Seventh-day Adventist Beliefs

Details as well as supporting texts for the beliefs listed below can be found at the official world church headquarters website to http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental

1. Holy Scriptures: The Holy Scriptures as inspired by God and as our only rule of faith and practice.

2. Trinity: The Trinity as a unity of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All omnipotent, omniscient and eternal.

3. Father: The Father as source and sustainer which is sovereign over all of God's creation.

4. Son: The Son who became incarnate to show us the character of God as well as to redeem us.

5. Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit who convicts and transforms us and also extends gifts in service of the gospel.

6. Creation: The creation, in perfect beauty, was initiated and sustained by God. The Sabbath is a memorial of this creation.

7. Nature of Man: Humankind was made in the image of God with free choice, the power to think and to do, yet dependent upon the creator. Sin and the resulting death entered our world through the disobedience of Adam. But through Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, humankind was reconciled to God.

8. Great Controversy: The conflict between Satan and God which began in heaven is now being played out on earth. The conflict regards the character of God and his government.

9. Life Death and Resurrection of Christ: Christ came to redeem the world through his substitutionary atonement as well as show us the love and goodness of God.

10. Experience of Salvation: When we are convicted of our sin, repent of it and through faith accept God's gift of salvation, we are given new hearts and minds with the assurance of rightness with God. It is all of grace.

11. Growing in Christ: Through faith in Christ as our savior, we tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to live above the constant pull of sin.  We have a new freedom to obey God’s biddings.

12. Church: The church is the community of believers through time who confess their dependence on God for salvation from sin.

13. The Remnant and Its Mission: At times of widespread apostasy God has always had a remnant who continue to love and obey him.  The mission of the remnant in these last days is to proclaim the nearness of Christ’s second advent.

14. Unity in the Body of Christ: Because the church follows only one Lord, we are called into fellowship with those who believe in all parts of the world.  All are equal before God.

15. Baptism: By baptism we confess our faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ as our Lord and savior.

16. Lord’s Supper: When we partake of this special meal of unleavened bread and pure juice, we acknowledge our acceptance of Christ invitation to be his bride.  We remember his death for us until he returns for his bride, the church.

17. Spiritual Gifts and Ministries:  In every age God has bestowed on his people gifts for the advancement of truth, the good of the church and the blessing of humanity.

18. The Gift of Prophecy: One of the gifts of the Spirit is the gift of prophecy. It is an identifying mark of the remnant in the last days.  It is given for the guidance and correction of the church.

19. The Law of God: The goodness of God’s character is exemplified in the Ten Commandments and lived out through the life of Christ.  The fruit of our salvation will be the desire to obey God.

20. Sabbath: The gift of our creator and memorial of both creation and redemption is the Sabbath.  We are called to rest from our labors and enjoy special fellowship with Jesus on that day.  The commandment (Ex 20:8-11) calls the seventh day of the week the Sabbath of the Lord our God.

21. Stewardship: From the creation God has given us stewardship over not only the earth, but also our time, money, talents, health and our very selves.  So that we may not fall into selfishness, he asks us to return a portion of what he has entrusted to us.

22. Christian Behavior: The fruit of salvation is a life transformed by the grace of God.  Therefore we are called to live holy lives in harmony with the life of Jesus.  We would therefore shun all that would injure our bodies or our relationships with God and other people.

23. Marriage and the Family: Marriage was established by God at the creation of humankind.  It was affirmed by Jesus as an institution of love, respect, and permanence. Parents are to bring up their children to love and obey the Lord by their example before them.

24. Christ’s Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary: As typified in the Old Testament tabernacle service, Christ, our high priest, has entered the Sanctuary in heaven to intercede on our behalf.  The day of atonement in the Old Testament has its fulfillment in the great day of atonement starting in 1844 when Christ entered the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary in the act of beginning the pre-advent judgment.

25. Second Coming of Christ: The return of Christ is the great hope of the church through the ages. The Bible describes it as literal, personal, visible, and worldwide.  He returns to gather his saints both those resurrected and those living to take them to heaven.

26.  Death and Resurrection:  Eternal life is not inherent in human beings but is rather the gift of God to those who trust in him.  Upon death, the person remains unconscious in the grave until the resurrection, when the righteous will be glorified and will forever be with the Lord.  The wicked will be resurrected after the millennium.

27.  Millennium: The Bible describes the time period between the resurrection of the just and the resurrection of the wicked as the 1000 year reign of Christ with his saints in heaven.  Judgment of the wicked takes place during that time.  At the end of that time period, the wicked are raised to die the second death which is total annihilation in the lake of fire. Thus will the universe be cleansed of sin forever.

28. New Earth: God has promised to remake heaven and earth to be the dwelling place for the righteous forever.