crystalrainfall
New member
Do you ever feel like you have learned everything there is to know about the church, and you hunger to learn more about God and the Bible? In the Adventist churches, we are not allowed to ask questions, unless the answer is one of the 28 beliefs. Like what about the prophecies in the Old Testament that Adventists do not clearly understand? Learning more is not acceptable, because every question must be framed within the agreed upon belief set. If a person goes a little beyond what we believe, they backstep and explain it with acceptable Adventist answer. It seems that something is missing. Every Sabbath school lesson rehashes the same beliefs that I have understood for years and years, and nothing is new. God must be bigger, closer, there must be more of the Holy Spirit than a small church in which I don't feel loved or understood. I heard a sermon last week about how the Bible is not one of love, but of rebuke, reproof, exhortation. It left me feeling that God did not love us, until he explained that he meant God wants to warn us to shield us from not being ready when He comes. I think what I am missing is the feeling of being close to God, especially in the church. I do not feel that the people in the church care about me, or that I am important to them. I try to reconnect with old friends from Adventist college, and none of them seem very interested in remaining friends anymore. Do you ever feel like there is more for us to grasp than our set beliefs which are never changing?
