Jesus, or Adventism?

I have been greatly bothered by a particular issue that has been coming to my attention lately. I apologize in advance if this offends anyone – comments and criticism are more than welcome.

I took one of these stupid online quizzes the other day to ascertain how psychologically intelligent I was, or something to that effect. One of the questions bothered me. It asked something like this:

“Is it true that religion can fill the empty space some people feel?”

That is very paraphrased because I cannot remember how it was put, but that was the main point of the question at least. I answered 'False'. The answer, according to this quiz, was actually 'True'.

This particular thing has been coming more and more to my attention. The views on religion are skewed. Religion has become something that is merely for self. You feel better if you go to church once a week; because it is almost something that justifies the rest of what you do. The whole week is for yourself and sure, in that week you are likely to experience a great many difficulties and you will probably do your fair share of sinning, but those few hours spent at church once a week take care of all that, and you need not do more. Perhaps this explains the mentality of some people involved in religion.

A trend I see developing in the Adventist circle is that all they care about is converting the world to Adventism. Don't misunderstand me; I have nothing against the beliefs of the church, since it is at least in theory, biblically based, but this mindset is very backwards in my understanding of what Jesus taught. Is there any verse in the Bible that says that you must be a member of the Adventist church in order to be saved? I think not. Especially considering the fact that Jesus was not even one Himself, due to the fact that they did not exist at the time. Now I am not saying that everyone should convert to Judaism because Jesus was a Jew, but I believe we have lost the focus of what we could call “true religion”. If religion is not focused on God, it is absolutely useless. Why, instead of proving that Adventism is the only way to go, show people the way to Jesus? Why don't we show them that Jesus died for everyone and not solely those who have been baptized into the SDA church?

The point of this is not to bash the Adventist church or any other church in any way, it is just an attempt to bring Jesus to the forefront again. He has been pushed to the background for far too long. We need to understand the importance of knowing God vs thinking we have eternal life in what we experience once a week in a church.

Instead of judging people because of their sins, why not tell them of the one named Jesus who died for all sins? Instead of focusing on useless knowledge, why not take the time to understand the One this knowledge is pointing to? Instead of being stuck on your own opinion, why not listen to someone else, and answer with words that Jesus would have used? Instead of preaching a specific part of belief, why not preach about Jesus?

Why do all group oriented things have to end up getting caught up in details regarding rules, covenants, and trivial arguments that pull all involved away from the original purpose? Sometimes change may be attempted, but how often does it last? Usually not long because there are so many different points of view.

Jesus was a living example of how we should all be. He lived a sinless life, was humble, kind, caring, loved all, and never took glory upon Himself, but always directed it to God. He did not come to the earth to be on a pedastel and live a life of honour and glory, He came to save us, to show us His Father, and to live an exemplary life for each one of us. Why don't we do the same?

A text I discovered one day, pretty much sums it all up. John 17:3 - “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”