Part 1- A Brief Introduction To Christianity.
Part 2- WHAT ABOUT THE ANGELS?   [Link]
Part 3- Links To Other Resources On Christianity.

A Brief Introduction To Christianity:

Christianity is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With this act, he had died for all of the sinners. The religion is based on this act. Without it, Christianity would be just a philosophy and not an actual religion. This religion's holy book is the Bible. As of late and for the most part, Christians are tolerant of other religions. It encompasses the old world and the new within some of the practices of the different sects.

 WHAT ABOUT THE ANGELS?:

9a.THEY LONG TO LOOK INTO THESE THINGS. The Bible tells us that angels are interested in the issues relating to salvation. ("...unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven: which things the angels desire to look into." 1 Peter 1:12) They are eager students. Many of them therefore probably have questions about who will and who will not be given the privilege of being their companions to dwell in Heaven. And no doubt God will share with them the task of the "judgment": deciding who indeed will make it. This conclusion is drawn from the simple fact that God will, during the millenial judgment, bring redeemed humans into the task of deciding the various levels of punishment for the fallen angels. "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:3)

If He gives that awesome responsibility to humans, who have been partakers of the sinful nature, how much more angels who have never fallen? But in saying that God will allow angels to have a look or say in the judgment process of human beings is not to say that He really needs their help! The Bible says that it is foundational that God knows those that are His. "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. " (2 Tim. 2:19)

If God is omniscient then of course He knows who will be saved and lost and why. And if He is omnipotent then of course He doesn't need any help in the process of determining who is worthy of eternal life. This is so obvious that the above Scripture calls it the "seal" of the "foundation of God"!

Major apologists for the Adventist doctrine of the investigative judgment, such as Joe Crews and Clifford Goldstein freely admit this.(1) Adventists cling tenaciously to the doctrine of the investigative judgment. So much so that many of the laity believe it is a salvation issue to believe or not believe it. To deny the doctrine would be to them like committing the unpardonable sin. It is this doctrine which Adventists admit sets them apart from the rest of Christendom. The Adventist litany, heard from pastors and laity alike, goes like this: "Other groups keep the seventh-day Sabbath.

Other Christians share the Adventist doctrine of 'soul-sleep'. But the doctrine of the investigative judgment is our unique contribution to Christianity. It has made us what we are. We would have no reason to exist as a separate church denomination were it not for our doctrine of the investigative judgment." The doctrine of the investigative judgment is obviously central to the very heart of Seventh-day Adventism.

9b.NOW HERE IS AN INCREDIBLE THING. This doctrine, which is made so gigantically important by Adventists that it is placed in the same category as the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection and the second coming(2) , rests on this rather insignificant fulcrum: God lets angels review decisions He has already made. God doesn't need to start, in 1844 or any other time, the process of reading names out of a record book to decide who will be redeemed. He is not a geriatric with a poor memory. The foundation of God stands sure, having the seal that God KNOWS those that are His. What the angels are doing in Heaven is not knowledge critical to the great plan of salvation. It is interesting knowledge, to be sure. Middle Age monks got so interested in knowledge like this they got to the point of debating how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.

9c.HOW MANY ANGELS CAN DANCE ON THE HEAD OF A PIN? It is interesting to ponder however, if we may momentarily indulge in pin-dancing, the following statistical considerations. There have been about 4.6 billion seconds of time since 1844. By conservative calculations based on the probable number of people who have lived since Adam(3) , and the religious character of most of world history (that is, there have always been religions, with supposed faith in God, to which large numbers of people have expressed allegiance),there would be at least 4 billion people whose names would come up in the investigative judgment--remember all the professed believers' names come up in that supposed judgment.(4) And just as much time would have to be taken with those whose names were "rejected" as those "accepted".5 Consider the case of the thief on the cross; most of his life would be a washout--lies, thievery, cynicism. Only a momentary flash of illumination and humility was enough to earn him a spot in Paradise. If that is so with him, who knows if Hitler and every other human perceived as wicked didn't have some similar momentary illumination? Thus much time would have to be spent on each case, wicked or righteous. Imagine how long it would take to look over all the events, thoughts, deeds in a life of 70 years. Add to this the problem of discussion and questioning that would take place among the assembled angels. And yet by the figures being used here, there is about a second of time which can be allotted for each case that must be decided!! The Bible says in several places that man is made just a "little lower" than the angels (Heb. 2:7, Ps. 8:5). If that's so then angels can work faster than humans by that "little" margin. Let us say they are a hundred times more capable, more speedy, etc. in their realm than humans. This is far more than the Biblical allotment of being a "little" higher. Even in that case, there are still only one hundred seconds--a little over a minute--for each case. The response which will surely come at this point will be something like this:

"Well, we really don't know how God does it. We may not understand it, but there is enough time since 1844 for all cases to be adequately treated." To that response I would simply conclude "If you don't know so much about this judgment, you shouldn't be so dogmatic about it."

