are agreed that they have created doctrines to compensate for errors in prophetic interpretation...."26
Desmond Ford, PhD, an Adventist who disagrees with the Church's position on the sanctuary and
investigative judgment, has written a 694-page book to argue his points. 27
Within and outside of the Adventist circle and scholarly community, there have been many questions
raised regarding the soundness and biblical bases for the sanctuary interpretation and also the implications of
the investigative judgment--questions such as the time gap of millenia between Jesus's death on the cross
and the beginning of the investigative judgment, why an omniscient God has to take such a long time to
examine the records, even granting the time allowance for other created beings to see God's evaluative work
based on the human calender. Questions of the place, size, design of the sanctuary and the anthropomorphic
movement and activities of Christ the Creator-God from the Holy to the Most Holy conjure up a whole
speculative constellation least congruent with postmodern thought.
However, most SDA's admit that this sanctuary and investigative "doctrine" cannnot be the core of
Christian non-negotiables in the context of one's salvation and relationship with their Lord and Savior. The
preamble of the most recent doctrinal statement of the SDA Church (1980), reaffirmed in 2000, clearly states
that the Church remains open to new light and further illumination for understanding the Bible. Adventists
since the earliest times have embraced a dynamic stance regarding the progressive unfolding of God's truth,
and no one has claimed infallibility in any of the doctrinal statements. In view of these factors,
evangelicalism's bar may not be set so high beyond the Adventists' reach in spite of the sanctuary and
investigative judgment beliefs among some of their members.
IV. The Human Soul and Spirit, the State of the Dead and Punishment of the Wicked
Based on the biblical theme of the creation of humans in the Image of God and the OT's notion of soul
(nephesh) and NT's idea of spirit/soul (psuche) all pointing to the person and life with spirit, soul, body in an
indivisible unity, Adventists believe that the "soul" does not have any conscious existence apart form the
body. SDA's believe that the human person is a unitary whole. It follows then, when the person dies, the
soul being a part of the person and being all the manifestations of a living being, ceases to exist.In other
words, the human soulish expressions in the form of cognitive, affective and volitive functions perish with
the body.And the person rests in the grave till Resurrection at which time the power of God will reconstitute
a glorious, transformed, resurrected body with the person's identity intact. In line with SDA's concept of a
God of love and justice, the God of Jesus who even notices the fall of a sparrow, Adventists reject the idea of
eternal punishing of the wicked by God in an everlasting hell. Instead, the wicked, after being punished
proportionately, will be annihilated together with Satan. The universe then will be forever rid of sin and the
aftermath of evil and evil doers. 28
Critics of the SDA's stance on these subjects cite biblical texts and the Christian traditional teachings on
these points and mount cogent defense of the immortality of the soul, which entity at death departs from the
body and immediately is caught up before the presence of God. The conscious, living soul is then reunited
with the resurrected body at Resurrection. 29
The nature of the human, Christian monism versus duality, conditional immortality, annihilation of the
wicked, eternal punishment and hell fire, and related subjects are recurrent hotly debated topics within
Christendom. Noted Christian scholars as well as evangelical theologians have in different degrees also
argued for the Adventist position. Martin Luther in his early career, William Tyndale, John Wycliffe, H. W.
Robinson, Oscar Cullman, G. C. Berkouwer, Philip Hughes, Stephen Travis, John Stout, John Wenham,
Edward Fudge, Stanley Grenz, Clark Pinnock, to cite a few. 30
If evangelical scholars are subscribing to some of these views similiar to those of Adventists, one has to
be careful in defining what is the non-evangelical doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists. Clearly, there is
room for dialogue and mutual understanding on these issues.
V.