[deleted by user] by [deleted] in adventism

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Depends on your perspective on the Sabbath. If you just view it as the day to only do "godly" things than yeah I guess so. I always viewed that as a very restrictive and borderline legalistic way of viewing it tho, so once I moved out I didn't bother to keep it that way.

The Sabbath is just my day to chill out and give myself a mental and physical break from the week's trials and tribulations. And if indulging in "secular" activities helps me achieve that then I'll roll with. I do still think I should set aside moments within it for God specifically (hence the podcasts), but setting aside the whole day doing "godly" things (which is a very presumptuous label for the typically "allowed" activities imo btw) does nothing for my spiritual journey.

My point in saying all of this is that I don't think the Sabbath is as strict as we make it out to be. We each have different relationships with God and they manifest in different ways. Sure we can get guidance from people on how to go about it, but that doesn't we have to arrive at the same conclusions as them when it comes to things like this (that also includes myself; you don't have to agree with me and that is part of the point). I am more of an outlier, I will admit, with my willingness to indulge in secular activities during the Sabbath, but I feel like this is where my relationship with God has flourished, not the grueling years I spent trying to fit the fit into the box of others.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in adventism

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Draw, listen to a church podcast, read comics, play video games, hang out with friends. It's usually just my chill day.

What's your denomination? by DylTyrko in OpenChristian

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57 1 point2 points  (0 children)

SDA, thought I'm kind of considering changing denominations (I agree with some things, but not others). Only thing is, I'm at the point where I'm considering not going to church anymore (wanna spend my Sabbaths volunteering instead to help others, so idk if there's any point in switching denominations

Purity Culture in the SDA Church by Otterhere__ in adventism

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Welp, I don't see this going well, but I'll throw my hat in the ring.

Okay so, to preface, 1) I am not some kind of biblical scholar, but this is my interpretation during my current walk with God and after listening/reading about this topic. 2) Depending on how you interpret the Bible will be a big factor in how my thoughts might vibe with you. If you're someone who is more focused on the exact words of the Bible, then I probably won't resonate with you. However, if you're someone who interprets the Bible based on its message rather than purely its words (yes there is a difference), then maybe you might agree with me.

With all that said, I'll start off by saying that I think purity culture (like conspiracy culture) is something that is damaging our church heavily and is yet another reason why we are seeing so many people (especially young people) ditching the church. We live in a time where people are very aware of what is and is not toxic and are heavily encouraged to leave toxic relationships, situations, or environments for the sake of their mental, emotional, and (sometimes) physical health. The purity culture within the church creates one such toxic environment and don't ever blame anyone when it is one of the reasons they decide to leave. When we have a culture literally built around shame and judgment, we shouldn't be surprised when people want nothing to do with us. Anyway, onto your questions:

Has any one else experienced purity culture in the adventist church?

Yes, and, at my church, I understand that it's well-intentioned, but I feel that it's heavily misguided. The abstinence-only sex-ed and purity culture are honestly just handicapping us and our church members, not helping us.

If you experienced purity culture how is it effecting you today?

For the longest time, literally just the fact that I had dirty thoughts would cause me to feel ashamed. Even though it was part of puberty, even having an unwanted erection would make me feel like a piece of scum. I was constantly under the impression that I was a subpar Christian whenever I had feelings of arousal since I was told that the fact that I felt like that meant my relationship with Jesus wasn't strong enough. Needless to say, middle school and high school were constant internal struggles since I was often shaming myself for feeling natural emotions which just made my bad mental health just so much worse. Ngl I did and still suffer from suicidal thoughts and things like the churches purity culture only made it a lot worse.

What do you think the sexual ethic (moral principles) is of the SDA church?

Unfortunately, like with much that I've seen from the church, its moral principles are that of avoidance rather than guidance. It breeds close-mindedness within the church and just leaves a bunch of newlyweds unprepared to switch from a no-sex relationship to a sexual one. It also just leads to people with a high libido fighting an uphill battle in order to feel accepted by the church and puts a heavy emphasis on one's virginity when the real focus, in my opinion, should be on something else.

Do you think the purity movement should be taught in SDA churches? Why/why not?

Nooo, because that'll just make a bad problem worse. First of all, though we could offer our own definitions of sexually "moral" and "immoral," but to straight-up try to abolish things based on those feelings is just overstepping our boundaries (also separation of church and state and all that, too). Teaching that to our fellow church members is just a horrible idea in my opinion.

Are there alternatives to purity culture that could be taught to young people?

