What do you think about the views of Seventh Day Adventists in general, but especially on prophecy and Revelation, and particularly on the period known as the Millennium?

Ted’s Response:

In the Spring of 2004, I attended a concentrated seminar, everyday, for three full weeks, put on by Seventh Day Adventists (SDA). On Saturdays, I attended their church services, and there was lunch and fellowship following. There was less instruction on Saturday afternoons, compared to the other days of the week, but there was some.

Even before going to the seminar, I went online and did some studying about SDA and their beliefs. Therefore, I already had a pretty good grasp about what they believed. I chose to attend the seminar not because I was searching, nor because I did not know what I believed, since I had read the Bible most of my life and had studied it in great depth after retiring in 1991. I already had developed a very firm belief system, which I maintain today. I learned all about SDA simply wanted to understand their perspective and point of view.

Before I comment on the things you wanted me to look at, I will tell you, in a few paragraphs, what my evaluation of their belief system is. Since I continue to be a steadfast Torah advocate and follower, I do accept the SDA affirmation of the seventh day Sabbath. I am firmly convinced that Catholicism and the majority of Protestantism are dead wrong in observing the Sabbath on Sunday. There is no way around Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15—they speak of a seventh day Sabbath, and I do not believe that this was "nailed to the cross" with Jesus.

SDA's beliefs about Jesus/God generally align with my own. I have seen many SDA Bible teachings with which I agree completely. I do not question the salvation of those SDA members who understand that we are saved by faith, through the grace of God, and by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. (Of course, there are those in any denomination who are unsaved, because they have the false notion that going to church, or doing good deeds, is what saves them.) I definitely do not believe, though, that one must be baptized into the SDA church to be saved. I also do not believe that the final pope, of the Catholic Church, will be the Antichrist, as I was "taught" in the SDA seminar that I attended.

As far as SDA views on prophecy and most of the book of Revelation, I mostly disagree with SDA teachings on a host of things. They believe that many things in Revelation already have happened. For instance, I think they generally believe that one of the earthquakes mentioned in Revelation was the Lisbon quake of 1755 and that the stars appearing to fall from the sky was the Leonid meteor shower in 1833.

On the contrary, I believe that the vast majority of the book of Revelation is yet to take place, most of it during the 70th Week of Daniel (final seven years), in fulfillment of Daniel 9:27. SDAs do not believe in a final seven-year period of this age, prophetically speaking. They believe that the seven years of Daniel 9:27 transpired long ago, during the first century A.D. (typically 33 or 34 A.D.). They also believe that at the time of Jesus' crucifixion, the Jews and Israelites stopped being God's chosen people, since they had rejected their Messiah, Jesus. These things simply are not true. The prophecy speaks of an agreement, into which Israel would engage for seven years. There was no such agreement in the first century, nor has there ever been—until October 2006.

SDAs claim that their prophetic interpretation is from a "historist" perspective. That is, prophecies expanded through history and will climax at the time of the end. However, SDAs have at least one thing in common with those whose prophetic interpretation is from a "preterist" point of view. Pertaining to the prophesied 70th Week of Daniel 9:27, both views insist that the 70th Week ended somewhere in the range of 27-33 A.D. I explain why I believe this view is incorrect in these two email responses:

• How do you know that Daniel's 70 weeks did not end in 33 A.D.? and
• The seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 already has happened, so how can you say it has anything to do with the end-of-the-age prophecies of Matthew 24?

I watched the "Millennium 1,000 Years" video, by Doug Batchelor, and can give you some comments. I will tell you, from the start, that perhaps the main teaching of SDAs with which I most vehemently disagree is that of the Millennium (Revelation 20) and their concept of the "new heavens and new earth" and the New Jerusalem to come (Revelation 21:1,2).

I agree with SDAs that the millennial period will last 1,000 years, and it will transpire after Jesus' second advent (bodily descent) to earth. I also agree with SDAs that there will be no "pre-tribulation" rapture, although I am convinced that there will be multiple "catching up" events, which they do not believe.

