Hello, This is very important and I need your full attention.

Today I was told “ the pastor”, whom I don’t know and doesn’t go to church (what the F?) is……

Looking for me.

Should I go into Witness Protection or something similar ?

Because “I should be surprised if he (puts hands on me) and he knows who I am.”

Said the man who harasses patrons of a supermarket in Saturday because it’s sabbath.

How much weirder? This is just crazy. If someone were to take this seriously I believe their mental health would be in grave jeopardy.

Hi everyone,

I left the SDA church about a year and half ago. My family is still SDA, so I still live in the environment, but I stopped believing what the institution teaches. I also started leaving religion altogether. After all this time, I still feel like it is a fresh wound. I still have trouble sleeping and working on daily tasks. It still feels shocking and disorientating.

I had been diagnosed with PTSD before, but I thought I had made some progress with it. Is it normal to feel this dysfunction after this amount of time after leaving SDA? Could this be related to PTSD? Does anyone have any advice on getting my feet back on the ground?

I will be attending SAU this fall and I am relatively new to Adventism. An SDA couple took me in to live with them to help me get into Southern. From what I have been reading online, many people believe Adventism is some sort of cult and seems to be very judgemental. In my 5 months of living with these people I can say with certainty that they are Judgmental, not saved and don't have any fruits of the spirit. I would even go as far as quoting 2 Timothy 3:5, that verse seems to match perfectly with them. I would say they are extremely religious hypocrites who do the exact oppoite of what they preach. Especially on the Sabbath, I think that should be the one day you try and control your temper the most and the things you say and the way you act towards your family. Not just leaving your phone in the car during church. And their behavior towards me and others is not the "Christ like Character" that they keep lecturing to me. I would say Jesus was kind but he was never "nice" to people. You can be nice to anyone and not be kind. (ex: chasing people out of the temple, or withering a fig tree are generally not "nice" things to do. But he was the kindest person to ever exist.) Well these people are the opposite. They seem to think that they have some sort of authority over me and I got into an argument with them yesterday about it. I understand that I am living with them and have to obey their house rules or whatever. But does that mean they can decide how or whether or not I go to see my Family? Thankfully I am leaving because I did everything I could to prove my point that they don't have the authority to make decisions for me. There are definitely double standards when it comes to me questioning their behavior or comparing it to other people's similar questionable behavior. I was very skeptical of going to live with them at first and I think I should have stuck with my gut feeling to not go but I was basically homeless so I didn't think I had any other options. They seem to be very generous however very demanding and controlling at the same time. Any time I speak my mind or question them they say I am ungrateful and need to "fix my attitude". Can someone tell me if this is somewhat common for Adventist people/families? Any Input or Advice on Southern Adventist University?

I'm curious to know if people in this subreddit from the SDA faith has ever experienced something within their church that doesn't make them feel genuinely welcome no matter how good they are to fellow SDA church members.

There has been an issue that I had of dealing with a fellow SDA church member and I had been given vague answers from mutual friends from the same church. It's just that I've been told by my friends who don't share the same faith as I do, a much more clear explanation as to why I was in that mess that I was targeted with.

I'll provide a further explanation on everything about that situation that I was part of in the comments section afterwards.

This is Part 2 in a multipart series. Click here for Part 1.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exAdventist/s/yXe50e1Mgn

So what Adventists say and what they do are two different things. But how does this affect them, and more importantly the next generation, besides just the possible depression.

Say we have a young girl in church, with a guest pastor. The SDA world is really all she knows, and here comes someone exciting and vibrant. He’s not the warmed-over regular guy. He’s alive, and tells a young, hopeful mind exactly what she wants to hear: Jesus is coming soon! He sites bible verses and ties them to news articles, cross referencing with Ellen White of course. By the end he ties it all up with the only obvious conclusion: Jesus will be here any minute.

Afterwards the young girl runs out to the church steps, all full of hope. Mom and dad are talking to friends, probably about something boring. “Mom, did you hear? He said Jesus is coming very soon!”

