Is God Personally Omnipresent? Kellogg Said Yes, Ellen Said No

Sabbath School With Branch Davidians

The Sabbath School lesson for this week reads, "Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) wrote his famous work, The Divine Comedy, about a fictional journey of the soul after death. The soul went either to the inferno (hell) within the earth; or to purgatory, where the human spirit can purge itself and become worthy of ascending to heaven; or to Paradise, to the presence of God Himself. Though only a poem, fiction, Dante’s words ended up having a great deal of influence on Christian theology, especially Roman Catholic theology." Sabbath School Quarterly Lesson, Saturday, November 26, 2022

In this study we discuss a similar scenario in regard to how the theology of mainstream Seventh-day Adventism became influenced by a book, the Living Temple, authored by John Harvey Kellogg.

Now, it is commonly understood that John Harvey Kellogg ended up becoming a pantheist, and most SDAs don't imagine that modern SDA doctrine has been influenced by his ideas. We compare some of Kellogg's teachings on the person of God with Ellen White's teachings on the same subject.

We note of the following facts. Prior to Kellogg promoting the idea that God is literally and personally everywhere, no Seventh-day Adventist believed in such a doctrine. When Kellogg started promoting this idea, many accepted it and started to promote the same. As the church grew, fewer and fewer people understood the old doctrine of the personality of God and more and more took it for granted that God is literally everywhere. We are now at the point where modern SDAs can read Kellogg's statements about God being literally and personally everywhere present and not think there is anything strange or incorrect about it, while it is a great surprise to read Ellen White and other pioneers explain the pillar doctrine of our very own faith that God is a material person with body and parts and that he isn't personally and literally everywhere.

Ellen wrote, "The new theories in regard to God and Christ, as brought out in The Living Temple, are not in harmony with the teaching of Christ. The Lord Jesus came to this world to represent the Father. He did not represent God as an essence pervading nature, but as a personal Being. Christians should bear in mind that God has a personality [or physical form] as verily as has Christ." Ellen White, 18 Lt Ms, Lt 212, 1903, par. 23. For further study:

To read about the various forms of pantheism in Britannica's article on the subject, see: https://www.britannica.com/.../God-as-absolute-or-relative

The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine (Playlist): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbPVtTaj0MXEsuRokPxciM7PjCTveaTi1

Omnipresence and Angels: https://youtu.be/ItkJxyDtlwo

For more studies on the SDA teaching that human don't have a non-physical aspect at all (from our other SS studies this quarter), see:

On Death, Dying and the Future Hope: Sabbath School With Branch Davidains (Playlist): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbPVtTaj0MXGbMtWwT0ljtwb6WdwH672b

Sabbath School Q4 2022: On Death, Dying, and the Future Hope - Week 10,

"The Fires of Hell"

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

www.bdsda.com

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