If a survey were taken on public perception and awareness of Seventh-day Adventism, one of the first things to stand out in responses would likely be “diet.” Whether from within Adventism or on the outside looking in, it is understood that diet and the “health message” are a major part of the identity of Seventh-day Adventists. The individual views on food will vary, sometimes depending on the country or region in which one lives and sometimes just based on personal views; each person has his or her own level of commitment to what the church and Ellen White teach. For those of us who leave, however, letting go of the preoccupation we had—sometimes unknowingly—with food when we were Adventist is no small feat.
I will admit to feeling proud, when I was younger, that my family was not too fanatical about food, and I felt a bit of disdain for those who were very strict about following the Adventist health message. We ate clean meats and eggs and didn’t worry about chocolate or spices. We used dairy milk and vinegar and ketchup and kept baking powder and baking soda in our cupboards. These “permissions” made me feel proud of what I viewed as not being legalistic about this aspect of my religion. I sincerely believed that the Adventist church WAS the true remnant church, but I also, naively, believed that it just had a few problems with legalism. If Adventism could find its way to preaching more grace (including in areas of diet) I thought, and if it practiced less judgement (both from the pulpit and within the membership), the problems would be solved.
It took me many years to realize that the people I considered to be ultra-conservative and those with more restrictive practices were actually those who displayed the true living out of the teachings, and that it would be impossible for the church to officially relax in these areas without majorly compromising some, if not all, of their distinct doctrines and teachings.
I have written before about how working through the “big” problems with Adventism came fairly early on in my process of leaving Adventism, and once I saw how far off they were from what the Bible teaches (when read and taught in context with a good hermeneutic), I didn’t find it that difficult to cast off Adventism’s teachings about the Sabbath, the investigative judgement, the state of the dead (though that one was the last to go), Ellen White as a prophet, and even the health message—or at least the parts of it I had selectively picked out to follow.
While I know that many former Adventists struggle to include the previously forbidden foods into their diets, once I saw from Scripture that food had nothing to do with my salvation or sanctification, I had very little problem including in my diet most of the foods that I had grown up avoiding. I thought that I had passed that checkpoint in my journey of leaving Adventism. I did not foresee how my new-found freedom would suddenly be challenged in a disorienting way.
Blindsided
Our first child was born almost exactly five years after we left Adventism. When our son was nine months old, he had his first severe allergic reaction to milk/dairy. It took some frustrating navigation of our healthcare system to get answers, but tests eventually confirmed his severe allergy to milk along with milder allergies to soy and eggs. But the time he was two, we had added corn to the list, and also gluten for his nearly one-year old brother. I threw myself into learning how to cook for my family, as nearly everything in a can or a box contained at least one of those now-forbidden ingredients.
When our third son joined our family, he soon began to have allergic reactions while nursing, and I chose to restrict my diet to try to eliminate his reactions so he could continue nursing. Around the same time, I had a good friend whose children were also presenting with fairly serious allergies, and we began to research what we could do to help our kids. To be honest, we found much really good information which was very helpful. It was a lot of work, but I learned a lot, and it felt good to be able to feed my family in a way that would not only avoid exposing them to allergens, but also to have the hope of finding some healing for their immune systems.
Then, just as I was hitting my stride with this way of cooking and eating, I was diagnosed with cancer. I struggle to find the words to properly express the emotions and thoughts this diagnosis brought up regarding my diet (although I have a feeling you may be able to empathize). What would I eat going forward? I felt compelled to research and seek out ways within my control of stopping the cancer’s advance. Though it was localized, it was aggressive. I was admittedly worried, but I ultimately chose to forego any sort of dietary treatment and elected to have the doctor’s recommended surgery to remove the tumor. As I prepared for my surgery, I began testing the kids’ tolerance to the foods we had eliminated, and to my joy and relief, we found that the issues had resolved. From that point on, we were able to enjoy a much more simplified way of cooking and eating.
Surprised by deep indoctrination
In the nearly five years since we resumed a more typical way of eating, I started to notice my anxiety around food began to grow. I first attributed it to my oldest son starting kindergarten, as school lunches caused me a lot of stress. I wondered if he would still do “better” without gluten, corn and dairy. Did juice have too much sugar in it? Was I sending enough fresh vegetables? Too many sweet items? Would he have enough to eat for the day? Maybe I was sending too much. I mentioned it to some of the other mothers of his classmates and remember feeling puzzled by the blank stares I received in return. No one else seemed to be preoccupied with their children’s lunches, at least not in the way that I was. I knew these moms cared about their kids as much as I cared about mine, and I knew that they were not ignorant or uneducated. I knew that they were not packing food that was harmful for their kids. I engaged in quite a bit of internal arguing, trying to figure out how and why this bothered me so much more than it seemed to bother others.
