Question: “I have a simple but difficult question. I know Jesus said in John 6:44 that “no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” So my question is, are we saved before baptism or after baptism?”   

Answer: Salvation is a gift given freely to everyone in Christ Jesus. Many who do not know Jesus by name will be saved. Many who could not be baptized biblically will be saved (like the thief on the cross (see Luke 23:43). Baptism and every other act of obedience to God’s Word is the fruit of salvation (Colossians 1). It is proof that we do believe, but it is not the means of salvation. Salvation is a reality before baptism. It is a fact the moment we take Christ as our personal Savior. 

Question: “Worship, as far as I am concerned should bring spiritual refreshing and draw you closer to God. Also, we should worship God with dances like king David did in the Psalms. How can we get that spiritual refreshment in our worship if we are not allowed to dance?”

Answer: “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40, NKJV).

“By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1).

“Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp” (Psalm 149:3, NKJV).

“Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!” (Psalm 150:4, NKJV).

“Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.’ So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ‘O Baal, answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention” (1 Kings 18:25-29, NIV).

“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.’ Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount” (Exodus 32:1-7, 19, NKJV, KJV).

“Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry [dance]’” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7, NIV)

“You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jesus, speaking in John 4:22-24, NKJV).

“And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32, NKJV).

According to Jesus, spirit and truth are both essential in the worship of God. In order to achieve proper worship of God, we need both the Spirit of God and the truth of God. The Spirit is not something we can conjure up or manufacture through our worship styles. Christianity is not like a heathen religion, trying to force God’s Spirit to respond by our actions. We cannot dance and leap as the Baal worshippers at Carmel in order to conjure up the Spirit of God. The Bible indicates that God’s Spirit is present in worship when we obey the truth of God’s Word.

Having said that I would like to answer this question in three ways:

1) What the Bible says about dance in worship

2) What the Bible says against dance in worship

3) What the Bible says about how to worship

First let’s examine the evidence for dance in worship. It is clear that there are some verses that seem to indicate that dance is acceptable in the worship of God. It should be noted however, that these verses are authored by David who also danced before the Lord. One of the principle methods of arriving at Christian practice is to allow “two or three witnesses” that is, biblical authors, to confirm doctrine. It has been difficult for any church to do this based on lack of clear evidence for dance in worship from more than one source. In addition, David danced before the Lord alone (see 2 Sam 6:16). There is no evidence that others joined him, making his dance even less of an example for a congregation in worship. (Yes, there are a couple other examples of dance among God’s people in the Bible, but these were in victory celebration, not worship and done by the women only; (see Exodus 15:20; 1 Sam 18:6;).

The evidence against dance in worship is more abundant. We find two witnesses in Moses and Elijah that indicate that dance was something used by those who worshipped God falsely. Both at Sinai and on Carmel the professed followers of God set a bad example of worship style by dancing. This brought severe consequences from God and a warning from Paul in the New Testament not to follow their example (see 1 Corinthians 10:5-7)

Finally, let’s consider the evidence for proper worship. If we take a biblical approach to this question we can see that God has given us abundant evidence of when to worship Him, that is, on the Sabbath day. Compare the small amount of biblical evidence we have for dance with the ample biblical evidence we have for worshipping God on the Sabbath day. We can see clearly that dance in worship is a distraction to the more important issue of the day God blessed and sanctified for worship (see Genesis 2:1-3; Revelation 14:7). God never says He blessed and sanctified dance for worship. In addition, God has promised His Spirit to those who obey Him. In the end, dance in worship is a side issue to distract us from worshipping God in spirit and truth. Dance in worship has led God’s people to idolatry, confusion, and apostasy. Let’s make sure we follow the clear teaching of God’s Word and we will then have the promise of His Spirit. And when we have the Spirit we have true spiritual refreshing.

                                                                                                                                                                   Question: “From my readings of the book of Acts speaking in tongues is the sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit;  why don’t SDAs believe in that? In Corinthians the Bible talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit which include the gift of prophecy, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues etc. These gifts are meant for spiritual edification. Why are they not exercised in the SDA church?”

Answer: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:1-11, NKJV; see also 1 Corinthians 14:1-28, NKJV).

“And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:28-31, NKJV).

Seventh-day Adventists do believe in and exercise the gift of tongues, but in the biblical context. According to Acts 2 and the meaning of the word “tongue,” (“language,” in the Greek), the gift of tongues is actually the gift of speaking and understanding languages. Speaking in other languages, though a sign of the Holy Spirit, is not the only sign of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is last on the list of God’s gifts to the church. In addition, the Bible urges the believers not to speak in tongues unless what is spoken can be understood or interpreted by someone and bring edification to those who listen. Otherwise, as far as speaking in another language, we should keep “silent” in the church. The apostle Paul warned us that the gift of tongues was being misused by believers in Corinth for self-edification. His conclusion was that he would rather we spoke “five words” with understanding that “ten thousand words” in tongues (see 1 Corinthians 14:1-28).

Question: “Show us the verse where Saturday is the Sabbath.”

Answer: “And behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their counsel and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. That day was the Preparation (Friday), and the Sabbath (Saturday) drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now on the first day (Sunday) of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again’” (Luke 23:50-24:7, NKJV).

