| Author | Message | ||
| Cloudwatcher Registered user Username: Cloudwatcher Post Number: 216 Registered: 5-2009 |
What were your initial thoughts about this forum when you first started lurking? I think it's hilarious to think about my first impressions of this forum. For one, I thought there was lots of bitterness with some cockyness (how could SDAs be so dumb?). I also thought there was exaggeration (spirit of Adventism?)... and now look at me... hahaha I also wondered how all of you reconciled the Sabbath...and if all of you belonged to the same denomination now. The assumptions I made...I don't want to forget them, because it helps me identify with my friends and family who think I'm crazy...and it helps me to talk to them in a way that they will understand. What were some of your initial thoughts about the forum? | ||
| Animal Registered user Username: Animal Post Number: 822 Registered: 7-2008  |
My first thoughts were......Would the forum improve my typing skills??....sigh Animal | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 8666 Registered: 3-2004  |
I had been reading the NT for 3 months when I read this forum. I saw that what God was teaching me from the NT was what these people believed, so I jumped in with both feet. What amazes me is that I have never been a "joiner" of anything, until my first 12 step program. I preferred to go it alone Diana L | ||
| Martinc Registered user Username: Martinc Post Number: 180 Registered: 9-2006 |
An Adventist friend told me about how there were these FAF people, and how, you know, their forum was just too angry and bitter for her liking. In fact, they were so bitter, one of their leaders even threw a party over eating his first ever hamburger--balloons, dancers, a parade, all in celebration over just hamburger. For shame! (Ok, I exaggerated a little, there was no parade) Shortly thereafter I discovered Proclamation magazine and devoured the back issues. Then I checked out the forum to see just how angry these ex-SDAs could be. How did they seem? Like a combination of an abuse recovery group, a rebellious sabbath-school class after the teacher stepped out, and a family. You know, my kind of people. Martin C (Message edited by MartinC on October 15, 2010) | ||
| Indy4now Registered user Username: Indy4now Post Number: 892 Registered: 2-2008  |
The first thing I read when I came to this site were the former's testimonies. I felt like other people understood what was going on in my head and the questions that I had. I had no idea at the age of 42 that there was a new covenant!!! When a friend of mine (who was not adventist) made the observation that my church felt like it was stuck in the old covenant... I just nodded my head as if I knew what she was talking about. From that point on, I looked up as many articles as I could (from Proclamation and at Mark Martin's site) about the old vs. new covenant... that's when I understood that the weekly sabbath was a sign of the old covenant. I asked myself why would I want to celebrate the sabbath if it was a sign of the old covenant? It was then that I decided our family would go to a Sunday church. If you could have seen the storm in my head that Sunday morning when we were driving to church!!! I was determined to attend tho. Walking through those doors that Sunday morning was when I realized how much dependance I was placing on the sabbath for my salvation. Once we sat down and started worshipping... it was like coming home. The sabbath brainwash is so thick and deep... vivian | ||
| Michaelmiller Registered user Username: Michaelmiller Post Number: 59 Registered: 7-2010  |
My initial impressions were about like what Cloudwatcher describes. I lurked around the public side of the site for a couple months before requesting membership. I used the forum for research purposes being very careful not to let the "bitterness" get me. As it turns out, I was mistaken about the bitterness. There is a support group atmosphere here that has a genuine concern for those still in the SDA church. I couldn't understand this initially. Also, I didn't fully understand the atmosphere here until my wife joined. I was a convert, so I didn't get the multi-generation "lifer" mindset. Karetha, being a lifer, sees completely different things in this forum that I would have never considered or understood on my own. It is interesting to be able to see how Karetha and I react to the topics here in very different ways due to our differing backgrounds. I've learned a lot from the process. One thing that I did understand right away was the humor. There is a certain type of humor here that is hard to describe that I connected with. Michael | ||
| Karethamiller Registered user Username: Karethamiller Post Number: 57 Registered: 8-2010  |
In addition to the difference of 'convert' vs. 'lifer', I'm sure the male vs. female also makes a difference in how Michael and I react to the forum and perceive things differently. Personally, I feel very thankful for the supportive attitude and loving counsel that I can find here. I experience cycles of confusion quite regularly and it is comforting to come here. | ||
| Skeeter Registered user Username: Skeeter Post Number: 1094 Registered: 12-2007 |
Mark Martins site was the first one I found when I was actually looking for sites to defend the Adventist church. I downloaded his sermon series on "The Gospel and the covenants" and listened to a few other sermons, then went to linked sites and saw all the information about EGW being a false "prophet"... I spent a lot of restless nights crying and in prayer. It was hard to believe that so many things I had believed were right were so wrong. But I knew I had to take what I was learning and let go of the errors.. no matter what. I dont remember at what point I actually found this site.. but I do remember I lurked a while and then requested "membership" then i guess I sort of forgot... because quite a while later whenI found this site again, I found that I had already signed up and had forgotten about it. so it took me a while before I actually started posting. I was cautious at first.. I was learning so much, but not sure what or who to believe or trust. But after a while of reading and getting to know the members here I began to realize I was in a safe place where I could ask questions and share what I was going through because so many on here were traveling the same journey leaving error behind and seeking truth. I LOVE the honest caring hearts of those here, the willingness to openly share the trials as well as the joys with brothers and sisters in Christ. Francie | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 11832 Registered: 12-2003  |
