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July 4 - Thoughts on Lifestyle and Doctrine-2

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Walk as children of light. Eph. 5:8.

When it comes right down to it, there are only two ways to walk-in the light or in darkness. The Bible is clear on that point. But what is light?

Many of us act as if correct doctrine or even biblical lifestyle is the light. Wrong! Christ is the light, and religion centers on our relationship to Him. Encompassed in that center is the problem of sin and God's solution to it in the cross of Christ.

Both doctrine and lifestyle are secondary issues. After all, you can believe all the right doctrines and live the right lifestyle and still be lost. Salvation has to do with your relationship to God through Jesus. Doctrine is not an end in itself, but is rather a means to understanding God better so that we can love Him more effectively. Lifestyle is a means even further from the center of faith. Health reform, for example, enables us to have sweeter personalities in order that we might be able to love our neighbors and God more fully.

At any rate, in the minds of Adventism's founders the realm of lifestyle and doctrine were not equal. Thus they put forth a great deal of effort to state their doctrines precisely, while basically neglecting most lifestyle issues until necessity and crisis forced them to take a position.

Adventists filled the resulting lifestyle void in various ways. Sometimes they formed a position through Bible study and conferences as a crisis arose, but at other times Ellen White took the lead in raising the issues, pointing to the solution, and indicating how that solution fit into the larger picture of the three angels' messages. That latter course was evident in such areas as health reform, while the former, as we have seen, predominated in such aspects as military service and tithing.

Because Ellen White often applied biblical principles to the everyday life of the church and its individual members, through the years her counsel has come increasingly to the center of discussions of Adventist lifestyle.

As we view the deveopment of early Adventism we need to recognize that Ellen White had a dual role, with less activity in the realm of doctrinal formation and more in lifestyle development.

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Guide us, Father, in helping us understand how the various parts of our religious faith package relate to each other and our lives.
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