| Author | Message | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 590 Registered: 5-2007 |
Now the "cat is out of the bag" to more and more people at the Adventist Church regarding my switch in belief to SDB. And, they are not "judging" me for it. I am kind amused that some of the elders think I'm "seeking" which means they are holding out hope that I will return to Adventism. Not likely. I am free and do not want those chains or that bondage back. Adventism has nothing to offer me but fear, doom, and gloom. I found the Gospel and I'm not giving it up. I am very glad they are being more tolerant of this than I had thought. All the elders know now and I thought a few of the more conservative ones would really "freak out" but they've all been really cool about it. Seems like they value my friendship and care enough about me to not pressure me. I also think they realise my mind is made up and there's no changing it anyway. | ||
| Jody Registered user Username: Jody Post Number: 4 Registered: 7-2007 |
When u say u have switched to SDB I assume u mean Seventh Day Baptist? | ||
| Agapetos Registered user Username: Agapetos Post Number: 984 Registered: 10-2002  |
Sounds like they're in the 'denial' stage. This is a good time to stand strong, and many people when listening to you will think that you never really understood SDA from the beginning, like you were born yesterday. But stand strong. The denial is thick! It is a good time to share the Gospel and God's love. | ||
| Lucybugg Registered user Username: Lucybugg Post Number: 73 Registered: 2-2007 |
Reb every person at my former SDA church thinks my family and I are just "seeking" and will be back once we've had our little rebellion. In fact, I was telling my husband the other night that I think the time has come to request that our names be removed from membership. | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 592 Registered: 5-2007 |
Yes, Jody, by SDB I mean Seventh Day Baptist. | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 593 Registered: 5-2007 |
I think your're right, Ramone, they might be in "denial". I'm standing strong. I found the Gospel and I'm not giving it up! | ||
| Stevendi Registered user Username: Stevendi Post Number: 216 Registered: 10-2006 |
Reb, This may sound a bit jaded, but unless your adventist "friends" are different than most that I've known, they simply don't care about your journey out. Whether you realize it or not, they have effectively "written you off the books", you are lost until you "return" to the fold. You are not one of them, you are now one of "those people." They could care less about what you believe or how you came to believe it. You are in error, they are right. steve | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 596 Registered: 5-2007 |
At least they can't go after me on the Sabbath issue as I still "keep" it as a Seventh Day Baptist.(though the SDBs are not as strict about it and don't have the Sabbath rules the SDAs do, it's up to the individual and how they are "convicted"). I'm sure they will try to hammer me with the EGW issue and my rejection and renouncement of the "testemonies". Even though I didn't give up the Sabbath, I did give up EGW and that's probably enough for them. But they've actually been cooler about this then I thought they would be. | ||
| Jody Registered user Username: Jody Post Number: 5 Registered: 7-2007 |
Reb,I have been thinking about the whole Sabbath issue myself.When debating with SDA's it seems like a weak argument to say we don't have to obey God.I think the day of worship is a secondary issue and so really it is a waste to get bogged down arguing over it.In my experience whenever you get in a theological discussion with them they always have to come back to the Sabbath issue no matter how the conversation started.If i agreed with them about the day and told them they had the wrong Gospel,I wonder if a person could more effectively witness to them.By agreeing with them on their core belief,maybe they could be caught off guard on the other issues.I am curious about Seventh Day Baptists,do they teach that Sunday Worship is the mark of the beast and do they teach that a person can lose salvation? | ||
| Pheeki Registered user Username: Pheeki Post Number: 878 Registered: 1-2003 |
Reb...you're ok in their book because you still keep the Sabbath. Sure, they wish you kept it with them but hey...you didn't give up the thing they think saves you! If you went back and told them you were attending a sunday church...see what reaction you would get! I am willing to bet, very different. | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 597 Registered: 5-2007 |
Jody, Seventh Day Baptists do NOT teach that Sunday worship is or ever will be the mark of the beast. Seventh Day Baptists do not consider the Sabbath salvific and consider "Sunday" Christians fully their Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Seventh Day Baptists, like most other Christians believe Christ and the Gospel is what is Salvific and salvation is through grace alone. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 151 Registered: 7-2007 |
