I have become distressed about the tone of too many messages in this forum, and have gathered some statements from SOP. I will not give citations where you can easily find them. If you are serious about studying the focus of these statements, you can search for yourself. If you want to not search out for yourself, then believe or don't believe that the statements are accurately represented. In other words, take these for what's its worth.

"You have no right to find fault with those who do not believe as you do. You are not to criticize the minister who is sent to you, and say he is too liberal, or he is at fault in this or that, if he is preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter what you may think, do not allow your tongue to utter condemnation of that which you do not understand. Do not sow the seed of unbelief and discord. Silence is eloquence, and we greatly need to learn this eloquence. When you hear your brethren speaking evil of others, tell them not to judge, not to condemn. . . . Persons have criticized those who were digging deep in the mines of knowledge, and their criticism, if heeded, would crust out the very powers that God would have men develop and strengthen. This talking against others must stop among those who profess to be the children of God."

"Shall not these lessons be of profit to those who are tempted to criticize, think evil of, speak evil of, and judge and condemn those whom God is leading and favoring? And how much worse it is to criticize and give judgment against the church that God has chosen to magnify his name and vindicate his honor, than to speak simply against an individual member."

"To accuse and criticize those whom God is using, is to accuse and criticize the Lord, who has sent them. All need to cultivate their religious faculties, that they may have a right discernment of religious things."

"All the religion many have is to pick flaws"

"Let no Christian be found an accuser of the brethren. Satan is the one who bears this title; he accuses them before God day and night, he stirs up the enemies of our faith to accuse us, and he prompts those of like precious faith to criticize and condemn one another. We are not to take part in his work. These are days of trial and of great peril, the adversary of souls is upon the track of every one; and while we stand out separate from the world, we should press together in faith and love. United, we are strong; divided, we are weak."

"Let us not consider it a virtue to make and suggest difficulties, which one mind and another will bring in to harass and perplex."

"When others begin to question and criticize, let us be determined, either by silence or by turning the conversation into another channel, to cut off the words which would not be spoken in wisdom."

"Often we are tempted to criticize a man standing in a high position of responsibility because he does not do as we think he ought to do. But the one who has so many responsibilities to carry needs not the criticism of his fellow workers; he needs their encouragement, their forbearance, their patience, and their prayers."

"But too often place is given to evil surmising and evil thinking. Under the influence of the suspicions that Satan has planted in the heart, very unjust things are said and done."

"Some pride themselves on being outspoken, blunt, and rough, and they call this frankness; but it is not rightly named. It is selfishness of the deepest dye. . . . They criticize, they wound, they say disagreeable things."

"Men's hearts are no softer today than when Christ was upon the earth. They will criticize and turn against the servant of God the very efforts he is leading them to make. They will, with their evil surmising, see fraud and dishonesty where all is right, and where perfect integrity exists. They lay selfish motives to the charge of God's servants, when he himself is leading them, and when they would give even their lives if God required, if by so doing they could advance His cause."

"Satan is constantly working through his agents to dishearten and destroy those whom God has chosen to accomplish a great and good work"

I personally would suggest that to undermine confidence in the ministers and leaders of the church is the worst kind of criticism that can be engaged in. Let us be cautious and careful in the road chosen to walk.

In point of fact, by not posting where you found these references, you do us and yourself a diservice.
It is not fair to post this and not tell where you found it.

I have access to her writings, but am not learned enough to know how to find them.

Please, tell us where you found these statements, book and page, so we can read them for ourselves.

I appreciate your observation, but I do not feel that I have done myself nor you a dis-service by not posting the reference citations. If a person is interested enough in this subject to conduct his or her own research, then he or she should go to his or her own source or index to find the appropriate quotations. If a person is not interested enough to conduct his or her own research, he or she probably would not bother to look the quotations up anyway.

I am sorry if you do not agree with my approach, but then I guess brothers and sisters in Christ can take different approaches to many issues, right? God bless you in your study.