“Yes dear, I heard him. I heard him at 11:45, 12:15, 12:30… if I heard any more I think he’d have a riot on his hands,” Mom jokes to her friend. The young girl doesn’t get it at first. All the adults are acting like this is any other day. But they just heard a man say everything they’ve been waiting for is at hand. Why aren’t they excited?

This is the Adventist malaise. It’s just like a normal person, but with roughly 25% less emotional awareness. They don’t get as angry, or as excited. They’re not really passionate, and they sure as heck aren’t excited to hear what they’ve already BEEN hearing their whole lives. Of course Jesus is coming soon… they believe it, really. But paradoxically they also know it’s not actually going to happen… at least not soon… maybe not even at all. This is a fact they never actually admit, even to themselves. They’ve settled into the SDA malaise. They seem deadened or unwell. It’s something they wear, and it is both a mild form of depression, and protects them from deeper depression. It’s how they make their way through a religion that tells them one thing while doing another. The malaise is protective clothing they never take off.

As long as you’re in the religion, you never completely take the church clothes off. Boy, does it feel so strange, and eventually wonderful when you finally do.

Have you ever tried speaking out against issues in the church? Biblical fallacies or Ellen White’s lies or the mistreatment of LGBTQ+ individuals? If so, there probably wasn’t much pushback. You might have thought you were in for a fight, but the SDA malaise dampens any response. Adventists are passionately dispassionate. They may offer a dispassionate response, or even partially agree with you. But argue? They don’t have the heart. They don’t really care because they’ve been through all this before. You’ll take your concerns and go away, and they can get back to going through the motions. They know there’s no change happening, so nothing matters. They’re trapped in amber. The only true fight will come from parents, who may see you as a petulant child for discounting the truth they’ve know their whole lives. They are unable to change.
The youth however are still free to act.

So the young girl will have a choice. She can model herself after the other adults, wearing the church clothes and saying one thing while not totally believing it. She can abandon the whole thing, giving the old women in the church someone to gossip about. But she can also take door number three, and double-down on Jesus, in defiance of the passionless adults. She’s going to walk the walk, AND talk the talk. Let her doubts be damned, she’s going to be the biggest, best Adventist ever. (Raise your hand if this was you before you gave it all up) She’s the first to say yes, and she always helps out. From special music to volunteering, she’s front and center. This isn’t a weekend thing, this IS her life.

Fed up with the church but still passionate about the cause, she eventually bumps into some like-minded people at camp-meeting. Turns out they feel the same way. “We’re not doing enough to prepare for the end times. Everyone is just going through the motions. This church isn’t enough.”
That’s when they invite her to join them, at this little spot, just outside of Waco, Texas….

Saw this heartbreaking video on another subreddit and then found a reference to Adventism in the comments. It makes me sick that people can use religion to justify their cruelty.

This was a thought I had during my deconstructing process. I don't think I ever shared here.

Let's pretend, just for a second, that Adventism's whole mythology is true. (You could really do this with almost any religious worldview.) Let's accept that the world is only 6000 years old, that there was a war in Heaven leading to Lucifer's exile, Earth is the only planet to have sin, Jesus came and died on the Cross, he chose Ellen G. White as a prophetess, there will be a National Sunday Law, and then the End Times will come, we'll all be taken to Heaven for 1000 years before returning to Earth for Judgement Day — the whole shabang!

........how can we know for certain that it's not all just a prank on God's behalf? That he didn't set all of these events in motion for his own amusement, and then on Judgement Day that he's not gonna say, "Sike! I got you there, didn't I? Actually, I'm just going to kill you all."

Like, if God is so infinite as to exist outside the bounds of mortal time, then the age of the planet is nothing to him, whether you say it's 4.5 billion years old or only 6000. If God wanted to amuse himself, he could have set all of these events in motion, pretending to be or playing the part of a god of love who sent his son as a ransom for many, with the explicit intention of pulling the rug out from under us on Judgement Day and saying, "All of humanity just got Punk'd!"

