sda's and Pentecostals

AngelJane said:

Love, relationships, marriage Can it work across these two denominations? What if god told you that your future husband to be is an sda or a pentecostal?

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As I once married a man who was catholic...as compared to my being Baptist, and knowing what an absolute NIGHTMARE it became, I wouldn't marry outside of my faith again. I learned my lesson the first time.

As for God telling me to marry someone outside the Seventh-day Adventist faith, I don't believe He would do that, for I believe He prefers us to not become "unequally yoked".

It has nothing to do with thinking my faith is better than anyone elses...it has everything to do with, having learned from experience, that the differences between religious faiths is a stumbling block that many cannot overcome as a couple.

Most of the ones that I am aware of having been successful are the ones where one or the other compromised and went "over" to their mate's church.

No, I wouldn't do that again.

Well, I was raised in a home where my Father did not attend church at all, but we were raised SDA. My parents had a wonderful marriage until may Father passed away. Thing is to discuss these things before marriage. There were never, ever any conflicts in our discipline or doctrine. My Dad never asked for us to do things that were against our beliefs, neither could be, we kids will soemtimes do, got to my Dad and ask to do something for which we knew my Mom would say no.

So really I believe it will work, but can be a bit more difficult if things have not been worked out in advance, because truth is you can be unequally yoked within the denomination. I personally know of serveral marriage horror stories from within our denomination. Thus, the importance of premarital counseling.

How would God do this, via a voice from heaven, a human third party? Just wondering, when it comes to this topic one would need to consider a lot of variables after all if you are having children what church would they go to if the husband is Baptist or from another faith? If the husband is Adventist that doesn't guarantee a happy, successful marriage either.

AngelJane said:

Love, relationships, marriage Can it work across these two denominations? What if god told you that your future husband to be is an sda or a pentecostal?

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I don't believe it would go over too well, being that there is a major theological conflict of interest.

The reality is this, if one is not grounded and rooted in Christ Jesus, even if both parties are Adventist, the relationship is not going to go well.

The Holy Spirit will bring a couple on one accord as they each submit themselves to Christ Jesus. Each of them must be willing to walk in Gods will.

Peace

AngelJane said:

Love, relationships, marriage Can it work across these two denominations? What if god told you that your future husband to be is an sda or a pentecostal?

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I would suggest that you be very carefull and take much time in prayer before making your choice, that is if you are the person that the question is talking about.

The question and issue reflect the question and issue in heaven, can we, using that same question,"pentacostal and SDA", can they co-exist in heaven? Is that unequal yoke, to Christ? Is that a theological interest-conflict, in Heaven?

I haven;t married, no child to attend whichever church, another clue, no attachment (nah....., who listen this boy???)

iF the questions asked above, attract you, why don't we reason a little bit?

How often the so-called the same faith is an equation or formula to happy marriage or happy living together? Has the church by itself, I mean different denomination, has no mistake and struggle at all? I dun want to admit for my side. But I want to share, two kinds of species, make hell lots of easiness, but still have potential conflict. Two different faiths, just jump up to a level ground, the conflict phase, and deal with it more often and hopefully, resolve it. The thing is both would land on conflict, let me say that, since it belongs to the same God, let His hand to move about in our storm.

My parents divorced, when I was little. I didn't grow with whatever faith, but the conflict between the two family, has been overwhelming. You marry the person, that's not over yet, you get involved the family in law. There the real problem shows. The couple is now being witnessed, at least by the two families, to be tested the faith for the loved one and the Lord.

Love prevails everything, we know by heart in Corinthians 13, but here we say it's a big problem, nah nah go to sleep, two faith, unequal yoke, nah, nah, won't come into exam. Have I lost anyone so far? with me still? I am not attempting to answer the issue of pentacostal and sda here, for a family. But instantly it reflects the whole lots of issue, by just using these two. But also it attracts me, i like her, she is in new zealand, pentacostal, i am in aus, sda, but the friendship means alot to each other, prayers, on our knee at different places and time zones, mean alot to each other when i let her know, and she let me know, and i make her happy, and she makes me happy, sad when we not even communicate some sort for our busy schedule.

Now if that friendship, does not mean anything at all, because she is a pentacostal, i am sda, can we become friend? Weird question? if the friendship rises up to a higher level, can we still apply faith and love and hope in that? Love, hope, faith prevail everything, and let my so-called 'same-faith' parents marriage ended up in divorce be an evidence, to fool ourselves too much in issues, forgetting the bible, praying on our knee hand in hand together, live and love and laugh together, in sickness and in health, in life and in death, we shall be in the House of God, today and tomorrow, and forever more. The strength sustained must be graciously enough, and heaven, it's so^_+

Thanks,

Jimmy

AngelJane said:

Love, relationships, marriage Can it work across these two denominations? What if god told you that your future husband to be is an sda or a pentecostal?

