| Author | Message | ||
| Treasurehntr Registered user Username: Treasurehntr Post Number: 3 Registered: 7-2007 |
The reason I ask is that as a teenager i threw myself into those "Little Red Books" making myself into a good Adventist (which i absolutely was not). It was my hearts desire to find strength and hope, thinking that if I could just dig a little deeper I might just find it. Everyone here knows the story. Those "Little Red Books" are chocked full of despair, accusations, condemnation, and hopelessness. There is not one ounce of love, compassion, or God's grace in them. The God of those books wants an excuse not to save anyone. Gossip filled lies, and Ellen should have taken her own advice about gossip. So, being so good at leveling accusations against her brothers and sisters, did Ellen White ever talk about her own struggle with sin, with victory and humility? The apostles surely did! Thats why LOVE the Bible, the reality of the Christian Life, warts and all! In simple terms, those are people like you and I. The kind of EGW reading i was looking for may exist although I never found what I was Looking for. If I had I might have never considered leaving. | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 255 Registered: 5-2007 |
I didn't see where EGW admitted being a "sinner" either. But in the Great Controversy, she laid down paramaters for an IJ that she herself can't pass even. Contrast that with the Apostle Paul who called himself the "chief of sinners" and admitted "What I want to do I don't and what I don't want to do I do" Contrast Paul's humility with EGW's arrogance. The Great Controversy left me in despair to the point that I believed I was damned completely. I knew I could pass the IJ as described by EGW and I lived in Terror of the SUnday Laws. If I don't pass the IJ then it would follow that God won't deliver me if I am alive during that time. My biggest hope was to die before the SUnday Laws were passed. No there it no good news in Adventism. It is a real downer. Praise God I found the Gospel. You know I was thinking about some of the Math I am studying right now. I am studying the analysis of Complex Variables this quarter and I find it totally exciting. But as much as I am excited by that, I find the Gospel even more exciting! Praise God!! | ||
| Treasurehntr Registered user Username: Treasurehntr Post Number: 4 Registered: 7-2007 |
You know you hit the nail on the head with that. I will tell you something else..I never really understood the Investigative Judgement. Was it convened exclusively for Adventists, the entire christian world, or all living people. My misunderstanding comes from trying to reconcile the book of Daniel with the IJ interpretation...Ugh glad thats over..) Time for me to explore the real Good News. God is indeed an Awsome God. | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 3922 Registered: 3-2004  |
Ken, Isn't the Good News awesome??? I was and am so glad I gave up all the burden I could not carry. Jesus Christ is the Good News and He is awesome. Diana | ||
| Jorgfe Registered user Username: Jorgfe Post Number: 344 Registered: 11-2005 |
Reb said
That goes for me, too. Why won't Adventists tell people these things in their evangelistic campaigns? This is also the time when the Adventist Church teaches us that God abandons us, and we are on our own (e.g. Close of Probation). It is the product of a very sick mind! People that promote this kind of emotional abuse need to be exposed and held accountable. Gilbert Jorgensen | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 989 Registered: 9-2006  |
They are being exposed, you all just did, let the Lord hold them accountable. | ||
| Dennis Registered user Username: Dennis Post Number: 1139 Registered: 4-2000  |
The Great Controversy has caused nightmares for many Adventist children (including one of my own children). While former Adventists typically claim that they were traditional, evangelical, progressive, reformationist, historic (sometimes hysterical), cultural, cafeteria, or mainstream Adventists, Sylvia and I were actually "mushroom" Adventists (kept in the dark and fed). In the truest sense, this spiritually-abusive category probably involves the vast majority of Adventists today. In regard to children, I agree with the following statement penned by Thomas Paine: "Any system of religion that SHOCKS the mind of a child, cannot be a true system." Dennis Fischer (Message edited by Dennis on July 04, 2007) | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 973 Registered: 8-2004  |
Dennis quoted Thomas Paine saying: "Any system of religion that SHOCKS the mind of a child, cannot be a true system." Hmm. Perhaps THAT is why he was on EGW's do not read list!! | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6210 Registered: 12-2003  |
Ha! Good point, Mary! Dennis, I think you have perfectly described the effects and minset of Adventism. I love your mushroom category! Yes--that familiar darkness! Colleen | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 3931 Registered: 3-2004 |
Dennis, I am also one of the Mushroom category-kept in the dark and fed. That describes me, what I used to be. Diana | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 14 Registered: 7-2007 |
