Law

The Decalogue is a precious gift endowed to humanity by God Himself (Exod 31:18), uttered (Exod 20:1; Deut 5:4–5, 24) and written (Exod 24:12; 31:18; Deut 5:22) by Him. It presents the foundational principles to preserve life and defines how one maintains the vertical (first four commandments) an...

The Biblical Research Institute (BRI) of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has been asked for an opinion on capital punishment and its promotion within local Adventist churches. It was decided to take the request to the Biblical Research Institute Ethics Committee (BRIEC), discuss ...

The Biblical Research Institute Ethics Committee and the Question of Surrogate Motherhood At its September 2016 meeting, the BRI Ethics Committee discussed a request for an opinion on surrogate motherhood that provides children to homosexual couples. The committee felt that before moving on to the question of whether Adventist women should provide children through surrogate motherhood to homosexual couples, something needed to be said about the issue of surrogacy. The following document and its two major parts reflect the opinion of the BRI Ethics Committee. Ekkehardt Mueller

Sometimes things are different from what they seem to be at first glance. There are, for example, optical illusions. A book of adventure stories reports that certain areas in a desert were marked by poles so that travelers and caravans would not get lost. However, there were also so-called pole m...

God’s law is very concise, yet all-encompassing. The Ten Commandments as found in Exodus 20 contain about 320 words, depending on the translation, whereas a law of the European Community dealing with the import of caramel products contains 26,911 words. The problem today is with people’s attitude...

Many Christians today believe and teach that when the “old covenant” of the Old Testament gave way to the “new covenant”/New Testament of Christianity, the entire “old covenant” law became obsolete. Since the seventh-day Sabbath was part of that law, they argue that literal Sabbath observance is...

COURTESY OF JJ GARDNER - http://www.flickr.com/people/jjgardener3/ Late last year, Catholics and Protestants again joined together to urge that Sunday be legislated as an official day of rest. Their immediate goals include closing shops and restricting other business activities on Sundays. Two re...

Whenever the Office of Public Affairs & Religious Liberty of the General Conference receives information relating to Sunday laws, we examine the information diligently and extensively. In addition to reacting to information sent to us, we proactively monitor legislative developments on Capitol Hi...

The day the two ton Ten Commandments monument was hauled out of the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court was, for some, a watershed moment. Preachers and politicians across the nation spoke up en masse against the court decision, and the implications they saw in it. Is it any wonder that sexual pro...

The Public Relations and Religious Liberty Department of the General Conference has consistently worked to prevent efforts designed to make churches the surrogates for political parties. These efforts take place around the world. One such effort is currently playing out in the United States. In t...