In the fall of 2018, we decided to begin homeschooling our boys. From the very first week, what to feed the kids for breakfast and lunch began to cause me stress and anxiety. I still worried that they were having too much bread, or not enough vegetables or probiotics. If I fed them too many sweets, would they stop willingly eating savory food? Since I tend to minimize things in my mind (while overthinking—it’s a talent I have), it took me until well into this second homeschooling year to realize that this problem in my mind has been fairly consistent and is not going away on its own. Though concern with what to feed one’s children is likely not totally uncommon for many parents, at some level, it has been a source of a lot of anxiety and preoccupation for me for what has stretched out into years.
When I first left Adventism, it was easy to see that whether or not I ate food deemed “unclean” by Ellen White had no bearing on my salvation, so it was very confusing for me to be struggling so much with all things surrounding food after so many years. As I’ve thought more on my struggles with control and preoccupation with food, I realize that this anxiety has expressed itself in other areas of my life as well. For me, the problem became not one of simple behavior and “this or that” food choices, but of deeply held beliefs about God, the world, and my place in relationship to both of those. It was easy for me to acknowledge and give up my belief, however weakly applied, that what I ate had any impact on my spiritual life. What was harder to see, and thus has been harder to “weed out” and discard completely, is my base belief that God is somehow influenced by what I do, or do not do. I realized I was functioning out of an unconscious and unacknowledged belief that, unless I did “enough,” God would not, or even could not help me. I have believed that, in the end, it was all up to me. I have realized that my problem may not be so much about control but about being afraid of how God evaluates me and my efforts to do my best.
What I have come to realize is that when it comes to diet specifically, Adventism had affected me on two levels. On the surface were the rules of Adventism’s health message which I found relatively easy to leave behind when I learned the truth. The second level, however, took several years to reveal itself, and several more years passed before I understood what was going on. I had a subtle but deep indoctrination that governed my overall thinking and in some cases, my heart, in ways that I would never have imagined that it would.
How did I get here?
I’ve wondered often in the past few months how I got here, when I grew up in a family that was not strict or legalistic about the Adventist health message? The answer is something I have grown to realize is common in Adventism: cognitive dissonance.
While my family practiced a fairly loose interpretation of the Adventist health message, eating “clean” meats, butter, other dairy products, eggs, chocolate and the occasional coffee or cola, I was sure that the “correct” interpretation of the Bible forbade those things. I did not realize that this interpretation was rooted directly in Ellen White, but I knew that she promoted those prohibitions, and I believed fully that she was a messenger of God, the Spirit of Prophecy. I lived out my belief that these foods were ultimately OK while cognitively holding the belief that Ellen White was an authoritative messenger who forbade them (under the authority and support of Scripture). Ironically, I believed these opposing ideas at the same time.
Although I don’t remember being explicitly taught these things, I believed that what I ate had a direct effect on my health, and my health was directly tied to my spirituality. Thus, following at least some of the health message food rules was an absolute must if I wanted to be healthy and in relationship to God.
I now know that these deep convictions came straight from Ellen White. Let’s take a look at just some of the things she wrote about diet and its effect on one’s spiritual life and children:
“One reason why we do not enjoy more blessing of the Lord is, we do not heed the light which He has been please to give us in regard to the laws of life and health (Counsels on Diet and Foods [CD] Ch. 1).
‘The indulgence of the appetite in first eating food highly seasoned created a morbid appetite and prepared the way for every kind of indulgence, until health and intellect were sacrificed to lust” (Review and Herald, June 27, 1899, Art. B, par. 2).
“A religious life can be more successfully gained and maintained if meat is discarded for this stimulates into intense activities, lustful propensities and enfeebles the moral and spiritual nature” (Letter 72; MM 277, 278, emphasis mine).
“You should be teaching your children. You should be instructing them how to shun the vices and corruptions of this age. Instead of this, many are studying how to get something good to eat. You place upon your tables butter, eggs, and meat and your children partake of them. They are fed with the very things that will excite their animal passions, and then you come to meeting and ask God to bless and save your children. How high do your prayers go? You have a work to do first. When you have done all for your children which God has left for you to do, then you can with confidence claim the special help that God has promised to give you” (Testimonies 2:362, emphasis mine).
“There are those among Seventh-day Adventists who will not heed the light given them in regard to this matter. They make flesh meat a part of their diet. Disease comes upon them. Sick and suffering as a result of their own wrong course, they ask for the prayers of the servants of God. But how can the Lord work in their behalf when they are not willing to do His will, when they refuse to heed His instruction in regard to health reform? (CD 400:4, emphasis mine).
