Seventh-day Adventist culture, is it a obstacle?

[Reddogs]

First we have to establish what the Seventh-day Adventist culture is, then if those coming from other groups find the culture as an obstacle in accepting or joining the Seventh-day Adventist church.

So Seventh-day Adventist culture can be said to entail:

-Healthy living.

-I would think education in the sense of scholarly learning.

-A life of service to others and fellow belivers.

-A strong sense of family.

-Temparance or refraining from drinking and other vices.

-Vegetarianism or vegan, diet.

-Church goer on Saturday Sabbath.

-Respect for government and secular laws.

..are there any other aspects of Seventh-day Adventist culture that we can add...?

[whbae]

Vegetarianism is not a requirement of SDA membership, but I strongly recommend it should be. We are preaching health reform as the part of the Gospel, don't we, unlike any other christian denomination?

Won

[Nan]

Won, Jesus is on record as having given his disciples fish to eat, after His resurrection (John 21.13). How then would we make a case for compulsory vegetarianism? Advisory, certainly, but not compulsory.

(I am vegetarian, not vegan).

[Nora]

What about the wearing of jewelry, particularly wedding bands? When I grew up - in my SDA culture - it was not permitted. Now it is. Is that a result of a cultural change? Or is/was it solid doctrine?

Nora

[Nora]

What made me look at it that way was a discussion I had with a young Mennonite friend. I asked her about the hair covering, and if it was a matter of salvation in her faith. She said no, it was just part of their culture. Hmmm. That was a new thought to me, because in thinking of my own "faith," I know EGW advised her son to allow his new wife to wear a ring because that was part of her culture. When our son visits his wife's family in another country, the culture there says, they either are married and have wedding rings, or they are living in sin. I see our American culture as having changed in the last 100 years. $5 or $10 for a ring back then would have been a lot of money, that could have been used for "the cause." Today, we spend more on pet food in a year than a wedding band could cost. Not mentioning the cost of all the "frills" with which we fill our lives. I lived during the time when a young woman who was pregnant and didn't have a ring, was a bad girl, and survived, in spite of questioning looks. Today, after nearly 50 years of a wonderful marriage to a magnificent man, my finger, where there should have been a ring reflecting our true love and lasting marriage, is still plain. The beauty of a long and happy marriage, symbolized in the plain band I see on so many older couples, isn't a part of my life, and that hole is big and empty.

Nora

[Woody]

What about the wearing of jewelry, particularly wedding bands? When I grew up - in my SDA culture - it was not permitted. Now it is. Is that a result of a cultural change? Or is/was it solid doctrine?

Nora

I am not aware of the wedding band controversy ever being a doctrinal issue praise God. If it were ... we would be just like the Jews. But seriously .... I've never seen it as part of the 27/28 Fundamentals.

[whbae]

Nan,

I did not say that vegetarianism should be a compulsory requirement. I said it should be strongly recommended!

Here is a quotatation from the Biography of E.G.White written by her grandson Arther White;Volume 6(the later years, 1905 - 1915),page 199, "She was concerned that there was a growing laxness among Seventh-day Adventists in the matter of diet; there were those who, in spite of the light God had given, were still eating meat quite freely. Particularly was the concerned that church leaders in Washington were not aking the aggressive stand in this matter that it was their iprivilege to take." Now, one may interprete this statement any way one wishes, but for me it is suggested that our diet should be given extremely serious attention. One argue that our diet is not a salvation matter as the salvation is given to us as a gift and all what need is our "faith". Paul said that faith without works is NOTHING.

We all know that meat is not healthy food to eat, in fact it will do some damage to our body. Our body is a temple of God. Should we not take care of our temple with utmost care?

Won