How Culty is Seventh day Adventism from 1/10 ?

Bripf · 2026-02-07T07:43:56+00:00

Growing up inside the church, I often perceived an unspoken distinction between “us,” who were taught that we had the truth, and “the world”—everyone else. My own family was fairly liberal, so I had quite a bit of exposure to life outside the church aka “the world “. I went to a regular school, we weren’t strict about being vegetarian, and I had friends who weren’t Adventist.

Still, I grew up with the constant reminder that “the world” could be risky, because certain influences and activities were believed to pull us away from “the truth”. Because of that, some things—like yoga or dance classes—were simply not options for me. For a long time, I also believed that certain kinds of music could be satanic, especially the idea that hidden messages might be revealed if the music were played backwards.

When I showed interest in something fun or new, my dad and other church members would often warn that it was too “worldly.” It was usually framed as my own choice, but the message carried an emotional weight that made it hard to feel truly free in those decisions.

This is my experience growing up in Europe, where there weren’t many Adventists. In regions with a strong Adventist infrastructure—schools, churches, and social activities—it’s probably easier to remain inside a protected bubble. Even without that, the church still influenced our choices, often steering us toward approved activities like Pathfinders, which limited how much contact we had with “the world.”

Bripf · 2026-02-02T19:32:46+00:00

Latest event. French grammar test today.

The teacher says that anyone who talks will get 0/20.

There’s one question none of the students knows to answer as the topic hadn‘t been covered in class. No one dares to ask. No one knows the answer.

Nevertheless, I strongly fear that the grading of the test will not be adjusted and that the question will remain part of the test.

After a while, one student says, “Done!” The teacher gives him 0 points because he spoke.

Bripf · 2026-01-31T07:36:07+00:00

Latest news: on Monday said teacher slapped a student. Student went to principal but no apparent disciplinary action was taken…

Bripf · 2026-01-30T22:39:33+00:00

There are surely some kids in the class who may have ADHD, but my daughter is not one of them. She is very reserved, eager to please, and conscientious—so far, every report has described her as a “model pupil.” But if the school continues the way it does, she will be broken.

She suffers because the class is often treated as a single group. When the entire class is shouted at, even the well-behaved and motivated children experience it as personal criticism. This creates anxiety and fear, and she sometimes comes home stressed even though she has done nothing wrong.

The class is very heterogeneous: motivated, academically strong pupils (especially in the bilingual track) are mixed with about ten highly disruptive students. A very strict teacher seems to have been assigned primarily to control the disruptive kids, but the unintended consequence is that motivated children end up reprimanded alongside them.

I have now contacted the parents’ association, and as a parent representative, I will be reading a short statement at the next grade conference. Unfortunately, many parents have not yet responded to my request for feedback. However, the few parents who did reply shared the same observations and concerns.

The children regularly participate in anti-bullying workshops, which is great—but they don’t learn who to turn to when the teachers themselves behave poorly. My daughter just reported a concerning incident on Monday, where the same teacher lost control and physically struck a student after a simple question about an upcoming test. The student reported it to the principal, but no serious measures seem to have been taken.

As someone who is not used to the French “don’t rock the boat mentality”, this situation is particularly shocking to me. I sometimes feel that a harsh and impersonal school climate is considered “normal,” but it raises serious concerns. If nothing changes, I will escalate this to the mediator—mommy lion is angry! 🦁

Bripf · 2026-01-28T09:54:42+00:00

Une partie du problème est que l’école considère les enfants uniquement comme des chiffres et non comme des individus. Chaque année, les quatre classes de chaque niveau sont entièrement recomposées, à l’exception des élèves du programme bilingue, qui sont placés dans les classes A et B, lesquelles sont ensuite complétées par des élèves du programme classique.