God desires us to reach the standard of perfection made possible for us by the gift of Christ. He calls upon us to make our choice on the right side, to connect with heavenly agencies, to adopt principles that will restores in us the divine image. In His written word and in the great book of nature He has revealed the principles of life. It is our work to obtain a knowledge of these principles, and by obedience to cooperate with him in restoring health to the body as well as to the soul” (MH 114, 115, 1905; CD 16:1).
“Father and mothers, watch unto prayer. Guard strictly against intemperance in every form. Teach your children the principles of true health reform. Teach them what things to avoid in order to preserve health. Already the wrath of God has begun to be visited upon the children of disobedience. What crimes, what sins, what iniquitous practices, are being revealed on every hand!” (CD 247.3, emphasis mine).
“It is labor lost to teach people to look to God as a healer of their infirmities, unless they are taught also to lay aside unhealthful practices. In order to receive His blessing in answer to prayer, they must cease to do evil and learn to do well. Their surroundings must be sanitary, their habits of life correct. They must live in harmony with the laws of God, both natural and spiritual” (The Ministry of Healing 227, 228, 1905; CD 447.3, emphasis mine).
I may never have read any of these words of Ellen White on my own, but I learned their message well through my hours spent in Adventist schools, Sabbath Schools, Sabbath School lesson studies, and church services. I knew this message very clearly. I’m certain that I would have been even more well-versed in the specifics of the health message and its defense if I had come from a more observant family, and if I had taken more initiative to read Ellen White on my own. The fact that I have come this far, 15 years out of Adventism, and I still carry this deep view with me is a true testament to the insidious ways that these false teachings about who God is and how He interacts with us as humans work their way deeply into our minds and hearts.
As I have experienced this way of thinking and believing turning into a never-ending treadmill of effort and anxiety. While I sincerely believed that there was nothing I could do to earn or contribute to my salvation and nothing I could do to lose it, I was still functioning from this quite unconscious belief that what I did or did not do would limit God’s ability to work in me and through me, even down to what I ate and fed my children! I was unwittingly still behaving as if HE somehow NEEDED me in order for things to go “right.” This led to a myriad of anxious questions in my mind. How do I know when it actually is my best? Who decides? What if I think I have done my best, but God knows I could have done more? What if I DON’T do my best? My struggle lay not in what was required for salvation, but in the moments and days that make up the rest of my life. It was daunting and overwhelming. I didn’t want to mess it up!
The Truth
The truth, however, is that this belief, this world view that says it is up to me to work and do my best before God will “do His part”, is found nowhere in Scripture. In fact, it flies in the face of the clear teachings of the Bible. For example, the whole of Romans chapter 8 teaches us about life after we are born again, having the Spirit of God dwelling in us. The entire chapter is worth reading and meditating on, but I want to draw your attention to a couple of passages from it.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:14-17).
Two things stand out to me here. First is the mention of living in fear “again,” because of slavery, and the second is the contrasting reference to being brought into sonship through adoption (brought about by receiving the Spirit). When I think about the difference between being a slave living in fear (and isn’t that what we all were within Adventism, at least in secret?), and a SON, who is specifically chosen to be adopted, given the family name and identity (the Spirit), the words and pictures they bring to my mind seem to instantly calm my anxious heart. As a parent, I don’t want my children to “live in fear” of me; I want them to come to me IN their need, not after they have worn themselves ragged from trying (and likely failing and making a rather large mess in the meantime…just like I do). How much more than a human parent might welcome their child, in faith, asking for help when they are in need, does God welcome our constant reliance on him, rather than feeling that we first need to prove that we tried hard enough to earn his assistance? Let’s look further down the chapter at v. 26-28:
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
I’m going to be very honest here and confess that in these moments of fear, I often forget that, as a believer, I am indwelt with the Holy Spirit. I forget to pray when I feel weak and confused. This part of Romans 8 reminds me and encourages me that the very Spirit of God, who lives IN me, intercedes for me with the Father. Even in the midst of my anxiety and worry, which sometimes leaves me feeling paralyzed with fear and futility, the Lord (who loves me and has adopted me as his own child) searches my heart, and the Spirit intercedes for me in accordance with the will of God. I quite literally can NOT mess this up! He knows it all: the things I can see, and the things I cannot. The next verse points out that God works in ALL things for the good of those who love him. Not those who try their hardest to figure it out, fail, and come to him, hoping he will agree to help because they have “tried.” On the contrary, the only requirement to enter into the New Covenant is to believe on the Lord Jesus. The only marker of those for whom God will work ALL THINGS together for their good is that they LOVE Him. Believers are those those who have been called according to HIS purpose, and our Father provides all that they need because they are His!
