Reasons For The Conference
In 1943, Seventh-day Adventist college bible teachers formed the Bible Research Fellowship. It pioneered academic bible study research until 1952. The fellowship shared biblical research findings in a corporate atmosphere of freedom and collegiality. According to Raymond Cottrell, secretary for the fellowship, a misunderstanding of the group's relationship to the church led to its discontinuation and to the "official" 1952 Bible Conference.
In the July 1952 issue of Ministry magazine, W. H. Branson, President of the General Conference, listed three reasons for the bible conference:
- Since the last conference (1919) a new generation of administrators and bible teachers had come on the scene. The conference was to increase the preaching efficiency of the minister by giving a "new lift to our hearts and minds and spirits."
- The political, social, economic and religious world had changed over the past decades. "The question that should ever concern us is not whether we have a great and true message but whether we are presenting that message in its true greatness." He spoke against theological conferences where every man sets forth that which is right in his own eyes, and where the distinguishing symbol of the meeting is a question mark. "We have great verities to preach." He said. "The purpose of this Bible conference is to help us all to see how we can present those timeless truths most effectively in these changing times."
- As the church uses a searchlight to intensely explore and promote the truths it already has, it sees further areas of truth. "That is why we believe that the safe and Scriptural way to advance the message of this movement is by giving first and major attention at this conference to the great truths that have made us a people, and by keeping the searchlight of those truths ever focused forward toward the New Jerusalem. Those who address us will tell us what the searchlight reveals to them of greater depth and distance to the message we have been proclaiming for well over a century."
Read more about this topic: 1952 Bible Conference (Adventist)
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