9D.ARE ALL THEIR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT?

Since such a large volume of lives would have to be considered in the investigative judgment, the question might be legitimately asked, "Why doesn't God just review all the cases of men before His return?" As it is now in the Adventist concept He reviews billions of lives that don't "pass" the judgment.6 Why not review a few bllion more so that all lives can be fairly dealt with before His return? If time is not a problem for four billion, it shouldn't be a problem for eight or even eighty billion. And if time is not the problem, what is? There will already have been billions of lives rejected that have gone through a "full investigation". If Heaven is taking that much time investigating so many cases which fail to gain eternal life, why not investigate them all? Since angels are looking into these things, and the supposed main purpose for the investigative judgment is to answer their questions and those of the onlooking universe, isn't it possible that certain angels will have questions if several "heathen" pass the investigative judgment, but, for instance, their relatives, who are also apparently nice people, are not even considered? (See discussion in footnote 23). To this it may be said by some defenders of the doctrine, "Well those questions can be answered later when the lives of those heathen come up, as they surely will, in the millenial judgment." But if this be the response, it may well be asked, why, then, can't all the judgment decisions, including those of the righteous, be considered later? In one sense, the wicked who do not get brought up in the investigative judgment, have already been judged. God knows their case well enough to know that they are not worthy of eternal life. Since God has already judged them, why does He not share this judgment with the angels at the time of the investigative judgment?(7) As was said above, the angels no doubt have legitimate questions about the lives of some of them. Since these cases are left in question, why doesn't God just ordain that only the cases of the righteous be reviewed at this time, not the professed righteous, as the Adventist doctrine now holds? The Lord, the Righteous Judge, could say, "Here are the lives of those who I am allowing into Heaven. I am now allowing you to review these." The questions that angels would have about those who didn't make it could be answered later, just as, apparently, will be done for the cases of some as the doctrine stands now. The only reason this doctrine becomes so contorted with questions like this is because, as has been the point of this writing, it is not derived from the Bible. It is derived from these sentences from Ellen White:(8) "So in the great day of final atonement and investigative judgment the only cases considered are those of the professed people of God."(9) "As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God."(10)

The reader is referred to Appendix #1 for a statement about Ellen White to help put the above quotes into an interpretive framework.

1 See, for instance, Clifford Goldstein, "Investigating the Investigative Judgment", Ministry Magazine (12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904) Vol. 65 No.2, Feb. 1992, p.8.

2 It is blasphemous to put the doctrine of the investigative judgment in the same category as the other doctrines listed here. As Adventists know, one of the New Testament definitions of blasphemy is thinking that someone other than God can forgive sin. {"Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?" (Mark 2:7)} Adventists usually think of this concept in relation to Roman priests claiming to forgive sin. But it is just as blasphemous to believe that angels can forgive sin. Isn't this what they are doing if they have an active part in the investigative judgment? For certainly no one can make it to Heaven except his sins be forgiven, and if angels are deciding who can get to Heaven they must be forgiving sin. But most Adventists would probably deny this, which begs the question, "So what's the big deal?" God doesn't need the investigative judgment and the angels don't have any active part in the judging, so as interesting as it might be, it adds nothing substantive to the plan of salvation. The real judgment was at the cross ("NOW is the judgment of this world" Jn. 12:31) and the Lord knows those that are His.

3 See Henry Morris, Scientific Creationism, Creation Life Publishers: San Diego, CA, 1974, pp.167-169, for a dicussion of population statistics for humans on earth since the flood. For population considerations before the flood see Henry Morris, The Genesis Flood, Presbyterian and Reformed: Philadelphia, 1961, pp. 25-27.

