04 June 2018 | Budapest, Hungary [Ábel Ősz-Farkas/tedNEWS]
An Ellen G. White Conference was held on 11-13 May in the Terézváros Church in Budapest, Hungary organised by the Youth Ministries Department and the Ellen White Ministry. We had two great visiting presenters: Dr Daniel Duda, Education director of the Trans-European Division and Dr Tihomir Lazic, teacher at Newbold College and director of Public Campus Ministries of the Trans-European Division. With their help, we were able to dig deeper into the fundamental questions of our faith and study them from a different perspective.
“Personally, I was very happy that this event happened because I believe that the speakers touched topics that are extremely important. Topics in which we really need to see clearly. It was great that we heard such high-standard presentations of them. I am particularly glad that the target audience of the conference was the young people because we do not hear much about the life and ministry of Ellen White in this age group” stated Boldizsár Ócsai.
Dávid Zarka said “For me, this conference meant a lot because it helped me better understand the role of Ellen White in the advent movement, in the 19th century and in our age. She gives us messages that raises and encourages us and helps us to better understand the character of God. She even provides assistance to study the Bible if we approach it properly. The messages of the presentations raised a desire in me to get closer to God and to other people through the biblical interpretation of the Scriptures and the writings of EGW.”
During the conference, we elaborated on two main topics: prophecy and Adventist identity. We heard many intriguing thoughts, such as the following:
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The rules for interpreting the Bible also apply to the writings of Ellen G. White. We need to understand the context before we start to look for a personal message in the text. Without this, nearly any kind of theories might be proved with quotes taken from their contexts.
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The role of the prophets are different in the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, the prophet was the topmost spiritual leader. However, in the New Testament, the word ’prophet’ was usually used in a negative sense for people who were made to speak by an outside influence.
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Space and time have a decisive role in interpreting prophecies. Nathan, the prophet also wrote a book and yet, it did not become part of the Scriptures because his message was only for his own age and time. There are prophets whose writings we still read today because their message are always relevant.
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If we talk about Adventist identity, we find ourselves in the middle of a roundabout of which most exits are a dead end. All the different directions of adventism aim to answer the question: why are we adventists and why are the other directions wrong? This struggle between the different directions consumes the majority of our resources that the world is in need of.
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We need to return to the Bible if we want to truly understand Adventist identity. It was the discovery and reconsideration of the truth of the Bible that moved adventism forward through history. Adventism has a future in the 21th century because it is capable of constant renewal.
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We need to represent the truth in unity, living together with the Holy Spirit.
“I gained a lot of motivation on this conference. Through the message of the conference God affirmed in the hearts of the participants that we need to give Him His rightful place in our lives and let Him rearrange the pieces of our lives: reinstate our vision, our worldview. All the while He does not intend to think instead of us. God would like us to advance beside Him, to think together with Him, remain original as unique creatures of His and live an authentic Christian life” commented Kristóf Palotás, the Youth Ministries director.
All the presentations are available on the YouTube channel of Terézváros Church. It is worth watching them because they may give us lifelong messages. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Sajitha Forde-Ralph, associate editor
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