I have numerous disagreements with SDAs as to what will happen after Jesus returns back to earth, though. I think we both agree that the earthquake to take place at the Seventh Bowl Judgment (Revelation 16:17-19) will rock the entire earth, leveling mountains and destroying islands. This, and other processes of mass destruction before that point, will cause calamitous damage to the earth's surface. However, since I know that Jesus is God, I have no problem believing that He can and will restore and renovate much of the earth after He comes—a grand "makeover," as it were.

Of course, SDAs believe that the earth will be barren and forsaken by God during the Millennium. Batchelor places 2 Peter 3:10 at the beginning of the Millennium. Yet, there are numerous passages in the Bible depicting a glorious, magnificent earth after Jesus returns that it would take longer than I wish to spend finding them all. Here is just a small sample: Isaiah 2:2-5, 4:2-6, 11:1-16; Ezekiel 40:5 thru 43:12 and 47:1 thru 48:35; Zechariah 8:3-23. Thus, I believe that during that thousand-year period, most places on the earth will flourish and most people will be living peaceful, productive lives.

Many, including SDAs, place 2 Peter 3:10 at the beginning of the Millennium. The assumption is that as soon as the "day of the Lord" begins, the surface of the earth will be destroyed by fire and will be laid bare—a "shaky foundation" upon which they construct much of their defective "building" of their theories about the Millennium.

There are many Bible verses where a lengthy period of time has passed between one sentence and the sentence that follows, or even between two portions of the same sentence. One such example is in Daniel 12:2, where it desribes how some of the dead will awake to everlasting life (Revelation 20:4), while others will awake to shame and everlasting contempt (20:12-15), with a 1,000-year span between these two events. Likewise, I believe there is a 1,000-year span of time between the first and second parts of 2 Peter 3:10.

Let's look at the entire context of this passage:

By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ... But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare [in some versions, "burned up"]. ... That day [of the Lord] will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. (2 Peter 3:7,8,10,12,13)

• The present heavens and earth will be destroyed by fire on the same day as the final destruction of ungodly men occurs—all taking place on the day of the great white throne judgment (2 Peter 3:7; Revelation 20:11-15).
• To the Lord, a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). Accordingly, the day of the Lord can be equated with the thousand-year period, the Millennium, beginning with the short but dreaded "day of vengeance" period.
• The destruction will occur to both the heavens and the earth (2 Peter 3:10,12).
• The NIV indicates that the heavens will "disappear with a roar," and the KJV says that the heavens will "pass away with a great noise" (2 Peter 3:10).
• The NIV says that the "day [of the Lord] will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire" (2 Peter 3:12). The implication is that destruction will happen after the day of the Lord has transpired.
• After the first heaven and earth have passed away, there will be "a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). Even Jesus affirmed, quite clearly, that heaven and earth will pass away (Matthew 24:35).

Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ... Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ... Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. ... He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" (Revelation 20:11,14, 21:1,5)

At the end of the Millennium, everything that we know and see on this earth, and everything in the vast universe that astronomers have observed, billions of light years away, will be totally burned up with fire and utterly annihilated. That is, everything that God created the first time—other than saved believers—will completely pass away and become nonexistent. Look at what King David wrote about this:

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you. (Psalm 102:25-28)

After all of this has been discarded and has passed away (which will end the lengthy "seventh day" of His rest in which we now exist), God will go into "creative mode" again. He will create a new heavens and a new earth. These will not be merely "renovations" or "transformations" of the old heavens and the old earth, because the latter will be eternally gone. Something "new" is not something that has been "renewed"; it is something that has just come into existence, for the first time. God said that He will "make all things new" (Revelation 21:5). This means that all of the things made, at that point, will be brand new. Furthermore, nothing in that brand new, pristine, perfect Creation ever will deteriorate, nor will it ever be tainted or contaminated by sin, which will have been tossed into the lake of fire, along with Satan. For more about all of this, see the old and new Creations section in Part 2 of my Creation commentary.

