Former SDA Thinking of converting to Catholic

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Oh Tabby,
How sad I was to read your post.
My husband and his family were a bigoted lot of people who really thought that Catholics closed the church door, undressed, sat around a fire chanting whilst invoking weird spirits. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I was taunted by them for many years, and asked ridiculous questions. Told that I was ‘strange’ etc. These people were educated in their field of work; University, no less.
After many years my husband, of his own accord, came to Mass with me: guess what he found?
A gathering of folk who are doing our best, living by the commandments and doing good-works for those in physical, mental & spiritual need.
Not one naked body or fire to be found.
Take baby steps Tabby. HE will find you and lead you. We are pretty ordinary in the true sense. Catholics try to do the ‘right’ thing: not being judgemental,(sometimes that’s hard), being kind to our sisters & brothers. Pray, pray, pray…just talk to HIM. Havachat! He always listens.
God Bless
A.
p.s find a priest who will answer your questions just as a priest answered my husband’s…and he’s a hard nut to crack. Hasn’t converted,(yet), but who knows. 🙂
 
I was raised devoutly SDA and converted a couple of years ago. You’ve already gotten lots of good information and links. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or just for general support. 🙂
 
Amy,

I was interested in your post.

I had no idea that SDA’s philosophy was to preach about the Pope being the anti-Christ! Stunned that they teach such awful things about another Christian religion. (Ummm is it a Christian religion)?

I’ve tried ‘googling’ SDA information but it is sparse.

A
 
Hi Arabella,

You might try googling different combinations, like “SDA beliefs” or “SDA antichrist.” I have not found it difficult to find information about SDAs on the internet.

SDAs have some very distinctive beliefs, and some of their members tend toward fringe/conspiracy theory ideas. However, they are definitely Christian, and most SDAs are very nice and very sincere. Obviously, I think their beliefs are erroneous, but I am reasonably confident I will see numerous SDA family members in heaven. This link provides a good overview from a Catholic perspective: catholic.com/tracts/seventh-day-adventism.

Peace,

amyrebeccap
 
Hi Amy,

Thank you for the information re SDA.

Will follow links

God’s Choisest Blessings,
Anna (from Sydney, Australia)
 
Blessed Mother, please intercede for us.
Hold the sorrowful, strengthen the fearful,
mother and love the weary, abused, neglected
or forgotten among us,
give your aid to all needing help or healing,
assist those who are sick, in pain or suffering,
be with those needing peace,
console the lonely or brokenhearted,
comfort the lost or hopeless,
guard the unborn,
pray for those who are dying or who have died,
soften those with hardened hearts,
enlighten those who do not yet see truth,
help us be brave enough to let our hurt and anger go,
show us the way to do the right thing,
protect those who are in danger,
and guide us from every evil.
May all who keep your sacred commemoration
experience the might of your assistance.
Amen :gopray2:
 
**Blessed Mother, please intercede for us.
Hold the sorrowful, strengthen the fearful,
mother and love the weary, abused, neglected
or forgotten among us,
give your aid to all needing help or healing,
assist those who are sick, in pain or suffering,
be with those needing peace,
console the lonely or brokenhearted,
comfort the lost or hopeless,
guard the unborn,
pray for those who are dying or who have died,
soften those with hardened hearts,
enlighten those who do not yet see truth,
help us be brave enough to let our hurt and anger go,
show us the way to do the right thing,
protect those who are in danger,
and guide us from every evil.
May all who keep your sacred commemoration
experience the might of your assistance.
Amen :gopray2: **
 
Blessed Mother, please intercede for us.
Hold the sorrowful, strengthen the fearful,
mother and love the weary, abused, neglected
or forgotten among us,
give your aid to all needing help or healing,
assist those who are sick, in pain or suffering,
be with those needing peace,
console the lonely or brokenhearted,
comfort the lost or hopeless,
guard the unborn,
pray for those who are dying or who have died,
soften those with hardened hearts,
enlighten those who do not yet see truth,
help us be brave enough to let our hurt and anger go,
show us the way to do the right thing,
protect those who are in danger,
and guide us from every evil.
May all who keep your sacred commemoration
experience the might of your assistance.
Amen :gopray2:
 
To the original poster, I’m also a former SDA and attended an SDA University with plans to become a missionary. The fact that I will be starting RCIA in the fall is the complete antithesis of everything we’ve been taught as Adventists and shattered my worldview, and yet, I cannot deny truth when it is staring me in the face.I completely understand your nervousness but with prayer and time I’m sure things will get easier.
 
