Anyone know anything about Seventh Day Adventists?

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OK. Some backstory here.

Way back when I was growing up, my mother had a stash of old books tucked away in a cupboard that had belonged to her parents' family. I remember, as a kid, looking through one old book which was clearly religious, full of stuff about the Bible and Jesus, and finding some reference to a belief that the entrance to heaven was in the constellation of Orion. I recall that quite distinctly because I'd never come across it anywhere else. I think the book got donated to charity with a load of others when my mother moved into sheltered accommodation, but anyhow...

Today I was looking through a charity shop and came across some old religious books, and flicking through one of them, I came across this same reference to Orion. This book was pretty cheap, so I bought it, and looking later online, I found that the author was connected with the Seventh Day Adventists.

Now, my mother's family doesn't seem to have been overtly religious (they identified as Church of England, which was kind of default here in the UK at the time), but my grandmother had a mysterious past - she'd moved away from her family in her late teens and had no further contact with them - and I wonder if it was somehow connected with her background.

Anyone come from an Adventist family, and can tell me if there are any other clues that would point to someone having come from that kind of background? I'm just intrigued.

The 7th Day Adventists know what day the Sabbath falls on.

ruveyn

This is the first I have ever heard the thought of "the entrance to heaven" being in the constellation of Orion, and I have no idea whether that might be an SDA teaching. But like Ruveyn has mentioned, SDAs do know the Sabbath as it actually is ... and your grandmother's moving away in her late teens and having no further contact (without here assuming "no contact" was her own desire or doing) certainly could point to her having an SDA background.

They come to other churches around my area on sunday and hold up signs saying YOU'RE WORSHIPING ON THE WRONG DAY. I think they just like to make a big deal out of something that's not all that important really, like many such groups. they tend to latch onto something that's not even that plot centric to the great work of fiction that is the bible and then rant and rave about those who don't adhere to there doctrine. .__. I apologize if this sounds harsh, buy this is my opinion.

- Dude who gets dragged to church by his parents unwillingly every weekend

I've never heard of the idea about the constellation Orion.

This is all I know about the seventh-day adventists:

A) They believe that the sabbath should be observed on Saturday rather than on Sunday. The thinking is that the Bible never actually specified worship on Sunday, and that it should be done on Saturday instead. I think they're technically right on this point, but it was such a minor issue to me that I didn't see it necessary to investigate their faith much further.

B) Quoting The Apologetics Study Bible:

"William Miller, a Baptist pastor from New York, calculated that Christ's second advent would take place between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. As the date approached, a wave of excitement and expectation swept across America. Thousands of Christians from mainline churches, convinced of the accuracy of Miller's prognostication, joined with the new adventist movement. Many of these "Millerites" sold their propert to wait anxiously for the arrival of God's kingdom. When the date passed without any cataclysmic event, Miller set October 22, 1844, as the new date for the parousia, or return of Christ. A second failure, known as the "Great Disappointment," led Miler to repent of his errors. Several of his followers, however, said that Miller's latest date was correct, but that his explanation was wrong. According to them, on October 22, 1844, Jesus moved from his seat at God's right hand into the holy place to begin an "investigative judgement" of all professing believers, many of whom will be blotted out of the book of Life. This remnant of Millerites eventually founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church."

... the Sabbath ... and even in Spanish (and rather than calling it "Saturn-Day"), the Sabbath falls on ... "Sabado"!

And then, many people might be shocked to notice and realize "Sabado" is the *only* day at each week's end ...

... and that forces "Sun-Worship Day" to actually be the *first* day of each week ... just as printed on all our calendars.


No, and neither did "God". Allegedly moving Sabbath to the beginning of each week was the mere whim of foolish men.

They have church on saturday.
They tend to be vegetarians and emphasize healthy living.
I've never heard anything about the entrance to heaven being in the constellation Orion anywhere before.

the food in seventh-day adventist hospitals is uniformly excellent, according to my late grandparents who were adventists.

You may be jumping to conclusions here.
Just because a SDA book was in your house does not mean anyone was connected with it.
She may have left her family for religious reasons but she could have also left for dozens of other reasons (fell in love, got pregnant, running from abuse etc).

You are really talking of genealogy. If you are curious then you have to start by asking the older people in your family about it.

Is your mom and grandma alive? If so just ask them.
If not then do you know any of her siblings or first cousins?
If not then you can do research to find out who they are.
Stories also may or may not be real but that too is part of family patterns and secrets held.
I have stories of pregnancies covered up, medical cover ups, people dying in the Smyrna genocide, many infant deaths, one uncle disappearing and no one knows anything.

Once a month they have a GREAT cooked meal after the service, vegetarian and vegan, and as Ruyven says they celebrate Sabbath on Saturday. They believe in "soul sleep", that is that the dead are currently in their graves, not heaven, and that when the last day comes people will be raised for the judgement. They don't believe in eternal suffering in hell, but that "the wicked" will instead be destroyed once and for all.

When I was first Christian the nearest church was SDA, and they were probably the most welcoming friendly church I've ever seen. It was overwhelmingly a black church, but they made this white woman feel well and truly accepted. And like I say, the food was superb.

I once spent 2 months going to an outpatient program at a seventh day adventist psychiatric hospital and the food was wonderful and definitely made going there more pleasant, and all their food agreed with my stomach which is quite a feat. I once went inpatient at another, non seventh day adventist hospital and I would have preferred to eat the tray the meal was served on....and to think that a staff member said that the food had recently gotten BETTER.

Right. There actually is a theological reason behind Sunday worship, in that Sunday is when Jesus is said to have risen from the grave.

Just so everyone's clear:

You do realize that what day of the week is "first" or "last" is a matter of completely arbitrary convention? I've seen calendars that mark Monday as the start of the week, making Sunday the seventh and last day. Besides that, even if there were some sort of Platonic "last day" of a week, we don't know which one it is. Given all the different calendars (and modifications thereof) that we've gone through in the past couple millennia (particularly the Julian to Gregorian shift), it is rather absurd, and bordering on insanity, to imagine that we are actually supposed to worship specifically on a day that is exactly a multiple of seven away from the last day of some original week.

Yes, but that reasoning came from mere men and not from "God".


Not at all. It might be "rather absurd, and bordering on insanity, to imagine" we are still in sync with whatever day is exactly "a multiple of seven away from the last day of some original week", but it is even far more "absurd, and bordering on insanity, to imagine" the day of Sabbath has actually been moved to the beginning of the next week.

Nice try, Orwell, but you need to get your rhetoric straight!

Um... as I said, which day you designate as the "beginning" or "end" of the week is complete arbitrary. You can say Sunday is the last day of the week just as easily as saying Saturday is. In fact, I have seen printed calendars that mark it as such. Are not Saturday and Sunday referred to collectively as the "weekend?" Thus Sunday would be at the end, and not the beginning, of the week?

And the Seventh-Day Adventists are crazy in plenty of other ways than their over-convern about when worship services should be held.

That matter is not even any part of the question here, Orwell!