Was God doing an Investigative Judgement of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3?!?

I’ve noticed a totally bizarre response to Former Adventists and other Christians standing up to the clearly Heretical Doctrine of the Investigative Judgment in the comments section of the youtube video I Was Wrong, Wrong Wrong about SDA’s by Alan Parr.

It’s actually in response to one of my replies, which I would quote here but youtube is currently not loading on my computer right now.

But I can quote from the response since it’s in my e-mail so let’s look at it:

Its not that God needs to know anything for Himself. The investigative judgment is for the one who sinned. Example: Adam and Eve. God knew they sinned. Right? So, what did God do? He asked Adam what happened (He investigated). Then, pronounced judgment (sent them out of Eden). The investigative judgment is not for God in the sense that He is unaware of what’s happening. Its a teaching that allows us to see God’s love, grace, and justice for those who have sinned. The investigative judgment leaves nothing hidden between God and man.

First the initial comment is absolutely correct- God knows everything. However the 2nd argument that the Investigative Judgment is for the one who sinned is incorrect.

You might remember in the first iteration of The Biblerunner Blog that I did an extensive break down of the Investigative Judgment- over 12 installments that went right down to the minutae. If you’ve never read it…feel free to go here: https://undercoveradventist.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/disarming-the-investigative-judgment-part-one/

From Fundamental Belief #24:

“…The investigative judgment reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ and therefore, in Him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection.”

So who is the Investigative Judgment for…it is to reveal to heavenly intelligences…those who are asleep in Christ (Christians) those who are actually deemed worthy to have part in the 1st Resurrection.

It’s not actually for the Believer. NO Adventist, if they have a correct understanding of the depth of the Investigative Judgment, has any kind of Security of Salvation…and they certainly are not being told by God about whether they are being investigated or what is going on in the investigation.

Part of the fear of the Investigative Judgment was the fact that you, as an SDA, had no idea when you would be judged, whether it was already happening, or whether or not you had already been judged. Not to mention that you since you had no idea if/when you had been judged while you were in a place of sin and seperation from God- and He judge you at that moment of sin…you would be forever CONDEMNED.

So this person claiming that the Investigative Judgment is (in the open) and for sin of the one who sinned is absolutely incorrect.

Now this person says God investigated when He asked Adam and Eve what had happened.

However God wasn’t investigating, He already KNEW what had happened- what God is doing is graciously asking the two participants to honestly evaluate what happened. He wanted to see if they would be truthful to Him after their failure to obey/trust with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The inner spiritual Judgment actually occured when they ate of the fruit…they were made spiritually dead.

Then the commentor leaves out the most important part of the narrative- God provided covering for their nakedness- just as His Righteousness covers our sins as believers.

Did God send them out of the Garden as Judgment…no…the visible/audible Judgment actually came during the so called Investigating Phase.

Here’s the Judgments in Cliff’s Notes form:

Woman: Intensified Labor Pains, Desire for husband and he will rule over you.
Man: Ground is cursed producing thorns and thistles. You will grow crops, after intense labor and survive of them. You will return to the dust when you die.

So here’s the Judgment- clearly in this case Adam and Eve (and the Serpent) hear the Judgment…in the Investigative Judgment we most certainly DO NOT hear the Judgment.

So why were they banished from the Garden? Was it really judgment at all, or the greatest mercy possible before the cross?

Let’s look at the scripture and see:

The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” Genesis 3:22

In God’s great mercy He didn’t want humanity to be in a lost state forever. So he sent Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and stationed Cherubim and a Flaming sword to guard the way of the Tree of Life.

In Conclusion

So can you find evidence of the Investigative Judgement in Genesis 3? NO!

Do we find Judgment? Yes. Multiple times in fact.

However we also find plenty of Mercy and Grace, mercy in the banishment from the garden, and the animal skins of clothing, wherein there is a picture of God’s grace too.

However the most amazing part of Genesis 3 is where God first speaks the Gospel:

“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Genesis 3 is not, in any way, a picture/image/precursor or any other such thing of the Investigative Judgment, in fact it’s so mind blowing that I’m actually having to write this post to say that. Nowhere in scripture, in any kind of context, anywhere is there any support from the Investigative Judgment heresy.

All the Best,

Ross

Baptism: A Look at SDA and Christian Baptismal Vows

Today I want to look at the SDA baptismal vows both the ones from when I was baptized into the SDA church and the vows now courtesy various webpages with said information. We’re going to break them down and discuss there positive and negative aspects.

After which we’ll discuss the baptismal vows at my re-baptism, my baptism into Christ Jesus in 2005.

This image shows the vows from when I was first baptized, for the ease for writng this post I’m going to use the updated vows/questions from elsewhere online.

Question 1 asks:

 Do you believe in God the Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit?

I could answer truthfully at the time that I did. I believed in the Biblical view of the Trinity,

I say this because in Adventism now there is a wide range of beliefs reguarding the Trinity. Some old friends, still Adventist don’t believe in the Holy Spirit at all, others compare the Trinity to a “small group” which is absolutely horrid. Even the smallest of groups often has many disagreements in discussing scripture even if most are unspoken.

Of course since the founders of Adventism held non-trinitarian views this mad misunderstanding of the Trinity shouldn’t come a a surprise.

Getting back in the groove…

So as you have no doubt noticed I started Undercover Adventist 2, wrote a couple of posts and then nothing. You see there is a good reason for that, and rest assured it’s not because there’s no more differences between Adventism and Christianity to blog about.

You see I actually had a huge shift in my personal life and moved to a different state and things have just been hectic and unfortunately my blogs have been forgotten. That’s not the plan anymore. I have ideas for relatively short quick fire posts And I am watching a SDA Revelation Seminar DVD Series I picked up at the thrift shop which I am thoroughly transcribing and adding personal notes to. This will make up a huge series probably longer than the one on the Investigative Judgment from the original Undercover Adventist blog!

So please stay tuned for more as I plan to have a quickfire article up later today or tomorrow.

All the best,

U.A.

Adventism is Clearly Not Christian

Hello again!

If there was one thing that hit me in the face like a Theological 2 by 4 when I was studying my way out of Seventh-Day Adventism it was cognitive dissonance. In other words, the antagonism between the Word of God read without Ellen G. White’s help and in proper context, and what Adventists taught about the Word of God.

Here’s a very good way of putting cognitive dissonance that addresses exactly what we’re talking about!

Why was this difference there? If Adventism was compatible with scripture then why was scripture read clearly ALWAYS firmly against Adventism?

Simply stated core beliefs in Adventism cannot be backed up by a proper reading and understanding of scripture.

The Making of a Human

Today we are going to be looking at the make up of a human. Our scripture passage comes from Genesis 1:

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth,^[h] and the creatures that crawl^[i] on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.

So Humankind was made in God’s image. God is three persons in one Being. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. So God is made up if you will of 3 parts. So humans are also made up of 3 parts.

What are the three parts of the human?

The Journey Begins Once Again

Hello everyone!

The last time I began this journey was intended to be the only time I ever began this journey. Yet God had different plans as is so often the case and the time between Undercover Adventist and Undercover Adventist 2 has been a time of unparalleled learning and spiritual growth in my Christian walk.

To be entirely honest a place like this is even more needed now then it was before. There is an incredibly wide range of Adventist belief from the Traditional to the more Evangelical. Multitudes are leaving the Seventh-Day Adventist Church each and every year and this exodus shows no signs of stopping.