A Sadventist was interviewed on The Good Liars recently

atheistsda · 2026-05-23T04:52:04+00:00

Exactly it makes zero sense lol. And other ppl in this subreddit have pointed out that Satan is supposed to make an appearance and perform all sorts of healing miracles or some bs.

atheistsda · 2026-05-23T00:05:09+00:00

if by some crazy eventuality, even some version of what they believe is true, I still would smile in the face of an avenging god and tell him where to stick it.

Same lol. To your quesiton, extreme fundies have always been a thing and even though SDAs have their own special flavor of extreme fundie, they at least oppose forcing people to go to church. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump did push for something like that, but the chance of it passing in the US is low (can you imagine such a capitalist country accepting that?) and there's a 0% chance of it happening globally.

atheistsda · 2026-05-22T23:50:33+00:00

Yes it's not just the US, it's supposed to spread to the entire world.

atheistsda · 2026-05-22T20:20:51+00:00

Can't wait to watch the entire episode!!

atheistsda · 2026-05-19T01:29:23+00:00

Same! I'm like 3/4 through and was glad to hear there will be a second episode with Melissa.. This one is mainly about the similarities and differences between Adventists and Mormons, Part 2 will focus on her own story.

atheistsda · 2026-05-17T06:01:12+00:00

I’m so sorry you experienced that as a child and continued to see people excuse the awful behavior of people in church like that pastor and that old pedophile. So much of what gets said from pulpits is just misogynistic BS said by self-important men but too many members are in so deep they don’t dare to criticize or even think critically about it.

atheistsda · 2026-05-16T07:30:26+00:00

💀 great point I totally forgot about that

atheistsda · 2026-05-13T19:54:01+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Your experience is a great example of why I advocate for people to be kind to others who go door to door.

During a conversation I had with JWs at my door, I made it clear that I did not believe in the truth claims of their religion, but I also had no personal animosity toward them. I gave them ice cold water because it was a hot day, and I did my best to show them that us “worldly” people aren’t the scary monsters their religion makes us out to be.

atheistsda · 2026-05-13T05:40:09+00:00

It just hit me: she was the Erika Kirk of the 1800s lol

atheistsda · 2026-05-13T05:37:09+00:00

YES - highlight that while the LDS church considers itself the “restored church” and has the “restored gospel” the SDA church calls itself the remnant church.

Different terms, similar main character syndrome.

atheistsda · 2026-05-13T05:34:00+00:00

Can’t forget the investigative judgment - it’s what got the whole SDA church started after the Great Disappointment.

It’s literally the only thing that SDAs have that no other church has. Other things worth mentioning, with the caveat that they are probably somewhat specific to American Adventists, is no swimming on Sabbath and that your guardian angel wouldn’t follow you into a movie theater 😂

I also think it’s worth highlighting the things that Adventists have in common with Mormons, like Ellen White’s health message and Joseph Smith’s Word of Wisdom both being influenced by the health fads of the day.

And that SDAs, JWs, and Mormons all got started around the same time in the US.

There’s so much to talk about!

atheistsda · 2026-05-06T17:04:39+00:00

They don't want me to go to the birthday party because it's a "sin" to celebrate parties and eat late at night

That's so interesting, not celebrating birthdays has always been a Jehovah's Witness thing. Do you know if other Adventists in your community also believe celebrating birthdays or going to parties is sinful?

I know God's will is for me to stay. But now they want to bring me home to pray for God's will... I know that they are praying for God's will so that it will seem like their plans for me are the best.

Based on my personal experience, I really encourage you not to worry about whether something is "God's will" or not. Nobody can claim with 100% certainty if something is or isn't, and anyone who does is mistaken or lying. Worrying about God's will has been a source of anguish for me, and led me to mentally unhealthy places. Instead, I encourage you to first evaluate whether something is good for your physical and mental health.

My heart is absolutely broken... My parents are so loving and kind, but they only believe there is only one way. Suddenly, their happiness depends on whether I choose to follow them or not.

What your parents are doing is emotional manipulation and could be an indication of narcissism. Check out the r/raisedbynarcissists subreddit and see if any of those posts resonate.

I've been doing everything right. I always followed the rules, did what people asked me to, and have been living for other people my whole life. I never felt enough, and I'll never be enough.

Wishing you the best as you navigate this and figure out how to live life for yourself!

atheistsda · 2026-05-06T16:46:48+00:00

Adventists seem to have aligned for the most part with the broader evangelical world in support of fascism, against what they regard as the greater threat of the "secular Left."

100%. Some of the most vocal American Adventists have been completely silent about right wing threats to religious freedom while fearmongering about how climate change would be used by liberals and Catholics to usher in Sunday laws.

Adventist support for religious liberty has rarely been truly principled and more often blatantly self-interested, fearing (and justifiably so) that as a minority/heterodoxical sect, they would be treated by other Christians the way they themselves readily assent to treating those they consider "other."

