Aunty, I’m considering joining an offshoot that sticks to the original Adventist standards. What do you think?
16 December 2024 |
Dear Aunt Sevvy,
Would it be wrong for me to leave the original Seventh-day Adventist Church and join an offshoot movement that has maintained our original standards?
Signed, Seeker
Dear Seeker,
What people almost invariably mean when they say that want to find a church that maintains better Adventist “standards” is that they want to see stricter rules about things like food and jewelry and divorce and Sabbath-keeping, or they want to hear people voicing certain unique doctrines frequently. In other words, they want a church with a legalistic and doctrinally correct regime, where only the “pure” can hang out.
What they usually don’t mean is higher standards in matters of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Aunty has quite a different view of what makes a good church. We should have high standards—but those standards should be about how thoroughly a church accepts and loves people, even those who are different, who struggle, who are sinners, who are hurting, who are discouraged, who are seeking God. A focus on makeup and Sabbath-keeping and food, and endlessly repeating our interpretations of the prophecies, will never create that kind of church.
Of course it isn’t “wrong” to go where God is leading you. But if you’re thinking about your faith more in terms of rules and doctrines than having a relationship with Christ, and a Christlike relationship with your fellow church members, you will remain forever disappointed. Aunty sees little of God’s grace in insisting everyone march in lockstep—because that usually means some people in the community have constantly to be judging other people.
And Aunty will remind you that Jesus rarely mentioned doctrines. He refused to criticize people for their food choices or their Sabbath-keeping. But he did speak strongly against judging others.
Aunt Sevvy has collected her answers into a book! You can get it from Amazon by clicking here.
You can write to Aunt Sevvy at DearAuntSevvy@gmail.com. Your real identity will never be revealed.