17 March 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Recently, because I wanted to know God better, I started reading the Bible from cover to cover starting with Genesis. Very soon I found myself feeling conflicted. I believe God is good—but I can’t help but think that God seems petty and even cruel in the Old Testament. […]
10 March 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, If Ted Wilson admires Ellen White so much, why doesn’t he follow her counsel? “I have been shown that ministers should not be retained in the same district year after year, nor should the same man long preside over a conference. A change of gifts is for the […]
3 March 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Recently I heard of an Adventist group that was putting together a whole seminar on how to live off the grid and be self-sustaining for the Time of Trouble. I’m wondering: should we prepare for the end of time? Is it necessary to live “off the grid”? Or […]
24 February 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, I want to go to a funeral service for a dear Roman Catholic friend. But I’m afraid to, because a Catholic funeral service involves so many idolistic rituals. What should I do, Aunt Sevvy? Signed, Frightened Dear Frightened, Roman Catholic services feel strange to us Adventists. We don’t […]
16 February 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, All of my life I’ve been hearing about the latter rain. The early rain is said to be the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost. But what is the latter rain? Signed, Pluviophile Dear Pluviophile, In Palestine’s warmish Mediterranean climate a big rain came in the autumn to […]
10 February 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, I’m of the opinion that when Earth’s final events occur, the day one chooses to worship will not be the test. Rather, coercive methods to enforce religion will be the dividing line—even for those who don’t observe Saturday Sabbath. What do you think, Aunty? Signed, Watching for the […]
3 February 2025 | As an African lady I like to braid my hair. It’s practical: I’m a busy person, and it lets me look nice with minimum fuss. Yet some pastors here preach that it is a sin for women to braid their hair, giving as justification 1 Timothy 2:9. What do you think, […]
27 January 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Growing up as an Adventist, there always seemed to be a good supply of miracle stories showing God’s special concern for and protection of Seventh-day Adventists—stories like tornadoes that lifted just before the Adventist’s house, or the hailstorm leaving the Adventist farmer’s crop intact, or about being saved […]
20 January 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, In order to go to heaven, the Bible says only you must believe in Jesus and be baptized. But our church says that you must also be an official member of our church, which requires a commitment to 13 baptismal vows and 28 Fundamental beliefs, some of them […]
13 January 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Is Michael the Archangel the same as Jesus? I’ve only heard this in the Adventist Church, and I wonder: is it unique to us? Signed, Curiouser and Curiouser Dear Curiouser, The White Estate asserts that “many” non-Adventist Bible scholars equate Michael with Christ—but Aunty has heard it only […]
6 January 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, I just heard someone using the example of Jesus and His long days of ministry to justify my school’s expectation that we work evenings and weekends for free. To me, that’s taking following Jesus’ example wildly out of context to justify a toxic work environment. What do you […]
30 December 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Is there a path between regarding Ellen White as being as authoritative as Scripture, and seeing her as a plagiarist and fraud? Signed, Searching for a Middle Way Dear Searching, Yes, of course there is. But it would involve correcting some long-held attitudes that Seventh-day Adventists have about […]
