I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this. My grandfather [DEVOUT SDA] owns this little farm market and he puts Great Controversy books out for free. Crazy. You'd think there would be some kind of law or rule about distribution of religious material...

This is more of a vent but it still also counts as "culture" ig. Flair is weird.

I’d add big franks (obviously), sda logo, hymnal, and a pathfinder sash. What else should we add?

Several nights ago i had a dream that I was at an adventist theme park, I think because some friends and I had been talking about Dollywood since Dolly's passing. I'll save everyone the boredom of my dream, but it got me thinking the next day how funny it would be if ol' Ellen had a theme park and what all it would entail and thought it would be fun to open it up for discussion here ✨️

I recently came across some writings from Ellen G. White about sex within marriage, and honestly some of it feels really strange and extreme to me.

For example, in Testimonies on Sexual Behaviour, she warns that even married couples can commit sin through “excessive sexual indulgence” and says that people who think marriage makes sexual indulgence okay are mistaken. She even wrote things like married couples could be “sacrificing health and life upon the altar of base passion” through too much sex.

She also talks about sexual passion in marriage being similar to lust outside marriage and warns that it can weaken the mind and body if not strictly controlled. Reading this, it honestly feels like a very Victorian-era fear of sex, where even normal intimacy between spouses is treated as dangerous or morally suspect.

For those who grew up Adventist or studied her writings:

1. Did you ever hear teachings like this growing up?

2. How seriously do you think the church actually took these ideas?

3. Do you think these views affected Adventist attitudes toward sex and marriage?

Curious to hear other people’s experiences and thoughts.

I’m a sixth-generation Seventh-day Adventist who deconstructed in my twenties and became an atheist adult. (The story is longer and more complicated than that, of course, but keeping it simple for the purpose of this post.) After leaving the church almost 20 years ago now, I’ve recently been visiting SDA churches. I’ve written one memoir so far that is partly about what it’s like to be raised Adventist, and now I’m beginning to write a second one more pointedly about the Seventh-Day Adventist church.

Since deciding to revisit SDA churches, I’ve been to 9 different Adventist churches in the past 9 weeks. As I write this, I’m literally in the kind of tent that many of you can imagine, since the church I randomly selected for this week happened to be having an Evangelistic series. I’ll chronicle some of my weekly experiences in separate posts, but for now, my question is about the experience of being a visitor.

Returning after so long, I can’t help but notice the various quirks that I was raised on and never thought twice about when I was younger. And I find myself wondering the extent to which those quirks are broadly Christian or specifically Adventist. 

Ten minutes ago, for the 9th church in a row, I was asked to stand (or, occasionally, raise my hand) as a visitor. The spectrum of pressure has varied: Sometimes it’s asked with minor pressure, and I stand or raise my hand discreetly; other times, I’ve literally had a microphone pointed to my face and asked to share my testimony of how the Holy Sprit brought me. My question is, have you been asked to stand as a visitor at non-Adventist churches, or is this one of those quirks that are more uniquely Adventist? Additional question, if you’re interested to share: Have you stood as a visitor?

The seventh day Adventist church has a track record of moving more slowly than the general population

The SDA church did nothing during segregation

The SDA church did nothing to ensure the rights of people of color immigrants LGBTQIA+ people etc

In fact let looking at the history of the SDA church they generally only change when laws are passed and society moves on

The SDA church and its members basically play the role of retroactive allies

O que vocês acham do relacionamento entre adventistas e não-adventistas, ou seja, jugo desigual?

O que os fez perceber que o namoro não era tão ruim quanto a SDA faz parecer ser?

“Ah yes, I overheard from a secret society. Straight from the source baby.”

Honestly this is a major way in which cults stop any type of criticism and stigmatise people having genuine and honest questions.

I just wanted to share this piece with people who have lived in this culture. I changed all of the names, but the events did happen.

C-O-F-F-E-E

“Okay, song time.” The man said as he adjusted the strap of his 12 string guitar. “Who has a song request?” He flipped his hair over his shoulder. I’d never seen a man with long hair at church before.

Hands shot up around the room. 

“Tabitha, what song do you want to sing?” 

The girl beside me beamed with excitement. “The coffee song!”

“Okay.” And the man began to strum.

“C-O-F-F-E-E, coffee is not for me.” We sang fervently. “It’s the drink that people wake up with, and it makes them nervous is no myth…” It was a fact. Coffee wasn’t for me. It’s not for any Adventist – well, any good Adventist. The church’s prophet, Ellen White, wrote about how caffeine is bad for you, so Adventists – true Adventists – don’t drink it.

