? for Barry. How do Seven Day Adventists compare to JW's

jwfacts

Hi Barry,
noticed you are online, so I wanted to grab you and find out how you perceive Seven Day Adventists compare to JWs:
1 - Equally cult like
2 - Not quite so bad
3 - The true religion

From some of your thread it appears you are an openminded SDA. I have noticed SDA's fellowshipping with other Protestant groups here in Australia. Do SDA's believe they are the only true religion or do they believe that acknowledging Christ is enough?

Thanks
Paul

Chimene

Hey Paul, I'm not Barry, but just my 2 cents, my grandmother pretty much raised me and she was a die hard SDA. When I married my JW husband, she told me that the JW's were weird and she didn't believe in any of the things that they do. The only thing I found strange about the SDA's was how they literally stuck to the bible verse "remember the sabbath day and keep it holy" This meant every Saturday, no work, no play, no TV, nothing. All you could pretty much do was read the bible. And she did it, every Saturday.

You asked if it was cult like, I don't think so.They did have something called the voice of prophecy, but I never really asked too much about it.

Growing up, I loved going there. It was a lot of fun. Especially in the summer. They had vacation bible school. You learned about the bible, while getting to make arts and crafts and doing fun things. And don't let me forget the monthly potluck! All the food you can eat, LOL!

Anyhow, that's my take on it

insearchoftruth

Will be interesting to read the responses to this thread since a lot of the basis of the wts came from the SDAs, another faith I know all but nothing about.

Will pose a question here, any suggestions on a somewhat mainstream religion where it would be good to expose a inactive jw to a setting outside of a meeting, anything liturgical I think is out of the question!

Chimene

Yes, I was actually surprised to find that some of the JW religion came from SDA's. REALLY surprised! But then, my grandmother told me that when she was a baby, her mother was a Bible Student, and that she was bounced on Rutherfords knee when she was little, (poor thing)

insearchoftruth

Good post! I am amazed how an organization that was started by a misled Presbyterian (through no fault of the Presbyterians), based on Millerites and then the SDAs could grow into the powerful and misdirected cult that they have.

Each and every post I read about the wts makes me even further question how anyone could not see through the smokescreen that they have set up, but they have had many years of practice setting up the screen, and each person is trained to make sure the screen looks the same!

Check_Your_Premises

and each person is trained to make sure the screen looks the same!

And never forget the extent that each person has so much invested in believing the lie. They need to believe this stuff. It is their protection from the big bad world. They need the fantasy that somebody has all the answers... because they have to many questions. They just don't realize that the one feeding them the answers is just as lost and blind as anybody else.

CYP

james_woods

I have a pretty close friend who was raised in the SDA. He had to even go to their own parochial schools - the parents were hardliners. They eventually divorced with the father going to no religion and the mother going even more radical on Sabbath, etc. Richard (the son) quit as well about the time of Vietnam, played with Scientology after that, and now hates all conventional religion.

Anyway, his take on them is that they do not raise to the scary level of Scientology or JWdom, but they may be hiding a few little secrets of their own. For one thing, they almost approach the JWs in the attempt to control education in some ways. For example, it was frowned on to go to college if you wanted to be a scientist, politician, or whatever...but it was sort of OK to go into medicine! They do not completely shun people like Richard who just quit, but they do give him what for on family holidays...you will die if you don't come back. I think they really believe they are the only ones.

However, there is apparantly nothing like the rabid control from a central organization.

Nevertheless, the JWs have a lot of 7th day DNA. I cannot forget that they were before WT with the failed end time chronology and fostered the splinter groups that got Russell started. They have just evolved further than Brooklyn and are avoiding making themselves look stupid again, IMHO.

robhic

The only thing I found strange about the SDA's was how they literally stuck to the bible verse "remember the sabbath day and keep it holy" This meant every Saturday, no work, no play, no TV, nothing. All you could pretty much do was read the bible. And she did it, every Saturday.

I have a friend who is (now) a JW, but her family are Worldwide Church of God adherents. The WWCoG seems to also mirror a lot of Jewish religious ideas. (Envy...?) Probably why she got sucked into the JWs because it seemed to follow WWCoG in ways.

They keep the sabbath from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday, not working or anything as you mention above. They also keep some archaic-sounding feast / holydays like one called the "Feast of Tabernacles" which, I believe co-incides with the JW "Memorial."

They do a "Feast of Trumpets" too, but I don't know what or when it is. They do do a lot of travelling around the country to celebrate these so-called "feasts." Maybe Herbert W. Armstrong (started the WWCoG) owned motels or restaurants?

Robert

M.J.

I have a question about SDAs regarding similarities with the JWs on THE AFTERLIFE, or lack thereof.

Russell & SDAs adopted the "soul sleep" concept from a common Adventist ancestry.

But while JWs teach complete non-existence at death, I wonder if the SDA teaching is literally soul sleep. That a person consists of an immaterial soul that is in union with the body to complete life...so when life of the body ceases, consciousness of the soul ceases as well, until the soul is rejoined with a body in resurrection. So in other words, the soul still exists, but is "sleeping".

I suppose the difference is not totally significant, as the JWs teach that a person's memory is what survives in Jehovah's care as opposed to a literal substance.

MissBehave

Their fundamental beliefs are listed here http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html

Very interesting and many, many parallels with the Witnesses it seems.

? for Barry. How do Seven Day Adventists compare to JW's

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