Does God Have a Moral Standard Outside of Himself?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Why is God's law good? Often, people think it's good because God said it and whatever God says is good by default. While this might initially sound good and honoring to God, we need to consider whether this sort of explanation really makes sense. Consider, if anything God says is good by virtue of him saying it, could *anything* be good so long as God said it? Like, hypothetically, if God were to say, "Thou shalt not take care of the sick, the elderly, or the infants," would that *actually be good* just because God decided to make it a commandment? And how about other things, like racism,...
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Is the Principle in the Parable of the Mustard Seed Still Relevant?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus taught his audience that the kingdom will start small then grow large, and by implication, that we shouldn't disregard or bias ourselves against something on the basis of its small size. Of course, this was very relevant when Jesus spoke the parable since his band of followers was very small as compared to other religious groups in the world and even as compared to other groups among the Jews. But now that the SDA membership is 22 million or so, is it safe to say we are done now with the principle Jesus laid out in the parable of the mustard seed?...
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Is it Okay to Question the Traditional Authorship of the Gospels?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
None of the 4 gospels in the New Testament list the name of is author, nor are they listed anywhere in the bible. So, is it okay to question the traditional authorship of the gospels? Or is that a doctrinally off limits thing to do? Like, is someone who questions these authorship traditions to be considered someone who doesn't really have a high view of scripture or something like that? Is it theologically okay to question a tradition if we are basing our doctrines on scripture alone? In our study today, we consider this. For more study, see: Is Merely Mental Prayer...
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You Can't Make Sense of an Immaterial Soul | Early SDA D.M. Canright
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Are humans dualistic beings – two part beings, composed of a material body plus an immaterial soul? The reason some have this idea is the belief that matter cannot be organized to think, and therefore, the thinking ability of humans must be attributed to something immaterial. This is then used as a basis for the belief in the soul's naturally immortality. If it's immaterial, it has no parts, so it can't be destroyed and must endure forever. While that might *seem* to make sense, it depends on the idea that the mind is immaterial. And the apparent necessity for that vanishes if matter can...
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Can Matter be Organized to Think? | Early SDA D.M. Canright
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Can matter be organized so that it can think? Or is there an immaterial part of humans that is responsible for thought, reason, and emotion? The SDA doctrine of the non-immortality of the soul is very well known among SDAs today, but what is less well known is the core reason behind this doctrine. This core reason is really the foundation on which the non-immortality of the soul rests, and it was plainly understood and explained by the SDA pioneers. If we don't understand this foundation, we're prone holding other beliefs that are actually in conflict with it, without even realizing it. One...
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Who Is Benefitted by Jesus' Priesthood?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Who is benefited by Jesus' priesthood in the Heavenly Sanctuary? Many are under the impression that people are benefited by just professing Him as their lord and savior, or accepting that He is the savior of the world. But is this the case? In this study we are going to take a look at a book which has Jesus' priesthood as the central theme – the book of Hebrews. For further study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde, “What Are The Streams of Water In Psalm 1?" 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 2: The Great Controversy – Week 8, "Light From...
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How Knowing the Great Controversy Can Help In Practical Life
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
As SDAs, we all know about the Great Controversy. We all have this idea in mind that there is this controversy between Christ and Satan going on in the background. At least Satan wants us to think it's just that—a background scenario that's mainly independent from our every day lives. In light of the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan, our controversies could be called small controversies in the scheme of things. But, as I'm sure we all would admit, we tend to think of our personal controversies as though they're great controversies, and sometimes THE Great Controversy between...
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Revival and Reformation Must Be Blended for Complete Success
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Today we are going to look at a key aspect of what brings about successful reformation, because one thing we all know about the Protestant Reformation was that although many great truths were restored, it didn't finish the gospel work. And in fact, as Adventists, we know that while the Protestant Reformation was a good thing, the churches it produced are actually Babylon. As Seventh-day Adventists we should all know that the second angel's message was directed primarily at the Protestant Churches and declared that they were the Babylon that fell. Note, it's not that these churches *became*...
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Private Interpretation vs. Inspired Interpretation
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
You know the bible verse that says no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation, (2 Peter 1:19-21)? Well, it's the subject of one of Friday's discussion questions in the SDA Sabbath School Quarterly this week, and it's also the subject of *our* study today. We'll find out what the deal is with private interpretation, and we'll also learn how we're supposed to approach the task of interpreting scripture. The pillars of the SDA movement were founded on the revelations given to Ellen White, not on private interpretations of the pioneers. She says that all the brethren at that...
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You Can Only Be on One Side of the Great Controversy
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
As you might know, the full title of the first edition of Ellen White's book, "The Great Controversy" was "The Great Controversy, Between Christ and His Angels, and Satan and His Angels." By this longer title, we can see that the angels have taken either one side or the other. These two sides operate by two completely different sets of principles. Christ's angels are wholly and consistently devoted to His principles;—they don't live by His principles some of the time and by Satan's principles some of the time. And likewise, Satan's angels are entirely on Satan's side—they don't have...
info_outlineIn our study today, we're going to look at what Scripture has to say about whether prayer should be spoken out loud or merely thought in our minds.
Even though the idea of merely mental prayer is popularly practiced today, does scripture portray it as a means of communication with God?
For further study, see our series,
"Before Spirit Was Spiritualistic: Philosophical Materialism from Genesis to Jesus" (Series Info and Videos) – April-May 2023
https://www.bdsda.com/2023/04/03/before-spirit-was-spiritualistic-upcoming-series-april-may-2023/
Sabbath School Q1 2024: Psalms – Week 2
A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.
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Podcast link for "Sabbath School with Branch Davidians:" https://branchsabbathschool.libsyn.com