the dietary laws continually. Any religion based on Law-keeping is not the Christian faith taught by the Apostle Paul, who is our example and doctrinal guide.The Seventh-day Adventists have seven “Pillars of faith.” These pillars include “the perpetuity of the Law of God” and “the special gift of prophecy.” The cult is based upon visions of Ellen Harmon, an 18-year-old girl who had a vision of a temple of seven pillars in 1845. This girl grew up to be Ellen G. White, one of the most influential Seventh-day Adventists of all time. Mrs. White is said to have had some 200 or more visions during her lifetime. Her visions were influenced by the Millerite movement, which was an end-times date-setting movement created by William Miller in the 1840s.Any religion that is based on modern dreams and visions is faulty. Any religion that rejects Pauline theology is going to be works based. Pastor Ryan Bell spent his ministry career in a faulty, works-based religion, and has now gone to atheism. If I was in the same kind of religion, I might consider atheism, too. With that kind of faulty religion, I would agree with Bell that, “the intellectual and emotional energy it takes to figure out how God fits into everything is far greater than dealing with reality as it presents itself to us.” However, since I don’t come from this Millerite date-setting and Ellen White vision-receiving religion, I don’t have the same frame of reference as Bell.I feel sorry for Bell. He was steeped in a religious tradition that was bankrupt, and he never did what I continually encourage my church members to do: question the assumptions. When he became burdened trying to live the man-made religion, he dumped the whole thing to buy another bag of tricks. I would encourage him to do today what he should have done before: question the assumptions. I think he will find it pretty hard to adopt the pillars of atheistic faith, which includes a godless world caused by cosmic accidents.Bell has freed himself from loony visions and burdensome works of self-righteousness, for sure. He hasn’t freed himself to live as a whole person with a self-identity crafted in His Creator. That can only come by faith in Jesus Christ.Mr. Bell, if you’re listening, we should talk.