note: Part 1 can be found here.
Being relatively new to the Seventh-Day Adventist church (going on three and a half years since I first started attending the local SDA church here in Morganton, NC) one of the things I've spent time learning about are the denomination's core tenets, two of which (Belief #1 and Belief #18) deal with the issue of the Bible's inerrant, infallibility and the role of the Spirit of Prophecy as testified to by Ellen G. White.
Now, as I commented on below the video over on Youtube, if you were to ask me, my question would be that officially the SDA church is sola scriptura, based on everything I have read. Unofficially, however, I would say we were very much prima scriptura.
What is the difference? Sola scriptura (by Scripture alone) is a core tenet of Protestant Christianity, a natural outflow of the protests against the Roman Catholic Church from Martin Luther onward. Prima scriptura (Scripture as the primary guide) basically means that the Bible is first, but not the only standard used by Christians. (This is something we see in both Catholicism and in the LDS Church w/its' Standard Works).
So why say the SDA church is primarily prima scriptura? For this simple reason: if we as Adventists are truly sola scriptura, why then do we read/listen/follow the writings of Ellen G. White? You see often in Adventist churches - "Sister White says," "the Spirit of Prophecy says..." and so forth, yet we then turn around and say "go to the Bible and the Bible alone."
Well, which is it? That's the eternal question and one definitely of conversation down the road.
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