4 Consider, for instance that there are 800,000,000 Catholics alive right now. (Hal Mayer, "The Unholy Alliance: The Story TIME didn't Tell", Last Generation, Vol. 4 No. 4, Hartland Publications; Rapidan, VA 22733, p.11.) That is almost a billion, just from one group alive now. And all of these would have to have a part in the supposed "investigative judgment". Colin Standish points this out in a recent article which deals with the investigative judgment. (Last Generation, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp4-5.) A very high percentage of Americans claim to be Christians, to have had a "born-again" experience, so a high percentage of all Americans who have ever lived would be part of this investigative judgment. Ellen White has written that some will not hear the name of Jesus for the first time until they get to Heaven. This squares with Romans 2 which teaches that many are right with God who have not heard the gospel nor been the agents of God's law. They have not been professing Christians, nor Jews. Since these righteous are from the ranks of what we would call "heathen" we must not think that the "investigative judgment" as taught by Adventists would be limited to "Christian circles" in any closed sense. Many "heathen" would have to be examined. They have believed in God in a general or natural way and they are basically kind, understanding people. (Romans 2:10-11 says that they there will be "glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.") Furthermore, Romans 2:14-15 states "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts." Paul concludes at Romans 2:26: "Therefore if the uncircumcision (the "heathen") keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?" The point is that most societies in the history of the world have had strong faith in God. Out and out atheists have been rare until recent times. There is no way one can do justice to the concept of the investigative judgment as taught by Adventists without having a very large volume of people take part in it. And this creates the vexing, because inexplicable, problem of insufficient time to sufficiently judge each case. 5 These quotes are from the chapter which is the one exposition in Adventism which deals, at least minimally, with the nuts-and-bolts details of this supposed investigative judgment. Ellen White, "Facing our Life Record", chapter 28, of The Great Controversy, Pacific Press, Mountain View, CA 94042, pp482-3. It is written there (quite contrary to the foundation of God whose seal is that "He knows those that are His") "As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected."

6 This is the plain implication of Adventist thinking. There are 800,000,000 Catholics. They must be brought up in the investigative judgment (see footnote 23) and yet they will not "pass." ("Some, however, will have accepted a counterfeit system of worship and be judged unworthy of eternal life." Standish, Last Generation, Vol. 4, No. 4, p.4.) These are just rejected Catholics from this generation, not to mention all other religions at this and all other times since Eden.

7 Adventists haven't thought through the implications of the fact that God has already judged the wicked at the close of the supposed investigative judgment. He has judged them because they did not come up in the resurrection of the righteous. They must have been considered in some judgment process, a process that determined that they were not worthy to come up in the first resurrection. But according to the traditional Adventist view, the angels did not get a chance to say a word about them because they did not profess faith. How can it be fair that only one group of people gets courtroom time before their sentencing? One group gets the investigative judgment, and the other group gets nothing until they are condemned in the millenium. They are condemned without a trial in the Adventist view. Even noble Adventist expositors such as Robert J. Wieland get caught up in this glaring inconsistency when expositing the investigative judgment: "The typical Day of Atonement was also symbolic of the final period of pre-Advent judgment that determines who of the sleeping dead will arise in the first resurrection and who will await the dreaded second resurrection." (Robert J. Wieland, The Good News is Better than you Think, Glad Tidings Publishers, 915 Parks Av SE, Paris, OH, 44669-9746 p.94.) Notice that Wieland says that this pre-Advent judgment determines who will await the dreaded second resurrection. But it doesn't. Adventist expositors, drawing on the quotes from Ellen White in section 9, insist that the investigative judgment is for the professed people of God to see who is worthy of Heaven. It is not a time, they say, to judge those not worthy of Heaven. Who then determined, and at what point, who was worthy of Heaven? Only if everyone was judged, professed people of God and the wicked, would what Wieland has written be true. Adventists cannot have it both ways. Is it the professed people of God that are judged before the Lord's return, or is it everyone? Anointed common sense, built on an understanding of God and Scripture would say that everyone must be judged before Jesus has returned. It would be unfair if only one group of people had an orderly time of judgment for consideration. Does God give only the righteous and professed righteous fair treatment? God must obviously made a decision, as Judge, about all people before He returns. "The Lord knows those that are His." To his credit, in the final chapter, "How the Hour of God's Judgment is Good News" in the above mentioned book, he does not mention the year 1844.

8 The sentences from Ellen White quoted here, and others like them could be the product of Uriah Smith whose influence on the Great Controversy has been reputed to be very heavy. He certainly was a strong proponent of the investigative judgment as a unique Adventist identity treasure. This was one of his main strongholds in fighting the Spirit's attempted advances through ones and Waggoner in 1888. Since Ellen White has made statements teaching or implying that Jesus ascended into the Most Holy immediately at His ascension (Signs of the Times, April 19, 1905; Acts of the Apostles, p. 33; Volume 7A, p. 229, commenting upon Matthew 27:51; Desire of Ages, p. 757.) the Uriah Smith influence here would help explain this particular apparent and disturbing contradiction of the several which have arisen with the Veltman study and intensive reexaminaiton of the prophetess in recent times.

9 Ellen White, The Great Controversy, Pacific Press: Mountain View, CA, 1971, pp. 480-1. 10 Ibid., pp. 482-3.

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