Any ex- or current Seventh-Day Adventists on here?

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AlmaRedemptorisMater

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I came home to the Church this Easter from the SDA faith. In many ways, it’s about as far as one can get from Catholicism while still having a valid baptism. If there are any people here who joined the Tiber swim team from Adventism or are considering it I’d love to hear form you.
 
Can you tell me the historical connection if any to Jehovah Witnesses and the differences between the two?

Peace!!!
 
adf417 said:
Can you tell me the historical connection if any to Jehovah Witnesses and the differences between the two?
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There isn’t much of a connection. The founder of the JW’s attended an Adventist (not SDA) lecture when he was 18 and came away convinced that the Bible was the word of God, and decided then to start out on his ministry. However, he didn’t find much of value in Adventist teachings. The two groups have operated in completely different universes, with little interaction or mutual influence. There are no particular similarities between their teachings and practices, beyond vague similarities due to their distant prehistorical origins in the Restorationist movement during the Second Great Awakening.

As for differences between the two, that would be as pointless an exercise as enumerating the differences between a giraffe and a cabbage.

However, here is a list compiled by a Jehovah’s witness:

https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/similar-religions/seventh-day-adventist.php
 
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Welcome home 🙂

I’m not an ex SDA but half my dad’s family is (himself included) still involved in the SDA church. I’m really familiar with the beliefs and practices. I’ve always felt like an outsider b/c I was brought up Catholic.

Do you mind sharing your story?
 
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Thanks! Not much of a story, but was raised in the adventist faith, in quite a religious home. I loved that church and community. But as young adults are wont to do, I drifted away in university. I married a Catholic but held out from converting for over 12 years. This past year I felt a strong urge to explore the Catholic Church and was drawn in by the liturgy, the tradition, Nd above all, the Real Presence of Christ.
 
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I have always found the Seventh Day Adventists to be very nice and warm.people.
But I think they hold many negative beliefs
towards the Catholic church.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I have always found the Seventh Day Adventists to be very nice and warm.people.
But I think they hold many negative beliefs
towards the Catholic church.
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I haven’t really known any Adventists, but I do like their emphasis upon healthy living and diet. To give them their due, I’ve never quite understood why the Sabbath was changed to Sunday (aside from the obvious fact of the resurrection), but that was settled long ago by greater minds and holier souls than me.

 
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In my life experience, I’ve found that people, regardless of faith, on a one-to-one basis, can be very nice and kind, even if their religion as an organized group speaks ill of other religions.
 
I had a naturopathic doctor who was SDA. She was so sweet. I never heard her make any disparaging remarks about Catholics, but once I attended a prohecy seminar unaware it was being presented by SDA. The second night the presenter made it clear how evil the
Catholic church is. I had only converted about 10 months earlier so this was my first time to hear anti-Catholic comments made in
a public setting. My mouth dropped open. I even won one of their Bibles the next night.
I took it to a used bookstore after a year because I didn’t want it. It seemed a coincidence that the seminar was 4 evenings.
Out of those 4 evenings, 3 of us who were Catholic all won an SDA Bible. The first night
we had to fill out a paper with our names and
what religion we were. There were probably about 50 people attending each night.
They were really welcoming and kind, but they
definitely have strong feelings against the
Catholic church.
 
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7_Sorrows said:
They were really welcoming and kind, but they
definitely have strong feelings against the
Catholic church.
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That’s an understatement. The hardcore ones believe that in the end times the Catholics will promulgate a world wide Sunday Law and force people to worship on Sunday instead of Saturday (Sabbath). And if you don’t? Well, the Catholics will come after you and they(the faithful SDAs)will have to hide in the mountains. And, yes, this is a thing…:roll_eyes: …they do have a special hatred reserved towards Roman Catholics (and most are unaware of what Eastern Catholics are.)

Now all that being said, there are decent Christian people to be found in the SDA religion. They do a lot of community outreach. They are very involved in healthcare…although that goes hand in hand with what Ellen White taught which is that vegetarianism is the way to go.
 
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Did you go to SDA schools the whole time? (K-12 and University?) Most of my family did that, although I have a few who have gone to public and/or sent their kids to public high school. They are definitely more “liberal” lol!
 
Yes, I went to adventist elementary school, but went public afterwards. Some of my friends went through the whole process, even ending up as pastors in the church. I daresay they are far more liberal then I am now!
 
I’ve heard of that happening! Do you still maintain the lifestyle? (vegetarian, no alcohol etc) sorry for all the questions but I tend to be curious since I was somewhat affected by the SDA church…I had always hoped some of my family would convert but so far no one has left.
 
No worries! No I do not follow the health message (as its called) and haven’t for some time. In fact that was one of the first subjects that formed questions about adventism in my mind. The Bible is fairly explicit in its allowance concerning meat consumption, yet the church was telling me it is wrong. And yes, it is very difficult to convince them that the Catholic Church is not the antichrist, let alone holds the fullness of faith.
 
I saw a show about the SDA schools and how good they are. It might have been on 60 minutes.
Is the SDA church growing like the Jehovah’s Witnesses?
 
I dont know how the jehovah’s witnesses are growing. But adventism has a fairly typical expansion. Stagnant in the west, growth in Africa.

One of the things happening now is a great division due to women’s ordination. Women are working as pastors, but are called commissioned instead of ordained. The African, Asian, South American, as well as half of the US divisions are against ordaining whereas Europe, Australia, and the rest of North America seems to be for it.

Interestingly it correlates fairly well with where the church is growing and where it is not. But both sides will claim that proves their point.
 
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