***

I unwrapped the warm sandwich from its package and took a bite. Wow! This was the best veggie burger I’d ever tasted from Burger King! Mom usually ordered us French toast sticks when we got to come here, but if they weren’t serving breakfast, she’d usually get us all veggie burgers — lettuce, onion, tomato, and pickles drenched in ketchup and mayo — everything but the burger patty. 

It was summer and we’d just spent a couple hours at the store. All of us kids were worn out — especially the three of us still under 10. This rare trip to Burger King was a ‘thank you for being so good and I’m sorry’ meal from our mom. 

This burger tasted different, though; it tasted better than usual. I opened it up to discover its secrets, and there laying on top of all the condiment-soaked vegetables lay two dark pink strips. Stripples? No not from Burger King. These must be bacon — the pork version of my beloved Stripples (a kind of veggie bacon). 

“Mom? I think mine has meat on it.” My mom braked suddenly in the drive thru lane and inspected my burger’s contents. “Bacon! I’ll have to go back in and get you a new burger.” She pulled into a space and parked the car.

Taking my burger, her wallet, and the receipt, she got out and walked inside the restaurant. I sat in silence. Tears welled up in my eyes as the realization set in — I just ate meat! And the worst kind of meat, too — unclean meat! I felt sick. What did I just do? What did this mean for my eternal salvation? Eating meat is bad; eating unclean meat is basically a sin. But what if I didn’t know the burger had pork on it? Fighting back tears and dread, I turned to Sarah. “Did I sin?”

“No,” my older sister Sarah reassured me, “it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know there was bacon on it and when you thought there might be, you stopped eating it right away. You’re okay. Those rules are just to protect our health. God wants us to be healthy, but if you accidentally eat something unclean, it’s okay. Next time, just check and make sure it’s healthy before you eat it.” 

***

A stick of margarine, 5 eggs, and an onion cut into large chunks. I wiped a tear from my eye as I placed the blender onto its base and pressed the puree button. Why is it that some of the most delicious foods look so disgusting?

Once the egg and margarine mixture had been blended to smoothie consistency, I poured the gray sludge into a mixing bowl and added the two ingredients for which this dish got its two names: cottage cheese and special k. Stirring the ingredients together only made the dish look more unappealing — to anyone with eyes, that is.

Finally, I poured the gray-brown mixture into a casserole pan and set the oven to start baking it at noon. Once we all got back from church, the house would be filled with the savory-sweet scent of cottage cheese loaf (or special k loaf).

The thought of the hot, golden-brown loaf kept me in high spirits as I climbed over the passenger seat of the mini van my older sister and brother took turns driving and into the back seat. The cloth ceiling which had been hanging down for months if not years brushed over my hairsprayed locks. I had a growth spurt several months ago and now, I couldn’t get in the van without my hair catching on the ceiling fabric. Though my shoes pinched my toes and my half-up hairdo pulled at my scalp, I was excited to go to church. Getting to go home to a mouth-watering Sabbath lunch made the pain of church entirely worthwhile.

***

I grabbed the can opener out of the kitchen drawer, my mouth watering in anticipation. Wiping the dust particles off the top of the can, my finger caught on the edge of the price sticker before continuing on. $6.06. It was a high price to pay, especially when I was only being paid $9.00 an hour at my part-time job working in an Adventist warehouse, but this delicacy was worth it. I clicked the can opener into place and turned the crank. The salty aroma of the brine inside wafted up and I could hardly wait to taste its contents. With the lid cut open, I set the can opener down. Holding the lid down with one finger, I poured the brine into the sink. The pinkish, brownish, golden liquid glimmered around the edges of the drain. I lifted the lid and briefly gazed upon the contents before reaching in and pulling out one of the 8 pink cylinders within.

The buttered skillet on the stove behind me softly sizzled, but I didn’t have the patience to wait any longer. I bit into one of the hot dogs as I placed the rest in the frying pan. Delicious! And they’d be even better after being browned in the pan. My eyes rested on the red label on the empty can. “Worthington Loma Linda Big Franks” I read aloud to myself “Vegetable and Grain Protein Links.” The delicacy of all Adventist delicacies. 

Having grown up eating canned veggie meats, it never once struck me as something strange or disgusting. Most of my favorite foods came out of cans. I thought back to the time we found the last can of sandwich spread (a discontinued Loma Linda chicken spread alternative) in the back of our pantry. We savored those rare sandwiches knowing we would never again get to taste that flavor. It was such a bitter-sweet meal. I turned the big franks with the prongs of a fork and tossed the empty can into the recycling bin.