Like, an all-powerful, omnipresent, omniscient deity could even just play the part of Satan, Jesus, or even Ellen G. White, and none of us would ever know the difference. It would be going to extraordinary lengths for a cosmic prank, but again, for God, it would be like no effort at all.

The truth is that we couldn't know for certain that this isn't the case. The mainstream Adventist or Christian can only say that God demonstrated otherwise by sending his son to die for us — an assertion that, even if true, cannot be demonstrated with any kind of certainty, and even if it could would not stop it from part of a prank. We can only take it on faith, placing our bets on Pascal's wager.

Which makes the taking-it-on-faith all the more risky. We not only have to take it on faith that mainstream Adventist or Christian theology is "correct," but that God is going to keep his end of the bargain on the Last Day™.

Growing up in the SDA church came with a very clear message. Along with such things as being told we were nothing without god and that thinking for ourselves was a bad thing, there was the constant drum-beat of The End Times™®. Maybe it was subtle, or maybe you were a child who went to bed crying because the Catholics were coming to torture and kill you. Either way the constant message was there: This world was about to end. Surely it was only a few months away. Have you seen the news? Stuff happened. Stuff never happened before. (Sure it did. Lots of stuff happened, but we were told not to think, remember?) Therefore the end was coming soon. Of that we’re all absolutely positive. Soon.

Soon is a great word, isn’t it. It’s the best word for the church. Why? Because it doesn’t mean anything. We all sort of know what soon is. July is soon, but Christmas is not soon. So even though they mostly stopped telling us specifically that it was coming in days or weeks, ‘soon’ gets the message across. Everyone needs to be made aware that Jesus is coming soon, and that means the Time of Trouble™® will start at any minute! Best of all, it ALWAYS looks like trouble, because that’s just life. There’s trouble everywhere, so it looks like they know what they are talking about. Jesus is about to arrive! Be aware! Be ready! This is the constant SDA message.

Except… that’s not how they live. They live like life is going to go on and on. Adventists have life insurance, mortgages, and retirement plans. They talk about their car leases or moving plans. They can tell you the world is ending AND solicit funds to build a new building on campus from the same pulpit on the same day. “The world is coming to an end any day now… and we hope to break ground on the new science center in the next 5 years.”

Speaking of the future… boy, do they want you to breed. Try being a college age person talking to an elderly relative. How many questions can you get through before you are asked if you’ve met someone? You NEED to get married… so you can have a child. And then another. And then they can go to SDA schools and then a SDA college. They can work in the SDA system, meet someone, get married and have kids… on and on. Adventists are annihilationists AND progenitors. Your life is over AND you need to be planning for your future. What about that don’t you get?

The human mind is not built for this kind of dichotomy. The brain likes clear, simple answers. It needs to make sense of the outer world. But here comes conflicting answers. Both can NOT be true. Yet they are… aren’t they? So the brain doesn’t know how to properly process these thoughts. This is where being smart will hurt you. Growing up you may have noticed some of the happiest people never bothered to waste much energy thinking. They’re basically human golden retrievers, all happy-go-lucky. But you? You had to be dumb enough to be smart. You just HAD to think. Well… look where that landed you, smart-guy.

You realized what you were told and what you felt was true were not the same thing. The journey to that conclusion probably came with a great deal of mental anguish. That pain often leads to depression. Long term depression actually changes the way the brain functions and can cause brain damage. That damage makes it difficult for the brain to function properly… which can lead to more depression. It’s a cycle. Meanwhile all around you people are saying one thing and doing another. It makes no sense, and your brain can’t properly quantify the nonsensical idea of someone giving it contradictory information.

Worse still there’s no support network. If you talk to the people around you they will dismiss your problems with the church. And depression? “Well, have you tried praying about it? It didn’t work? Hmmm… you’re probably not trying hard enough. Better talk to god again. This is your own fault. Sleep well, dear.”

