My Experiences with Seventh-Day Adventists

HomeChristianity and the BibleMy Experiences with Seventh-Day Adventists

I’m regularly asked about the beliefs of particular groups of people, like Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh-Day Adventists. When I respond, I try to be very careful in my assessments. My goal is to compare beliefs (any beliefs, including yours and mine) with what we find in the Bible. I do not feel comfortable saying whether anyone in particular, or groups in general, has been saved. Some people are born again in spite of bad theology, and many people are bound for Hell in spite of good theology. In this article, I simply explain some of my experiences with Seventh-Day Adventists.

ONE

When I was a teen, I attended a church in a Seattle suburb. Another church down the street had a split over doctrine. They were Seventh-Day Adventists. The smaller group stayed there, but the larger group rented our church building to worship on Saturdays because it wasn’t being used. Naturally, some of them also visited our Sunday worship services. It wasn’t very long before they stopped renting the building… not because they found their own building, but because nobody was left to worship on Saturday. Why was that? Well, because we had become friends, I asked a bunch of them. Here’s a summary of what they said:

We thought we were Christians before. When we visited this church, we literally heard the real gospel for the first time. We realized that we weren’t actually Christians… but now we’re born again, as the Bible describes.

That was pretty shocking to me. Now, please hear me: I’m NOT saying that Adventists aren’t Christians. Not at all. I’m saying that, depending on what each local congregation is being taught, those in attendance may or may not have the whole story.

TWO

I went to college in Idaho. As a freshman, I met an older man in a store. He was very nice, and we felt connected instantly. It was interesting to chat with him about all kinds of subjects. As we talked, I found out that he was the #3 leader at Pacific Press, the SDA publishers. He brought me to the factory and showed me around. Because my father was a printer, I found it all very fascinating. We spent a lot of time together that year, and talked about all kinds of things… but mostly theology. Because he was Adventist and I was not, we often ended up talking about our differences. It was always, always friendly, of course.

As we talked, it became clear to me that my friend, older than my father, simply didn’t know that the New Covenant instituted by Jesus is different, and better, than the old. He was convinced that obeying the Law was basic to pleasing God, but he was unclear as to why he and his church only followed part of the Law. We lost touch after a year or so, but I look back very fondly at our friendship.

THREE

About 10 years later, I found work with a truly incredible gentleman who cleaned carpets for a living. He treated me like his own son. I’ve only met a few people in my life who are that sincerely kind and generous. He and his wife were devoted Adventists. Because we worked together, just the two of us, for 8-10 hours every day, we had plenty of time to chat. Unfortunately, he seemed to struggle with the same kinds of things that my childhood friends talked about, and that my college friend was unsure about… things like sabbath-keeping, dietary restrictions, and so on. He wasn’t dogmatic in his beliefs, and never suggested that I needed to live as he lived to please God… but he was convinced that we are under the Law, and that Christians needed to live by parts of the Torah. He just wasn’t clear on which parts, or why.

FOUR

All during that time, I had a PO Box instead of a mailbox. So, every day I would go to the Post Office to get my mail. There were always religious publications on the counter for anybody who wanted them. Sometimes it was LDS stuff (there are tons of Mormons in Idaho), sometimes it was The Plain Truth Magazine (from the Worldwide Church of God, which was an unorthodox cult at that time), and sometimes it was local SDA stuff. Usually those were flyers announcing some seminar on Bible prophecy. One time there was a big stack of paperback books! The title was “Sunday Worship: The Mark of the Beast.” I took one and read it, which seemed to be the goal of the person who left them there. Truly, it was an abysmal attempt at explaining the Scriptures. I recognize that this is a kind of fringe idea among Adventists, of course… but it’s an idea that GodWords readers have suggested many times over the years. It’s not as uncommon as it should be.

So: for around 15 years of my life, I spent considerable time in the company of Adventists and former Adventists, and I read a fair amount of official SDA stuff. The Adventists I know are pretty much all amazing people, and I truly love them… some were like family. I believe that MANY Adventists have been born again as Jesus described in John 3. I have no doubt that I’ll see tons of Adventists in Heaven.

The trouble is simply this: I also have no doubt that many of my Adventist friends will NOT be there, as they were never born again. My reason for writing this is to simply alert people to the possibility that, considering the beliefs and teachings and confusion of so many Adventists, the gospel of Jesus may or may not be preached there consistently. I say this only because of my own experiences, and from reading Adventist publications. I recognize that, like so many others who go to church regularly, they may not know the biblical gospel. My Adventist friends spent considerable time in Bible study, went to church regularly, and were sincere in their desire to please God. I’m only concerned for them because, like every other human on the planet, they must be born again to see the Kingdom of God.


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3 responses to “My Experiences with Seventh-Day Adventists”

  1. Fred says:

    Great article.
    “I have no doubt that I’ll see tons of Adventists in Heaven.
    The trouble is simply this: I also have no doubt that many of my Adventist friends will NOT be there, as they were never born again.”
    Unfortunately, this statement also applies to many people in American churches today.

  2. Japhet says:

    As a born SDA, baptized at a young age (9) I can say I truly grew worshipping God and all his teachings in the Bible. But the “rules” overshadowed the relationship with God at a later age in which I gave up on my faith. After about 20 years I have had a true calling from God to read his word and build and rekindle my relationship with God. This time through reading the Bible and praying.

    I’m hesitant on going to any particular church because I still don’t know if God truly sees us as the SDA community teaches everything. There so much emphasis on keeping the sabbath and the sunset to sundown thing, the foods we eat and all that gets very judgy in the church. Any tips on how to approach finding a church or if it’s even important? I grew up with the assumption that anyone that worshipped on Sunday wasn’t following scripture as written. So now I struggle to trust any other denominations as true teachings and want to focus on learning God through the Bible.

    • Tony says:

      Japhet:

      It’s good to hear from you! Honestly, some of my favorite people have been SDA. I recently moved back to an area with tons of them, and I’m hoping to reconnect with them. I’m excited to hear about your new passion for God and the Bible!

      Yes, finding a church is important. I don’t usually say it like that because it carries a lot of baggage. Here’s what I say: becoming a mature follower of Jesus can be hard at times, and we need support and encouragement. Find some Christians in your area who follow Jesus closely, and hang out with them regularly… like, a lot. You need them, and they need you. Typically, these people already gather together regularly, so you should be able to join them pretty easily. The question is where to find them, isn’t it?

      I’ve written an article on this: How to Find a Good Church. It’s a start. The problem is that you don’t really know which groups of people who call themselves Christians really are who you belong with. For that, I’m afraid, you might have to endure some false starts. You’ll need to check out some local churches and listen carefully. Just having a list of things to look for isn’t a perfect solution. Having someone guide you along the way can make up the difference.

      Here’s my promise to you: if you’ll keep in touch with me, and send me links to the websites for churches you think might be a good fit, I will check them out and let you know what I think. I don’t live in your area, so my info will always be limited, but I can at least steer you away from trouble and help you avoid the places you should avoid. What do you say? Let me know.

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