Thanks for Helpful Articles
Thank you, again for these articles on the Sabbath. I am grateful to see that Sabbath in Christ is available online. I shared my copy years ago not knowing that I would NEED to read it again. Also, the “Post-Adventist Brain” by Deb Pratt. That was very informative. I believe someone forgot to put a “pathway closed” sign up, because just a Sabbath discussion, with a loved one, opened that pathway again.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing. I’m glad the “Post-Adventist Brain” article was helpful. I thought it was really insightful, too!
Telling My Family Went Badly
I have been a Seventh-day Adventist for all my life and have decided to leave after hearing the good news. This was a very exciting decision for my husband and me—to raise our children learning about a Jesus that I was not taught as an Adventist.
We told my side of the family today, and it went so unbelievably terribly. My siblings accused me of being selfish for putting our family through “trauma” and said that my parent who has died would be so disappointed in me. I have four siblings who are all very active Adventists, and all of their responses to me were threats of not speaking to me and statements that I’m clearly not on my right mind. They accused me of trying to “sin and not feel guilty” and said that I am ruining my children’s lives.
I tried to explain to them that this is happy news and didn’t want to debate with them. But I was bulldozed and dismissed. I’m pretty sure at least two of the four might never speak to me again after hearing this news.
I guess I’m just reaching out looking for some encouragement because this feels so lonely and heavy. My whole life and community has been within this cult ,and leaving is so much harder than I thought. I feel so sorry for my kids to have to go through this, but I know that this will be so worth it!
Thank you for the Former Adventist Podcast! It’s been very helpful for my husband and me as we made this decision.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing! What a story—and what a journey.
First, I am so happy that the Lord has revealed Himself to you and that you and your family are following Him into the truth of the real gospel. You will never regret this decision!
I am so, so sorry about your siblings. Sigh. Unfortunately, this kind of reaction is all too common. The Lord Jesus truly does bring a sword, and trusting Him makes you a citizen of a completely new kingdom. You are spiritually alive, and darkness doesn’t like the light.
Jesus told us this would happen; I’m so glad that He prepared us and let us know that He is with us:
“Do you think that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five [members] in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”—Luke 12:51–53 LSB
Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, except [one who] will receive one hundred times as much now in the present age–houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, [along] with persecutions–and in the age to come, eternal life.”—Mark 10:29–30 LSB
It is so very painful; the Lord will hold you and reveal His presence and peace to you. I often had to remind myself of the truths in Scripture when I was tempted to doubt: things like John 5:24 where Jesus said that those who believe pass from death to life, and nothing can take us out of His and His Father’s hands (John 10:29).
Listening to worship music that tells us the truth about God is also a wonderful way to hold the doubts at bay and to focus on reality.
I am so, so sorry for this great pain and for the loss. The Lord is faithful.
If you and your husband want to join us Friday evenings at 7:00 PM for our weekly FAF Bible Study via Zoom (we meet in person and on zoom), just email this address and request a Zoom link. Richard emails every Friday afternoon with the link and with a PDF of the study sheet and a link to the song we’ll sing together.
Also, although we are not currently publishing a printed version of Proclamation! magazine, all our back issues are online here: ProclamationMagazine.com
We have also added your name to our weekly Proclamation! email updates. You may need to add the email address mail@LifeAssuranceMinistries.org to your contacts in order for the email not to be directed toward your Spam folder. These emails will arrive every Friday. Articles are available at our website.
You might also enjoy our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/FormerAdventist/featured
You already listen to our Former Adventist Podcast here; many say these help them unpack the Adventism hidden in the recesses of their minds: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/former-adventist/id1482887969
In addition, we have another podcast called Former Adventist Fact Check in which we talk through the misinformation contained in the weekly Sabbath School lessons. You can find them here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adventist-fact-check-with-colleen-tinker/id1721662293
Both podcasts are also on our YouTube channel above.
Please feel free to email anytime!
How Do I Answer My Adventist Friend?
Hope you guys are doing well! I keep up with your podcasts every week, and as always, am blessed by what you have to say.
I’ve continued to keep up with my Adventist friend, whom I’ve told you about before. Several months ago we were discussing the Sabbath (through writing texts). She eventually said to me that if I really want to know if keeping the Sabbath is relevant to Christians today, I need to spend time in serious study and prayer. She said she believes that I am an honest-in-heart Christian, and God would lead me into the truth if I am sincerely seeking. I felt a bit insulted because we HAD had serious biblical discussions about it up to that point. So, yeah I’ve studied the topic in both the Old and New Testament, and always pray (of course) when I’m reading the Word. I challenged her to be honest about how she regards Christians who don’t keep the Sabbath, even after those Christians have heard and understood the Adventist explanation. I said if it is central to Adventism then she should be clear with me. I was tired of her not saying what she really believes.
