It’s a term that 21st century Adventists are allergic to. How did we get here? A look at the most influential Adventist theologian that nobody has heard of.

GYC 2016: When All Has Been Heard

<p>It’s a term that 21st century Adventists are allergic to. How did we get here? A look at the most influential Adventist theologian that nobody has heard of.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Sanctuary Under Siege

David Shin

1. The Shaking

2. The Hijacking

3. The Central Pillar

4. Gospel Wars

5. Last Generation Theology

6. The Omega Apostasy

This message was presented at the GYC 2016 conference, When All Has Been Heard, in Houston, Texas.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

Just a few items before we begin in order to facilitate covering all the intended information in the seminar.

Please hold and write down your questions until the seminar is completed.

Otherwise, we will dive down and I will never get done.

So if time allows, there will be a segment for questions at the end, if time allows.

Information will be given at the end of the seminar of a time and location when further dialogue can take place later this evening.

GYC has opened up a room for speakers to dialogue with individuals.

If you'd like to dialogue some more, there will be a time that I will reveal later on at the end of the seminar.

There will be a link provided at the end for downloadable seminar notes.

I apologize for those that have come to previous seminars.

I did not know that the host would charge.

And so I switched to a different provider.

And I'll provide those links at the end of the seminar.

All right, here is the format for this seminar.

In the beginning, I will attempt to synthesize Andreasen's theological package.

Then I'll touch briefly on questions on doctrine, and then we'll talk about Hepenstall's systematic theology, and then I'll do some personal reflections, and if time, we will do questions at the end.

Andreessen, the most influential systematic theologian of the 1930s and 1940s.

He's known for his book, Sanctuary Service.

The most controversial chapter in his book is the last chapter concerning the final generation in which he describes what is called last generation theology.

It cannot be overstated the influence and the reaction of M.L.

George Knight, in his book Search for Identity, puts it this way, it is impossible to overestimate the influence of M.L.

Andreessen on 20th century Adventist theology.

His theological package is so central to modern Adventist development that a person is forced to respond in 1 way or another to it.

Individuals and groups within the church either agree with his theology or they must react against it.

Neutrality is not an option for those who understand his teachings.

Andreessen's Systematic theology can be synthesized several different ways, but this is a way that I have attempted to synthesize his theology.

His view of sin is that sin is predicated on the notion of choice and volition.

By the way, when I'm going through this, I'm going to be descriptive.

Descriptive, and at the end, I will provide some personal reflection.

So I'm attempting as best as possible to be descriptive.

Andreassen's framework for sin is predicated on the notion of free will and volition.

It is a choice stemming from a sinful nature.

In Andreason's theological framework, the sinful nature is the result of sin, but it is not sin.

We inherit a sinful nature as a result of sin, but that sinful nature is not sin.

Andreasen's framework for sin is a categorical rejection of the notion of a sin of being.

It is a catechal rejection of the Augustinian notion of original sin.

So from that framework, Because sin is coming from a sinful nature, but the sinful nature is not sin, therefore this has implications when it comes to Christology.

If having a sinful nature does not mean that you are sin, as in sin is a state of being, then when you go to Christology, you can come to the conclusion that Jesus having a sinful nature, or the sinful nature of Adam after the fall, would not make him a sinner.

Because in the Andreessen framework of systematic theology, coming from his understanding of sin, that sin is predicated on free will and volition, not a state of being.

Therefore, Jesus can have the nature of Adam after the fall, having the inherited and cultivated tendencies to sin, now we will parse that out a little bit later, post-fall, having what Ellen White calls a sinful nature, Christ can, and in Andreason's paradigm, does have the nature of Adam after the fall with the tendencies to sin.

The inner tendencies, because having the inner tendencies does not mean that you are sin or a sinner.

Therefore, in the package of Andreason, Christ can be our example.

In other words, Jesus came all the way down, became a man, a human being just like us, and overcame sin in the flesh.