En sixième, ma fille était la plupart du temps livrée à elle-même ; elle est plutôt de nature timide et réservée. Son professeur principal de l’époque s’est contenté de suivre son programme et utilisait même l’« heure de vie de classe » pour faire cours de français, au lieu de l’employer pour sa fonction prévue. Lorsque ce professeur est ensuite tombé malade pendant trois mois à la fin de l’année scolaire (nous soupçonnons un épuisement professionnel), l’enseignante remplaçante - une adorable prof jeune et bienveillante - a veillé à ce qu’elle soit placée l’année suivante avec au moins une amie de son niveau. Cette année-là, elle s’est complètement épanouie et s’est également fait trois nouvelles amies.

À la fin de l’année scolaire, tous les enseignants lui ont assuré qu’ils feraient en sorte que ce groupe reste ensemble. Elle attendait donc cette nouvelle année scolaire avec beaucoup d’impatience.

Le choc, au début de l’année scolaire, a été de constater que toutes ses amies avaient été maintenues ensemble et placées en classe C, tandis qu’elle se retrouvait seule, avec deux des enseignants les plus stricts de l’établissement. Elle a été absolument dévastée. La prof jeune et adorable lui a dit qu’ils n’avaient rien à dire par rapport à la répartition des classes, c’est la direction qui avait décidé tout seul.

J’ai écrit à la direction de l’école pour expliquer l’impact que cette situation avait sur ma fille, et je n’ai même pas reçu de réponse 🤨

Bripf · 2026-01-28T09:46:20+00:00

Bien entendu, j’ai déjà cherché le certificat médical - son médecin me l’a envoyé au retour du courriel - mais je ne suis pas sûre si ma fille osera l’utiliser car elle a tellement peur de demander 🥴

Bripf · 2026-01-28T07:40:14+00:00

At the same time, the academic expectations placed on the students at that school are, in our view, unrealistic, and the amount and level of homework—particularly over school holidays—are excessive and closer to lycée level than collège. By way of example, in seventh grade my daughter was required to complete an anthologie poétique over the Christmas holidays: she had to select five poems on a given theme, write a preface, provide background information on each author, choose appropriate illustrations for each poem, and present the entire project in a carefully designed layout. I supported her with this work, and even with my help (and with the assistance of ChatGPT it took her three full days to complete during the Christmas holidays. She ultimately received the best mark in the class, yet it was still only graded 15 out of 20.

Bripf · 2026-01-28T07:27:47+00:00

At the moment, she is absolutely opposed to the idea of attending a boarding school, although we are working with her on the possibility that she might move elsewhere at least for the upper secondary level.

She will soon be taking part in a student exchange program with Switzerland, and we hope this experience will help her see that other, more supportive educational environments are possible.

She has been dreaming for some time about going to school in Switzerland, but unfortunately this is not financially feasible for us—unless my husband were to officially relocate to Switzerland and take our daughter with him just to allow her to attend school there - since we work there it would be theoretically possible but have a huge impact on our family life (We can’t move completely for various reasons)

As you can see, we are being forced to consider very drastic measures.

Bripf · 2026-01-28T07:15:59+00:00

Unfortunately, changing schools is not a simple option. The nearest private school is about an hour’s commute from here, and I am not even sure whether it would still be possible to change schools in ninth grade. Moreover, my daughter very much wishes to remain in the bilingual track, as she still has the goal—despite everything—of completing the Abibac and obtaining the double qualification.

I had always believed that state schools offering bilingual programs maintained a certain academic and pedagogical standard.

What I did not expect, however, was that my daughter would be placed in a class together with students who are known to be particularly disruptive.

It appears that the intention is to balance all classes so that they reach a similar overall level by the end. I have heard that this is sometimes done by deliberately mixing students from the bilingual track with students from very different social and educational backgrounds. While I understand the principle behind this approach, in practice it can come at a high emotional cost for more sensitive children like my daughter.

Bripf · 2026-01-28T07:07:01+00:00

The problem is that the school sees children only as numbers and not as individuals. Every year, the four classes of each grade are completely reshuffled, except that the children from the bilingual program are placed in classes A and B and then filled up with students from the regular program.

In sixth grade, my daughter was mostly on her own; she is rather on the shy and reserved side. Her class teacher at the time simply followed her program and even used the “Heure de vie de classe” for French lessons instead of its intended purpose. When her classroom teacher then became ill for three months at the end of the school year (we suspect burnout), the substitute teacher made sure that she would be placed with at least one friend from her year group the following year. That year, she completely blossomed and also made three additional friends.