I suggest that a word search on the CD of the writings of EGW or I understand that the writings can be accessed on the net (that I do not know for sure) is the most satisfactory manner in which to study those writings. I also like to add, that the SOP should be only used to help someone understand the Bible, and the Bible should never be used to prove the Spirit of Prophecy writings. Just a personal opinion that I threw in for free!

[This message has been edited by Wedntgp (edited April 03, 2001).]

The problem is that I can't getn the stupid word search to work for me.
No matter what I do, it says that what I'm looking for doesn't exist.
On top of that, I can't figure out how to use the helps either.

I'm new at computers, and a lot of people out there are like me.
that's why I made the rquest and said what I did.

My only resource for finding SOP quotes that are not in books that I already have is the EG White Estate website. Unfortunately, I find that it is very difficult to find specific quotes using the search engine. I have had very little success with that.

When you looked up those quotes Wedntgp, it would have taken very little extra effort to include the references. I would like to keep the list of the references you have given for possible future use, but I know it would take a lot of time and effort to find them on the website, assuming that I actually could manage to locate them eventually, and I don't have the time to hunt for needles in haystacks. It would be much more considerate if you would include references for all SOP quotes in any future posts.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

I agree with everybody in the same way that I give the Bible reference to any text I use when delivering a sermon on a Sabbath morning.

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In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl

Same here.
I don't have a problem with the posts he made, in fact, I agree with them.
I just would like to know where they are so in future if I share them with someone else, I can tell them where to find them.
Please, Wedntgp, I really would like to know where they are.

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Examine me, O LORD, and prove me: try my reins and my heart. Ps.26:2

Wow. That's alot of work. I started to look up all the references you shared and finally gave up. It's not that I'm not interested in the subject, it's just that the general thought is so basic that I felt the first quote said it all.

I agree we should be careful and cautious as we respond to the many things our leaders and pastors do. But even better than that - I like to focus on the truth rather than on what one leader or the other might be doing right or wrong. Besides the best Leader is without fault, perfect and altogether wonderful. And how can anybody find fault with Him?

When a church leader is on target I rejoice in God. When one or more are off target, according to God's Word and the example of Jesus, then I choose to disregard that part. But I don't wholesale blow the guy off. I have found that no matter how off he might be on one part he's very much right on another part. Feeling this way does not, of course, ignore the fact he was wrong on the other part. But I choose not to get burdened down by the faults of others. What I think and believe as a Christian is based on the Holy Bible and not on what imperfect humans preach and teach.

"Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Thank you, Paul! Oh, by the way, that quote comes Romans 14:5. But are you sure you want to trust me without looking it up for yourself? Ha! Please excuse my silly humor.

God bless.

I will see what I can do. If you do a word search for the word "criticize" you will find those references and many more.

I agree with your assessment regarding references during a sermon. I also give the source of the quotation because the listeners do not have the opportunity to write the quotation down and look it up later,and it is easier to write a citation down, although I suspect less than 1% do. I had a teacher that told us it would be easy to hand feed us knowledge, but we would learn more if we did the "digging" ourselves. I found that to be true. Do any of you remember what your preacher talked about 3 weeks ago? Do you remember what knowledge you gained from any research you did three weeks ago?

For what its worth!

While I agree with alot of your quotes Wedntgp, I believe the ministers , teachers, pastors and leaders need accountability too. Since we are using SOP quotes, I would like to add the following:
GC595 "God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches they represent, the voice of the majority- not one or all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain 'Thus saith the Lord' in its support."

AND

It is not enough to have good intentions; it is not enough to do what a man thinks is right OR what the minister tells him is right. His soul's salvation is at stake, and he should search the Scriptures for himself.Ibid.p.598 (My emphasis-LM)

And God has much to say about accountability for His watchmen
Some of God's shepherds are compared as follows:Isaiah
10 His watchmen [are] blind: they are all ignorant, they [are] all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yea, [they are] greedy dogs [which] can never have enough, and they [are] shepherds [that] cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

MY 2 c's worth!
Laurie Mosher- A "Keeper of 'the' Faith!"