Catholic Apologetics Online

Choose a topic from Vol 2:

God

Man

Religion

The Religion of the Bible

The Christian Faith

A Definite Christian Faith

The Protestant Reformation

The Truth of Catholicism

The Church and the Bible

The Dogmas of the Church

The Church and Her Moral Teachings

The Church in Her Worship

The Church and Social Welfare

Comparative Study of Non-Catholic Denominations

To and From Rome

Seventh Day Adventists

1301. In observing Sunday instead of Saturday the Roman Catholic Church is at variance with Scripture.

If Holy Scripture insisted that followers of Christ must observe Saturday, and not Sunday, then the Catholic Church would indeed be at variance with Scripture. But the Bible nowhere so much as hints that the followers of Christ must observe Saturday.

1302. If one wants the religion of Christ, he must become a Seventh Day Adventist.

If one really wishes for the religion of Christ, he certainly could not become a Seventh Day Adventist. If you believe in Christ, you must believe that He kept His promises. Now He said, "I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." His true Church must have been founded by Him personally, and it could never go wrong. But who commenced the Seventh Day Adventists? And when? Certainly Christ did not establish that sect. It began in the 19th century—19 centuries too late to be the work of Christ. The Seventh Day Adventists are simply an offshoot of the Millerites, the followers of William Miller who began to give his religious ideas to the world in 1831.

1303. What is the significance of the word "Adventist"?

William Miller, born in 1782, was an uneducated American farmer who took to Bible reading, and got wrapped up in the idea of the Second Coming or Advent of Christ. In 1831 he believed he had discovered that the Second Advent of Christ was due in October, 1843. He began to preach this, gained some disciples, and they received the name of "Adventists." When Miller's prediction failed in 1843, he declared that Christ would come in the spring of 1844. When the end of the world did not come then, Miller apologized to his followers for the mistake in his calculations, and told them that the end would come in the autumn of 1844—to be precise, on October 22nd of that year. When that date failed, Miller washed his hands of the whole movement, admitted that he was wrong, and declared that he had no confidence in it. But a prophetess arose named Mrs. Ellen G. White, who consolidated the movement, adding the Seventh Day doctrine.

1304. Are there other Adventists besides the Seventh Day Observers?

Yes. It was Mrs. Ellen White who discovered that all Christians had fallen into error by their observance of Sunday. She declared that she had been taken up into heaven and shown the truth—that Saturday was the day to be observed. In 1845 she and her followers organized themselves into a body called the "Seventh Day Adventists"—"Seventh Day" because they insist on observing Saturday instead of Sunday; and "Adventists" to show their retention of the idea that the Second Coming of Christ is near at hand. Other forms and offshoots of the Millerite movement are, "The Life and Advent Union," 1848; "The Advent Christian Church," 1861; "Church of God, Adventist," 1865; and the "Churches of God in Christ Jesus," 1888. Needless to say, all these sects fail with Protestantism, just as all other forms of the Protestant religion.

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MORE FROM VOLUME 2

• About the Author
• Introduction
  - Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty
• Preface
  - John Gregory Murray
  Archbishop of Saint Paul
• Forward
  - Dr Leslie Rumble, MSC

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