Bronze-level articleSeventh-day Adventism

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The [http://greatcontroversyproject.org/index.html Great Controversy Project] is a project to mass-mail a recent reprint of Ellen G. White's ''The Great Controversy'' by the Review and Herald Publishing Association of Hagerstown, Maryland by soliciting donations to saturate an entire U.S. zip code with the book, with the warning, "Time is running out! Obama just signed the hate crimes bill that might make it illegal to distribute this book". They needn't be so worried. Obama has about as much interest in taking away your copy of ''The Great Controversy'' from your cold, dead fingers as he does in taking away your gun: None.
 
The [http://greatcontroversyproject.org/index.html Great Controversy Project] is a project to mass-mail a recent reprint of Ellen G. White's ''The Great Controversy'' by the Review and Herald Publishing Association of Hagerstown, Maryland by soliciting donations to saturate an entire U.S. zip code with the book, with the warning, "Time is running out! Obama just signed the hate crimes bill that might make it illegal to distribute this book". They needn't be so worried. Obama has about as much interest in taking away your copy of ''The Great Controversy'' from your cold, dead fingers as he does in taking away your gun: None.
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Kellogg's Corn Flakes were invented by a Seventh-day Adventist as a cure for masturbation.<ref>Well, okay, not quite.  John Harvey Kellogg was a follower of Sylvester Graham, inventor of the Graham cracker, who believed that a bland diet was good for you because it didn't "stir up the passions."  He invented corn flakes by accident out of some flattened corn meal (bland, of course) that had been sitting out for too long.</ref>
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==

Revision as of 00:06, 28 September 2013

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Seventh-day Adventism is an especially batshit and reactionary denomination of Christianity. The largest organization dedicated to the practice and spread of Adventism is the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Approximately 16 million people worldwide are members of the Church , and its membership has grown quickly since the late 1970s.[1]

Contents

Origins

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church traces its roots back to the Millerite movement, led by William Miller,[2] a Baptist preacher who, during the early 1800s, preached that his research into biblical prophecy indicated that Jesus would return in 1843. When his set date inevitably passed as any other, his movement fell apart, and its members fractured. Some, including Miller, renounced Baptist Christianity, while others continued to believe that the Second Coming was imminent, but (surprise, surprise) didn't set a date. These believers formed the core of what would eventually become the Adventist movement. (Another, even wackier group said that Jesus had come and that his reign had begun; these are known as the Jehovah's Witnesses).

The modern SDA Church began to coalesce with the writings and teachings of Ellen G. White, who claimed to see visions and was held by believers as a prophet. She articulated many of the church's core beliefs, which include observing the Sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday (hence, seventh-day). The church was officially established in Battle Creek, Michigan, on May 23, 1863, with a membership of 3,500. Membership grew with missionaries, who actively exported Seventh-day Adventism to developing nations in Asia, Africa, and South America.

Beliefs

With its roots in Protestantism, Seventh-day Adventist beliefs are typical of conservative, evangelical Christians in the United States, with some notable exceptions. For one, their doctrine of soul sleep asserts that death is simply a sleep of the soul, and that the soul will awaken on Judgment Day.[3] The church officially takes positions typical of the Christian right, such as a measured opposition to gay marriage[4][5] and abortion (except in cases of rape or incest).[6] Some scholars classify Seventh-day Adventism as part of Restorationism rather than Protestantism.

The official Seventh-Day Adventist Church is also opposed to unionization, which has put it at odds with other Christian sects, especially in Latin America.[7]

As a result of their emphasis on the seventh day Sabbath commemorating when God rested from his labors, Adventists believe in a literal "Creation Week" of seven 24 hour days[8] and they deny both evolution and an estimated 4.55 billion year age for the Earth.

However, in many other ways, it sets itself up against the religious right. For example, Seventh Day Adventism is officially pacifist.[9] Many of its adherents also practice vegetarianism.[10] And the denomination's Saturday worship sets it against most evangelicals who worship on Sunday; their rejection of Sunday worship has further put them on the opposite side of most evangelicals on such issues as blue laws, and they are wary of the religious right for this reason above all else, viewing it as a possible vehicle for passage of a national Sunday law feared by Adventists.

Issues

One of the more alarming offshoots of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church are the Branch Davidians, who made headlines around the world in 1993 when David Koresh and 81 of his followers died in a siege of their compound at Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas.

In 1986, Colin Cook, founder of Homosexuals Anonymous, an Adventist ministry targeted at disaffected homosexuals, was discovered to be engaging in sexual acts with his patients.[11] This is very ironic and grimly funny. It also happens to be a general trait of rather aggressive homophobes.

Seventh-day Adventism is the source of many cheap, mass distributed books (you've seen them: The Desire of Ages, The Great Controversy, America In Prophecy, National Sunday Law Crisis - the first three heavily edited reprints of books written in the 19th century by Ellen G. White), and is fertile ground for fringe conspiracy theories about an impending national Sunday law, with pamphlets warning of this to be occasionally discovered in public places such as bus or train stations.

The Great Controversy Project is a project to mass-mail a recent reprint of Ellen G. White's The Great Controversy by the Review and Herald Publishing Association of Hagerstown, Maryland by soliciting donations to saturate an entire U.S. zip code with the book, with the warning, "Time is running out! Obama just signed the hate crimes bill that might make it illegal to distribute this book". They needn't be so worried. Obama has about as much interest in taking away your copy of The Great Controversy from your cold, dead fingers as he does in taking away your gun: None.

Kellogg's Corn Flakes were invented by a Seventh-day Adventist as a cure for masturbation.[12]

External links

Footnotes

  1. Official Church stats
  2. Official Church history
  3. "Until that day death is an unconscious state for all people."
  4. Seventh-day Adventist Position Statement on Homosexuality
  5. Seventh-day Adventist Response to Same-Sex Unions--A Reaffirmation of Christian Marriage
  6. Guidelines on Abortion
  7. Guidelines for Employer and Employee Relationships
  8. An Affirmation of Creation
  9. A Statement on Peace
  10. Caring for Creation -- A Statement on the Environment
  11. Redeeming Our Sad Gay Situation: Awareness
  12. Well, okay, not quite. John Harvey Kellogg was a follower of Sylvester Graham, inventor of the Graham cracker, who believed that a bland diet was good for you because it didn't "stir up the passions." He invented corn flakes by accident out of some flattened corn meal (bland, of course) that had been sitting out for too long.
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