This article is the second of a two-part study that addresses the macro hermeneutical principles of the heavenly sanctuary as claimed in the Holy Scriptures and identifiable in the light of the historicist understanding of the topic. The first part defined the macro hermeneutics and recalled its important connection with the realities of the heavenly sanctuary. It also recognized the existence and meaning of the fundamental principles of ontological, structural and functional correspondences between the heavenly and earthly sanctuaries—as established in the Bible and reaffirmed in the writings of Ellen G. White—emphasizing the macro hermeneutical role of these principles in the constitution and continuation of the Seventh-day Adventist theological system. In this second part, in light of this perspective, sometimes called literal, the emblematic coexistence of metaphorical and symbolic notions about the heavenly sanctuary that has
been gaining space in the Adventist milieu is highlighted, noting the implications and challenges of such propositions for the theology and practice of the Adventist Church.
Throughout the history of Seventh-day Adventists, the investigative (or pre-advent) judgment has been one of the most controversial doctrines, challenged and questioned more than any other Adventist belief. This paper explores the reasons critics of Adventism, and particularly Albion Fox Ballenger, object to the doctrine of the investigative judgment. Ballenger was an ex-Adventist minister and one of the strongest critics of Adventist doctrine of the sanctuary during the first part of the 20th century. All other criticism of the doctrine, and particularly of the investigative judgment, go back to Ballenger. This paper is the second of a two-part series on the investigative judgment. The first part offered an abridged exposition of Ballenger’s soteriology and his critique of the investigative judgment doctrine. This second part concludes with a theological analysis of the critique of the doctrine advanced by Ballenger and his evangelical followers in the context a broader understanding of Protestant soteriology.
The concept of a final judgment that includes believers and unbelievers has been an integral part of Christian thought since its inception. However, there is a wide spectrum of positions regarding the nature of the judgment (time and place), its participants and its purpose. Doctrinal expressions of the last judgment have often been based on the interpretation of ontological presuppositions rooted in the philosophical realm. The present study aims to trace historically the foundations and philosophical presuppositions of the doctrine of judgment in representative thinkers throughout history. The article shows how the ontological presuppositions
of Parmenides and Plato influenced the doctrinal expressions of the judgment and how Adventism departs from that tendency by assuming a biblical interpretation of those presuppositions.
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