5 August 2024 | Our church says it is the “remnant,” which we say means we are God’s only true church, because we obey the fourth commandment and have the spirit of prophecy. Yet the prophet has been dead for a long time, and it seems to me many congregations have become less loving and […]
29 July 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, My landlord is only available on Saturdays to make repairs on the apartment that I rent. Does this go against Sabbath observance? Signed, No Shower Right Now Dear No Shower, Is your landlord a Sabbath observer who is having to break the Sabbath to fix your apartment? Or […]
22 July 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy I have a female friend, 40 years old and single, who has long wanted a child. She was unsuccessful in finding a husband, so she consulted an obstetrician, who performed in vitro fertilization (IVF) for her. She is now the mother of a beautiful daughter. How does the […]
14 July 2024 | I grew up being told Satan can’t read our minds in the same fashion God can. Where does this idea come from, and is it true that Satan can’t play mind games with us? Signed, Feeling Invaded Dear Invaded, Ellen White is our source of the idea that Satan can’t read […]
8 July 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, What do you think is the most accurate English translation of the Bible? Signed, Bible Reader Dear Reader: Arthur S. Maxwell in his book Your Bible and You says that deciding on the best translation is “like choosing the winner in a beauty contest or the best performer […]
1 July 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, I’m a Pentecostal believer, and I married a Seventh-day Adventist man. During our courtship he didn’t seem overly interested in his own church, and sometimes he went with me to my church. After we got married, for several months he went with me to my church, and we […]
24 June 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, I have been a Seventh-Adventist Church member since 1975. Even after so many years, I am still puzzled by the amount of emphasis on the Sabbath in the Adventist Church. Signed, Still Puzzled Dear Puzzled, Aunty is puzzled about why you are puzzled. You are, after all, a […]
17 June 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, I hear two contrasting descriptions of the second coming of Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus will appear “as a thief in the night”—presumably without warning. On the other hand, Adventist eschatology predicts horrendous times ahead, in which people are given lots of warning signs to prepare for […]
10 June 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, I was brought up in the church being told that you should never trust your feelings. Ellen White appears to say that it is bad—sinful, even—to experience emotions, especially anger, and that emotions can be used by Satan to control me. Is she right? Signed, Stifled Believer Dear […]
3 June 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Ellen White writes that Jesus’ siblings were his step-siblings, from a previous marriage of Joseph’s. The Bible doesn’t say this explicitly. What’s the truth? Signed, Conflicted Dear Conflicted, This is one of the frequent questions Aunty receives: “Ellen White says thus and so, but the Bible seems to […]
27 May 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Why does the Adventist Church focus so much on the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14? Was this just important in the mid-1800’s or is it still important today? Signed, Prophecy Seeker Dear Seeker, Aunty remembers a Sabbath School class where the teacher asked, “What is the most […]
20 May 2024 | Hi, Aunt Sevvy, I have been married for 25 years. When my children were young, my mother-in-law used to make remarks about how I didn’t bake pies or cakes. (My son once asked what a vegetable was in her garden; she replied that you wouldn’t know because your mother doesn’t cook.) […]