bound,
you said "My guess is that Adventists will eventually merge into the new Messianic Jewish groups coming about and you will have squandered all the grace offered you through our Lord and Saviour to return to the mundane observance of the Law."
You just have no idea what you are talking about. Couldnt be further from the truth.
You completely miss the point of things... entirely.
Go read this and maybe you will get it finally... read it like 10 times or so and notice the language used by Jesus about the Law, okay? SERIOUSLY.
Luke 10:
25: And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26: He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27: And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28: And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29: But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30: And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31: And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32: And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33: But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34: And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35: And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36: Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37: And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
THEN after reading it, what you need to realize is that Jesus was telling them what was ALWAYS in the Law, they just had been missing the entire point of the Law, get it?
I color coded the thing and underlined it so that maybe you could finally get this idea.
It isnt as if all the way up till then the God of the Old Testament had wished for people to leave their neighbors lying on the side of the road to die!
REMEMBER? Jesus said, "When you have seen Me you have seen THE FATHER"
That was the work of Jesus, not only to die in our place but to RESTORE the Law to its rightful place and to cause the people to get out of the darkness they had been in to see God as He really was all along.
Read this one like 10 times as well and THINK:
Mt:23:23: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
This has NOTHING whatsoever to do with SDAs supposedly not accepting the grace of God, you just could not be further from the truth.
Claudia