Now, SDAs teach that the Abyss ("abussos" or "void") in which Satan will exist, during Millennium, will be on the barren earth. The legion of demons that Jesus cast out of a man begged Jesus not to send them into the Abyss (Luke 8:30,31). Yet, if that just meant the "barren earth," it would have made no sense for Jesus to have sent them there, because the earth was not barren at that time. No, the Abyss is a real place, probably in a dimension of void and limbo that God has created, separate from us. When Satan is there, during the Millennium, he will not be able to have any effect on people here on earth, because he will not have any access at all to this earth.

The Millennium will not be a time for Satan to look on the "barren earth" and see the product of all the destruction he has made, then to contemplate whether or not he should change. The Millennium will be a time for Jesus and glorified believers to rule and reign over mortal beings on the earth "with an iron scepter" (Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15), because the ability to sin will still be within mortal people during this time. We know this because it will not be until the very end of the Millennium that death is thrown into the lake of fire (20:14), and death is the wage of sin (Romans 6:23). Jesus will reign, for a thousand years, until all of His enemies have been placed under His feet, the last enemy being death (1 Corinthians 15:25,26). Another purpose of the Millennium is to prove to mankind that, even without the temptation of Satan and demons, mortal man is fallen and sinful within himself, and unredeemable, apart from God.

In Revelation 20:7-10, it describes how Satan will be released from the abyss to go and deceive the people of the nations—that is, the ones who have not humbled themselves and accepted the rule and reign of Jesus over the earth. Satan will make one last attempt to destroy Jesus and the people of God. It indicates that all the people that Satan will deceive into following him will be, in number, "like the sand on the seashore." How could that be possible if there were no people on the earth during the 1,000 years, as SDAs maintain? Where will all these multitudes of people come from?

Batchelor says that these great multitudes of people will be the resurrected, unsaved people from all the ages. However, we know that these people will not be brought to life until later, after Satan has been tossed into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10), at the great white throne judgment (20:12,13). Furthermore, all of these, whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, will be thrown into the lake of fire (20:15), even before the new heavens and earth come into being. Thus, Batchelor is "cutting" verses from one place and "pasting" them into another, ignoring the clear and simple chronology of chapter 20.

The fact is, there will be almost countless numbers of people on the earth during the latter part of the Millennium, including the multitudes of unsaved people who will be deceived by Satan at the end of the Millennium. With most of the earth flourishing and thriving under the strict but benevolent rule of Jesus and the immortal believers, the population of mortal believers will "sky-rocket" during that 1,000-year period.

Batchelor even has Jesus coming to this earth, to the Mount of Olives, after the Millennium is over. This is an extreme example of "cutting and pasting," as that event already will have taken place at the end of the 70th Week, prior to the beginning of the Millennium. That will be the return of Jesus, the Rider on a white horse (Revelation 19:11-13), to rescue Israel from its attackers, after which He will begin to rule on the earth (19:15).

In Revelation 20:4, the thrones of those who are given authority to judge are not in heaven; they are on the earth. These believers will be resurrected and immortalized; and they will reign with Christ, over mortal people on the earth, throughout the Millennium. Batchelor says that these resurrected people will merely be "evaluating what is wrong, what is true and what is not." Yet, it says that they will reign with Christ, which means that they will have authority, with Christ, over the mortal people of the earth during the next 1,000 years.

During the Millennium, only those mortals who humbly accept the rule and reign of God/Jesus on earth, and who acknowledge that they are undeserving sinners, will be able to enter the heavens and earth that will be created after the Millennium is over (Revelation 12:1,5) and after this present creation has been destroyed (2 Peter 3:10,12). The new heavens and earth will be part of a brand new Creation, out of nothing, and it will be perfect for eternity, never to be infected by sin.

Batchelor said, "At the end of the 1,000 years, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, will come down from heaven to this earth." Batchelor gave no scriptural reference for this, because there is not one version of the Bible, that I know of, which states this. It says very clearly, in Revelation 21:1, that there will be a new heaven and earth, because the first heaven and earth will have passed away. Therefore, the New Jerusalem cannot come down onto this earth, because this earth no longer will exist. He does not understand that all of this will be annihilated, and another brand new Creation will take its place.

