The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia is reaffirming Christianity in response to comments made by Dr Francis Macnab in the Australian newspaper The Age published in Melbourne on 16 September 2008.

Pastor Chester Stanley, president of the Adventist Church in Australia, says that Dr Macnab is right in rejecting dogma in search of "the good, the tender and the beautiful" and is surprised Dr Macnab has not already found it in Christianity.

With the provocative claim that "The Ten Commandments, are one of the most negative documents ever written," the controversial cleric Francis Macnab launched on September 15 in Melbourne "a new faith for the 21st century", a faith beyond orthodox Christianity.

Dr Macnab, a noted psychotherapist and executive minister at St Michael's Uniting Church in Melbourne, said the new faith was necessary because the old faith no longer worked. According to Dr Macnab, the new faith transcends denominations and religions. It is about searching, not dogma. It seeks the good, the tender and the beautiful, and finds it in Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism.

"Christianity is about the good, the tender and the beautiful, and so much more," says Pastor Stanley. "More importantly, it is also about love. It is about the greatest love that is personified in Jesus Christ - wholly God and wholly man – who while innocent, died to pay the penalty of our sins, simply to give us everlasting life."

Pastor Stanley acknowledges that while at first glance, the Ten Commandments may appear to be a list of what people could not do, "at its heart, it’s a moral compass in an age of relativism. It’s about man’s relationship with God and relationships among people in society."

A statement released by the Adventist Church in 2006 on the role of the Ten Commandments in public life asserts that its principles serve as “a foundation for lives of loving service to humanity. At the same time, they recognise the need for tolerance, Christian humility, and respect for the rights of others in making application of these principles."

Pastor Stanley agrees that Christians should not be too rigid in their teachings, but must accept the Bible as their only creed.

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church holds certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. These beliefs constitute the church's understanding and expression of the teaching of Scripture," he says. "However, we expect these statements to be revised when the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truth or finds better language in which to express the teachings of God's Holy Word. But ultimately, there is no such thing as an old or new faith when it deviates from the teachings of the Bible," says Pastor Stanley. [Editors: Melody Tan and Christian B. Schäffler for APD]