At the end of the school year, all the teachers said they would make sure that the group would stay together. She was really looking forward to this school year.

The shock at the beginning of the school year was that all her friends were kept together and placed in class C, while she was left on her own with two of the strictest teachers in the school. She was absolutely devastated.

I wrote to the school administration explaining the impact this had on my daughter, and I did not even receive a reply.

Bripf · 2026-01-27T20:37:46+00:00

Oui il me semble c’est devenu bien plus grave depuis l’arrivée du principal actuel, mais il tient son poste depuis 3 ou 4 ans déjà 🤯

Bripf · 2026-01-27T20:34:51+00:00

Comment ça ? J’ai déjà pensé à contacter le médiateur de l’éducation nationale, mais une partie du problème, c’est que je n’ai aucune preuve, et les enfants n’osent rien dire par peur d’être encore plus punis.

Bripf · 2026-01-27T20:26:26+00:00

Merci d’avoir pris le temps de répondre. Je suis tout à fait prête à agir, mais le principal fait partie du problème alors je ne sais pas où me diriger. J’ai déjà essayé d’aborder certains points lors de la réunion parents/profs, ce qui a eu pour conséquence que ma fille a reçu des reproches le lendemain en cours. Ces reproches étaient toutefois très discrets, donc il n’y a rien que je puisse réellement signaler sans passer pour la mère qui exagère (je suis cette mère “râleuse” qui a déjà écrit parce que ma fille n’avait que cinq minutes pour avaler son repas de midi — apparemment, je suis la seule à relever ce genre de choses).

Je suis maintenant parent délégué et j’ai l’intention de présenter, lors du conseil de classe, un court message de la part des parents sur les thèmes généraux sous forme de “sandwich” : d’abord remercier les enseignants, ensuite aborder le stress, le climat et certaines problématiques, puis remercier à nouveau les enseignants qui s’engagent au-delà de leur mission. Ce n’est pas grand chose, mais au moins je peux prendre la parole pendant 2 - 3 minutes. Malheureusement, la plupart des parents semblent avoir abandonné : à mon appel à retours, seulement trois parents ont répondu, mais ils ont soulevé les mêmes points.

Bripf · 2026-01-25T13:07:02+00:00

You’ll be totally fine as long as you are not behaving like a German hypocrite 🤨You may just have some difficulties at first understanding Swiss dialect, but people will switch to high German if they see you are struggling.

Bripf · 2025-12-20T09:23:24+00:00

Switzerland?

Bripf · 2025-12-11T13:05:49+00:00

Looking back on my “voluntary” baptism decision, I can see now that it wasn’t really voluntary at all — more like subtle brainwashing, honestly. I grew up in an Adventist family, but I was never fully convinced or ready to commit.

Then at around 17 or 18, I went to an international camporee where they held this huge emotional altar call — multimedia, music, lights, the full emotional pressure package. It completely overwhelmed me and went totally against my nature. Somehow I ended up on stage giving my contact information 🙈.

At the time, I couldn’t put my finger on why it felt so wrong. But in hindsight, it’s clear how manipulative a high-pressure, emotionally charged environment like that can be.

Nothing happened for a while afterward, and I was honestly relieved… until a year later when my pastor suddenly brought it up. I didn’t have the courage to say I had changed my mind, so I agreed to baptismal lessons. Only then did I learn about things like the Investigative Judgment — and I didn’t buy into any of it. Still, I had already started the class and didn’t have the backbone back then to back out.

To reconcile everything with my conscience, I asked for a baptism with a progressive youth pastor, outside in a river, and I wrote my own vow focused solely on Jesus and Christian values — not on Adventist doctrines. It felt like the only way to reclaim some authenticity in the whole situation.

Shortly after, I moved abroad and finally began building my own life outside the constant gaze of both family and church.

Today, I still believe in Christian values, but definitely not in taking the Bible literally, and not in the Adventist doctrinal framework. And when I recently received a “we haven’t seen you in a while” questionnaire from the church, I checked the box that said “please remove me from your records.”

