The lesson this week correctly defines "materialism" as "the idea that all reality is only material. It also says that materialism is part of the wisdom of the world, which is clearly a bad thing. Next, it also says that materialism means there is no God or supernatural realm. So clearly, for the lesson to say that materialism means there is no God shows that the lesson is taking the position that God is not material - in other words, that God is immaterial. The same applies for all the things the lesson places in the "supernatural realm of existence."
Now, this may come as a surprise, but this stance against materialism would be completely shocking to the early SDAs. The reason why is that the early SDAs actually were materialists and they were accused of being atheists by members of the fallen churches for the very reason that they promoted materialism. The ideas advocated by the Sabbath School Lesson in what we just quoted are the same ideas expressed by early opponents of Seventh-day Adventism as anti-SDA arguments. So, on one hand, the SDA pioneers wouldn't be shocked by the statement itself, since they had seen these sorts of statements many times. If they read it, they would assume that it is from something written against Seventh-day Adventism. What would have shocked them about it is the fact that it is written by Seventh-day Adventists and is passing for the SDA position. In this study, we'll be showing you that early SDAs were materialists and that their opponents charged them with atheism for that very reason.
Links:
"The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine"
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbPVtTaj0MXEsuRokPxciM7PjCTveaTi1
"Matter and Spirit," by D.M. Canright,
http://www.bdsda.com/matter-and-spirit-the-problem-of-human-thought/
"Immateriality," an article published in "The Personality of God," by James White,
http://www.bdsda.com/materialism-our-forgotten-foundation-2/#:~:text=.%20J.%20W.-,IMMATERIALITY,The%20Lord%E2%80%99s%20to%20all%20eternity.,-20
Sabbath School Q4 2022: On Death, Dying, and the Future Hope - Week 6, "He Died for Us"
A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.
www.bdsda.com
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