“It Leads To Infidelity”

One of the most serious charges made against Seventh day Adventism by Mr. Canright is, “It leads to infidelity.”—Seventh day Adventism Renounced, p. 64.DOF 376.1

Surely this is a most astonishing charge! Seventh-day Adventists believe in a personal God, in the deity of Jesus Christ, and in the deity and work of the Holy Spirit. They believe in a literal creation; in the vicarious atonement made by Christ on Calvary; in the Second Advent of our Lord; and in a literal heaven and hell, but not in eternal torment. They believe that the Bible is the very word of God, given to men by inspiration of the Spirit; that it constitutes a perfect rule of conduct for man. Seventh-day Adventists are the Fundamentalists of the Fundamentalists. And yet Mr. Canright, knowing these facts, boldly asserted to his readers that Seventh-day Adventism leads to infidelity! Such a charge is manifestly absurd.DOF 376.2

To buttress his argument on this point, Mr. Canright mentions some who had left the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and relates how they had made shipwreck of their faith. Thus he tells us on pages 62 and 63 of his book that one brother became a Universalist, while two others became Spiritualists. Two persons joined the Age to Come party, one became a noted blasphemer, another a libertine, etc., etc. And this, he says, proves that Seventh day Adventism leads to infidelity! Does it? Or does it, perchance, prove that those who renounce Seventh-day Adventism turn away from the light into darkness, and thus drift away from God?DOF 376.3

Infidels and Seventh-day Adventists have nothing in common. If a member should turn toward infidelity, it would lead speedily to his separation from the church, as the teachings of the church are diametrically opposed to infidelity. The two cannot walk together, because they are not agreed. Mr. Canright’s statement, therefore, is untrue and misleading. It is just the reverse of the fact. Seventh-day Adventism is a safeguard against infidelity, and anyone ardently believing the doctrines of this church is entirely safe from this grossest of all errors.DOF 377.1