Once this creation has been destroyed, all of those destined to enter the new Creation will be taken to the new heaven. Then they will descend, in the New Jerusalem, down to the new earth. The New Jerusalem itself very well may be in existence now, in the present heaven, and will escape the destruction of this present creation and be brought into the new Creation.

Batchelor totally has his chronology twisted around, because next he has Satan, all alone, on the old, barren earth watching the New Jerusalem coming down from the new heaven. Yet, in Revelation 20:10, at the end of the Millennium, Satan already will have been tossed into the lake of fire. The only way that Batchelor can get what he wants out of his categorization of chapters 20 and 21 of Revelation is to yank things out of chronological order and wedge them in where he needs for them to be, to fit into his eschatological analysis.

When people rearrange events that plainly and simply are in unambiguous, sequential order (as chapters 20 and 21 of Revelation definitely are) to suit their belief system, that should cause huge red flags to be raised up in anybody's mind. In fact, SDAs twist things around quite a bit in their "instruction" of the entire book of Revelation—the sequential order of which is relatively straightforward, as can be seen in my Brief Chronology of Revelation.

Now, I want to say a few things about the beginning of the "day of the Lord" period. There are many periods of time, in our lives, where the initial segment is quite different from the remainder of the period. Sometimes the initial segment is better, and sometimes it is worse. For instance, a brand new president's inaugural ball, followed by a few weeks of soaring popularity, often deteriorate into almost four years of extremely arduous, stressful work and decreasing poll numbers. Likewise, the initial strenuous, laborious days of planting a vegetable garden usually are followed by weeks, sometimes even months, of productive harvesting and enjoyment of a fruitful crop. The latter is sort of how I believe the "day of the Lord" period will be: a short period of extreme affliction, followed by a thousand years of enjoyment.

I agree with the SDA premise that a "day," to the Lord, can be "like a thousand years" (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). The beginning of the "day of the Lord" period certainly will be dreadful and frightful time on the earth. However, I believe that this initial devastating and calamitous segment, the "day of vengeance," will last only a year. After that, the earth will be a delightful, some places even an enchanting, place to live.

A "day" in Scripture does not always have to be equivalent to a thousand years. In fact, Isaiah 34:8, 61:2, and 63:4 all seem to indicate that the "day of vengeance" (or "day of wrath") will be a year in length. This makes complete sense, because what it implies is that the seventh (or "sabbatical") year of the 70th Week (of Daniel 9:27) will be set apart from the first six years. This is explained in my short commentary, The Seventh Year.

SDAs acknowledge the importance of the seventh "day." I actually have had some of them email me, after reading that short commentary, and say that this makes more sense to them than anything they've ever heard before. This does not make my view right or wrong; it is just interesting to note.

As such, I believe that God's terrible, but righteous, wrath and vengeance will be poured out upon the earth for a year of time, at the end of which Jesus' second advent to earth will take place. This will be followed by the glorious Millennium, when Jesus and transformed believers will rule and reign (with an "iron scepter"), on this earth, over mortal humans alive during that time. The earth definitely will not be devoid of people during the Millennium. Everybody will not be co-habiting heaven at that time.

Pertaining to "The Two Witnesses" commentary, Doug Batchelor writes clearly, and generally I agree with many of his points about Jesus' transfiguration and those who joined Him from heaven in this event, Moses and Elijah. Most of the teaching from that article I can accept, and he makes some very good points. This was my favorite paragraph, with which I agree wholeheartedly:

The devil is a master at inducing mountaintop amnesia. If you give him just five minutes of your attention, he can make you forget a whole lifetime of miracles. If you entertain his suggestions, if you embrace his discouragement and his doubts, all those mountaintop memories can dissipate just when you need them the most.