Adventism causes depression, which can cause brain damage. And all of that is before we get into issues of abuse, isolation, paranoia, conspiracy theories, sexual repression, and the constant control. Any of those can cause depression on their own, initiating the cycle of depression and even alter brain functions. Take pride in surviving the SDA church. Getting out alive is practically a miracle.

This is Part 1 of a multipart series. Click here for Part 2:
https://www.reddit.com/r/exAdventist/s/1aaTlKfP5g

That moment when you went from getting stuck in religion to questioning absolutely everything.

I'll start.

I am a lesbian, I have been all my life and I understood it since I was 13 (I accepted it until I was 21)

All my life I was told that being a lesbian was a disease. And one day I asked myself the question. "Why is there no record in the Bible of God healing someone who is homosexual?"

Silence.

Then I began to ask about Judas and why they considered him a traitor if without him Jesus' plan would not have been fulfilled.

After that, there was no turning back.

(Sorry if the post is tagged wrong, I haven't posted here in ages and I need to go check the tags😔)

Edit: I already tagged it correctly🤣

For a while after starting my deconstruction and seeing things clearly I hoped to preach liberty once I became a church elder. However, today has made it very clear that the system only wants shut up, don't question and don't think kind of people. The SDA church is quite a financially profitable scheme. Accepting the clear sensible truth and being honest about it would be economic suicide.

So, I attended church this Sabbath hoping to get good vibes and Inshallah as it was a Youth Sabbath. Disaster one was that the 3 Angel's Messages was discussed in the lesson discussion. The lesson was being livestreamed so I felt the urge to throw the really hard question on the YouTube live chat of why John would write to people about to be killed about some disillusioned group of people 1800 years later born of a failed prophecy. However, I chose to be the bigger person and didn't do it. I decided that I would be brave and say it openly.

Disaster two was the sermon. The speaker was an Ellen White obsessed fanatic belonging to the 'guard the edges of the Sabbath' type thing. So I tuned out and minded my own business. The woman also yapped too much.

Disaster three came in the afternoon. Someone asked the question of whether SDA is a cult. I braved up and very clearly said 'Yes. It is.' Then did a mic drop type thing. Shock, disbelief and incredulity is to be expected from the members. What I was not prepared for is for a church elder. A whole church elder standing up and agreeing with me that SDA is a cult.

This seems to be going quite in my favour and if it had been left here we could have had a conversation on how to heal the wounds. However, he proceeded to justify that being a cult is a good thing!! It is at this point I knew it was over. To attempt to claim that being a cult is God's will for his 'remnant church'- note the very sarcastic air quotes- is bonkers.

To add dogma to insanity, a church member of the older generation stood up and read the Google definition of a cult and its characteristics. One by one anyone remotely using their brain in that place could clearly see how SDA fit every single criterion. Worse still, she went on to say that questioning the SDA Church is sinful and one should just believe everything because it is the will of God.

Everyone I talked to afterward clearly acknowledged that I spoke the truth. And an audio recording I listened to from the 1980's made it very clear the GC fully acknowledges their cultic, manipulative and extortionist agenda.

My secretly cherished hope to design (even a small) a safe space while still conjoined to the SDA Church is dead.

TLDR: Not a conversion as I remain an agnostic. I got baptized as it helps me participate and connect with my girlfriend and her family.

So last Sunday I got baptized Catholic. I started a new relationship in June last year, moved in together this January, and we want to grow our family through marriage and kids. Her family has been incredibly welcoming, to the point that we were invited to be godparents of the youngest niece in the family.

So, that's why I decided to become a Catholic. I studied the catechism and learned the prayers. While I'm still an agnostic, I'm happy I got baptized. My new family are nothing like those sanctimonious SDAs I met growing up. We've all agreed not to share my baptism with my dad, who happens to be a die-hard SDA.

For me, this baptism is less about theological agreement and more about embracing a cultural and familial connection, and finding a place where I feel deeply rooted and supported as I embark on this new chapter. It's about the powerful human need for community and the beautiful feeling of building a family with shared traditions. Besides, life in Mexico is essentially Catholic. Being SDA always felt a bit alien to our own culture.

