Why is Seventh-day Adventism considered mainline evangelical by some people if they teach that evangelicals are apostate Christians with the mark of the beast?

Answer 1

Within Seventh-day Adventism there are two main strands: those who hold firmly to the old SDA doctrines, and those who have modified them somewhat and consider themselves to be evangelicals.

The question comes down to the accepted authority of Ellen White's writings in SDA circles. On this basis, we can assume that some SDAs still argue that Sunday observance is the mark of the beast, based on her teachings.

Yet SDAs do not seem to promote this view. A Google search brings it up in an anti-SDA site, which insists that it is really SDA doctrine even if they do not promote it. You can make your own judgment on the fairness of that approach.

If indeed SDAs have this doctrine in their doctrinal DNA (namely in Ellen White's teachings), it raises the difficulty that applies to any Christian group that declares that one person holds the truth on all questions. We know that even Peter and Paul disagreed over Jews and non-Jews sharing meals at one point in time (which was resolved at the Council of Jerusalem). This experience should make us cautious in assuming that one person will always have all the answers.