As a former Catholic, I read this website www.godisimaginary.com, just offering my experience when thinking about converting belief systems, and my brother is a Catholic priest and I went to Catholic school, just for background.
 
tuscany said:
Blessed Mother, please intercede for us.
Hold the sorrowful, strengthen the fearful,
mother and love the weary, abused, neglected
or forgotten among us,
give your aid to all needing help or healing,
assist those who are sick, in pain or suffering,
be with those needing peace,
console the lonely or brokenhearted,
comfort the lost or hopeless,
guard the unborn,
pray for those who are dying or who have died,
soften those with hardened hearts,
enlighten those who do not yet see truth,
help us be brave enough to let our hurt and anger go,
show us the way to do the right thing,
protect those who are in danger,
and guide us from every evil.
May all who keep your sacred commemoration
experience the might of your assistance.
Amen :gopray2:
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I’d like to add to this prayer, pray for anyone and their victim(s) encountering this passage in the Bible that really follows it:

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
 
nymom7 said:
To the original poster, I’m also a former SDA and attended an SDA University with plans to become a missionary. The fact that I will be starting RCIA in the fall is the complete antithesis of everything we’ve been taught as Adventists and shattered my worldview, and yet, I cannot deny truth when it is staring me in the face.I completely understand your nervousness but with prayer and time I’m sure things will get easier.
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To you nymom7 and to tabbytru, I know you two had your world turned upside down when you saw the truth. My gf is a SDA and we read the bible, the entire bible and now she’s stunned and has lost her faith in The SDA church but is afraid to move to Catholicism bc of what has been taught in her church. I praise you two for making the jump. May God bless you two. Have courage and do not be afraid.

By the way, when my girlfriend and I read, I would study on my own going through different catholic apologetic websites, and set up a book with bible verses explaining a lot if catholic doctrines. At the bottom of my post you will find it. I hope it helps
 
chero23 said:
To you nymom7 and to tabbytru, I know you two had your world turned upside down when you saw the truth. My gf is a SDA and we read the bible, the entire bible and now she’s stunned and has lost her faith in The SDA church but is afraid to move to Catholicism bc of what has been taught in her church. I praise you two for making the jump. May God bless you two. Have courage and do not be afraid.

By the way, when my girlfriend and I read, I would study on my own going through different catholic apologetic websites, and set up a book with bible verses explaining a lot if catholic doctrines. At the bottom of my post you will find it. I hope it helps
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I’m a bit confused. You said that by reading the entire Bible, your gf was stunned and lost her faith in the SDA. Are you saying they aren’t taught all of the Bible in the SDA church? I admit, I know little about them besides their #1 distinctive that everyone knows about and their anti-Catholic tendencies. What would prevent them from reading all of the Bible in their homes? Well, any or all of 66 books of it, anyway. 🤷

God bless
 
dcana said:
I’m a bit confused. You said that by reading the entire Bible, your gf was stunned and lost her faith in the SDA. Are you saying they aren’t taught all of the Bible in the SDA church? I admit, I know little about them besides their #1 distinctive that everyone knows about and their anti-Catholic tendencies. What would prevent them from reading all of the Bible in their homes? Well, any or all of 66 books of it, anyway. 🤷

God bless
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See my girlfriend, as many Protestants really don’t know why Catholics teach and believe what we do. So as we we’re reading, I was able to show her in the bible, why we believe x,y, and z. She said that all of our beliefs were man made traditions, but as we read, we would write down verses important to a particular topic, i.e. Mary, the Eucharist, infant baptism, apostolic succession, just to name a few. She was able to see the other side of the coin and it shocked her bc unfortunately she had been taught otherwise.
 
chero23 said:
See my girlfriend, as many Protestants really don’t know why Catholics teach and believe what we do. So as we we’re reading, I was able to show her in the bible, why we believe x,y, and z. She said that all of our beliefs were man made traditions, but as we read, we would write down verses important to a particular topic, i.e. Mary, the Eucharist, infant baptism, apostolic succession, just to name a few. She was able to see the other side of the coin and it shocked her bc unfortunately she had been taught otherwise.
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I see…but why did she lose her faith in the SDA church? Did you show her how in Acts they met, broke the bread, etc. on the Lord’s Day (i.e. Sunday) and how Jesus celebrated the 2nd mass on a Sunday (on the road to Emmaus)? Did she not know of these verses before? How is that possible? Or is their anti-Catholicism actually so pervasive that it could be said to be central to their beliefs, so when she came to the conclusion that the Church is not the “church of the anti-Christ”, “whore of Babylon”, etc., etc. that it actually shook her faith deeply, knowing that she has been lied to by the SDA church? Or maybe not *intentionally *lied too, but at least taught very wrongly by the SDA? Do they tend to skip over “troublesome” passages like - Oh, I don’t know, let’s see - maybe John chapter 6 or chapter 20 (along with many, many others)? So much for Sola Scriptura.

