Exposing Adventism - How to bind children to Adventism

Baptism is encouraged at an early age before children truly understand all the "baggage" that Adventism brings with it.

From "Children and Baptism" (http://www.plusline.org/article.php?id=196) we read the following chilling statements:

Children can understand that they belong to the family of God (Seventh-day Adventist Church) from an early age. Parents, teachers, and pastors should continually affirm and reinforce the child's sense of belonging in the community of believers (Seventh-day Adventist Church). Pastors do this by acknowledging the child's presence when the entire (Seventh-day Adventist Church) church family worships together and involving them in worship instead of ignoring their presence. Involving children in service projects also binds them to the (Seventh-day Adventist Church) community.

A Child's Faith Development

The (Seventh-day Adventist Church) faith of a child develops in clear stages. At first a child's faith is experienced faith. During the primary/junior years, children develop a belonging faith. At this stage, faith is still experienced--it cannot be examined and discussed. But just as kids develop an interest in joining clubs, they begin to see the (Seventh-day Adventist Church) church family as a community. Parents, pastors, and teachers need to reinforce in children positive values for belonging to the (Seventh-day Adventist Church) community of believers. They need to answer the children's questions about what their church believes and instruct them in what it means to be a baptized member of the (Seventh-day Adventist Church) church.

At ages 8-12 children are naturally joiners. They want to join their (Seventh-day Adventist Church) church and take part in (Seventh-day Adventist Church) church life. Kids need an opportunity to act on this desire to participate. There are many ways they participate, one of which is baptism.

Too many wrongly believe that children should not be baptized until they are of an age to understand fully the beliefs of their church. But by then kids may be more into pre-adolescent (actually Seventh-day Adventist Church) rebellion than into joining.

When Children Are Too Young for Baptism

Some children request baptism at age 8 or earlier. Parents, pastors, and teachers should take such requests seriously. The baptismal class for 8-year-olds can meet monthly or bimonthly for two years. Children should have a chance to study all the beliefs of the church as is developmentally appropriate. They will not get into word studies or into abstract concepts, but they need to know at least the Bible stories relevant to the concept. (1844 and the Investigative Judgment -- core doctrine of the SDA Church)

Baptismal lessons for children need to be in two parts (a). Establishing a relationship with Jesus (understanding how they are saved), (b). Studying major beliefs in addition to salvation. This will need a minimum of 20 lessons. The lessons should involve active study that relates the beliefs to life.

Parents should not assume that the church is responsible for grounding their child in Adventist beliefs. They should ask the pastor how many classes he/she takes children through, what topics they will take up, and when they plan for the baptism. If the pastor plans for only 10-12 lessons, the parents can continue the lessons at home. In some cases, the parents may need to do all the preparation for baptism.

Italics supplied.

Quote:

When Seventh day Adventist ministers go into a community to hold a series of lectures, they conceal, at the first, their denominational connection. They thus hope to draw into their audience people who would never come if they knew that Seventh day Adventists were conducting the meetings. This is a form of deception. There is something the matter with a religious body that is afraid to identify itself as soon as it begins to carry on any activity in a community. (Answers to Objections, Francis Nichol, page 209)

Quote:

It has undoubtedly been true in years past that Adventists could not have gotten a crowd out to hear them in certain cities, at least, if they had revealed their identity at the outset. But we think that that proves, not the weakness of the Adventist case, but the strength of distorted ideas founded on fanciful myths. The other side of the picture is that many people, after they have attended Adventist meetings for a time, frankly admit that they have changed their ideas about us and are glad that they first came to the meetings not knowing who was conducting them. (Answers to Objections, Francis Nichol, page 209)

Quote:

I believe you are referring to your distaste for our not always stating up front who we are before we gain a hearing in public meetings. As I have pointed out, your personal taste about "transparency" would invalidate many methods of both Jesus and the Apostle Paul. It would also betray the lives of God's people under persecution. Honesty doesn't require telling everything you know up front. (Kevin Morgan, SDA Pastor)