Introduction to Objections Answered

----- There are numerous questions that have been raised about the Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the investigative judgment. This page lists of many of these challenges. But there are four fundamental questions that need proper recognition. They are the first issues of importance. And they are important in this order: (1) Are the investigation and judgment of believers fundamental Bible doctrines? It should be obvious that this is the first question of importance. ----- If it could be biblically shown that God would not investigate a believer's faith and loyalty, then the doctrine of the investigative judgment could not possibly be true. This is the most important question of all concerning the investigative judgment doctrine. Nothing else matters more that this issue. If on the other hand it is found to be true that God investigates believers, all else must line up with--all Christian doctrine must harmonize with--this spiritual reality. (2) How does this fit into an understanding of the everlasting Gospel? ----- Of all the doctrines that are affected by the existence or non-existence of an investigative judgment the Gospel is the most important. If God will not investigate believers then our preaching of the Gospel must conform to this reality. If the Bible tells us God investigates believers then our presentation of the Gospel must include the preaching of God's investigation--and an explanation of why there is an investigation. (3) Is there a real connection between the day of atonement rituals and the prophecies of Daniel 8? ----- If God will not investigate believers the matter is settled and all other aspects of the Adventist investigative judgment doctrine are not worth pursuing. However, even if the opposite is true (God investigates believers), but it is found that Leviticus 16's rituals and Daniel 8's prophecy focus on two different or opposite subjects (as the critics maintain), then the Adventist understanding of the judgment cannot be taken seriously. (4) Is there anything in the Bible that suggests that there is a judgment that begins some time before the Second Coming? ----- If the Bible explicitly denies, or somehow makes impossible the idea that believers are judged prior to the Second Advent, then Adventist's investigative judgment doctrine's timing is inaccurate and the idea that any sort of judgment began in 1844 is false. ----- In The Silencing of Satan: The Gospel of the Investigative Judgment these four issues are settled in ways favorable to and in harmony with the Adventist investigative judgment doctrine. Because of this, the issues that critics usually raise in their efforts to dismiss the doctrine of the investigative judgment have lost the decisive significance normally attributed to them. Nevertheless, other objections have been raised and since these are important to some people, several are addressed here. ----- As you select the choices below you will be taken to a page with short answers to many, if not all, the questions that have been raised in opposition to the doctrine of the investigative judgment. In some cases you will find references to published materials that have reasonable answers to that particular question. You may ask me your own questions by E-mail. 1. What clear statements of the Bible teach an investigative judgment long before the Second Coming? 2. What connections exists between the rituals of the day of atonement (Leviticus 16) and the prophecy of Daniel 8:14? 3. How can Seventh-day Adventist believe that the sins of the saints are the focus of Daniel 8:14–isn't this an illogical jump from one subject (the atrocities of the little horn against the saints) to a completely different subject? 4. How can a Christian have assurance of eternal life if there must be an investigative judgment of their fitness for heaven? 5. Is there good reason to accept the day for a year principle? 6. Does blood defile and cleanse? Did the sins of the saints defile the earthly sanctuary? 7. Does the book of Hebrews make a latter day fulfillment of the day of atonement rituals impossible? 8. Is the date 457 B.C. well established? 9. Is the 457 BC decree of Ezra 7 the fulfillment of the prediction of Daniel 9 concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem? 10. Do we know the dates for Jesus's birth, baptism, and death? 11. Is Atiochus Epiphanes IV the fulfillment of the little horn of Daniel 8? 12. Is the judgment of Daniel 7, Daniel 8, and Revelation 14:7 only a judgment upon the wicked and not an announcement of a judgment of the saints? 13. Was October 22, 1844 the tenth day of the seventh month? 14. What answers do we have to Raymond Cottrell's Interpretation of Daniel? 15. What answer do we have to objections to the use of the word "cleanse", rather than "make right", in the King James Version of Daniel 8:14? 16. Has the investigative judgment been presented in a legalistic way? 17. Jesus and the writers of the New Testament indicate that the Second Coming, and therefore the judgment, should have occurred in the First Century. Doesn't this mean that a judgment beginning in 1844 would be out of the question? 18. Some have said that the investigative judgment happens in an instant just before the Second Coming. Can that be true? The answer to this question can be found by clicking here. 19. Does the investigative judgment involve an illogical time consuming consideration of the believer? 20. Seventh-day Adventists have interpreted the day of atonement ritual concerning the goat for Azazel as being a representative of Satan. Our fellow Christians question how Azazel/scapegoat could be Satan. They say, You are making Satan your savior. And we say, Heaven forbid! Click here for seven reasons why it is reasonable to believer that the goat for Azazel is Satan.