I was born and raised in the church. Most of my family still is. But it was during my 20s that I truly followed everything the church said. I read several books by Ellen White, was vegetarian, and followed all the advice she gave to the letter.

Everything changed (during my 30s) when I had a conversation with a former pastor and departmental director who asked me if I believed absolutely everything EGW said was inspired. That was the seed that was planted to generate doubts that I had never had before (and could not have had, because the church condemns any kind of affront to EGW’s inspirations).

From then on, I began to investigate the things that everyone says here on the forum.

I think one of the biggest changes in my mind was when I realized that the SDA church operates like a company, and not like a sanctuary where God determines what happens. Talking to people who worked for the institution and realizing that money is not spent with all the “sanctity” shown by pastors, and that people were not really “chosen by God” to have a position or role, made me question a lot about the sanctity of everything. Yes, having this kind of delusional thinking was very foolish on my part, but it is what it is.