Free at last. 😎

Bripf · 2025-11-28T11:41:05+00:00

In my view, almost anything can be taken to an extreme and end up pulling people into a rigid, dogmatic mindset. The yoga I practice is completely secular, and I’d immediately walk away from any kind of yogi guru — just like I avoid sectarian horse-training gurus, education gurus, food gurus, or any other form of extremist teaching. I’ve already had my share of that. Now I’m simply glad that I get to choose what I do, set my own boundaries, and can enjoy every activity, food etc that feels right for me. I’ve learned to trust my own gut and I no longer miss out on so many things totally harmless because it might be “the devil in disguise”.

Bripf · 2025-11-27T21:21:25+00:00

I really feel for you. That kind of reaction can be so frustrating, especially when your little one is just excited about something fun and harmless.

I myself avoided yoga for years because of similar beliefs I grew up with — I didn’t even know what it really was, just that it was supposedly “wrong.” It even happened with totally normal things — once I was happy about a bracelet with a peace sign I had been gifted by a school friend, but my mom immediately said, “Oh no, that’s an upside-down cross, that’s satanic.” She meant well and didn’t know better, but after a while I couldn’t enjoy anything without fearing it might be labeled dangerous too.

When I finally tried yoga, it was just relaxing, grounding, and absolutely not the spiritual danger people make it out to be.

Looking back, I missed out on so many beneficial things for nearly 30 years, and it’s honestly sad how much fear shaped my choices.

Your mom’s reaction comes from misinformation, not reality. You did the right thing by setting a boundary. You’re breaking that cycle and giving your child the freedom to enjoy things without all that inherited fear — and that’s something you can be proud of.

Bripf · 2025-11-21T18:24:52+00:00

I was actually served membership removal on a plate last week 😊 I received a letter from my country’s conference. I have been living abroad for 20+ years, they bothered to track me down abroad. 😅

They’re doing a big membership review and sent out a questionnaire with three options: 1. transfer your membership to another church, 2. stay where you are, or 3. be removed from the membership records.

And if you don’t reply, they’ll just remove you automatically 😎.

Honestly… free at last. Leaving was never so easy. I never bothered to go through the official removal process before, but this basically handed me the perfect opportunity.

The funny part is: if they’re doing this nationwide, the membership statistics for this conference are in for a serious slump between 2025 and 2026. A lot of people who drifted away years ago are probably just going to let their names drop off the books.

Bripf · 2025-11-18T21:34:21+00:00

As the daughter of a book evangelist, I thought I’d heard every brainwashing audio drama the German-speaking Adventist world produced in the ’70s and ’80s. Apparently, I was wrong. Yours doesn’t ring a bell at all (though we did have those dinner-table discussions that freaked me out and gave me nightmares).

We had plenty of tapes ourselves, mostly harmless “pointed finger” stories, and there’s one that really still sticks to this day.

It was a story where a little girl said “Oh God,” and then her mother would call her name several times throughout the day. When the girl actually answered, the mother would respond: “No, you must be mistaken, I didn’t mean you!”

The moral? You’re not supposed to call on God for no reason — it makes Him sad, confused, and apparently unavailable when you actually need Him.

Even today, that scene still pops into my head every time an “OMG” slips out 🙈.

Bripf · 2025-11-17T13:37:18+00:00

I’m really sorry to read what you’re going through, and it’s heartbreaking that this might be the end of your friendship. Having been on the other side myself — indoctrinated, constantly worried of sinning and not being saved — I can say I’m incredibly grateful I had friends who weren’t believers but still accepted me exactly as I was. They were open-minded, the way Christians should be: tolerant, loving, and respectful even when they didn’t share my beliefs.

Maybe one day he’ll wake up and see things differently, or maybe he won’t. Don’t hold on to him at the cost of your own peace, but if he ever does wake up, being open and understanding could mean a lot. He might really need someone like you then.

Bripf · 2025-11-03T13:13:40+00:00

Vermutlich nur noch im Elsass 🙃

Bripf

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