A logical implication following his definition of sin, the nature of Christ, and Christ as our example.

This has eschatological implications as well.

Eschaton, the Greek word that means the end.

So you can see that this systematic theology, this package, has hermitology, the nature of sin, Christology, the nature of Christ, and it also has eschatological implications as well.

In Andreason's theological framework, it is developed on this notion of harvest theology, that when Christ is coming in the book of Revelation, He's holding His hand a sickle, He's coming to reap the earth.

The notion is that the 144, 000 are going to mature as Christians developing a reflection of the character of Christ, found in the book of Revelation.

And the quotation that has become kind of a synopsis of the Andreason eschatology is Christ Object Lessons 309.

It was early when I did this, or late, whichever you look at it.

Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of himself in his church.

When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in his people, then he will come to claim them as his own.

So this is a synopsis, a summary of what is called last generation theology in the Andreassen framework.

So it starts with the nature of sin, nature of Christ, implication Christ is our example.

It has an eschatological perspective as well in terms of the last generation that will perfectly reproduce the character of Christ.

Also built into this whole notion when you read the rest of this paragraph and the paragraph afterwards in Christ's object lessons, it gives the notion that Christ is waiting for this.

In other words, Christ is not waiting for the Pope or final events or these things, he's actually waiting for his church to reproduce the character of Christ in the Andreason paradigm.

Now, around the time that Andreason was retired, there were some developments in the interactions between Adventism and evangelicalism.

Unruh, who was president of the Pennsylvania Conference, wrote to Barnhouse, who was the editor of Eternity Magazine, a predominant evangelical magazine.

Unruh, an Adventist conference president, wrote to him and affirmed him on his presentation on righteousness by faith.

Barnhouse reacted and said, look, I didn't believe that you would affirm righteousness by faith because I thought that you believed in righteousness by works." Anyway, this conversation didn't go anywhere.

Later on, Barnhouse and his associate Martin wanted to start a project dealing with cults.

And naturally, Adventism was put into the mix.

And Martin, wanting to go to the original individuals rather than secondary information, reached out to T.

Unruh, who Barnhouse had had dialogue with, and T.

Unruh went to the General Conference to the brethren and facilitated a dialogue between Martin and his associates and with representatives from the General Conference.

There were 3 prominent individuals that were in this dialogue.

Anderson, and probably the most notable, Leroy Froome.

And in this dialogue, there were a number of issues that the evangelicals had with Adventist theology.

Now, I don't want to get lost into this topic, But we need to recognize that the Calvinist mind and the Reformed theology is really coming from a framework of theology.

They're coming from a very well-developed systematic theology.

Series

Sanctuary Under Siege

5. Last Generation Theology

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Attachments

The Wheel of Faith

5. The Battle of Titans

54m

Adventist Apologetics: Complex Issues, Adventist Answers

6. The Final Generation (Panel Discussion)

1h 14m

GYC 2013 Seminar: The Most Important Book Outside of the Bible - A Deeper Look at The Great Controversy

03-Adventism’s Prophetic Message in the Great Controversy

1h

The Everlasting Gospel for These Last Days

02 The Righteousness of God Revealed

59m

Sanctuary Under Siege

6. The Omega Apostasy

1h

Breakouts

Why I Don’t get the Gospel

1h 2m

Living Free: Building a Better Brain, Body, and Habits – for Good!

5. Leaders Lighting The Way

1h

God of the Philosophers or God of the Bible?

How to Know the God of Scripture and Detect the “God” of the Philosophers

1h

The Power of God's Word

5. Understanding Prophecy

1h

Repairing the Breach Caused by the Doctrines of Devils

01 The Horrors of Hell

56m

The White Elephant in the Room

God’s Fascinating Prophetic Pattern

56m

God of the Philosophers or God of the Bible?

The God of Scripture and Why It Matters, Part 1: The Sanctuary vs. Classical Theism

58m

Sound Doctrine