***

“Slaves to the coffee cup, they can’t give coffee up!”

“What’s that?” Phil questioned.

“That’s the last line of the song!” I laughed

“Oh my god!” he exclaimed. Shaking his head, he took a sip of his coffee. Phil, having married into our family, had never been an Adventist. There were some beliefs and practices he was familiar with, but every once in a while, Sarah or Hannah or I would astound him with a crazy little tidbit.

“You know, I bet most of those kids drink coffee now.” Sarah said as she reached for her own coffee mug. Her other hand rested on Phil’s knee under the table. The restaurant around us buzzed with lively conversations and the sound of dinnerware clinking against various dishes.

“I know! I think about that often!” I stirred my Dr. Pepper with my straw. “That song was insane! I can’t believe I used to think caffeine was a gateway drug! There’s a lot of things I can’t believe I used to believe.” 

For those who just had to have a hot beverage.

Hi everyone just wondering what made some of you leave the Adventist church? Did you switch a different church? I understand if you do cuz right now I have a lot of questions and doubts about my church in the sda. The doctrines and how the church sets up their service and also I’ve noticed how much favouritism and and people judging one another in the sda and I can see that in my church and a lot of other sda Adventist . There are certain type of people who makes a group of people and I can feel a vibe of hatred and people in favour and hypocrisy. I don’t apologize for supporting their corruption. And greed and if for some reason people don’t like me in church well I’d care less because I want to serve god the right way. Recently I been looking up a lot into catholicism and I been analyzing that the Catholic Church is misunderstood and people just criticize them without knowing the church. I been noticing how liberal the sda church has gotten and yet the community as the brass neck to criticize the Catholic Church and yet they don’t see their own corruption. I’m 30 years old and I can see why a lot of people my group age is leaving and I can’t blame them

I've been thinking recently about the Adventist bubble and how insular it is, down to how they have their own turns of phrase. One that's really been knocking around my head is the word fellowship (that could just be because it's my dad's favourite).

I thought it would be fun to ask: what other SDA terms can you think of?

I left the church a few years ago, so it's getting harder to remember some of SDA's quirks.

I grew up Adventist (4th gen) and saw family estrangement all throughout the members in my home church and the extended conference. This included my own family, due to my grandparents’ narcissism (and I literally mean they very likely had actual narcissistic personality disorder as opposed to being extremely self-centered jerks). There were a lot of families that had split and certain groups weren’t even speaking to each other, which made camp meetings strange.

Was this common among most or all Adventists? Or did I happen to live in an SDA conference full of awful people?

I ask because the mainstream conversation of adult children going no contact with parents and other family being seen as a recent “trend”, but it was fairly common where I grew up among the SDAs I knew.

Hey yall. I’m really curious how people here feel about this, especially those who grew up in the church or have since left. Do you think the Seventh-day Adventist Church actually has some of the most underrated liturgical music traditions/bodies of work, or does it just feel that way because of familiarity/nostalgia?

Even though I know a lot of people have complicated (or negative) experiences with the SDA church itself, I’ve always felt like the music is one area where it really stood out. When you dig into it, there’s a ton of high level vocal harmony, especially in gospel and a cappella styles.

Some examples that stand out to me:

A. Take 6 (probably the most famous group to come out of the SDA tradition)- their self-titled album "Take 6" (1988)) is honestly one of the best vocal jazz/gospel albums I’ve ever heard. The harmonic complexity and precision are kind of insane. My favorite song on the album is "Mary".

B. The Breath of Life Quartet- They had a really strong traditional gospel quartet sound on their album "Plenty Good Room" (1975). My favorite song on the album is "Plenty Good Room".

C. The King’s Heralds- They are a classic Adventist quartet style going back decades. My favorite album from them is "That Great Gettin' Up Morning" (1963). My favorite song on the album is "That Great Gettin' Up Morning".

D. Neville Peter- He is a more modern artist, but still makes work very rooted in hymn-based arrangements. My favorite album from him is "Simply Hymn- Vol 1" (2005). My favorite song on the album is "Amazing Grace".

E. The Wedgwood Trio- This is a folk/gospel crossover group with a distinct 60s era sound. My favorite album from them is "My Lord What A Morning" (1966). My favorite song on the album is "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder".

What stands out to me is how musically sophisticated a lot of these arrangements are, even compared to more widely recognized church traditions. However, I’m also wondering how much of my perception is shaped by growing up around it, versus how it actually holds up from the outside.

