Introduction

Who We Are

We are former Seventh-day Adventists. Some of us have deep SDA roots, some of us were born and raised as first-generation Adventists, and some of us converted later in life.

Many of us dedicated our lives to following Jesus and being part of the Seventh-day Adventist movement. In addition to being faithful and active church members, some of us served in various roles including:

• Ordained deaconesses, deacons, and elders
• Faculty at SDA academies and universities
• Musicians and worship leaders
• Sabbath School leaders
• Pathfinder staff

Our backgrounds and journeys are all different, and we’ve ended up in different places. Some of us are still followers of Jesus, and some of us are no longer people of faith. What we've all found in common is that we couldn't continue believing in some or all of the core teachings of the Adventist church.

Many of us grew up in traditional and fundamentalist Adventist churches. If you've spent time in non-fundamentalist SDA churches, you may already be aware of and might even agree with some of the statements in this letter. Either way, we hope you'll find it helpful and relevant.

Why Write This?

Our goal is to encourage genuine discussion and analysis of traditional Seventh-day Adventist claims, while exploring relevant Bible scholarship and historical context. Everyone, including Christians and non-Christians, can use this as a resource. That said, we are primarily writing for:

• Questioning Adventists who want to think more critically about their faith
• Students and former Adventists researching critiques of SDA theology
• Members and visitors of traditional or fundamentalist SDA churches

If you have formal training in biblical studies, went to an accredited and respected seminary, or are deeply interested in Adventist and fundamentalist apologetics, much of this material probably won't be new to you. In fact, none of the information in this letter is totally new or groundbreaking.

Bible scholars and formally educated pastors have known about many of these points for a long time. These topics are openly discussed in seminaries around the world, but they're hardly ever included in sermons because they don't support the traditional, dogmatic beliefs found in many churches.

Bible scholarship is becoming more accessible, but like many of us, you probably grew up in the "Adventist bubble" and didn't search for or have access to resources critiquing Adventist history and theology. Our letter exists to make this information accessible to anyone interested in learning.

This is not meant to attack Adventist people or the Adventist organizations that genuinely strive to do good in the world. Some groups and former Adventists use the pejorative term "cult" to describe Adventism, but we intentionally do not use that term. Modern scholars avoid it, and it doesn't accurately represent Adventists around the world, or their spectrum of beliefs and practices.

Most importantly, we are not trying to convince you to leave the Adventist church, join another church, or believe in any particular worldview. We're simply asking you to use critical thinking to examine Adventist claims and the information presented in this letter.

As we write this letter, there is a growing trend of people going through faith deconstruction—both within Adventism and Christianity in general. The fact that you're reading this letter means you might also have some difficult questions about your beliefs.

We personally know that having questions or doubts can be very uncomfortable, scary, and even depressing. These experiences are normal and more common than you may think. You are not alone in this! Thankfully, it can and does get better with time.

Once again, we’re not asking you to leave the Adventist church, selling you another church, or promoting a specific worldview as "the truth." Only you get to decide what’s next.

What to Expect

This letter covers various topics including:

Adventist Origins

• Adventists, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses can all trace their roots to the same movement
• The Great Disappointment shows how Adventism was founded on cognitive dissonance
• Cognitive dissonance theory was partly inspired by the Millerites and early Adventists

Bible Interpretation

• Strict Biblical literalism, inerrancy, and univocality are problematic and fairly recent inventions
• Starting in 1980, the wording of Fundamental Belief #1 was influenced by American Evangelicals
• Ellen White herself did not believe the Bible is completely error-free, fully infallible, or dictated by God

Bible Prophecy

• The "number of the beast" isn't just 666—some manuscripts of Revelation said it's 616
• Early Christians were deeply divided on Revelation, one of the last books added to the biblical canon
• SDA theories about the United States in prophecy often rely on idealized and whitewashed history

We will cover each of these and many more topics in detail, providing important historical context and Biblical scholarship that most church members have never heard of. None of the information in this letter necessarily refutes Christianity or having faith, but it does directly challenge fundamentalism.

The main theme of this letter is that fundamentalism is problematic. By "fundamentalism," we mean broadly interpreting the Bible as literal and completely historically accurate, believing the Bible is fully inerrant or infallible, insisting that church doctrine is unquestionable, and placing an emphasis on ideological purity.

To be fair, the Adventist movement is not entirely fundamentalist, as there are wide ranges of beliefs and practices among people who identify as Seventh-day Adventist. We also recognize the Adventist movement has experienced major theological shifts throughout its history.

The fact is that Adventist theology has always been evolving. Did you know over 100 years ago, Adventists were divided on the Trinity? Some still are. Before 1890, almost all SDA literature opposed the idea that Jesus had always been divine, or that the Holy Spirit could be described as its own person. Some early Adventists believed Jesus was created by God (Jehovah’s Witnesses still believe this today).

Unfortunately, many current Adventist leaders and members act as if their beliefs are entirely correct and should not be questioned. Ted Wilson, the General Conference President, has told Adventists to "stay away" from other Adventists who have different understandings of the Bible, and he even scolded SDA leaders, telling them to leave their positions if they don’t read the Bible the way he does.

As SDA historian George R. Knight wrote in 1993, "Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination's Fundamental Beliefs." He wrote that 12 years before the Fundamental Beliefs increased from 27 to 28.

A common theme for many of us is once we saw our beliefs did not match the reality of the world around us, we asked difficult questions, learned new information, and couldn't continue being fundamentalists. The more we learned, the harder it became to keep a rigid, fundamentalist worldview.

Critical Thinking

Do you believe in the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, that Jesus literally appeared to people in the Americas after being crucified, and that the Garden of Eden was located in the present-day United States?

Do you believe the Jehovah’s Witnesses? They knew the resurrection would happen in 1914, but just like the Millerites, their prediction failed. The Witnesses now claim Jesus had an invisible return in October 1914 when he began his reign in heaven. The date was right, but the event was wrong. Sound familiar?

As Adventists, most of us didn’t study the claims from other Christian groups, and even if we did, we didn’t believe them. Their claims didn’t come from sources we trusted. However, we were so sure that we were part of God’s true remnant church and these other groups (and all other Christians) didn’t have the full picture. We had the Spirit of Prophecy, and they didn’t.

While we questioned or criticized the beliefs of others, many of us didn’t closely examine or question our own Adventist beliefs. And when we did have questions, instead of applying honest inquiry and critical thinking, we often rationalized away our doubts.

As you read this letter, all we ask is that you use critical thinking. Again, the goal of this letter is not to tell you what to believe, but to introduce you to important history and Bible scholarship you may not be aware of. What you do with this information is your choice.

Last but not least, remember that we are all in this together.