She finally said this. There are three options: 1) Sabbath is no longer relevant, and she is wrong, 2) Sabbath is relevant and I’m refusing to acknowledge it and I’m in sin, or 3) God hasn’t found how to convince me and that’s on Him.
Interesting. How would you respond to her?
In other news, my husband and I had dinner recently with a woman he used to work with. She is Adventist, and her husband, who was also at dinner, is not an Adventist nor a Christian. She is originally from Brazil. I contacted Debbie Buffone for advice afterwards. She’s been very helpful, and I hope to eventually introduce them to each other. This woman grew up in a very conservative home in Brazil, but she is not very conservative anymore. She has anxiety from her years growing up in Adventism. She doesn’t agree with some of the 28 fundamentals, but she feels comfortable in the culture and still believes in Sabbath. I’m not sure she follows it very carefully, though, because she suggested eating out on a Friday night, which we did.
Thank you for all that you do!
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Regarding your Adventist friend, her three options are very Adventist. She is arguing from her Adventist ideology and not from an honest look at the Bible in context. I remember how I used to feel when confronted by attitudes that didn’t take the Adventist ideology seriously. I felt defensive and almost frantic; I would dig my heels in and protect my worldview with “logic” that assumed my worldview was correct, not with an openness to seriously deal with the evidence. This internal defensive position is what I sense in your friend. I KNOW you have prayerfully shown her the passages that explain the covenant. I KNOW you seriously study the Bible. The issue here is that your friend does not study the Bible in context using normal rules of grammar and vocabulary. She is reading the Bible through the lens of her ideology, her Adventist worldview. She has an internal definition of reality that is shaped by a private, Adventist “lexicon” that has told her what the Bible means. If she ventures outside those chains of proof-texts and those internal definitions, she feels off-balance and loses her ability to defend herself “logically”.
Her three options are her way of securing her own mind against your arguments because she KNOWS that she sees Sabbath correctly. Oddly, her first option is actually correct—but she believes the Sabbath is required by God.
At this point I would tell her (you may already have done this) to read Galatians every day for one month: it’s short, only six chapters. Ask her to ask the Lord to teach her what He wants her to know, and as repetitive as it may sound, to sit with it and read it every day for a month. I believe I’d tell her I will not discuss the issue with her further. If she has further questions or wants more evidence and discussion, put the onus on her to contact you. But tell her that the Lord Jesus has given you His Sabbath rest described in Hebrews 4:1–12, and tell her that you are not gong to be convinced to take up Sabbath-keeping because the Lord of the Sabbath is keeping you!
I would stop the Sabbath convo with her unless she comes to you for more clarity and wants answers. If she comes to you with more arguments or persuasions, I would not take the bait. Sigh. I so KNOW the Adventist feeling and persistence about this issue!
Many Adventists are using Charlie Kirk’s Sabbath-keeping to support their Sabbatarianism. The problem is two-fold: first, Charlie Kirk was a true believer, born again, and unafraid to point people to the Lord Jesus alone. Adventists in general are not born again.
The second problem is that His Sabbath-keeping grew out of conversations with Dennis Prager, a Jew, and many Christians are able to support observing a “sabbath” on the basis of “covenant theology” which is a theological construct undergirding many Reformed denominations. This construct says that the Ten Commandments continue past the Mosaic covenant and are a rule of faith and practice for the church. Yet if the Bible is read in context, knowing the words mean what they say, the New Testament makes it very clear the the words of the old covenant are obsolete in the reality of Christ. Galatians is explicit about this fact. You can’t go back under the law. Many Christians are unclear about all of this because they haven’t had to dig their way out of a false gospel, and they haven’t had to deal with the Sabbath and the Law as former Adventists have done.
So Charlie Kirk learned his Sabbath-keeping from people who were unclear on the role of the old covenant and the complete newness of the new covenant. Yet he was a born again believer, unlike most Adventists. While he kept the Sabbabth, he went to church on Sundays.
Most Adventists have placed their trust in Adventism—not the Lord Jesus alone, and they are not born again. They are, rather, shaped by a worldview and a theological system that requires the Sabbath if one wants to be saved.
Such an interesting contact with your husband’s former colleague! I’m glad you contacted Debbie. She can definitely be helpful as you navigate these conversations!
It’s good to hear from you; I hope this is helpful †
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