| Author | Message | ||
| Freeatlast Registered user Username: Freeatlast Post Number: 402 Registered: 5-2002 |
I just did the math... When one is SDA, someone who leaves seems to have given up 1 day of rest and devotion per week. However, on this side of the equation, I see that I have actually gained 7 days of rest and devotion per week. I am beginning to consider myself lucky and blessed when I look at my 36 years of cultic involvement in this way. Instead of having 6 days of work and 1 day of rest, I now am blessed to have 7 days of rest and devotion! | ||
| Javagirl Registered user Username: Javagirl Post Number: 38 Registered: 6-2005 |
Freeatlast I just posted a similar thought a minute ago on another thread! I am really beginning to see the truth in this. | ||
| Cindy Registered user Username: Cindy Post Number: 741 Registered: 7-2000 |
Freeatlast, Right! You have the freedom to have ALL time for Jesus. Isn't that children's song that's sung in Sabbath Schools just horrible?! "One, two, three, four, five, six for us, one, two, three, four, five, six for us, one, two, three, four, five, six for us... the Seventh is for Jesus!" In Christ, all 7 are for Jesus...and for us! grace, cindy | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 907 Registered: 10-2004  |
Yes, I remember singing that song with my grandma. It's so amazing that they really think that only ONE day out of SEVEN is for Jesus!! That song is so unbelievable--and unBiblical, unChristian, etc. The SDA mindset is that Jesus only wants 1/7 of our time and 1/10 of our money--and the rest is OURS to do what we want with. It seems that a lot of SDAs even think that as long as they give God the seventh day of the week, they can go out and live totally "secular" lives the first six days of the week. The "holy" Sabbath day doctrine actually has the opposite effect of what they claim (making you a more "godly" person)! Jeremy | ||
| Chris Registered user Username: Chris Post Number: 969 Registered: 7-2003  |
Freeatlast, Your experience is so true. I identify with what you're saying completely. I sometimes say, "I gave up observing the Sabbath so I could finally start living in it." Of course, no matter how hard I try, I just can't explain this to a SDA. Sadly they truly cannot see it. Chris | ||
| Cindy Registered user Username: Cindy Post Number: 742 Registered: 7-2000 |
Chris, That is a very good way of putting it! "I gave up the Sabbath so I could finally start living in it." grace, cindy | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 2376 Registered: 12-2003  |
Oh, I agree! It's impossible to explain the reality of Sabbath rest in Jesus to an Adventist who has not experienced it. That Sabbath School song really disturbs me, too. it really teaches something antithetical to living as a Christ-follower: it's all about me! In reality, all of me is about Him. I praise Him for this Sabbath day I've had, working in the yard, taking Richard out to dinner for his birthday, etc. Living in Jesus is so different from living for the Sabbath. Praise Him! Colleen | ||
| Taybie Registered user Username: Taybie Post Number: 40 Registered: 4-2005 |
Hi guys, I went to visit my second family yesterday, (who are ALL Adventist) and we had such a great time!!! Well, the conversation took a turn for the worst when my Daddy#2 said, "Sister White says..." and then he turned to me, (in the past, I would normally agree with him and we would then talk about the beenfits of knowing about Ellen) but this time, my face did not read, "I agree" I actually told him, "Well I don't believe that ellen was a prophet, nor do I agree with that statement." He was talking about people taking on the personalities of the animals they eat. What I can say about this family is that they love me. I mean, for real, fa sho love Shontay. They support my leaving the sda church and even came to my baptism last year! They are a testament that there are people in the sda church that truly exemplify the love of God in their lives. I wanted to tell them all the truth and point them in the direction of King Jesus, but since they already know and love Him, how do you go about pointing out the flaws in their belief of Him? I figured it out...you simply don't. you love on them and allow the Master to do His finest work thru you by simply loving them. I apologize that this wasn't totally on topic, but I just had to share that with you guys! Miracles & Blessings, Shontay | ||
| Windmotion Registered user Username: Windmotion Post Number: 185 Registered: 6-2001  |
My mother-in-law is like that Shontay. She is so kind and sweet she is frequently taken advantage of. We recently moved much closer to her, so now I'm seeing her quite a bit more than i did before. I think we have an unofficial detante, she doesn't talk to me about adventism and i don't talk to her about my church. She did violate it slightly by giving us this Amazing Facts prophey DVD, which I watched and told her (politely) I didn't see how it quite lined up with Scripture. LOL Anyways she is coming to visit tomorrow, so if you could pray for that. Her one fault is she is a terrible gossip, and all her gosspip focuses on bad things people have done to her or other members of her immediate family. I think I am going to start leaving the room when she starts up like that, if possible. Frustratedly, Hannah | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 914 Registered: 10-2004 |
I really think "gossip" is another one of the things Adventists "inherit"--part of the EGW/SDA heritage! Jeremy | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 2381 Registered: 12-2003 |
Interesting point, Jeremy. Hannah, praying for you and your MIL--I remember several years ago when Richard actually told his mother that he didn't want her to talk about a certain gossip topic (a person they both know) any longer. I think it shocked her--but she largely complied. Colleen | ||
| Jwd Registered user Username: Jwd Post Number: 65 Registered: 4-2005 |
