True-believer Posted March 10, 2009 Posted March 10, 2009 His name is Dennis Rainwater... He currently goes to a medium size Baptist Church in that terrible country--America. His email address is: denrainwater@clearwire.com And, yes, he gave me permission to post his story for us to use it as discussion. He also gave me permission to post his email address. Quote Luke 4:19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
True-believer Posted March 10, 2009 Author Posted March 10, 2009 My Journey Out – as posted on the FAF Forum Posted on Saturday, October 20, 2007 - 10:59 am: ________________________________________ This struck a chord with me -- sorry for the epistle! I grew up in a conservative SDA home (probably about 80 percentile on the 'heritage scale' -- we did a stint abstaining from any milk and cheese, etc; and 'the little red books' were consulted with great frequency to resolve any routine dilemma that might arise, etc). While I adopted nearly all of the conservative mindset -- and became greatly concerned with guarding the edges of the rules -- there was no real anchor for my "faith". So when my family dissolved (I was more or less on my own from age 14) and as I became an adult and started facing adult issues and choices, there were no reasons to stay inside the fences I'd grown up within except that Ellen (and by extension, God) said so... Frankly, when pitted against hormones and crises of loyalty, those edicts were simply not strong enough to make the difference. Shortly after graduating from academy in 1985, I succumbed to an adulterous affair with a fellow church youth-group member (oh, there were plenty of mitigating circumstances -- but that doesn't make it any less a sin). In the wake of this, our church demanded our resignations of membership. A completely understandable position -- even if handled a bit harshly. As a natural consequence of this, we were reluctant to return to a place that represented mostly humiliation and conflict -- and while we still put in occasional appearances at other local SDA churches, the general trend was simply an exodus from church -- period. And since neither of us had any real relationship with God, there were mostly only the elements of habit and tradition to act as any kind of tether. Even the relationships which had meant so much to us were now strained by the so-public conflict that had been stirred up by some of our church leaders. The most natural course was simply to close the book on that painful chapter of our past. Oddly enough, THAT is not "what happened..." to me as an SDA to cause me to rethink my connection to Adventism. (Though there have been quite a few SDAs who accusingly assured me that it was, in their dire need to explain away my departure as anything BUT a rational disagreement with their fundamental beliefs!) Several years later, when my relationship with that young woman had failed to weather the unrelenting assaults of every-day life (and beginning on such a shaky foundation, that's not much of a surprise), I began to feel (perhaps for the first time) a real sense of emptiness in my life. A hole that I began to realize only God could fill. Having been raised so steeped in Adventist culture and tradition, it seemed quite natural to me that there was only one place to go to "find" God -- the Adventist church. So, that is where I returned. It wasn't long before I found myself back in a familiar rhythm; well adjusted and apparently a happy and engaged member of the Adventist church. I was re-baptized (in the North Sea -- Brrrrrrrr!!!). I was an active participant in every church function. I was actually what I would now call a "Seeker" -- but to my SDA comrades, I'm sure I looked like a good SDA; secure in my place in Quote Luke 4:19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
True-believer Posted March 10, 2009 Author Posted March 10, 2009 'the little flock'. But here is the bur that was placed under my saddle: During this time of seeking and reconnecting, I constantly felt something was missing. I had come to meet God -- but I was painfully aware that I still didn't have a living connection with Him. Among my many tangential pursuits of Him, I struck up a pen-pal friendship with a pastor whom I had admired for his apparent transparency and connection to young people while I was in academy. Eventually, I posed to him my burning question: HOW DO YOU GET TO KNOW GOD??? His response would pull the first small thread that would eventually unravel the fabric of Adventism for me: "Why not read your Bible?" As odd as it would sound to many, that was a completely new idea to me! Oh, we gave plenty of lip-service to "Bible-study", by skipping through strings of texts in our carefully prepared Lesson Quarterlies, and other 'study resources'. But I honestly think that the thought of just simply reading the Bible through -- in order, and in CONTEXT -- had never occurred to me. So, for the next TEN YEARS, I followed his advice. It took some time, but eventually, a bright doorway suddenly opened to me. I can remember the moment when the dawn broke, and from that point forward my time in the Word became a time of amazing intimacy and revelation. I could almost feel Jesus' arm around my shoulder as I drank eagerly from His Living Waters. I began to LEARN so much! I was amazed by how much seemed to apply so immediately and directly to my life and my current circumstances! But here's the rub: I was also progressively troubled by a growing number of passages I was running across that presented an apparent contradiction with several of the fundamentals of what I'd been raised to believe. How could I dismiss what Jesus said about Lazarus and the rich man having a conscious existence while the rich man's brothers still walked the earth? What should I do with Paul's dilemma of remaining here to continue his work with the