christian study

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pt: Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald
dt: 02-24-1874
at: Redemption, No. 1
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Eve had overstated the words of God’s command. He had said to Adam
and Eve, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt
not eat of it; for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.” In Eve’s controversy with the serpent, she added the clause,
“Neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Here the subtlety of the
serpent was seen. This statement of Eve gave him advantage, and he
plucked the fruit, and placed it in her hand, and used her own words,
“He hath said, ‘If ye touch it, ye shall die.’ You see no harm comes to
you from touching the fruit, neither will you receive any harm by
eating it.”
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So yes, the Lord DID tell them not to even touch the forbidden fruit.  Eve did not tell a lie or even overstate by telling the serpent that they were not supposed to touch the fruit.  She was just repeating what the Lord had told her.

How can this be when the Bible only mentions about God’s command not to eat of the fruit?  God did not have the Bible writers say anything about touching the fruit, but in giving an expanded view to Ellen White, God chose to tell her about this fact.  The Bible does not directly say either that the Sabbath issue will be the great issue in the last days, but that information WAS given to Ellen White.  It doesn’t contradict the Bible at all, just gives added information so that those who live in the last days can prepare better to withstand Satan’s temptations.
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I have studied quite a bit of material with Ellen White’s name on it, and the ONLY instance i have ever seen of any contradiction in that material before 1881 is this question about whether God said to not touch the forbidden fruit or not.  After her husband died in 1881 tho, and the chief editor changed, there can be found many contradictions.  Just as in the case of the Bible, i believe that with material with Ellen White’s name on it, the closer we go back to the originals – the better.

David Kang of Light to Live Ministries, and John Davis of Orion Publishing both believe that there are mistakes in the Bible.

While having supper with Brother Kang one evening, i introduced the 1858 Great Controversy book, and showed him a few things after he had asked why i was promoting it.  I told him i believed all the words in it are from God, and showed him one place in chapter 30 where it says what the apostles wrote in the Bible was: “dictated by the Holy Ghost”.  He smiled and said something like: “of course we don’t believe the Bible was dictated do we?”, and when i answered that some, including myself, DO believe that way, he got very serious and said that i was going against the Spirit of Prophecy, and that he would bring me a quote showing that belief was false. 

He said: “Do you believe Paul was inspired when he asked someone to bring his coat?”  I replied in the affirmative.  He continued: “We know that there are some minor mistakes in the Bible.  For example, one writer says Mary Magdalene ran first to the tomb, while others don’t.  Some of the numbers given don’t match up.  And one writer even attributes a quote to Jeremiah when we know it was actually in Isaiah!  Do you believe the Holy Spirit dictated a mistake?”  I replied that “the Holy Spirit doesn’t contradict himself, and that we, being 2,000 years removed, may not know exactly the details of why that was given that way.  Just as with Paul’s coat, that exact phrase that the Holy Spirit had Paul write may have been just the thing to convince some doubter living at that time of the authenticity of that letter that it was indeed from Paul.”

…

mistakes in the bible?Read More »

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Acts 5:19-20
Acts 5:27-28
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