I pray for her that the Holy Spirit may heal her and enlighten her mind and lead her to the true and only Church of Christ, through which alone the plenitude of Jesus’ graces flow to souls and, thereby, to the world.
 
dcana said:
I see…but why did she lose her faith in the SDA church? Did you show her how in Acts they met, broke the bread, etc. on the Lord’s Day (i.e. Sunday) and how Jesus celebrated the 2nd mass on a Sunday (on the road to Emmaus)? Did she not know of these verses before? How is that possible? Or is their anti-Catholicism actually so pervasive that it could be said to be central to their beliefs, so when she came to the conclusion that the Church is not the “church of the anti-Christ”, “whore of Babylon”, etc., etc. that it actually shook her faith deeply, knowing that she has been lied to by the SDA church? Or maybe not *intentionally *lied too, but at least taught very wrongly by the SDA? Do they tend to skip over “troublesome” passages like - Oh, I don’t know, let’s see - maybe John chapter 6 or chapter 20 (along with many, many others)? So much for Sola Scriptura.

I pray for her that the Holy Spirit may heal her and enlighten her mind and lead her to the true and only Church of Christ, through which alone the plenitude of Jesus’ graces flow to souls and, thereby, to the world.
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My girlfriend has never been catholic, but her parents were and people at her church are. When you hear people in your inner circle say, when i was catholic I was bad and ignorant, it sticks in you. And, oh, that ellen g white, the self proclaimed prophet whom the SDA church follows, in her books like the great controversy, spends the entire time attacking the church, calling her the whore of Babylon and anti- Christ, I think it just sticks with you.

When we were reading, I remember when we read Luke 1: 39-55, and we saw the similarities with 2 Samuel 6, and how Mary is made to be the new ark, that right there shook her up. When we read john 6, it made her cry. She said we have never talked about this chapter. When we read the book of revelation, I showed her the church teaches that the book is actually about the mass, it was something totally different for her. I think what happened to her, is that she saw that these people whom she looked up to, were actually lying about the Catholic Church. It could be bc they did it out ignorance or bc they are hateful, but it has made her doubt.

Thank you for your prayers, I hope that she’s able to see the truth and follow it, which is the Catholic Church.
 
dcana said:
I see…but why did she lose her faith in the SDA church? Did you show her how in Acts they met, broke the bread, etc. on the Lord’s Day (i.e. Sunday) and how Jesus celebrated the 2nd mass on a Sunday (on the road to Emmaus)? Did she not know of these verses before? How is that possible? Or is their anti-Catholicism actually so pervasive that it could be said to be central to their beliefs, so when she came to the conclusion that the Church is not the “church of the anti-Christ”, “whore of Babylon”, etc., etc. that it actually shook her faith deeply, knowing that she has been lied to by the SDA church? Or maybe not *intentionally *lied too, but at least taught very wrongly by the SDA? Do they tend to skip over “troublesome” passages like - Oh, I don’t know, let’s see - maybe John chapter 6 or chapter 20 (along with many, many others)? So much for Sola Scriptura.

I pray for her that the Holy Spirit may heal her and enlighten her mind and lead her to the true and only Church of Christ, through which alone the plenitude of Jesus’ graces flow to souls and, thereby, to the world.
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the passages that you mentioned are explained away such as where they broke bread on the first day of the week: it is explained that they where going and preaching about Christ and teaching about him and it is not them actually worshiping on that day.

as to john chapter 6 it is explained that it is not a literal passages because it would make them cannibals if they actually ate his flesh and drank his blood , communion is symbolic not literal they teach.

Seventh Day Adventist do read the bible. in revelation it talks about the true people of god having the testimony of Jesus and they keep the commandments of god for SDA’s this means the seventh day Sabbath.