When I was a Seventh-day Adventist, I didn't read much of Ellen White because her requirements were so burdensome. I guess I figured that if I didn't know all the rules, I wouldn't be held accountable for them. Perhaps a lot of the Adventists at the church you go to, Reb, feel the same way and don't mind too much if you don't read her writings. The more conservative ones would probably be alarmed though if they thought you were doing "bad" things like drinking tea and coffee ("narcotics" according to Ellen White in one or two place in her book "Counsels on Diet and Foods"), or going to theaters, or drinking water with your meals or having spices on your food, etc.  | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 600 Registered: 5-2007 |
They all know I do those things and don't make a big deal of it. Most of them do as well. | ||
| Susans Registered user Username: Susans Post Number: 427 Registered: 8-2006 |
Absolutely, Pheeki, it's because Reb still keeps Sabbath! (I'm not saying it's wrong to keep Sabbath as you do, Reb) Not one person from my church has ever asked me to come back, or even why I left! They don't care. My best friend, who I love more than breathing, once said to me that her prayer was that my husband and I would be sitting together in church on Sabbath morning. When she found out he was a Baptist, she asked me if he had ever heard of the SBD church? Sabbath is IT for SDA's. They love the shadow. Sad. Susan (Message edited by SusanS on August 21, 2007) | ||
| Reb Registered user Username: Reb Post Number: 601 Registered: 5-2007 |
Susan, I think you and Pheeki are right about that. | ||
| Jody Registered user Username: Jody Post Number: 6 Registered: 7-2007 |
Reb,U somewhat sidestepped one of my questions.Do Seventh Day Baptists believe a person can lose their salvation?Or are they more in line with traditional Baptist churches except they worship on Saturday?Are their any distinctives with the SDB's besides their day of worship?Could a SDB fellowship with regular Baptists on a Wed nite Bible study? Also I was going to comment on one of your previous posts.You mentioned that alot of the SDA's are doing things which would of at one time been Taboo.I find that alot of the younger generation SDA's are alot more liberal than their predecessors.I think in the next 10 years alot of the legalism will be gone unless someone within the denomination speaks up against it.Possibly Ellen G White is losing her stonghold on the church. | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 1022 Registered: 8-2004  |
Will the legalism be gone? or will it only be a swing of the reactionary pendulum? | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6609 Registered: 12-2003  |
Jody, no, EGW isn't losing her stronghold on the church. On the contrary, the church is returning to a more historic emphasis in general. Elementary SDA school Bible curriculae are including a great deal of emphasis on Ellen, on the early Adventist pioneers, and also on current Adventist endeavors such as ADRA. The church has a project, launched at the 2005 GC session, called "Connecting with Jesus". The plan is to raise the money to translate 10 EGW books into the local languages of countries where Adventism is growing, including African nations, etc. Their goal is to bundle these 10 books together (they include the Conflict of the Ages series) and to place them in the homes of 2,000,000 new Adventists. When the plan was announced (we watched it on the internet), they stated that unless these new Adventists get Ellen into their hands, they will not actually look like Adventists. (Not a direct quote--but the meaning is there.) Yes, the younger generation tends to be more liberal--depending upon the geographic area they're from. But the liberality is only superficial. Underneath, they are still bound by the spiritual hold of Sabbath and of remaining Adventist. Even the liberal Adventists fear what might happen if they leave. That fear and uncertainty demonstrate that they are not actually more "free". They are just more "liberal"--but they still have cognitive dissonance and fear. Colleen | ||
| Wolfgang Registered user Username: Wolfgang Post Number: 180 Registered: 10-2005 |
Asurprise your comment about the tea and coffee made me think,how gulity I would feel when a certain member would come to my house and see my coffee maker on my counter top,blah makes my stomach turn,thankyou Lord for my freedom in Christ alone | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 1023 Registered: 8-2004 |
Colleen wrote, "They are not actually more 'free'. They are just more 'liberal'". Great description! When a religion is based on fear there will be adherents who grovel at the feet of every pronouncement - taking the most drastic steps to clear themselves from condemnation, and there will be those who actively decided to rebel against every dictum, with plenty of people somewhere in between. Yet freedom comes not in being liberal or conservative, legalistic or antinomian, not in making various deals with our consciences. It comes from being made free by Jesus Christ alone. And when the Son makes you free you are free indeed! Blessings, Mary |
