Even as the Christians across the world get in an overdrive of welcoming the Easter holidays later this week, members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA) will be among those who will not join them in marking the festivities.
Easter Holidays are usually feted in April every year and it is believed by most Christians that they are done in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The SDA’s however dispute the divinity of this holiday for the following reasons:
Not biblical
Inasmuch as they acknowledge the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, SDA’s argue that there is no instance in the bible where the important events are referred to as “Easter”.
The believers state that the Bible only refers to the day when Jesus rose from the dead as “The first day of the week” or the third day after his death.
Time for outreach
As other Christians get ready to convene in churches for this festivity, SDA’s use this chance to start conducting an outreach activity usually branded as Total Member Involvement (TMI)
It entails making visitations to hospitals, religious camps, and even music extravaganzas.
Baptism in place of Easter
Believers in this faith also argue that baptism through water is the only form or the remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus that the Bible prescribes.
This argument is based on Bible references from Romans 6:4, 1 Peter 3:21 and Colossians 2:12.
Apart from Easter festivities, SDA’s also do not acknowledge the divinity of the Christmas day marked on December 25 arguing that the bible also does not refer to the birth of Jesus as “Christmas” and that it also does not prescribe a specific day and date when Jesus was born.