Michael and Karetha, I am so interested in your different (yet strangely similar) perceptions and the ways being a "lifer" and a convert affects them. I've long believed there is a significant difference between lifers and converts—especially if the convert was born again before being deceived by Adventism. Would you mind explaining a bit the differences of perception you experience here on the forum? I've had some ideas about how lifers and converts differ, but it's been more of a "sense" than a clearly "articulate-able" understanding. It has seemed to me to be related to how much they actually know about the details of the "Adventist worldview", but I would love to hear the two of you "talk" about the varying ways you react here. Would you mind sharing further? (I know that you share some of the same cognitive misperceptions and "a-ha" moments, but I'm thinking some of what you may mean is more emotional or "sense of reality"-related...) So, if you're comfortable, I'd really like to hear more. Colleen | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 1461 Registered: 7-2007 |
I didn't find this forum until AFTER I was converted out of the SDA church. Before that I wouldn't have been interested in reading anything against it. Looking back, I can only see flimsy excuses for believing SDAism to be the ONE TRUE CHURCH! I'll see if I can name the excuses: 1. I was born and raised in it. 2. I believed the line of "proof" texts "supporting" SDAism and didn't know that they were taken out of context. Nor would it have occured to me to try to read things in context because of that. 3. I was so SURE that Ellen White EXPLAINED what the Bible meant - because of reasons 2 & 3. 4. Ellen White had "miracles" happen (holding up that heavy Bible, etc.) It didn't occur to me that Roman Catholics also have "miracles!" So by the time I found this website, I was still going through the astonishment of having found the SDA church to be false! Even now, I'm still a bit amazed! If only Adventists would ask the Lord to show them the TRUTH and REALLY mean it - not just ask Him to prove that Adventist church is right. If they set out to "prove" Adventism right, and close their eyes and ears to anything else, the Lord will probably grant their wish and they'll be shut out from Him for eternity.  | ||
| Michaelmiller Registered user Username: Michaelmiller Post Number: 62 Registered: 7-2010 |
Colleen, Sure... I have to give some rather personal background though, so I'll probably start a new topic for this in the members forum. | ||
| 1john2v27nlt Registered user Username: 1john2v27nlt Post Number: 206 Registered: 5-2009 |
I registered about a year before I really started posting, & before I really saw the truth about SDAism. I didn't lurk much til about Jan this year. Initially I was cautious; some people intimidated me. At times it seemed that I had jumped from one 'being right' fish bowl to another one - only now it had a different label - sort of 'we're right, they're wrong'. I thought there was some brutal bluntness that maybe wasn't necessary. I think it was about April when I really saw JESUS. That was the breakthrough & layers started coming off the onion. Some of the people who seemed intimidating I saw had a soft perceptive spirit as well. I experienced a good bit of shock & grief this spring. It is still hard for me to drop the identity of the denomination, like saying 'we such & such'. It is hard to use the term CULT in some places. I am beginning to. Reading things here has helped clarify a lot for me. Some topics I am not ready for even yet. And that's OK. At times the theology seems to get pretty deep & I think SDAism was endless useless debates. Can't I just have simple salvation for awhile?!?! But I know it is necessary because the deception is so subtle, so very very subtle. And yet I too at times think how could I have believed any of that? ~J9 | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 8681 Registered: 3-2004 |
J9, don't be concerned about the term "cult". I could not call adventism a cult until about 2 months ago. It came out automatically without my thinking about it and trying to find the right word. This happened when I was talking to a pastor at church. It just came out!!! If you cannot call it a cult right now that is okay. Diana L | ||
| Angelcat Registered user Username: Angelcat Post Number: 256 Registered: 11-2008 |
Well, i think my first impression was just amazement that there were so many former adventists who hadn't left God. When I left, I told one of my non-adventist friends that what i had done was almost unheard of. I did sometimes feel like there was pressure here to devote my life to reaching adventsits, but that isn't my calling,t least not now. God has other work for me. After a few months, I wanted to move on, and be a former-former adventist. So I found the forum helpful initially, but then needed a break. When I came back, it was good to have the support and people to talk to who get where i"m coming from. (Message edited by angelcat on October 16, 2010) | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 11838 Registered: 12-2003 |
Diana's right, J9--I absolutely understand what you are experiencing. I remember the first time a casual friend of mine, a former SDA right as we were coming out, said to me, "So how does it feel to know you came out of a cult?" I winced internally and immediately wanted to defend SDAism from that label...but I just made some light remark. It was months before I could consider that term for Adventism again. As time goes on, however, the deception becomes more and more clear, and absolutely everything is tainted. It's just not biblical, and the worst thing is that Jesus and His atonement are twisted. As my worldview has become increasingly biblical instead of "great controversy" shaped, I see that cult does describe it. But J9--God teaches us one step at a time. He doesn't show us everything at once. If He did, we would not be able to understand or take it in. He is gracious; He shows us what we need to know at each step of the way, and He helps us "know" and internalize the truth. I am still absolutely blown away by His grace and love and mercy. He takes care of us. Colleen | ||
| 1john2v27nlt Registered user Username: 1john2v27nlt Post Number: 207 Registered: 5-2009 |
QUOTE: "He helps us "know" and internalize the truth." That's what I'm finding. Sometimes He shows me in scripture before I find it elsewhere. Sometimes I hear or read something & it is confirmed to me in scripture. I am working on the very basic questions like 'Did God make the covenant only with the Israelites?'. I know what is said & taught & believed by others. God is showing me & helping me 'know' & internalize it. Thank you God for what you are doing. ~J9 |