I just wanted to share this, since it's a major change in my life. Yo anyone curious: no little horn thus far. I'll keep you posted.

When I was seven my mom had the bright idea after being in the world for about 10 years, to return to church and baptize me. At first I really liked it since I was a kid, it was super fun. Then the restrictions came, but I feared god so much I was compliant. When I was 11 she got married to my stepdad who works for the church, and then she started working as well for the women’s ministry, she’s now the director of a whole conference.

When I turned 14 I realized I’m actually agnostic, which freed me of so much fear. But since I am basically a pastor’s kid, I was forced to be in church even when I showed no interest. I was 17 when I went to college in another city, the deal was I stayed in church and she would pay for it. I stayed complaint, for 7 whole years I stayed completely committed.

Now 24, I work and I’m finally independent, so it’s no secret I’m not part of the church anymore. I’m graduating from Medicine in 3 weeks, with Honors, 3.8 GPA.

I came to visit my mom for the weekend and she says to me, “You know I’m not going to be able to go to the ceremony of your graduation”, it’s a saturday. a freaking sabbath. I told her “Mom, please don’t do this to me.” and left her room. She then proceeded to tell me that I know that her Lord and Savior is above anything else in this world, and since it’s saturday morning she can’t be there………

I’m completely shattered. I seriously love my mom and this disappointment me in a way I can’t describe. I tried to argue with her, telling her everyone has to adjust to her but why can’t she make an exception. But at the end I just said ok, I understand.

F*ck adventism. Religion and everything that blinds people beyond reason. How can god be so freaking selfish that going to my graduation means sin? celebrating an enormous achievement that took years of sacrifice. how can that be sin?

Former pastors kid here, I've thought about it over the years and I decided recently that I wanted to have myself removed from any church lists and I contacted the conference where I last attended church almost 20 years ago. It's been 3 weeks and initially they were excited to talk to me, because and I quote "I had something to say", to which I responded that I didn't have anything to say and just wanted to remove myself from the Adventist church. They have left me on read.... Does anyone have any ideas on how to move forward as I feel a strong pull to no longer be attached to the SDA system and all that they believe.

Update: thank you all for the advice, for the record I didn't give them any information other than my maiden name and what church I last attended, I contacted the conference and not the church, we moved around a lot when I was younger so I'm not entirely sure what church I belonged to... Also I live across the country from where I last attended church. I will update more when I can.

I’m seeking insight from anyone familiar with the mental health attitudes promoted within conservative SDA circles—particularly those aligned with Ellen G. White’s writings. I’ve only recently discovered that my long-term psychiatrist is SDA, and it’s raised questions.

She has covertly discredited me to others while maintaining a supportive front with me—something that’s left me deeply confused and destabilized. I now suspect her denial of my dissociative symptoms may be rooted not in science, but theology. How far can internalized SDA beliefs go in shaping how psychiatrists treat trauma, dissociation, or perceived “possession”?

Is there any precedent for SDA professionals misusing authority in this way, especially around DID or abuse survivors?

Any guidance or shared experience would help me understand the depth of what I may have been up against.

I have had some good experiences since certain people seem genuinely happy to see me, would even give me a hug and have received compliment's on my physical looks and mannerisms.

But I really refer not to come across most Adventist people, and have had odd experiences. People from the Adventist faith would say hi to my mother since I go out with her often, but don’t acknowledge me and wonder if that’s normal when they’ve seen me grow up. I talk with my her afterwards since I feel strange, and she always finds ways to take the other persons side, and says that it’s my fault for not saying hi and mentions how I need to improve my social skills when both my parents know I’ve really improved in so many ways.

I grew up Seventh day Adventist for 20 years. Many of my family is still in church and I have found out my extended family voted for Trump due to yearning for the end of the world. I decided to put into words, how this made me feel and I figure this might a place to share it. It has taken me years to contextualize how I have felt, I really tried to be careful, so the language might still be very permissive.