Furthermore, I do not believe, for a moment, that God has abandoned His covenant with Israel, nor that they have ceased to be His chosen people. I explain why in this email response:

• When will God's covenant with Abraham be fulfilled, and how do we know that it is Israel who will receive the promised land?

Batchelor also believes that the 1,260 days, mentioned in Revelation 11:3, are figuratively speaking of the 1,260 years from 538 to 1798 A.D. Again, I adamantly disagree with this view. Because SDAs believe that so much of Revelation already has taken place in the past, they are forced to make literal things, such as days, be symbolic of something else, such as years. I was told the same thing in the SDA seminar I attended years ago. I did not buy it for a second, and I still do not.

He also makes the assumption that Moses and Elijah are in heaven inside of their glorified bodies. Nowhere in the Bible does it state that the bodies of either one of these men were glorified (made imperishable and immortal) before entering heaven. Frankly, nobody knows if they were glorified or not. SDAs have to say that they were to fit into their belief system, which includes the assertion that the literal Moses and Elijah will not return to earth, prophesy for 1,260 days, be killed, and then be resurrected after 3½ days (Revelation 11:3,11).

I do not know for certain if the two witnesses, during the final half (1,260 days) of the 70th Week, will be the literal Moses and Elijah, or two men with the "spirit" of the Law and Prophecy (which these two men had), or something else. (For instance, John the Baptist went forth in the spirit and power of Elijah—Matthew 11:14; Luke 1:17). In any case, I absolutely do believe that the prophecy of Revelation 11:1-13 has yet to take place during the 1,260 days prior to Jesus second advent to earth, which will take place at the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet (11:15-18).

SDAs, as well as many other Christians, believe in a "young-earth" creation, about 4004 B.C. On the contrary, I am a resolute believer in an "old-earth" creation of the universe about 13.7 years ago and earth about 4.56 billions years ago. My reasons for believing this are explained in my two-part commentary on The Creation.

Batchelor stated that "date setting is prohibited in the Bible." I do not know who wrote the second commentary, "The Secret Rapture," but he clearly is an SDA writer and would agree with what Bathelor said about "date setting." I know it commonly is believed, by many (including most denominations that are not SDA), that date-setting of end-time Bible events is "prohibited." As such, they believe that there is no way, at all, to predict the timing of the second coming of Jesus.

Yet, in Daniel 9:25, Daniel wrote about when the first coming of the Anointed One, at the end of 69 weeks of years, could be expected. It was very precise. In fact, it was the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, on Palm Sunday. This was shown, in Luke 19:41-44, when Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the people had not recognized the timing of His coming to them (prophesied in Daniel 9:25). Because of their manifest imperceptiveness, their enemies (the Romans) would ferociously attack them and destroy their city, in 70 A.D.

Likewise, the timing of Jesus' second coming will be "missed" by most of those at the end of the age. As stated before, SDAs believe that the prophesied seven years in Daniel 9:27 already have taken place. Again, I adamantly disagree with this viewpoint. Although Daniel's people (9:24), Israel, never had entered into a seven-year agreement with anyone, they did do so, in October 2006, when they were the first non-European nation to sign onto the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument: Israel is just one of the many EU/Israel documents within the ENP agreement. Although it may not be the prophesied seven-year agreement to come, it most likely is a precursor to it.

When formulating ideas and theories about Bible topics, including prophecy, a teacher needs to to lay down a foundation of "solid rock." Then, upon that foundation, he can build a meticulous structure of other beliefs and views that naturally follow and make sense.

A big problem arises, however, when the foundational assumption is incorrect (that is, the foundation is made of "sand"), because then anything built upon that weak foundation (or upon other things that are built upon the foundation) are in danger of collapsing. I will give you one example (though there are countless). I will use the passage Matthew 24:30,31, which was mentioned in the second commentary, "The Secret Rapture."

First of all, many "teachers" lay down the foundation that there will be one, single catching up event (rapture) of believers. Unfortunately, this foundation is made out of "sand" if there are going to be multiple rapture events, as I believe. "Pre-tribbers" build an adjacent, equally weak foundation to this one, insisting that the only rapture will be seven years prior to Jesus' second advent back to earth. "Post-tribbers" also build an adjacent fragile foundation, insisting that the only rapture will be on the day Jesus returns to earth, at the very end of the age.