Actually, I thought it would be exciting to hide in the mountains and for the Lord to defend me and other Adventists against the bad people coming to kill us! The thing that did scare me was "the time of Jacob's trouble" that Ellen White wrote about where the people of God would supposedly not be able to remember a single sin they had done and would be agonizing over whether EVERY sin had been confessed. Now that I'm free of that, I don't have any idea what Revelation means - at least for the most part. The "mark of the beast" is obviously something other than Sunday worship. I saw a video that suggested a possibility. It was concerning the piece of bread that Catholics feel ACTUALLY turns into God in their mass and is round like the sun. The person in the video said that Catholics worship the bread after it's been supposedly turned into Jesus and then suggested the possibility that THAT could become the common ground of worship that many people are seeking. (The video was called "The One World Church.") Anyway, that's just a thought. It could be something way different. The way the Moslems are radically trying to get everyone to be Moslem - who knows? Dianne | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 15 Registered: 7-2007 |
There's another thing I'd like to mention. Back when I was an Adventist, I thought other Christians were Sunday-keepers. Now that I'm not, I see that other Christians don't KEEP Sunday at all. The ones who know their Bibles know that the Sabbath was a shadow and Jesus is now our REST  Dianne | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6229 Registered: 12-2003 |
Yep, Dianne...that term "Sunday keepers" was another piece of propaganda. That is still one of the most common accusations we receive via mail, etc. No matter how often we explain Sabbath was never changed, Sunday is not sacred, etc etc., it's as if NO ONE HEARS. I understand their inability to hear us--but it really is a straw-man argument they use. The irony is that this belief that Christians are "Sunday-keepers" has absolutely no effect except to confirm Adventists in their own deception. It doesn't shame the supposed Sunday-keepers into changing. Again, praise God for setting us free! Colleen | ||
| Cloudy Registered user Username: Cloudy Post Number: 10 Registered: 7-2007 |
Unfortunately I have not met Christians which espouse the Sabbath as a shadow and Jesus being our rest except at FAF. Instead I have heard that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, even if they don't have legalistic rules for keeping it. | ||
| Grace_alone Registered user Username: Grace_alone Post Number: 650 Registered: 6-2006  |
You know Cloudy, I think the Mormons say that as well. At least that's what Glenn Beck likes to say on his show, that he keeps the Sabbath every Sunday. Now do SDA's actually believe they're keeping the Sabbath according to Levitical laws? Leigh Anne | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 286 Registered: 5-2007 |
Hmmmmm Steve Young(who is a Mormon) played football on the Mormon "Sabbath". No, Leigh Anne, SDAs do not keep the Sabbath according to Levitical Laws, for one thing they leave their houses. Hmmmmmm I wonder if Mitt Romney(Mormon) gets elected President if the SDAs will be in a frenzy over Sunday Laws. I almost kinda hope he does just to see what they'll do. Hmmmmm maybe I'll vote for Romney. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 16 Registered: 7-2007 |
Actually, Cloudy, I haven't talked to many Christians yet, so I haven't gotten much of an idea what most of them think. The Christian who got me out of the SDA church (with the Lord's help, of course) knows that the Sabbath was a shadow. I hope that there aren't many mixed up Christians who think they need to keep a day. If so, I think they would be easy pickings for one of those Revelation or Prophecy Seminars that SDAs like to put on and could easily get fooled into joining the SDA church. Dianne | ||
| 91steps Registered user Username: 91steps Post Number: 163 Registered: 8-2005  |
Here is a funny tale from my time as a security officer at the GC. One Fri evening I get a call from a person with a foreign accent, can not recall if it was a male of female. It seemed that all teh crazies in the world would call after sunset on Fri when I was at the Front Desk. Anyhow, this person calls and asks me if this was the building with the EGW Estate and I replied yes. They then asked if Mrs. White worked there to which I asked "Can I get Mrs. White's first name" and they said Ellen, as in Ellen G White!!!!!! I paused to compose myself and asked them if they were referring to the EGW that "wrote" all the books and they said yes! I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from laughing but I told them that she had been dead for well over 100 years!! Needless to say the call ended shortly thereafter. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6526 Registered: 12-2003 |
That is funny, 91steps! I wonder where the caller lived...? Colleen | ||
| Dennis Registered user Username: Dennis Post Number: 1208 Registered: 4-2000 |
91steps, We need more humor on this forum. As a former security officer at the General Conference, you might consider sharing additional tidbits of hilarity from time to time. After all, a laugh a day keeps the psychiatrist away.  Dennis Fischer |
