A DRAMATIC shift of emphasis seems to be taking place in the religious life of America. Americans are turning to religion again, and young people are at the fore front of this thrust. Church attendance swelled by nearly three million in the past three years, as compared with an increase of only 5.5 million over the twenty-year period between 1951 and 1971. Interestingly, it is largely in the fundamentalist-conservative churches that such rapid growth is occurring.
Bishop Dwight Loder, president of the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist churches, is quoted as explaining this renewal of faith in the following terms: "People realize more and more that true happiness and contentment can only be found with God and faith."—National Enquirer, July 14, 1974.
One analysis of what is going on suggests that thinking people have concluded that the humanistic-evolutionary- liberal philosophy that has been the basis for much of our thinking and practice as a nation for the first seventy years of this century is now coming to be recognized as bankrupt.
Crime, corruption, and economic disaster are the fruitage of this decadent philosophy and the way of life that is based on it. Materialism, self-fulfillment, and survival of the fittest have proved to be inferior concepts. The idea that man can solve all his own problems has been clearly demonstrated to be patently ridiculous. Because of this, people are be ginning to turn back again to the old standards and values that for so long gave strength and meaning to American society. Of course, what they're looking for is not nineteenth-century Christianity, but a religion that meets today's problems and points toward a more hopeful tomorrow.
Where does this new religious emphasis in the United States leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church? First of all, isn't this trend exactly what we would anticipate as we study Bible prophecy and the book The Great Controversy? We expect the pendulum to swing again to the extreme of strong moral emphasis and even to persecution of those who oppose a popular reform movement.
Erosion of Standards and Practice
Frankly, however, this trend also leaves the Adventist Church in the rather anachronistic position of involvement in an internal struggle that most other Protestant churches went through ten to forty years ago. The gradual erosion of Adventist standards, apparent to anyone who takes a careful look, has not gone as far yet as it has in most Protestant churches. This is probably because of our continuing emphasis on the Spirit of Prophecy, which is so clear in most areas of personal Christian life, as well as institutional practice, that Adventist standards can only be compromised by infinitesimal measures at any one time.
Nevertheless, there has been definite erosion over the years, and many thinking Adventists are quite concerned about the amount of erosion that has taken place. With the pendulum now seemingly starting to swing the other way, this is no time to allow further deterioration in our standards. Instead we should be doing all we can to get back into line with the blueprint God has given the remnant church.
Need to Accentuate the Positive
Although it's easy, and often quite popular, to point a critical finger at what's happening, there's much to be optimistic about too. Probably the most exciting thing that has happened in the Adventist Church in recent years is the emphasis on revival and reformation that came out of the 1973 and 1974 Annual Councils. This call to revival has stirred the hearts and hopes of those Adventists who long to see Christ come quickly.
To those of us associated with what is going on in our church's world headquarters, our confidence in our administrators is at an all-time high and our respect in the ability of our present organizational structure to respond to a new dynamic is increasing. In recent years many Adventists seem to have partaken of the general aura of disillusionment felt toward organized churches and church leaders. Such need to be made more aware of the progressive leadership we are being given and the interest of our administrators in getting the church to move more rapidly toward its final goal.
What else demands our special attention in the light of current trends and the challenge of present opportunity? One thing there is probably general agreement on is that we need to face up to what is undoubtedly the greatest problem in our church—spiritual apathy. The answer to this need is to be found only in a personal, meaningful love relationship with Jesus. When an individual falls in love there is excitement, joy, and anticipation evident. But you can't structure, legislate, or organize love. It comes about through exposure. What seems to be lacking is enough exposure to Jesus so that Adventists everywhere cannot help but learn to love and trust Him and want to be united to Him.
Another trend Adventists every where should recognize is the current interest in, and emphasis on, health. Health reform is an essential part of our message, since sin has destroyed "both the desire and the capacity for knowing Him [God]" (Education, p. 29), and "the brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man and affect his inmost life" (Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 347). (Italics supplied.)
We are also told that it is "impossible for men and women, while under the power of sinful, health-destroying, brain-enervating habits, to appropriate sacred truth" (Counsels on Health, p. 21). Therefore the Lord makes it most clear that health practices are a definite part of sanctification. "If we would be sanctified, in soul, body, and spirit, we must live in conformity to the divine law. The heart cannot preserve consecration to God while the appetities and passions are indulged at the expense of health and life."—The Sanctified Life, p. 29.
Another current trend is evident in the fact that much of the literature now coming off church presses deals with the necessity of involving the laity in the ministry of the church and the spread of the gospel. Long ago we were informed that "the heart and hand--of the whole church is to be employed, if the work is to be accomplished" (Review and Herald, Aug. 13, 1889). (Italics supplied.) The blueprint given us includes specific instruction that "every church should be a training school for Christian workers" (The Ministry of Healing, p. 149), and that every member needs to be trained and put to work in small companies "formed for service" (Evangelism, p. 115). There is a growing emphasis on lay training in many Protestant churches today. Why are we so far behind in implementing God's clear instruction?
Throughout our world today there is an unprecedented number of home and marriage problems. God has given Adventists so much clear and fine instruction, the best available anywhere, to help us meet this very issue—yet for some strange reason, our people aren't reading, studying, or hearing much about this God-given guidance designed to prevent these family problems from tearing our church and world apart. Here's another area where we especially need to fight truth decay.
Need for United Witness to World
Probably one of the most disturbing issues we face today revolves around the concept of a united witness to the world. Most of us who have experienced the joy of leading new members into our church in recent months have been forced to be extremely apologetic about some of the things going on among church members. We've had to caution those we've studied with to look to Christ and not the church, since they will find so many in the church who do not practice what Adventists preach.
How can we possibly represent Christ to the world until the church—leaders and laity alike— come into full and united conformity to the will of Christ for His people? Isn't it time for us to join in fighting truth decay and realistically face up to the issues and trends that challenge us to take a new look at what we as Adventists can and should be accomplishing in the kind of world we live in today?