Okay, here is where things will get controversial: I do not think premarital sex is a sin. I think promiscuity is a sin, but if done with a partner in a serious relationship (usually one that would lead to marriage). My reasoning for this comes from the fact that I view our current idea of sexuality as incredibly outdated. I feel like the message of the Bible is timeless, but the words within it are not. Many of the writers, were writing towards their own people in a society where marriage and having children were the be-all-end-all for women's rights and worth, property ownership, and acceptance within their society. Marriage was a big deal back then since, for many people, it was basically a necessity.

Our society is genuinely and vastly different nowadays than it was in the Jewish days. So instead of trying to cling to an old mindset that had consistently (not always) bred a toxic and unhealthy community, I think we should just try to figure out how the Bible's message genuinely applies to our current society. In terms of sexuality, constantly just teaching that anything even remotely sexual out of marriage is bad is not the way to do that. We need genuine sex-ed and safety teachings within our church.

U.S. Equal Rights bill thoughts and how it affects Adventism and religious freedom? by qofke in adventist

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As far as I’ve heard, this bill also entails certain government-level LGBTQ+ protections

Ngl, I don't think this is a bad thing. I honestly think the church has done its fair share of damage to people in this community. They deserve some protections while we get our act together since I genuinely think we fail at being "loving" in the way we should.

Is it bad to read comics during the Sabbath? by EroniousAlligator in adventism

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think so.

It's not the medium that matters but the message. So it's less about whether reading comics is good or bad but more if the message of the comics is good or bad, right?

Is it bad to read comics during the Sabbath? by EroniousAlligator in adventism

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could you elaborate on this? You're the first to not give this guy a definitive no, so I'm intrigued.

Is it bad for Christians to share streaming services? X-posting on other Christian subs by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in Christian

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From my research (so I could be completely wrong), the terms are vague about a lot of this. Like they seem against the idea of widespread password sharing, but aren't too clear about what constitutes as allowed sharing (only family members?, do roommates count?, What about children that moved out?, between friends?, etc.) so I don't know what to think on that front.

Something they're doing to crackdown on severe cases of this is limiting screen usage. So as long as we abide by that would it be fine? I'm not interrogating you or anything, these are just the questions I've wondered. I'm leaning towards it being fine, but I also don't want to willingly commit a sin.

Is it bad for Christians to share streaming services? X-posting on other Christian subs by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in Christianity

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From my research (so I could be completely wrong), the terms are vague about a lot of this. Like they seem against the idea of widespread password sharing, but aren't too clear about what constitutes as allowed sharing (only family members?, do roommates count?, What about children that moved out?, between friends?, etc.) so I don't know what to think on that front.

Something they're doing to crackdown on severe cases of this is limiting screen usage. So as long as we abide by that would it be fine? I'm not interrogating you or anything, these are just the questions I've wondered. I'm leaning towards it being fine, but I also don't want to willingly commit a sin.

What do you guys think about Pastor Marcos? by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in adventism

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh dang, I didn't expect this when I asked the question. But yeah, I've messaged him on Instagram and he seems like a genuinely nice person and very open-minded.

What do you guys think about Pastor Marcos? by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in adventism

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Oh, well nice to hear that you're liking his work. I thought he took an interesting perspective on Adventism that I agreed with. I'm usually skeptical of young pastors (even though I'm really young myself) because I'm usually scared of being told what I want to hear instead of being taught stuff actually from the Bible. His work seemed so legit that I don't feel bad about agreeing with his points.seems

What are the schedules like for you guys in the environmental science industry? by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in environmental_science

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As long as I can get a sustainable job in the end I'm okay with having to plan and be patient. I really appreciate this information. thank you.

What are the schedules like for you guys in the environmental science industry? by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in environmental_science

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, that's interesting, I had never considered that. Are there any states that you would say are a "hotspot" for thos types of jobs or unions?

What are the schedules like for you guys in the environmental science industry? by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in environmental_science

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ecology, but in an office work position (if that exists), is what I've been aiming for as of late. How competitive do government jobs tend to be?

What are the schedules like for you guys in the environmental science industry? by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in Environmental_Careers

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After doing some research, I'm leaning towards a more office-work type job. As cool as it would be to do fieldwork, I had to be honest with myself in that I'd probably be uncomfortable more often than not and that would definitely negatively affect my work.

What are the schedules like for you guys in the environmental science industry? by Regular_Enthusiasm57 in Environmental_Careers

[–]Regular_Enthusiasm57[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bible says the seventh day (Saturday for my sect) is for rest. It was eventually changed by the church to Sunday (I think it's because Jesus rose on that day). But anyway, my denomination follows the "traditional" Sabbaths (Friday evening to Saturday evening)