Many wonder how Adventists can hold to keeping Law, specifically why they hold the "4th" Commandment as compulsory for Christians.
As stated earlier, Ellen White, confounder of the Adventist movement, had a series of approximately 2,000 visions which heavily influenced how Adventists view scripture.
According to the
Pillars of Adventism:
Fundamental Belief #18:
"In the last days, as in biblical times, the Holy Spirit has blessed God's people with the gift of prophecy. One who demonstrated this gift was Ellen G. White, one of the founding pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist church.
"The Scriptures testify that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.
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The church believes the spiritual gift of prophecy was manifested in the ministry of Ellen White, whose writings are sometimes referred to as the "Spirit of Prophecy". Two other official statements regarding the prophetic ministry of Ellen White have recently been voted at
General Conference Sessions. The June 1995 document
A Statement of Confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy states that White "did the work of a prophet, and more", and that her writings "carry divine authority, both for godly living and for doctrine"; and recommended that "as a church we seek the power of the Holy Spirit to apply to our lives more fully the inspired counsel contained in the writings of Ellen G White." The 2005 document
Resolution on the Spirit of Prophecy called upon "Seventh-day Adventists throughout the world to prayerfully study her writings, in order to understand more fully God's purpose for His remnant people", describing her writings as "theological stimulus".
With this in mind, that Adventists believe in the divine authority of scripture as well as the writing of Ellen White, we can why Adventists might reinterpret scripture in a way or manner that keeps their founder's doctrines a primary, yet appears to be in keeping with scripture.
Let's look at one one of her visions.
In 1847, just 3 years after the Great Disappointment (William Miller's prophesy that Christ would return in 1843, and when that failed, in 1844), she had a vision that she had been shown the law of God:
Jesus stood by the ark, and as the saints’ prayers came up to Him, the incense in the censer would smoke, and He would offer up their prayers with the smoke of the incense to His Father.
In the ark was the golden pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of stone, which folded together like a book. Jesus opened them, and I saw the ten commandments written on them with the finger of God. On one table were four, and on the other six. The four on the first table shone brighter than the other six. But the fourth, the Sabbath commandment,
shone above them all; for the Sabbath was set apart to be kept in honor of God's holy name. The holy Sabbath looked glorious—a halo of glory was all around it....
And I saw that if God had changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day, He would have changed the writing of the Sabbath commandment, written on the tables of stone, which are now in the ark in the most holy place of the temple in heaven; and it would read thus: The first day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. But I saw that it read the same as when written on the tables of stone by the finger of God, and delivered to Moses on Sinai, “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.” I saw that the holy Sabbath is, and will be, the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers; and that the Sabbath is the great question to unite the hearts of God's dear, waiting saints.
I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.—
Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 100, 101.
So here we have White's vision and interpretation. All 10 commandments are opened by Jesus before her, but it is the 4th commandment that glows, it is the Sabbath commandment that "shone above them all".
Christians will note this is in direct opposition to scripture:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:36-40)
So, for Adventists, the keeping Sabbath is the primary Commandment in the law, whereas scripture tells us that loving God is the primary commandment for us.
The teaching of White and scripture on this are irreconcilable. Jesus does not raise the Sabbath as the first or even the second greatest commandment.
Conclusion:
I think from this, we can safely conclude that the tablets did not glow the same for Jesus as they did for Ellen White.