Seventh Day Adventist Cult – Church is Oppressive & Destructive Leaving SDAIs the Seventh Day Adventist church a cult? This is a hard question to answer but I will say this; there is a very real segment of that church that is very destructive and oppressive. I will present to you why I believe the church is destructive and oppressive, and let you make your choice on this question, as the term “cult” is problematic. Please note, this article will merely discusses church culture and will not debate the theological merits of the teachings. I would also like to note that article this does not apply to all SDA churches. The culture described here is mostly seen in the “traditional” churches and in some “progressive” churches.

This article has been compiled from experiences from ex- Adventists around the globe who came from conservative circles. Please keep in mind everyones experience will be different! If you are looking to escape/leave an oppressive segment of the church, I highly recommend you read this article on how to leave it. Please also note, that from now on when this article refers to “Adventists” that are “oppressive” it is in reference to the segment that is and is not referencing the whole church. The Seventh Day Adventist church is extremely controlling.

In Lifton’s criteria for deciding whether a church is a cult or not, he looks at whether the church has a charismatic leader that controls, interrogates and bullies its members. The Seventh Day Adventist church has no such leader. Instead, it has an interesting phenomena about it; instead of a leader doing this, the members fulfill this function themselves. If a church member is caught breaking one of the many rules, they face social retribution for their sin. To get a small glimpse into this, take a look at the video below: This is a funny video, and Adventists would generally find it very funny. In fact, it was created by a (liberal) church.

Unfortunately, this is not an accurate representation of what actually occurs, even within liberal circles. Lets take the very first example, where the poor man is caught having a meat lovers pizza. In the SDA church, it is a sin to eat any meat that comes from a pig, as this violates the SDA health laws. In the video, the man gets a disappointed look from his friend who looks very unimpressed, while he looks very embarrassed. But is this it? No, it isn’t. Unfortunately, its just the beginning.

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In the video, it shows what would have happened if he had the ‘Adventist Alert App’. He see’s his friend is nearby, and he quickly changes his order to a vegan pizza, so that he can be a good Adventist. You know why he is so eager to do this? Because being caught actually choosing bacon/pepperoni would be socially shunned by his SDA peers. His friend would tell his friends, who would then tell their friends. These people would then look at him differently and treat him differently. They might “jokingly” reference his transgression in conversation, in frontof other people.

Is the Seventh Day Adventist church a cult, or not? Find out the truth behind the SDA church. We go beyond theology and look at the controlling culture of the church.

They might confront him and ask him why he was eating unclean flesh. They might even give him some “helpful suggestions” on how to avoid temptation. The tone in which this is done socially shames the man, as the Adventist feels the need to pull their peer “into line”, so- to- speak. They would never forget the incident, and would see the person as “not a real Adventist” since they purposely broke the rules of God.

They would then, consciously or subconsciously, spend less time around them and avoid them because they are a bad influence. The more transgressions you make, the worse it gets. This is a very high punishment to pay. For one thing, it isn’t just you that would become ostracized, but your family would suffer too.

For another, being ostracized by church members is especially devastating when you consider that, due to the fact that Adventists usually only interact seriously with Adventists (since they live in an exclusive Adventist world/bubble) having these people ice you out is devastating as they are your only social network. It isn’t just church members that would ice you out; your family/friends would always have your transgression in the back of their mind, and would begin to treat you differently.

Too many transgressions and your friends will start to ice you out. All because a church member caught you ordering a pepperoni pizza slice. I am not joking. Is this different from other churches/denominations? Always looking over your shoulder. This is hard to say; the reality is within conservative Christianity a lot of harsh judging goes on and a lot of people get hurt. Are Adventists different in this regard?

Most conservative Christians look at SDA’s and see them asextreme, as while other churches will judge you for much bigger choices, SDA’s will judge each other harshly for seemingly small, random and arbitrary “rules”. Another interesting thing about the church is there is no room to dissent. If you chose to keep all of the Adventist rules except you chose to continue to eat ham, then most conservative SDA’s would have to declare you sinful, your actions worldly, and your blatant disregard for God’s health laws mean that God would not save you and you would die the eternal death.

All of this because you choose to eat ham, is very harsh and SDA’s are unique in how black- and- white they are over such seemingly small rules that have very little impact on ones day- to- day life that don’t hurt other people. This harsh attitude towards people over such arbitrary things makes the church very toxic and oppressive, and one reason it could be seen as a cult. Add to this the fact that conservative churches don’t leave a lot of room for interpretation of the scriptures; you are rigidly expected to obey all the 2. Fundementals. Most other denominations, even conservative denominations, have a lot more room for movement. Add to this that within the 2. Fundemental beliefs you then have additional sub- rules within those rules that you need to keep. Take rule #2. 0, the Sabbath – general consensus is that wading in water on Sabbath is OK, but swimming is not.

These are unlisted rules and are things you need to pick up from experience/reading. This makes it extremely difficult to keep them all, which means a lot of members live in fear of breaking rules and live in a constant state of guilt. What really sets it apart though, and what might lead people to consider it a cult, is the insular culture. More so than almost any other denomination, Seventh Day Adventists encourage its members to only be friends with other Adventists, and it has designed its institution to limit the opportunity of SDA’s to make meaningful relationships with non- SDA’s. So when a SDA sins and gets judged by their church family, it is a much worse fate than what most other conservative- Christians face, as SDA’s are their only friends/family. Stakes are high. Article published in Adventist Review 0.

Seventh Day Adventist publication/magazine. Information is Controlled. Another “cult- like” characteristic that the church exhibits is that it controls the information that its members hear. It manages this by removing the situations in which SDA’s have to interact with non- SDA’s in any meaningful way. Consider the life of a typical Seventh Day Adventist: They are born in a SDA Church. They go to a SDA pre- school, then to a SDA grade school and then go to a SDA high school.

They then go to a SDA college/university where they learn a skill they can use in SDA institutions (the most common are studying towards being a teacher, a pastor, a nurse or a doctor)They are then employed in a SDA institution. They will marry a SDA spouse.

They then retire in a SDA retirement village. Adventists can easily move through life in Adventist institutions, where they will predominately meet and get to know Adventists.

While they will encounter non- Adventists here, they will migrate towards SDA’s.