Now, let's look at Matthew 24:30,31:

At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Matthew 24:30,31—NIV)

Note that nowhere in these two verses does it state, or even indicate, that the Son of Man, Jesus, is returning to earth at that time. The verses only show Him in the clouds of the sky, and His angels are gathering His elect believers to be with Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Now, look at the verse immediately preceding these two verses:

...the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. (Matthew 24:29—NIV)

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. ... The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. (Revelation 6:12,13)

The glaring problem is that the Sixth Seal will not be opened at the very end of the final seven years (end of the age). We know this because there will be yet one more seal, the Seventh Seal (Revelation 8:1), remaining to be opened. Following the opening of the Seventh Seal, there will be seven trumpet judgments (with the fifth one, alone, lasting five months—9:5,10). Jesus' second advent to earth, to rule and reign, will not be until the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet (11:15-18). It all is very sequential and chronological, with no messy gaps, nor "parenthetical sections" being "cut" and "pasted" into other sections.

The writer of that commentary, along with other "post-tribbers," point to Jesus coming in Revelation 14:14 and harvesting the earth (14;16). This is a depiction of Jesus' second advent, and it is a "post-tribulation" rapture event. We know that Jesus will return to earth at that point, since He next will trample the "great winepress of God's wrath" (14:19,20). However, notice that in this passage, it is Jesus who will reap the harvest of believers (14:16); whereas, in the Matthew 24:30,31 rapture event, it is the angels who will gather the elect believers. These are two completely separate rapture events, which I believe will be separated by about a year (The Seventh Year).

I have brought these things to the attention of both "pre-tribbers" and "post-tribbers" alike. Some of them will acknowledge that these facts are inescapable and have switched to my view—that Matthew 24:30,31 is a depiction of the "pre-wrath" rapture. At that time, Jesus will be seen, on His throne in the sky, by the whole world, soon after the opening of the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:15,16). It is only then, after Jesus has removed His elect believers, that God's wrath and vengeance will be imminent; and this wrath/vengeance will commence immediately upon the opening of the Seventh Seal, lasting for about a year.

After viewing the opening of the Sixth Seal, John wrote that the "day" of God's wrath will have come (Revelation 6:17), which I equate with the year-long "day of vengeance" (Isaiah 34:8, 61:2, and 63:4), as described before. However, "post-tribbers" (including SDAs) insist that this "day" is a 24-hour period—the very day on which Jesus will return. I am convinced that they are wrong.

I have had steadfast, die-hard "pre-tribbers" and "post-tribbers" email me and say that, to get around my deductions and conclusions, all they need to do is to rearrange the order of some of the end-time events in Revelation, and then everything will "fit." Of course, when one messes with the proper chronology and sequencing of the book of Revelation, one is "playing with fire," besides the fact that everything after that becomes convoluted and warped out of its true shape. (See my three-part commentary, The Chronology of Revelation.)

Most people would rather let someone else tell them what things in the Bible mean. On the contrary, I have spent over two decades reading the Bible from cover to cover, several times, which is the best thing that you can do to understand it. That is, it is optimal to observe for yourself how everything, from beginning to end, relates and links up. I also have been open-minded enough to examine all points of view about many topics. Even if a view is wrong, there still may be something of value to glean from it. It has taken a great deal of time and effort, but it has been worth every minute and has really paid off.

When I see that the "foundation" and "building blocks" about a certain view are shaky, I try to understand why. Then I move on to find a better structure built on a more solid foundation. Just because a group of people, such as SDAs, claim that they have a "more sure word," in everything they believe, it doesn't necessarily mean that they do. If you are not open to other ideas, and are not willing to put varying ideas together into a sensible perspective about a certain topic or issue, then you simply will be content with embracing notions that you want to believe, whether they are true or not.