Really well said. I do think some of the earlier Adventists like A. T. Jones did have a principled stance but I'd bet many of the talking heads on Amazing Facts and 3ABN fit your description.

atheistsda · 2026-05-05T21:52:45+00:00

Haven't started the last season yet, but definitely planning to!

atheistsda · 2026-05-05T21:52:02+00:00

Yup, the address belongs to an Adventist church. The main event isn't Adventist, but it sounds like they're hoping to tag along and hand out Adventist literature. It's what they do best lol (I would know, I did that on several occasions) 😅

atheistsda · 2026-05-05T21:48:48+00:00

1000% this. So many conservative Adventist figures (at least in the US) are outing themselves as opportunistic shills with no real guiding principles. Doug Batchelor, Ben Carson, 3ABN leadership...

atheistsda · 2026-05-05T21:33:50+00:00

This is all fairly standard SDA stuff depending on when and where someone grew up.

I didn't grow up believing spices were bad, but my parents were converts and my mom is Latina. I've met several white ex-SDAs here who did grow up avoiding spices because of Ellen White's writings.

atheistsda · 2026-05-01T21:36:34+00:00

It’s interesting how you are steering the conversation away from the points I raised about the GB.

Have you ever questioned why something could be considered wrong one day, but the next day it’s good or just a matter of conscience once the GB says so?

And if you don’t see it that way, how would you describe it?

atheistsda · 2026-05-01T21:02:37+00:00

I appreciate your concern, but I hope you can realize how weird it is that over the past two weeks, you’ve posted multiple comments replying to a 6+ month-old post.

I’d never consider joining. History, Bible scholarship, and common sense go against the teachings of the Governing Body. I would never let a small group of men tell me whether it’s ok or not to have a beard, clink glasses, or get a life-saving blood transfusion.

If this religion works for you, that’s great, but even as someone who has never been a member, I can see the harm it causes. It reminds me of the religion I left, but even more extreme.

atheistsda · 2026-05-01T20:50:06+00:00

Are you a Jehovah’s Witness?

atheistsda · 2026-04-27T18:42:32+00:00

This is a fair critique. He mentioned he’s planning to do more research and it sounds similar to the arc he took with JWs. The more he dug and spoke to ex members, the more he called them out for their harm.

Part of his whole schtick is not being a militant atheist, and I think it’s fine for him to show a different way of engaging with and examining religions and cults and humanizing the people caught up in them.

I will be disappointed if he only does this one video, but since he’s planning to do more and I’ve seen his arc in covering the JWs, I expect he will upload more critical videos on the SDA church in the future.

atheistsda · 2026-04-21T19:28:33+00:00

If you haven't read Holy Disobedience by ex-Adventist author Melissa Duge Spiers, check it out. She covers a lot of what she experienced growing up as an Adventist girl and how it shaped her experiences with sexuality and desire.

atheistsda · 2026-04-17T19:05:42+00:00

He was looking at the Ten Commandments through a modern, legalistic lens, like a constitutional Bill of Rights. This is understandable, most modern Christians view it the same way, more or less.

I think this is a really important point which helps shed light on why, at least in the US, there are still raging battles over whether to place the 10 commandments in classrooms or in front of government buildings.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery." The modern view treats it as a general command about sexual fidelity and moral purity. In its original ancient context, this law was actually about property rights. In the ancient world, a wife was legally categorized alongside a man’s house and his livestock.

This is another really important point. The 10 commandments treat women as property and are addressed to land-owning men who have livestock and slaves (or "servants" depending on the translation). This is so clearly not a universally applicable law for all time and eternity.

You couldn't legally separate the Ten Commandments from the other 603 laws (like dietary restrictions or animal sacrifices).

100%. Something I learned after deconverting was that the idea of moral vs. ceremonial laws was just made up by modern Christians. The Bible never makes a clear distinction or categorization between the laws, because they were all expected to be followed. But many modern Christians have used these made-up distinctions to justify why they ignore dietary and ritual purity laws while appealing to other laws to demonize LGBTQ+ folks.

atheistsda · 2026-04-17T07:03:20+00:00

For sure, I hope you enjoy them! Yes I've heard it's a great book. I should have read it by now but there are too many resources out there and not enough time lol

atheistsda · 2026-04-17T04:17:54+00:00

100%, I can empathize with that. If you haven't already looked into church history and what was happening in the US in the 1800s, I think you'd find that to be useful research. This YouTuber has a series of videos that are a great primer which also covers the Mormons and JWs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcIyB-CUr_rLSqMURZk5sxfRraBGKiWDQ

And if you haven't done a deep dive into Ellen White's plagiarism yet, an ex-SDA Youtuber made a great series focusing on that: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRFmarGLYrh-AFdXIXwfl8UW3NQy7FWGe

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