young church, pitted against his "desire to depart and be with Christ, which is BETTER BY FAR..." Or with Jesus' activities and statements which appeared to violate the Sabbath -- even in the terms which we as good conservative Adventists might regard.... The only way I could deal with this tension was to lay these weighty issues aside with the observation that 'I am naive and immature in my faith. I will grapple with these matters later when I've learned more and acquired the necessary understanding to grasp how these problems actually fit with our beliefs...' So, I began to stack the stones in a corner to return to later. Several years later I encountered a potential vocational conflict with the Sabbath. This triggered the overdue avalanche from that pile of stones in the corner! I had to KNOW! So for the next year, I was absorbed in study for at least 20 hours a week! (For what it’s worth, my desire as I began this study was to prove that The Sabbath WAS still necessary, as I wanted to justify myself in taking the day off!) My dear wife grew jealous of my computer!! ;-) But gratefully, she engaged the journey of discovery along with me. What a tremendous blessing that was -- and my heart aches so for those of you who have had to walk the path without your spouse. At the conclusion of that year, we had some choices to make. We Quote Luke 4:19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
True-believer Posted March 10, 2009 Author Posted March 10, 2009 had developed into well-liked, rather high-profile members in our local SDA church (ironically, the same one which had demanded my letter of membership resignation over a decade earlier). I had reestablished close relationships with my Adventist family and friends whom I would now feel I was letting down for a second time. (We actually shared a home with my wife's still-SDA parents during the course of our study out! No tension there!!! ;-) But our conclusions demanded our taking a stand. With sadness and reluctance on the one hand, and great joy and resolve on the other, we drafted our letters resigning our membership (oh, the irony!) from the St. Helena SDA church in particular, and from the denomination in general. Later, I massaged my study notes into a paper which was a less emotional, easier way of offering our due explanation to our friends and family concerning our departure from "The Truth". (If you have any interest in that, it can be viewed here:http://members.tripod.com/~Help_for_SDAs/DiscoveriesinDoctrine.htm For what it's worth, my view of EGW has sharpened a great deal since I wrote this, but the rest remains pretty-much unchanged...) This occurred nine years ago (HOW CAN THAT MUCH TIME HAVE PASSED SO QUICKLY??!!!!), and God has been so good to us!! Some of our extended family(ies) have made the journey out after us. A few are presently taking small steps toward beginning. Most of the rest of them have been able to resolve our differences in their minds to maintain good relationships with us. We have more peace and joy in our home than I had ever imagined was possible! That is only Grace!! I presently serve as an elder in a local Baptist church, helping through a rapid transition toward what will likely become a non-denominational church in due course. My wife stands right beside me as a vital part of our vision team, and also very involved in music. Grace upon grace, blessing upon blessing. Sometimes I think I can almost taste Heaven from here! Wow! What a ride! Den <>< Quote Luke 4:19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
True-believer Posted March 10, 2009 Author Posted March 10, 2009 This Dennis Rainwater even pasted this website--it could be worth checking it out... I don't necessarily agree with his point of views and this is purely only for discussion. I am firm in what I believe... This is just for DISCUSSION... Quote Luke 4:19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Stan Posted March 10, 2009 Posted March 10, 2009 Please, if he/she wants to come here let them, otherwise not that interested ..... That would apply for others Quote If you receive benefit to being here please help out with expenses. https://www.paypal.me/clubadventist Administrator of a few websites like https://adventistdating.com
BobRyan Posted March 10, 2009 Posted March 10, 2009 His name is Dennis Rainwater...He currently goes to a medium size Baptist Church in that terrible country--America. His email address is: denrainwater@clearwire.com And, yes, he gave me permission to post his story for us to use it as discussion. He also gave me permission to post his email address. 1. We are not here to bash ex-SDAs for choices they have made - neither can we make choices for them. 2. IF they have some interest in sharing views with us in an open an full-exchange dialog that is great. Welcome to the board! 3. IF they just want a one-way monolog form "here are my gripes" that is less interesting after all most of us ARE SDAs and so we don't need someone else to tell us why we are happy or not happy. We actually have our own lives to live. 4. It is my experience that not-all SDAs really have a good Bible based understanding of doctrine so as to be able to effectively describe and defend it to non-SDAs who may ask "hard thought questions" that don't have simple "canned" answers. I found them at every level of the church -- from newly arrived laymen to Pastors and Administrators. That profile turns out to be very very common. It is also true that a great many refuse to get evangelistically involved in outreach so as to keep their Bible study and prayer life on the cutting edge. Therefor it is less than surprising when I find one of them has left. in Christ, Bob Quote John 8:32 - The Truth will make you free“The righteousness of Christ will not cover one cherished sin." COL 316.
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