Well, here goes!
Critique of Roman Catholicism
Prophecy and Hierarchy
The authority of the Roman Catholic Church exists in the form of a
bureaucratic structure, with the Pope at the top and the pyramid of power
beneath him. For Adventism however God does not direct his people via an
institution but directly through the inspired voice of prophecy. For SDA God
is active and alive, directing, leading and instructing through the "more
sure word of prophecy" (2 Peter 1:19). For "where there is no vision, the
people perish" (Prov 29:18). Adventists don't view E.G White as unique but
as one of many prophets, indeed at the latter rain (Joel 2:23) God shall
pour His Spirit out and "your sons and daughters shall prophecy" (Joel
2:28). SDA are alive to God doing new things, to give new light and lead his
people into new truths, such life is easily snuffed out by backward-looking
bureaucracy.
The Future not the Past
SDA understands the present in the light of the future, not the past. Roman
Catholicism is bound by tradition and precedent, the weight of her past is
imminence, she is constantly seeking to understand the present in terms of
the past. SDA on the other hand reject the authority of tradition and
understand the present from the perspective of the future. Indeed SDA live
in the future and are part of it. SDA is light, with wings, able to
transcend and reach into the sky. Roman Catholicism, burdened with the
claims of time remains weighed to the earth.
The Sabbath and the Seal
For Roman Catholicism the Sabbath is one part of the law of God, part of a
huge pharisaical list of dos and don'ts, rights and wrongs. It is part of
the religious system of Christianity.
For SDA the Sabbath isn't about religion, or sin or the law. It isn't part
of this world. The Sabbath is the crown of creation, it existed before sin
and so was not given in response to it. It marks the seal of God's people
and so cannot be the minor religious observance as understood by Roman
Catholicism.
SDA and Roman Catholicism
For Christians, Jesus came into the world to set us free from sin - he came
to free us from the world of sin. That world of sin isn't just the world of
secularism, materialism, sensualism and militarism - life without God. It is
also possible to live in the world of sin and believe in God. The Bible
tells us that even the devils believe. In the New Testament Jesus' main
opponents are not atheists but very religious, God-fearing people - the
Pharisees. Historians tell us the Pharisees were very devout, pious people.
Yet Jesus was continually in conflict with them - why? Because he saw that
the freedom that God wants to give us - the life God wants to give us - is
better than pious religion.
Even devout believers are still in the world of sin, They are still making
absolute that which is only relative. They are mistaking the God of religion
for the true God, and so are still worshipping idols (see the Protestant
theologian Paul Tillich for more details of this). Roman Catholics are
"religious Christians" in perhaps their purest form. For all its piety,
devotion and love, the system of Roman Catholicism is still part of the
world of sin because it is still part of the human creation of religion. It
is man's search for God not God's search for man.
The philosopher Jacques Derrida in his recent writings on religion
distinguishes between the experience of the sacred and holding to a
religious belief system. SDA live on the side of the experience of the
sacred - living in the fire of the words of prophecy, living in the future,
living in the Sabbath, living free from sin. Roman Catholicism lives on the
side of the religious belief system - the huge religious superstructure,
still caught in the past: she is living in the law, not the Spirit.
Over to you!
John
Stephen Korsman is a Roman Catholic
© John Mann 1999
John Mann is a Seventh-day Adventist
New Perspectives on Seventh-day Adventism
jon.mann@btinternet.com