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I don't think I have ever thought about those two denominations together -- actually, now that I think about it a close relative is in the same conundrum. She is very fundamental Adventist (she scored 100 % on those tests!) and the gent in question is Pentecostal, tried and true. Now they have more in common so far, that I have been privy to, than she has had with Adventist men in her circle. For the first time she is actually contemplating a relationship with a person of another denom. What is worrying her more now, is what others will say, which is a change from her asking what God will say. And yes, she has tried all sorts of arrangements, and all the Adventists match sites, etc. Her very busy schedule does not permit her much time to widen her already wide social circle.
For my part, I wanted to marry an Adventist. I really did. And, I needed someone who was in step with me. I did not find that man in the church -- matter of fact, the ones I did see in the church had so much drama (which I won't go into) that I ran for the hills.
We (my then boyfriend and I) talked at length about all the things that we important to us together and separately. I knew I could not convert from being an Adventist Christian to anything else, and he knew he was flexible. He is with me in church every Sabbath morning, and if I am unable to go to church, he takes the kids. He works in the audio/visual dep't and volunteers a lot of time and effort to our local churches.

Seraph1m said:

The reality is this, if one is not grounded and rooted in Christ Jesus, even if both parties are Adventist, the relationship is not going to go well.

The Holy Spirit will bring a couple on one accord as they each submit themselves to Christ Jesus. Each of them must be willing to walk in Gods will.

Peace

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Amen Seraph1m! Well spoken.

I married a Wiccan man five years ago and at the time I was a non-practicing Baptist. Today we're both Adventist and that was no accident....

The fact of the matter is, you really don't get to pick who you fall in love with. I believe there is Divine intervention in our choices....and yes, even the relationships that fail miserably. Every single one of our relationships (good or bad) build our character and teach us lessons we won't ever forget.

My husband was my first love...way back in 1976 when we were both 8 years old. When we reunited (after 19 years apart) I had this notion that God put us together so that *I* could convert him to Christianity. I was way off.....

We had something happen in our lives that brought us both down to what felt like a bottomless pit with no hope and it wasn't until then that I knew the true reason God put us together.

While at the very bottom of human hopelessness my husband asked me to tell him about "my" God because "his" wasn't helping him through our tribulation. That's when I discovered I really didn't know anything about God. I'm serious, I knew very little about the Bible and I was incapable of bringing a man I loved dearly to the God I felt I knew. I didn't have the first clue what to tell my husband and I felt so ashamed.

He and I decided to learn about the Creator together and that has been the greatest joy, one I can't even explain really.

In our walk I was tugging him to go to the Baptist church. He made the decision that we should read the Bible first, and then choose a church family/denomination. I reluctantly agreed because I felt like we needed to get a church family very quickly, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions of our lives.

In the meantime outside forces (my family, his family) were also tugging us to join "their" denominations. Some were tugging gently, others were downright hateful...lol. I wanted to stick with what was familiar (that's a hard thing to admit), but my husband wanted us to go where God called us.

When I first heard the Adventist message I rebelled against it and started reading the Bible in a new light...(this is also hard to admit)...I started reading it wanting to prove Adventists wrong. How terrible is that?

The Holy Spirit started working on me, kept me reading my Bible, and at one point I literally broke down and gave thanks because I was learning things I had never known before and I was meeting God, truly, for the first time in my life. It just so happened that when I allowed relatives to give me Adventist material that I said "okay now, this is awesome, that's what I got from reading the Bible as well!"

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Christian, not just an Adventist. I could walk away from the building and still have this faith I have. But to sum up, because I really could write a book about this, I let God lead me. I let Him have control for the first time in my life and I let Him guide my steps.

In the end I think the true reason God put my husband and I together is because I had to find out that *I* am not in control of my life. We had to have this horrible experience happen to him so that we could both find out, together, that sometimes you have to be completely torn down in order to be rebuilt.

I wouldn't have heard the Adventist message from anyone in my family. My husband had been hearing it but didn't like it (lol). But together we both fed off of each other and when I said "no" he said "yes" and when I said "yes" he said "no." Looking back I know that God had a Hand in what our ultimate choice was and we were actually quite powerless! We listened to the still small voice and that brought us both to the same place. He was definitely put in my life, but in the end it was so that HE could help ME become a Christian...not the other way around!

I rambled too long...now I have to hustle so I won't be late for work!

God bless,
~Lainie

I rambled so long I completely forgot to answer the question!!!

