Contrary to the opinion of many regarding the young people of today, the popular television program entitled Youth Wants to Know indicates that young people are serious and inquiring; curious about the world they live in and the influences that make it what it is today. This fact was evidenced recently among a group of girls of the Maryland University, College Park, Maryland, who are members of a popular sorority on the university campus.
During the recent evangelistic meetings held in Takoma Park by F. A. Detamore, this group apparently saw the advertising. This led to a discussion among them of Seventh-day Adventists and their beliefs. They discussed coming to the Sligo church as a group to attend one of the meetings. However, they thought this might make them too conspicuous and decided to invite a Seventh-day Adventist to visit their sorority and tell them about the beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists.
One of the girls lives in Takoma Park, and various members of her family have been patients at the Washington Sanitarium. She was appointed to invite the speaker, and it was through her that the invitation was extended to me. The interest was apparently keen enough so that the date was set during the time that the meetings were being held.
The meeting was held in the lovely living room of the sorority house, and the sixty-five girls filled the room, some sitting on the floor.
Each sorority has a house mother, a student president, and a student chaplain; it was the chaplain who introduced me and opened the meeting.
I decided to divide my talk into two parts and then give some time to answering questions. I hoped to cover as many as possible of our more distinctive doctrinal topics—those on which we differ from most Christians. I began my talk with the plan of salvation—the theme that runs through the Bible. And the second part of my talk was a synopsis of the origin and history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Establishing the Bible as Authority
The fact that most of us inherit our religion was stressed. Also, that very few of us study our beliefs or check them with the Bible; that as Christianity is Biblical in origin it is essential that we know and believe the Bibre. True. there are some ministers who state that the Bible is contradictory. If they were right it would mean that only parts of the Bible were true, while others were untrue. To substantiate the fact that the Bible claims to be all true I quoted John 17:17 which states that God's "word is truth," and Hebrews 6:18 where we read that God cannot lie.
To illustrate the above fact I used the following incident that happened at the sanitarium. A patient had introduced me to her pastor. During our conversation he asked me if we were fundamentalists. I said we were, and I asked if he were too. He replied that he was not because he believed the Bible to be contradictory. As we conversed together in the sanitarium lobby, I looked over at the picture window and said: "If someone were to ask you what you could see through that window, you might say that you could see a red brick building. If someone were to ask me what I could see, I would say that I see trees, lawn, and a ravine. That sounds contradictory. But is it? All of those things are visible through the window and give a complete picture. Both of us are telling the truth. And so it is with the Bible. Two statements may seem contradictory but actually both statements are true."
So, the girls learned that the Bible is the foundation, or basis, of Seventh-day Adventist belief; that the entire Bible is accepted by them, and that they study it carefully.
Understanding the Plan of Salvation
I then spoke briefly on Creation. How God created man and gave him a mind that had power to think and choose; that there are two forces in the world—good and evil—and that man can choose either; that God wants us to choose good, but that He uses no force or compulsion. Also, that God recognizes the fact that we often do sin, but is kind and forgiving and sympathetic with our failures, and is not an austere, vindictive judge. I quoted John 3:16, 17 and pointed out that God sent Jesus into the world not to condemn us but to save us, and that Jesus gave us not only a pattern for living but that His death paid the penalty for our transgressions.
Then we discussed the second coming of Christ and the fact that God wants us with Him. That the time is near when this world will come to an end, not by the destructive genius of man's inventions but by the brightness of Jesus' coming, when He will take the righteous to the heavenly kingdom which He is now preparing for them. That life on the new earth will be real and interesting and without the distressing and unhappy features of life that we know today.
In the second part of the talk I gave a brief history of the prophetic origin of Seventh-day Adventists, the doctrines we hold, our church organization, and the phases of our work as they exist today.
The Question Period
During the question period the girls were quite free in asking questions. Strangely, not one of them asked about the Sabbath. The questions covered quite a wide range of topics, such as:
How does your church service compare with other churches?
Are Seventh-day Adventists Protestants? How does the communion service compare with that of other denominations?
Do any Seventh-day Adventists smoke, or drink alcohol, and what happens to them if they do?
Do Seventh-day Adventists ever marry those of other denominations? Are they disfellowshiped if they do?
Do they consider it a sin to smoke, eat meat, et cetera?
What do they believe about the millennium?
The discussion of the question on communion and the ordinance of humility was somewhat surprising to the group, but as John 13 was read it was also revealing. Drinking, and health in general as taught in the Bible, created pointed discussion. The discussion of the millennium brought out many related questions on hell, purgatory, and the state of the dead.
An outstanding transition that seemed to take place during the discussion was that the girls began to ask, "What does the Bible say?" rather than "What do Seventh-day Adventists teach?" This was rewarding, for it was one of the aims that I had in mind throughout the meeting.
Reflecting on this inspiring experience, I realized again that many young people sincerely desire to know God's way of life. They have been born into a world of confusion—in their home, the church, everywhere. A new attitude is abroad in the land, that of open-minded investigation, especially with regard to religion. Heavenly agencies are making impressions on youthful minds, and the Bible instructor does well to improve such opportunities for God's kingdom. Could gospel workers realize how far reaching these opportunities are they would initiate more inquiry meetings for the youth in our colleges.
Every contact with groups inquiring into what Adventists believe should be considered a providential chance to witness for the Lord. Too often we draw away from these opportunities and find others to respond to them. But the Bible instructor can never get away from the challenge. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord." It is high time that we prepare ourselves to meet our fellow Christians with positive truth, thereby creating further inquiry into our beliefs. I would suggest that each Bible instructor become well acquainted with our recent publication, Questions on Doctrine.
What did I do to help these young people at the Maryland University to continue their research into Seventh-day Adventism? I had supplies of our journals, Signs of the Times, These Times, and Life and Health. Also an armful of our smaller books on doctrine. There is an interest in children's books, and health information has a definite place in higher education. The Public Health Service today has good material on reports that are in favor of a vegetarian diet. When the Spirit of God opens doors for teaching truth we are greatly blessed with follow-up literature to meet the needs of inquirers. May we be faithful to our trust. Now is the hour of opportunity!