SDA"S believe that they have the truth and are the true church based on the sabbath and at the end times others will recognize this and come out of the sunday keeping churches to join the true church.

it is true Ellen G White has a lot to do with the Anti Catholic teachings and she is taught in the church some churches teach her more than others. when you are baptized into the SDA church you have to state that you believe ellen white to be a prophet and a symbol of the true church it says so in my baptismal certificate that i have.
 
tabbytru said:
the passages that you mentioned are explained away such as where they broke bread on the first day of the week: it is explained that they where going and preaching about Christ and teaching about him and it is not them actually worshiping on that day.

as to john chapter 6 it is explained that it is not a literal passages because it would make them cannibals if they actually ate his flesh and drank his blood , communion is symbolic not literal they teach.

Seventh Day Adventist do read the bible. in revelation it talks about the true people of god having the testimony of Jesus and they keep the commandments of god for SDA’s this means the seventh day Sabbath.

SDA"S believe that they have the truth and are the true church based on the sabbath and at the end times others will recognize this and come out of the sunday keeping churches to join the true church.

it is true Ellen G White has a lot to do with the Anti Catholic teachings and she is taught in the church some churches teach her more than others. when you are baptized into the SDA church you have to state that you believe ellen white to be a prophet and a symbol of the true church it says so in my baptismal certificate that i have.
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What you should see about them breaking bread on the first day is several things. They broke bread every 1st day (Sunday). This was done every Sunday, that’s point two. Remember in the OT it states that the Jews needed to sacrifice a lamb every Sabbath. Now added up. In the OT the lamb was sacrificed every Saturday and was ate. In the NT, Jesus is the lamb, he’s the bread, and were suppose to eat him every Sunday.

John 6 is not speaking symbolically when you put it into context with the whole Bible.

See the SDA cannot be the true Church bc EGW called herself a prophet ad yet she lied in so many things. Remember the prophets in the OT always spoke with the truth. Not some truth but the whole truth bc they were speaking in the name of God. If EGW calls herself a prophet but yet lied in so many topics, then she is not really a prophet,
 
tabbytru said:
the passages that you mentioned are explained away such as where they broke bread on the first day of the week: it is explained that they where going and preaching about Christ and teaching about him and it is not them actually worshiping on that day.

as to john chapter 6 it is explained that it is not a literal passages because it would make them cannibals if they actually ate his flesh and drank his blood , communion is symbolic not literal they teach.

Seventh Day Adventist do read the bible. in revelation it talks about the true people of god having the testimony of Jesus and they keep the commandments of god for SDA’s this means the seventh day Sabbath.

SDA"S believe that they have the truth and are the true church based on the sabbath and at the end times others will recognize this and come out of the sunday keeping churches to join the true church.

it is true Ellen G White has a lot to do with the Anti Catholic teachings and she is taught in the church some churches teach her more than others. when you are baptized into the SDA church you have to state that you believe ellen white to be a prophet and a symbol of the true church it says so in my baptismal certificate that i have.
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Remember: for Catholics, “breaking the bread” = Eucharist = greatest form of worship. We see this in the experience of the disciples at Emmaus (see Luke 24)–they’ve been traveling with Jesus all day, discussing the Scriptures and why the Messiah had to suffer and die. But they only recognize him “in the breaking of the bread” (Lk 24:30-13, 35). The verbs are exactly the same ones, and in the same sequence, as found at the Last Supper, as used in every Mass across the world every day, and even as found in John 6:11.

John 6 teaches that the Eucharist is literally the Body and Blood of Christ–were it not, how could we eat His Flesh and drink His Blood as he insists we must do to receive life (Jn 6:48-58)? Further, were it merely symbolic, why does he not reassure those who leave that he didn’t mean literally eat His Flesh and Blood (6:52-58, 60-66)? Still, we who eat are not cannibals, as the disciples who departed feared–we eat the Body and Blood in the form of bread and wine. We trusted Jesus, and He did not ask of us more than we could bear.

Another indication of the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ–one of the early slanders against Christians is that they are cannibals, or that they eat the flesh of children. This points to the true teaching, from early days, that in our “breaking of the bread” we receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

Also, regarding the SDA’s insistence on the Sabbath (Saturday) as the holy day–we recognize that Sunday is not the Sabbath as such. It is the “Lord’s Day,” the day of resurrection–and so it’s the day we celebrate the resurrection each week. For us, it has replaced the Saturday Sabbath.
 
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