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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful, January 9, 2009
George Knight's book is powerful and balanced. Interesting and humorous but theologically deep, it contains an important message for Adventists- the intended audience. The book makes it clear that all doctrines must be centered in righteousness through faith in Jesus and presents logical, Biblical explanations for doctrines which have been subject to questions. Highly recommended if you can handle some not so light reading.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A timely warning, March 10, 2009
In this short but thoughtful book, George Knight argues that Adventism is in the process of de-emphasising its historic apocalyptic message and mission, and that if it does, it will become irrelevant and wither away.
He notes that the mainline Protestant denominations traded their historic Christian beliefs for a mess of modernist pottage, and since the 1960s have been shrinking, in some cases dramatically. He notes that many younger Adventist pastors not only do not highly value the Church's historic apocalyptic message, they are not even very familiar with it. If we abandon our apocalyptic message, however, Adventism will neuter itself and become essentially irrelevant.
Knight has some problems with the way some Adventist evangelists have presented the Church's apocalyptic message--in a way that is not Christ-centered--which he calls "beastly preaching." But he argues that the basic structure is sound. Specifically, even though the historical method of prophetic interpretation has been abandoned, in favor of preterism and futurism, by virtually everyone except Adventists, the historical method is dictated by the second chapter of Daniel, and the rest of Daniel, as well as Revelation, follows from that template. Likewise, the day/year principle is grounded in the 70 weeks prophecy that predicts the Messiah's appearance and death, and cannot be overthrown without deranging the entire prophetic structure.
Knight argues that the Adventist interpretation of 1844, the sanctuary, and the investigative judgment are sound, except that Adventists bizarrely have used the doctrine as an occasion for legalism, when in reality it centers around and celebrates the sufficiency of Christ's merits on our behalf. He notes that Adventists have become ensared with arguing about chronology and about furniture in the heavenly sanctuary, to the point of losing sight of the larger truths. Knight even argues that the traditional Adventist interpretation of the three angels messages--as calling out the Sabbath truth--is sound.
So Knight has no real problem with the structure of Adventist prophetic interpretation, except that it has often failed to be Christ-centered, and hence has given our detractors the opportunity to argue that we are a cult and not true evangelical Christians.
Perhaps the real significance of this work is not so much what is being said, but who is saying it. Knight is something of a liberal, or least certainly not a conservative, so if he is concerned that the church is losing its way with regard to its historic mission, that is an alarm bell that must be taken very seriously.
If I have a criticism, it is that in Chapter 4, Knight commits the same mistake that has rendered so much Adventist apocalyptic preaching so annoying, namely, plugging in a pet theory on why the crisis is upon us. In Knight's case, he mentions Paul Erlich's "Population Bomb", Jared Diamond's "Collapse", and the spectre of "global warming." That is the type of alarmism that appeals to political liberals, but political conservatives like myself just deride that nonsense. Knight's mention of the "Population Bomb" is particularly brave in light of (1) his book's title and chief metaphor, and (2) the fact that America's birth rate is just barely at replacement level and many European countries' birth rates are plunging far below replacement level. One of our most serious problems will soon be the lack of people, not their overabundance, especially in light of social welfare systems in all the developed nations that are set up like Ponzi schemes.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read, June 8, 2009
Probably the most timely book for Seventh-Day Adventists in print. Thought provoking and clear presentation of our end-time beliefs and why they matter.
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