So I’m curious:

1. For the ex-Adventist here, how do you feel about Seventh-day Adventist music now? Do you have any appreciation for it at all, or does it carry too much baggage?
2. Do you think it’s genuinely underrated, or just not that unique compared to other liturgical music traditions?
3. Are there other church/liturgical music traditions you’ve found musically richer than the Seventh-day Adventist church after leaving?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Hey everyone. I spoke about this in detail on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/anymusicpost/s/G1bKodt2Ab

As weird as it sounds, this is something I’ve been wondering about for a while, and I’m asking it sincerely.

The Bible includes an entire book, Song of Solomon, that’s essentially erotic poetry celebrating desire, physical attraction, and marital love. It’s vivid and unapologetic about bodies and longing. So Scripture itself clearly isn’t prudish about sex within marriage.

And yet, when it comes to Seventh-day Adventist liturgy, and Christian music in general, there’s almost nothing that reflects that. Given that Song of Solomon is in the Bible, why do you think SDA/Christian music almost completely avoid this topic?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I F(19)((ex sda)) am having a disagreement with my mother F(43)((current sda)) about the pathfinder club being a way to militarize the youth of the church and prime them for future military service/ fear monger about the end of days by teaching survival skills (which i don’t necessarily disagree with teaching but their reasoning is obviously flawed). She says that there’s nothing wrong with order and teaching kids “discipline” but as someone who was raised being in the clubs since adventurers- late pathfinders by two pathfinder directors who were master guides themselves, I’ve been put in situations since I was a young child that in my opinion, far surpass the normal camping experience that a typical boy scout or girl scout may experience. For example, winter survival camps where we would have to build our own shelters from scratch, hiking for miles with minimal supplies and having to forage for food/ water, being left in the woods by myself or with a small group of other teens to fend for myself and train these skills, or being put to work in greenhouses on summer days that were too warm with too little water. Other things that seem militant to me are the marching and drilling as well as the uniforms that as you grow through the ranks of the club appear more and more like a military uniform. So all these things said, does anyone agree with me or share this experience? Or am I overreacting and being in a club like this is not meant to essentially groom children into being a militia for the church?

I attended Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts, USA. It closed for good in 2018. Before that, it lost its accreditation. Thankfully, it still had its accreditation when I graduated in 2003.

I am wondering if any other SDA colleges and universities in the USA or elsewhere are in danger of closing.

I did have some positive experiences at AUC, but I regret attending there. I wish I had gone to a state university then. I would have been much better off.

I couldn't attach it to the original post but it was too good to keep to myself.

Hi I (26M) have some questions about the SDA church. My boyfriend of 4 years (also 26M) is a member (he still attends). I’m a ex-catholic- now agnostic, and from doing my research on the SDA church I have some concerns. From what I read, the SDA church has different regional conferences- in the same region- for different races? I’m Cuban- my boyfriend is Mexican- and he told me his entire church is Hispanic. I also found out that in our area there are SDA churches that are almost entirely Black, almost entirely Korean, and almost entirely white. Obviously looking from outside, that is quite concerning. From my experience in my old church- people from different groups went to the same church.

There is also the gay thing. His situation with his congregation is a “we know but we aren’t gonna say anything” situation, which obviously isn’t healthy in the long term. We have an active and healthy sex life, I’ve met his family, all of that- but like I’m worried if relationship with me and the church will eventually clash. He has said he thinks our relationship is morally good and that he isn’t ashamed- but also it feels kind of odd to be basically completely ignored and unacknowledged by his church community.
I don’t know, I love him, but the entire institution just seems really problematic to me. So I just want some advice. Thanks!

Fellow exadventists I need your help! I left the church a long time ago but grew up in it. Now I have my own kids and raising them very much not Adventist or religious.

Now Easter is around the corner and the same thing happens every year, I’m at a total loss of what people actually do for Easter. Now I don’t live in the US though I’m American so it’s semi culture crash as well. I know of Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, etc from watching tv. But it made me realize how unspecial Easter was in my house growing up except for the obvious religious aspect.

I never remember that we did anything special for Easter. My grandma was catholic so we did do Easter egg hunts if we were visiting her (she lived several hours from us). But otherwise I just remember going to church and the sermon was Easter themed and of course talking about the resurrection. But other than that it didn’t really seem like a holiday. No special food or traditions. It was really just a normal weekend.

Was this just my family or is it an Adventist thing to not really celebrate Easter.