The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: Emergence of Seventh-day Adventists as Conditionalists

I. Underlying Reasons for Adventist Conditionalist Belief

In common with thousands of Christians throughout the world, Seventh-day Adventists, from their rise, had a profound conviction that, according to the Word, mankind had entered the period known as the “last days,” or “time of the end.” They believed that mankind was soon to be summoned before the judge of all the earth, that all who would should prepare to meet the returning Christ as King of kings at His second advent. They believed, furthermore, that this transcendent event called for complete preparation of mind and heart in order to meet their Lord with joy and acceptance. And this, they were convinced, called for thorough reformation of life and rectification of belief. CFF2 668.1

1. REPUDIATION OF PAPAL PERVERSIONS IMPERATIVE

They profoundly believed that the truths proclaimed by the primitive church must all be restored to their rightful place. This meant that all perversions introduced by the Papacy during her development and centuries of dominance must now be set aside. They therefore believed that such reformation of doctrine included repudiation of the philosophical dogmas that the Papacy had taken over from the widespread adoption of Platonism by the church-the fourfold postulate of universal Innate Immortality, consciousness in death, Eternal Torment of the wicked, and the later innovation of Purgatory. CFF2 668.2

Purgatory had, of course, been rejected at the Reformation. But the majority of the Reformation leaders and their followers had retained the first three. The Calvinistic bodies were especially insistent on these points, whereas the Anglicans left the question open, many of its illustrious sons from the Reformation onward espousing Conditionalism. And there was an increasing number and continuity of individual scholars in the various churches or denominations who likewise championed the principles of Conditionalism. The Adventists were well aware that they were not alone. CFF2 669.1

2. HISTORICAL SETTING AND MOTIVATION FOR THEIR BELIEFS

Seventh-day Adventists considered their platform to be a recovery of neglected or abandoned truths, not a discovery or a new deviation. They regarded it as a retention, not an invention; a restoration, not an innovation. They consequently considered themselves to be champions of age-old positions, not projectors of new theological contentions. They took their stand as upholders of apostolic orthodoxy, not as purveyors of a modern heresy. Their conclusions were born of deep conviction. As a consequence, their attitude was positive, not negative; aggressive, not defensive. CFF2 669.2

They profoundly believed that they had been raised up to help complete the arrested Reformation and to aid in the establishment of truths now due the world, late in time’s hour. This gave them a sense of mission, and of urgency in proclaiming the unchanged and unchangeable everlasting gospel. This very platform of timeless and timely principles led inevitably t4 the recognition and adoption of the doctrine of Conditionalism, which had been rescued from the perversions foisted upon the Christian Church by the great apostasy of the Middle Ages. That was the motivating basis of their Conditionalism. CFF2 669.3