Rules! Rules! Rules! Why does the church have to have rules and restrictions?” some may wonder. Any rule is based on a standard—a basic minimum to which all agree. To be lower than that is to be substandard—to render poor performance. If you really want to excel in any given area, you won’t just grudgingly comply with the lowest level possible. You will press on to the top. In spiritual matters, this is where the Master is.

The word “church” comes from the Greek word ekklesia, meaning a “calling out.” Called out from what? The Bible says that God is calling out “a peculiar people . . . out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9) where we can see better how to live a happy life.

If you analyze the standards of the SDA Reform Movement, you will find them to be based on principles solely from the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. Are you willing to prayerfully study these questions? Are you willing to go to your church elder or minister and ask him to show you from the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy why we believe and practice this? Are you willing to ask God to give you understanding and grace to live a Christian life based on the truth presented?

Even if you have studied mathematics for years, you probably will not be able to understand calculus or trigonometry before you have taken the first year of algebra. If you do not mind not being able to under-stand higher mathematics when you haven’t studied all of the prerequisites yet, then why be surprised when church standards seem a mystery? If it were schoolwork, you would just improve yourself by calmly going back to the textbooks and teachers, asking questions and pressing on until you reach your goal.

The same method works in the spiritual realm. Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:31–36). Standards are no longer obstacles when we understand and allow Jesus to make us strong enough to live by them!

“In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan’s control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God.” —The Desire of Ages, p. 466.

—B. Monteiro.