Posted by:
xxMMMooo
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Date: January 02, 2018 05:38PM
They have a lot of good points but they can be pretty clannish, just like the Mormons or JWs. They make a big deal about Saturday Sabbath and often go on rants about "Popery" and Catholicism and anything to do with Sunday worship.
Their vegetarianism can be a little off-putting if you're not already into that, but if you're the type that loves nothing better than an hour long debate on the finer points of vegetarianism vs. veganism and who makes the best veggie loaf burgers, you'll love it.
Also, Ellen G. White is their Joseph Smith. (I suppose the Davidians and the Branch are their FLDS.)
There's a PBS documentary on Adventist hospitals and schools that's been playing over the holidays. While interesting, it seems the SDA make a point of not talking much about their more unusual doctrines in public, sort of like Mormons.
They have some weirder doctrines too, like the whole "investigative judgment" and "heavenly sanctuary" thing which I don't quite understand.
"The investigative judgment is a unique Seventh-day Adventist doctrine, which asserts that the divine judgment of professed Christians has been in progress since 1844. It is intimately related to the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was described by the church's prophet and pioneer Ellen G. White as one of the pillars of Adventist belief. It is a major component of the broader Adventist understanding of the 'heavenly sanctuary', and the two are sometimes spoken of interchangeably.
The investigative judgment teaching was the focus of controversy within the denomination in 1980, when Adventist theologian Desmond Ford had his ministerial credentials withdrawn by the Church after openly criticizing the doctrine. While the Adventist mainstream believe in the doctrine and the church has reaffirmed its basic position on the doctrine since 1980, some of those within the church's more liberal progressive wing continue to be critical of the teaching.
According to a 2002 worldwide survey, local church leaders estimated 86% of church members accept the doctrine, although 35% believe there may be more than one interpretation of the sanctuary belief."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigative_judgment