Here's my short answer....I think if my husband had become Adventist and I would've stayed Baptist (especially if I had been a "true" follower because I really wasn't at that point) that we never would've made it. We were not so unequally yoked at the beginning because I might as well have been pagan too (of course, I didn't realize that then).

**That wasn't a slam in any way to the Baptist faith. I was a non-practicing Baptist at the time so the blame is on me, not the faith.**

If he would've started keeping the Sabbath and I didn't, I would've gotten angry that he got a day of rest and I didn't...etc etc etc. Baptists and Adventists have a totally different view about what happens to a person when they die so funerals of loved ones would've been a complete mess (at least the discussions afterward would be). We wouldn't be able to talk to each other and comfort one another after the loss of a loved one. What good is a marital relationship when you can't lean on each other and walk together?

I could go on and on about the problems this could cause for you two. It would've put a severe strain on my relationship with my husband and would've taken a lot more work than your average marriage (and marriage can be hard anyway).

If God is calling you to be with an Adventist (if your question isn't hypothetical) then I think you two need to discuss the beliefs of your faiths in detail before you get married. All things are possible through Christ Jesus and I don't think it's unheard of that a relationship like that could make it, but I also think there will be underlying problems you can't even begin to perceive as of yet. God knew exactly what He was talking about when He told us not to be unequally yoked.

You also need to think about this....God is putting you two together for a reason and it might not be the reason you think it is. If your husband is thinking he'll get you to be Adventist and you're thinking you'll get him to be Pentecostal....calamity!!!! Take the walk together and never ever try to work against each other.

I will pray for you both (again, if your question isn't hypothetical).

**Side note: I didn't clarify in my below story, but it was my family members that were "hateful" about me joining their denomination . They almost seemed threatened when I told them I had decided to read the Bible first. If you have a loved one that wants to start attending a church you aren't comfortable with, encourage them to read the Bible and pray that the Holy Spirit gives them guidance. Otherwise you are opening their eyes that you want them to be a certain faith, and not really that you want them to be a CHRISTIAN!**

Lainie, that is one powerful testimony!!!

Wow Laine, very encouraging - :o)

Aww, thanks guys. It was a long road but has been well worth it!!!

Yes, Laine, Excellent testimony!! Praise God!

TrustAndObey said:

I rambled so long I completely forgot to answer the question!!!

Here's my short answer....I think if my husband had become Adventist and I would've stayed Baptist (especially if I had been a "true" follower because I really wasn't at that point) that we never would've made it. We were not so unequally yoked at the beginning because I might as well have been pagan too (of course, I didn't realize that then).

**That wasn't a slam in any way to the Baptist faith. I was a non-practicing Baptist at the time so the blame is on me, not the faith.**

If he would've started keeping the Sabbath and I didn't, I would've gotten angry that he got a day of rest and I didn't...etc etc etc. Baptists and Adventists have a totally different view about what happens to a person when they die so funerals of loved ones would've been a complete mess (at least the discussions afterward would be). We wouldn't be able to talk to each other and comfort one another after the loss of a loved one. What good is a marital relationship when you can't lean on each other and walk together?

I could go on and on about the problems this could cause for you two. It would've put a severe strain on my relationship with my husband and would've taken a lot more work than your average marriage (and marriage can be hard anyway).

If God is calling you to be with an Adventist (if your question isn't hypothetical) then I think you two need to discuss the beliefs of your faiths in detail before you get married. All things are possible through Christ Jesus and I don't think it's unheard of that a relationship like that could make it, but I also think there will be underlying problems you can't even begin to perceive as of yet. God knew exactly what He was talking about when He told us not to be unequally yoked.

You also need to think about this....God is putting you two together for a reason and it might not be the reason you think it is. If your husband is thinking he'll get you to be Adventist and you're thinking you'll get him to be Pentecostal....calamity!!!! Take the walk together and never ever try to work against each other.

I will pray for you both (again, if your question isn't hypothetical).

**Side note: I didn't clarify in my below story, but it was my family members that were "hateful" about me joining their denomination . They almost seemed threatened when I told them I had decided to read the Bible first. If you have a loved one that wants to start attending a church you aren't comfortable with, encourage them to read the Bible and pray that the Holy Spirit gives them guidance. Otherwise you are opening their eyes that you want them to be a certain faith, and not really that you want them to be a CHRISTIAN!**

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Amen and AMEN sister

Well, this situation has happened to us! My wife was raised an Adventist, and I was a Pentecostal at the time of my wedding.

Personally, I wouldn't touch either SDA or Pentecostal again but I won't get into that now as I don't want to offend. I will say this though: the only churches that I would touch nowadays are regular orthodox moderate Christian churches.