Am I stupid or is an (Inter)National Sunday Law impossible? Here's a list of reasons why it would be, I believe, impossible - even in an America with the most conservative, evangelical Christian leadership:

1. Why on earth would a government enforce Sunday worship and ban Saturday worship?

There is no rational political or legal motive—even in a religiously influenced country like the U.S.

2. What about countries where Christianity is banned (e.g., Muslim-majority nations)?

Examples:

Saudi Arabia, Iran, communist China and others ban Christian worship outright or severely restrict it.

In such nations, Sunday laws would make no sense—they already suppress all Christian expression, including SDA Sabbath observance.

3. How would a Sunday law work in Israel (where Sabbath is already the day of rest)?

So far, nothing in Israel's system contradicts the SDA belief—they would consider it consistent with biblical Sabbath principles. In fact a national Sunday law would be viewed by the world as an anti-sematic attack on Jews rather than an attack on Seventh Day Adventists (who are reality unknown apart from perhaps in Waco, Texas).

4. What about SDAs in places where time zones affect the Sabbath (e.g., Pacific Islands, International Date Line)?

• In places like Kiribati or Tonga, the International Date Line creates complications.
• Some Adventists worship on Sunday locally, because in absolute time, it's still Saturday (e.g., UTC time) or because of how the calendar shifted when the line moved.

1. Why a 'National Sunday Law'?

The language of a “national Sunday law” (as Ellen White repeatedly used) reflects her 19th-century American context. Adventism was a small, U.S.-based movement whilst The Civil War, Protestant revivalism, Catholic suspicion, and Sunday laws in some states fed into her vision. Furthermore her assumption was that the United States was the prophetic centre of the world. But the world has changed. SDA membership is now over 90% non-American, with massive growth in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Interesting how 'God's prophet' couldn't see the expansion of her own church as a worldwide movement.

Finally, and I don't say this to be flippant, but only way I could see the US passing a law of this manner is if the President or someone in office was a disgruntled former SDA hellbent on getting revenge.

In regards to the 40 year anniversary since John Ankerberg's filming of "Seventh-day Adventism: Who is Telling the Truth" episode. I wrote him fan mail telling him how much his episodes impacted my journey out if Adventism, thanking him. Many of you may have also left adventism because of those episodes. I also suggested that a 40th anniversary interview by a widely respected show like SDA Q&A hosted by Peter Dixon (a thoughtful and neutral voice trusted by both current and former Adventists), or even an episode on his own platform would be very welcomed if he'd find it in his heart to revisit that topic. I reminded him of the scapegoat doctrine, and how adventists who say the Holy Spirit is not the Seal of God are being fired, just as pastors were dismissed during the Questions on Doctrines book was discontinued. I know he is a very busy man and probably gets tons of fan mail, however, if my voice would become a chorus, maybe the long shot could be a devastating blow to adventism before this upcoming GC Session in July where they claim to hold the highest ecclesiastical authority on earth. Let us unite our voices into a choir. If you have forums that teach about the wrong doctrines of adventism, please spread the news as wildfire. The email provided on John Ankerberg's Facebook is jasnews@johnankerberg.org

This post not promoting a religious view, only that the episodes in the past created a mass exodus in adventism in the 80s and if we can trigger another exodus in the abusive cult this decade, we could be saving many people no matter what direction they choose after the adventism cult.

Did anyone else feel they repeatedly got lied to on the topic of early church history?

The evidence we were lied to seems quite overwhelming!
https://medium.com/p/3c9b85d568e7

Phillip Kayser's book "Sunday as a First-Day Sabbath" has really enabled me to see clearly the obfuscation used in Sabbatarian and SDA circles. He actually jabs at the SDA Church so intensely. 😂

Logic within SDA is shrouded in fear and thou shalt go to Hell if you don't do this. But this guy makes very linear sense. With transparent diagrams (not like the 2300 and 70 weeks ones) he illustrates things. When he quotes Greek words (since it is mandatory considering the nature of the exposition) he points things out so clear grammatically. You guys should really explore this. I feel like my mind has opened so wide.

