Adventists Assert Primacy of Bible
By Jonathan Gallagher
Adventist News Network

Speaking to the assembled leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at the 1997 Annual Council meeting, world president Robert Folkenberg affirmed the Bible as the source of truth, both spiritual and practical.

"The Bible, not human opinion, is the foundation of the Seventh-day Adventist message," said Folkenberg.

Rejecting what he called "pop psychology, relativistic theology and spiritual pablum," he called on church leaders "to be faithful to the Christ of the Bible and global proclamation of the gospel." Folkenberg also rejected the views of some within the church who have been questioning belief in literal creationism.

"Despite what some individual Seventh-day Adventists have been teaching, we still believe in a literal creation and a literal seven-day creation week, of which the Sabbath is a memorial," Folkenberg declared.

The week-long meeting, which was held from September 29 to October 7 in Silver Spring, Maryland, brought together 300 church leaders, representing 10 million Adventists of 207 countries, for consultation, planning and spiritual emphasis. Folkenberg's call reflects a perception that the Bible appears to be less prominent than previously within the church. The meeting was held under the theme of "Experience the Power of God's Word."

"Perhaps the Bible is under attack today because we haven't lived it," said Folkenberg. "We've studied it, debated it, interpreted it, argued over it, preached from it, bludgeoned each other with it, quoted it, read it, memorized it but we just haven't lived it."

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