Hannah, I have a number of former classmates, still SDA's and relatives with whom I LONG so to help peel the onion layers off their "windows of perception" so that they can begin to see the true beauty of the Gospel of freedom. But for most I cannot. Some have even asked me to stop saying or writing about anything spiritual. I keep looking for the "magic key" to unlock all these whose "windows of perception" are so clouded by years of conditioning with layers of "Egg White" in between to hold everything together. But I doubt there is any such "method." I've grown to dislike the word and attempt to use any "method" - however popularly it may be endorsed. If Jesus' Spirit of Truth is THAT, we must come to rely more upon His omniscience, as hard as I admit that is for me, at times, to do. Bonnie, my precous wife and life partner has a prayer I've come to adopt because of the great wisdom it contains. She prays: "As You KNOW and as You WILL. Have mercy." Only the Spirit knows the time and manner, what word, what act, what sliver of truth and from where it should come. We are to remain open vesells. Flutes, if you please, open and clean, through which The Spirit can blow It's music, with the perfect timing, the perfect melody to catch their attention and the perfect volume AS WELL as the flute to use. It may not be my flute. It may be you or another. I often think of what you probably have heard and I was told years ago; that the way FBI agents are taught who work in the counterfeit department, to distinguish between a genuine $20 and a counterfeit $20 is to study the genuine! They never study a counterfeit, only the genuine article. They study it in such detail that once they do come across a counterfeit, the memory fixed of the genuine bill, is so impressed upon their minds eye, they spot the counterfeit quickly. So what everyone needs, ourselves included, along with our poor Adventist family members and friends whose eyesight is distorted by legalism and smeared with "EggWhite" ..... is to focus upon the Genuine. The true Reality. Uplift Jesus in word AND in deed as His fruits of the Spirit are seen born on each of us as living branches United. By beholding Him all who are receptive, will be changed. And this Reality "is found in Christ." Col 2:17. My approach has been shifting to simply talk about the True article, not to argue varying interpretations and understandings of doctinal issues; which often seems to push them deeper down into the cement of their defense and conditioned mind set. By looking to Jesus, expounding upon the joy we are experiencing in this glorious Grace in which we stand (Rom 5:2), letting them observe our "dance of faith in full freedom". Perhaps THEN, as God "knows and wills" He may allow them to inquire, "From whence cometh your sunshine of living joy?" And THEN we can joyously say with Philip, "Come and see" (Jn 1:46) "And the night shall be filled with music, and the cares that infest the day shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, and as silently steal away." ~ Henry Longfellow JWD | ||
| Seekr777 Registered user Username: Seekr777 Post Number: 233 Registered: 1-2003  |
Thanks Jessie, You are saying in a much more eloquent way what I've felt for a long time. We must keep our eyes on the Lord and lift Jesus Christ high constantly so we do not lose sight of the genuine truth. Even those who feel they have been set free are still at the beginning of a glorious journey in the Lord. He has so much he wants to do in and through us. In Christ, richard rtruitt@mac.com | ||
| Cindy Registered user Username: Cindy Post Number: 752 Registered: 7-2000 |
Yes, Jess...Bonnies' simple prayer is a good one... And yes, knowing and presenting the Genuine (Christ alone!) is the best way. Sometimes I've seen a real defensiveness when the focus is only on the errors of Adventist doctrine, with words to the effect..."do you think I'm dumb enough to have believed and/or taught a lie all my life!?" There are times to bring up the gospel-denying beliefs of Adventism, yet only the Holy Spirit can really lift the veil of those who live under the Old Covenant. And that comes in presenting the Cross of Christ as completely sufficent for TODAY and everyday! grace always, cindy | ||
| Freeatlast Registered user Username: Freeatlast Post Number: 404 Registered: 5-2002 |
Cindy, that sounds very similar to the response I got from my father who spent his career teaching Bible (as interpreted by EGW) in SDA schools: "You're saying that I spent 36 years teaching harmful things to kids" That WAS what I was saying, and I was trying to get him to see it and make a change. I didn't say it was deliberate, but I did think it was harmful, and I still do today. Most SDA's seem to take it very personally when you try to point out the errors of their theology, even when you carefully explain that it is NOT personal. There seems to be a real unwillingness to see things for what they are the longer one is steeped in SDAism. The investment of time, career, family and, of course, large sums of money makes one resistant to admitting change. It would be like admitting that you have had 100% of your wealth invested in shares of Amalgamated Buggy Whip stock since the 1900s. It's less traumatic to pretend it's worth something than face the possibility that what you invested your life's resources in (and that of your family as well) isn't worth the paper it's printed on. sad, Sad, SAD...=( | ||
| Belvalew Registered user Username: Belvalew Post Number: 601 Registered: 7-2004 |
So very true, Free, and that is why Jesus gave us an out. He made it clear that we need to be willing to leave everything behind. That includes leaving behind any guilt we might feel for having supported incorrect doctrines/religions. He also made it clear that we are better off living in the now, the past is dead and the future doesn't belong to us yet. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 2390 Registered: 12-2003 |
So true. I've had to ask God to forgive me for endorsing/teaching Adventism to the students I had. But, we know what He does with those sins--and furthermore, He redeems what we submit to Him! What faithfulness! Colleen |