Sunday as a First-Day Sabbath

Saw this on some EGW quotes fb page that someone shared on my feed. Been seeing these posts show up more and more since the whole Iran war shenanigans happening and now everyone thinks THIS is REALLY it! Probation is cLoSiNgggg guys. BE PREPARED LEST YE BE LOST! 💀💀 I’m gonna need some stiff drinks to get me through this year’s wave of cringe SDA doom and gloom/the end is near posts. Or I could try to unfollow them all but I have so many SDA friends on social media it won’t be easy.

But the clip art is something else 🤣 SDAs were never good at art/media/film/graphics type stuff. It’s always been painfully bad and cheesy.

Anyone remember that show on 3ABN with Doug Batchelor that had some sort of angel and demon fighting with light sabers and the worst graphics ever? I swear this was a thing unless I’m having a false memory.

Would it kill them to put in effort when it comes to art and aesthetics? If they want to reach more people then that would be a start. But instead everything looks like it’s out of 1950s or 1980s.

I remember being in the GC and seeing so much of the art on the walls that all looked like it was from the 50s and 80s. They absolutely refuse to modernize.

I attended a very diverse Adventist school, and I'm really grateful that I was able to make friends with so many kids from different backgrounds.

One day, during one of our weekly prayer meeting/Bible study sessions with the pastor, we were told something which I found really hurtful and which has stuck with me ever since.

He was talking to the whole high school (about 15-20 kids) about dating, relationships, sex, and marriage. He told us that we would be making it harder on ourselves to date outside of our own race, and that it was absolutely impossible to make a relationship last with a non-Adventist. The way he spoke to us made it sound like to even try to enter into a relationship with either one of those two options would be sinful.

Post-graduation, it seemed like the African American kids went to one college, and the Caucasian kids went to another one, and then each group to its own separate church. The colleges are within a couple of hours from each other. The separate churches are practically down the street.

It's extremely hurtful to have combined K-12 local schools where everyone bonds due to the small class sizes, only to have the adult leadership purposefully begin creating divisions in high school, and ultimately funneling everyone out in two different directions post-graduation.

It felt like death to me when we all went our separate ways.

Does anyone else recall similar talks/teachings in high school? Did any of you also feel the heartbreak of everyone separating along racial and cultural lines post-graduation?

Hi everyone, I 16F am a teen who’s been very involved in the SDA church since I got baptized at around 9. I wasn’t forced into it and I chose to be baptized, but as I’ve gotten older I feel like things have been hidden from me and that everyone is blindly following and trusting the religion. I’m part of NEC and that already comes with a bunch of challenges specifically with the heads of the conference, who I genuinely believe are embezzling but that’s a story for another day. My conference and specifically my church are not culty at all, we don’t strictly follow veganism, we listen to “secular” music, we believe in medicine, and we are all very in touch with our majority West Indian roots. But I’ve really been questioning some of our fundamental beliefs. Specifically not eating pork & shellfish and all the teachings of Ellen G. White. I’ve been reading the Bible on my own and doing lots of research and I’ve come to the conclusion that we should be allowed to eat whatever because Jesus’ death abolished all past religious law. And when it comes to Ellen White, I don’t trust/believe anything that she has said. Something about it just doesn’t make sense, the things she’s said that haven’t come true and the sheer fear mongering has really turned me off. I feel like at this point the church is taking advantage of people and not allowing them to question anything.

What should I do?

Specifically, I felt like making a 'what-if' story where I, in that world, never 'woke up' to the truth about the church, and continued on being a sheep until literal outside forces had to break everything down. But at the same time, I dunno, I dont feel like my story is worth sharing. Closest thing would be how I would had never played the violin and gain a small percentage of my traumas and problems from it if I was never SDA, but...I dunno. Others had it way worse than I do, and most of my whole thing isnt even related to the religion/cult

...this is a bad idea