Question: “In Isaiah 65 or 66 there is a verse that talks about something like death. Will there be death in heaven according to that verse?”

Answer: “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed” (Isaiah 65:20, NIV).

I believe this is the verse in question. According to the first half of this verse there will never again be anyone in heaven who does not live out their years. In the context of the Bible, this means no more death at all (see Revelation 21:4). The second half of the verse is speaking in “what ifs.” “What if” a man in heaven died at 100 years of age, (he won’t because there is no more death in heaven, but if he did), he would be considered a “mere youth.” And if anyone failed to reach 100 years of age in heaven, (they won’t because we will all live out our years which are eternal), then he would be considered accursed of God. But, the Bible says, “Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship Him” Revelation 22:3, NRSV).

Question: “There is a lot of romance on our university campus. I believe romancing my sweetie is not a blueprint commandment. Who defines the extent of our physical relationships? I understand ‘no sex before marriage,’ but my problem is whether it is a sin to touch my girl friend (to a predetermined level).”

Answer: “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other” (1 Thessalonians 4:1-9, NIV).

Now this question brings a smile to my face, because I know it touches on the very practical issue of relationships that grabs the interest of young people in every generation. In answer to this question I would ask you, “is it a sin to touch another man’s wife in an inappropriate way?” Whatever physical contact is inappropriate toward another man’s wife is also inappropriate towards your girlfriend, because until she is actually your wife, she is the potential wife of someone else. This applies also to young ladies.

As far as a “predetermined level” of touching, I know from personal experience how difficult it can be for a couple, especially the male, to hold back once physical contact begins. My wife and I did not engage in any physical contact at all until we were engaged to be married. We did not even hold hands. And I remember that when we began to hold hands and kiss after we were engaged, it was much more difficult for us to be morally faithful to God. It just makes sense that we will have more control over our bodies sexually if we hold back from physical touch as much as possible when we are just girlfriend and boyfriend. This will also give us clearer and better mental discernment and not allow our emotions, based on physical appeal to overrule our sense of judgment as we move forward in our relationship. In this way we can avoid making major mistakes in the choice of a life partner (see Judges 14:1-3).

                                                                                                                                                                   Question: “Most Adventists argue on the issue of eating meat. Some claim to base the argument from Mrs. White and they say that even they that eat meat will not enter into heaven. How come God created the animals when we’re not allowed to eat the meat?”

Answer: “Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food” (Genesis 1:29, NIV).

There will need to be some points of clarification to this question.

1)    The first point needing clarification is that “most Adventists” do not argue against meat eating; this is because most Adventists eat meat.

2)    Second, Mrs. White encouraged people to move away from eating meat for health and spiritual reasons, but she did not regard meat-eating as a sin. For example: “I advise every Sabbath-keeping canvasser to avoid meat eating, not because it is regarded as sin to eat meat, but because it is not healthful. The animal creation is groaning” 0277790139 (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 16, 1889). Jesus ate meat, but He was not a sinner (see Luke 24:42, 43).

3)    And finally, there will be many people in heaven who ate meat. Mrs. White ate meat for many years of her life. At the same time, many will lose heaven because meat eating became their god and it led them to turn away from God (see 1 Corinthians 10:5-11; Numbers 11:4, 33). The issue here is temperance and keeping our bodies as the temple of God by eating the best food we can for God’s glory rather than making our bellies a god (see 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20; 10:31; Philippians 3:19).

With that clarification let’s address the question. God created the animals to be our companions not to be killed for food. Death was not God’s plan for creation, for it is an enemy of God (see 1 Corinthians 15:26). God loves and cares for all His creation, even the animals (Luke 12:6). God allowed us to eat clean animals after the flood, when most vegetation was destroyed (see Genesis 7:2), but when God makes this planet new again there will be no more death in all the creation including animals (see Revelation 21:1-4; Isaiah 11:6-9). And in these last days when disease is so prevalent in animals [bird flu, mad cow disease, etc], God is encouraging us to return to the Genesis diet of fruits, nuts, grains and vegetables in order secure optimum health. 

                                                                                                                                                                    Question: “Martin Luther protested from the Catholic faith. For Methodists do not drink or repent to a priest, but they worship God. What is wrong with this church? I believe they are God’s people too.” 

Answer: “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.’ And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues’” (Revelation 18:1-4, NKJV).

“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16, NKJV).

According to these Scriptures, God has His faithful people in every fold and church. However, many of these churches have become confused about what the Bible teaches and are not worshiping God according to the teaching of Scripture. God is calling His people who hear His voice through His Word, to come out of this confusion (Babylon), religious confusion about the truth of God’s word and into one fold or church. That church or fold would be the one that is in harmony with the Word of God. This is why I left the Catholic church, then the Pentecostal church and finally a non-denominational church to become a Seventh-day Adventist.

God’s people are in every church today, so yes Methodists and Catholics are God’s people, but God is calling His people together into one church so that they will worship Him in “spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Whatever church teaches the truth of the Bible and worships in the Spirit of God is the church God is calling us into.