But I do agree that it is a lot easier to have the same denomination, although it shouldn't be like this. Becuase in a better world, there would only be one Christian church-not an endless stream of divisive denominations.

I saw many abuses in my former Pentecostal denomination. Much phoniness, self proclaimed healers, prophets, etc. Many so called "manifestations" that were nothing but man made nonsense, such as "slain in the Spirit", "words of knowledge, wisdom etc", "tongues" (which anyone can babble).

But worse, I saw much manipulation and exploitation by church leaders upon the weak and gullible-and sadly I was one of them.

However, visiting some Adventist churches just hardened my heart against institutionalised Christianity even more I am sorry to say. I am not being deliberately being offensive, just saying it as it is for me. I was appalled to listen to Adventist sermons and listen to a whole new bunch of twisted scriptures that I hadn't even heard in the Pentecostal church. I heard for example one Pastor in a traditional Adventist church label every other Christian denomination as being of a "Jezebel Spirit" and they of course well all deceived and only Adventists were saved.

No offense to you guys around here, but you wonder why you have image problems and others see you as a cult.

Another Pastor said that modern music in these "other" denominations is of Satan. Again, with stuff like this, it's no wonder outsiders are skeptical.

And of course I can't tell you how many times I've listened to whole sermons talk out Adventism, Adventism and more Adventism-barely mentioning God.

What upset me is that I was used and abused by lying money hungry Pentecostals and then I show respect to my potential inlaws and attend numerous Adventist services and functions and discover a whole new world of lies, abuse and slander that I didn't even hear in the Pentecostal church. I'll even give you another example right here on this Adventist forum. I was browsing and I came across a thread about Adventists and fellowship with non Adventists (but still Christian). Anyway, one person responded saying how the Bible says not to "unequally yoked" with "unbelievers" and not to have "fellowship with the world". And to my, sad to say, this is typical of the introspective views of Adventists, managing even to twist an obvious scripture about the fellowship with believers in Christ and non believers into Adventist and non Advnentists.

Please, I didn't come here to take pot shots at you all, just telling you my experiences and how I have viewed them and how they have made me felt.

To be fair to you guys, one, just one Adventist service I was impressed with. But this was a youth service that was far more moderate and I was surprised to hear Hillsong music being played. Which I find amusing as I have seen pamphlets from traditional Adventist churches that are opposed to Pentecostals and Hillsong.

So yes, it is a lot easier being of the same denomination. I would suggest to anyone to consider very carefully being considering marriage to outside of your religion or denomination.

And my brother in law was going out with this girl (also a non Adventist) and my wife told me how she too went to Adventist churches to share in his faith, and how she also heard Adventist Pastors condemn all other Christian denominations. However, in my brother in laws case, she walked out of the relationship immediately.

She just heard warning bells and ran.

I must confess that I love my wife very much but if something happenned to us or her, I would never marry again outside of my belief system. It is just too difficult. To be totally truthful, this is the really sad part. Before I ever went into an Adventist church, I didn't think of buying any Sanitarium products. In the same way as I have reacted against the excesses of Pentecostalism and refuse to buy Gloria Jeans coffees (as it is half owned by a Hillsong director), I now refuse to buy anything Sanitarium because of the anger I harbour over such atrocious grandiose exclusive "preaching".

Again, not meaning to be deliberately offensive, just saying it as I have seen it.

Many people viewed this post and yet no had the courage to reply.

Not surprisingly, there is nothing to refute or deny. I can imagine how unnerving it must be to be raised into a denomination that prides itself on certain exclusive and unorthodox "truths" over and above all the other churches and then read a post on an outsider visiting your churches and reporting back the things that have been heard.

Yours of course is not the only church to exhibit these qualities. Other churches do this also. Like I said, my advice to anyone investigating Christianity: stick to moderate orthodox Christian denominations.

I don't blame you guys. If I was raised in your church and I read about someone like me visiting your churches, I most probably wouldn't reply either.

> I heard for example one Pastor in a traditional Adventist church label every other Christian denomination as being of a "Jezebel Spirit" and they of course well all deceived and only Adventists were saved.

I'd like the name of the pastor and the church and the town in which it is located.

>Many people viewed this post and yet no had the courage to reply.

How many had viewed it before your post? And then how many after your post? This is a slow board.

>raised into a denomination that prides itself on certain exclusive and unorthodox "truths" over and above all the other churches

That is NOT orthodox SDA teaching. Look at what Jesus will say in the last days:
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, ...

Note that He does NOT say to join another church.

One problem we have had is that there are cases of people claiming to be SDA's or went to an SDA church when they went to some cultic off-shoot.