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출처: 시온산성 원문보기 글쓴이: 윤영순

Seventh-day Adventists and the Ecumenical Movement
The General Conference Executive Committee has never voted an official statement regarding the Seventh-day Adventist relationship to the ecumenical movement as such. A book has been written dealing at length with the subject (B. B. Beach, Ecumenism-Boon or Bane? [Review and Herald, 1974]) and a number of articles have appeared over the years in Adventist publications, including the Adventist Review. Thus, while there is not exactly an official position, there are plenty of clear indications regarding the Seventh-day Adventist viewpoint.
Generally, it can be said that while the Seventh-day Adventist Church does not completely condemn the ecumenical movement and its main organizational manifestation, the World Council of Churches, she has been critical of various aspects and activities. Few would wish to deny that ecumenism has had laudable aims and some positive influences. Its great goal is visible Christian unity. No Adventist can be opposed to the unity Christ Himself prayed for. The ecumenical movement has promoted kinder interchurch relations with more dialogue and less diatribe and helped remove unfounded prejudices.
Through its various organizations and activities, the ecumenical movement has provided more accurate and updated information on churches, spoken for religious liberty and human rights, combated against the evils of racism, and drawn attention to socioeconomic implications of the gospel. In all this the intentions have been good and some of the fruit palatable. However, in the total picture, the banes tend to outweigh the boons. We shall examine some of these.
Adventism a Prophetic Movement
The Seventh-day Adventist Church stepped upon the stage of history-so Adventists firmly believe-in response to God's call. Adventists believe, it is hoped without pride or arrogance, that the Advent Movement represents the divinely appointed instrument for the organized proclamation of the "eternal gospel," God's last message, discerned from the prophetic vantage point of Revelation 14 and 18. In the focalized light of its prophetic understanding, the Seventh-day Adventist Church sees herself as the eschatologically oriented "ecumenical" movement of the Apocalypse. She begins by "calling out" God's children from "fallen" ecclesial bodies that will increasingly form organized religious opposition to the purposes of God. Together with the "calling out" there is a positive "calling in" to a united, worldwide-that is, ecumenical-movement characterized by "faith of Jesus" and keeping "the commandments of God" (Rev. 14:12). In the World Council of Churches the emphasis is first of all on "coming in" to a fellowship of churches and then hopefully and gradually "coming out" of corporate disunity. In the Advent Movement the accent is first on "coming out" of Babylonian disunity and confusion and then immediately "coming in" to a fellowship of unity, truth, and love within the globe-encircling Advent family.
In understanding the Adventist attitude toward ecumenism and other mainline churches, it is helpful to remember that the early-Advent movement (characterized by the Millerites) had ecumenical aspects: it arose in many churches. Thus, Adventists came from many denominations. However, the churches generally rejected the Advent message. Adventists were not infrequently disfellowshipped. Sometimes Adventists took with them portions of congregations. Relations became embittered. False stories were circulated, some of which unfortunately still persist today. The pioneers had strong views, and their opponents were no less dogmatic. They tended to look more for what separates than what unites. That was an understandable development. Today, of course, the interchurch climate tends to be more irenic and benign.
What are some of the problems Adventists have with ecumenism? Before we endeavor to give a summary answer to this question, it needs to be pointed out that the ecumenical movement is not monolithic in its thinking, and one can find all kinds of views represented in its ranks (that in itself, of course, is a problem!). We will try to make reference to what can be considered mainstream thinking within the World Council of Churches (WCC), an organization now representing more than three hundred different churches and denominations.
중략................
This study document, intended for internal church use, first appeared in Pattern for Progress, The Role and Function of Church Organization by Walter Raymond Beach and Bert Beverly Beach, was authored by Bert B. Beach, and was released in connection with the General Conference Session New Orleans, Louisiana, June 1985. It is available from the office of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty of the General Conference.
출처.........http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/other-documents/other-doc3.html
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