What now?
Sometimes I feel discouraged that, after all these years, I am still picking these painful slivers of Adventism out of my heart. This health message worldview is a small twist on the truth, and yet feels like it has sent me on a gross detour from the peace I could have had if I had noticed it sooner. As I type those words, I can’t help but smile, because the words of Romans 8:28 come rushing back into my mind, and I remember that in ALL things, even among slivers and detours, God is working for my good. I think that memorizing Romans 8 will be a good next step for me, to keep these reminders tucked in my heart for the next time anxiety, fear, and futility come knocking on my heart. There is no need to wear myself ragged with effort. The sovereign God of the universe lives in me, loves me, has adopted me and I don’t have to wait until I have done “enough” to come to him. †
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Hi Kelsie,
It has been 18 years for us since leaving the church. I think it is important to remember that much of the health advice that Ellen White gave was copied from the health reformers of the 19th century. Much of it was good advice. Avoiding sugar improves immune function. Exercising daily in the sunshine protects against diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Avoiding eating the flesh of other species protects us from the drugs and hormones that are given them as well as their diseases. Plus it reduces the amount of suffering we inflict on them. Our health choices are not about trying to avoid offending God, but rather about living a long, healthy life, free of the pain and suffering that comes from a broken down body.
Just because Ellen White said something, does not automatically make it wrong. Let’s make good health choices for our own sake.
Hi Alan, the article was not about the practicalities of EGW’s health advice. Neither was it a debate concerning the rights or wrongs of eating meat.
The anxiety Kelsie experienced was in respect to the (SDA taught) relationship between food and salvation/spirituality. For example, EGW argued that eating certain foods will make one less ‘religiously inclined’. She argued that a young man ‘scarcely had a trace of the divine’ in his ‘organism’ due to his consumption of meat. Salvation is not about what you eat. You cannot strive for perfection through what you put in your mouth, however, a lot of SDA’s fail to see this and get fixated on a flawed heath message. Furthermore, EGW’s argument surrounding food is similar to New Age teaches i.e., low/high vibration foods and spirituality/enlightenment!
Thank you! Adventism affects its adherents at a far deeper level than many are willing to recognize. It is only by the graciousness of the Lord that we are able to see the darkness we were plucked from.
Hi Kalsie, I really enjoyed the article and would have appreciated hearing about your experience even as an Adventist. I especially like that you noticed the connection SDAs like to make between what you eat and spirituality, or rather, the ability of God to access you – being dependent on your diet. There are so many insidious falsehoods, one hardly knows where to begin. Thank you for the article, I especially enjoyed it.
Thank you! It is sometimes disheartening to keep finding these “slivers” of Adventism that reveal themselves over time. I find myself frustrated that I am not yet rid of all the lies and distortions, but yet, the fact that they keep being revealed to me reminds me of the Lord’s faithfulness and continuous work in me and presence with me!
Thanks for your comment. A couple of things come to mind. Have you read Cheryl Granger’s comprehensive piece on the origins of the Adventist health message? Here is the link, in case you missed it: https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/2017/11/22/the-seventh-day-adventist-health-message-from-where-did-it-come/ . While some of it may good advice, it is tainted with an abundant amount of physically and spiritually damaging admonitions, linked to ramifications for one’s very soul. If a person wants good solid health advice, I would recommend finding a source that is not demonically influenced.
That being said, I’m not sure that you grasped the point of what was written. I never stated that a person should not make good health choices, only that we, as former SDA’s, may need to be aware that Adventisms unique teachings may have affected us in deeper ways which may not be immediately apparent.
I believe in making good health choices, overall, but I also believe that God has ordained my days before one of them came to be. I don’t believe in being wreckless in my health, while understanding that what I eat or drink can not usurp the sovereign will of God for my days. I can not eat myself in to one day more or less of life, nor of good or bad health. I understand that may be hard to wrap one’s head around, I still have to sit with it once in awhile, but the ultimate point is that I am to trust God, not my self, with my health and my future.
Thanks for the reply, Kelsie.
I did read the article you referenced. Of course it mentions many things that have happened since Ellen White died in 1915. It seems to me that the fact that other groups (that we disagree with for other reasons) adopt a practice that may be a good idea, is not a good reason for us to not practice it.
If how long you live is pre-ordained, then do you not think that smoking will shorten a person’s lifespan? When I was a Lutheran, prior to 1965, I had a minister who smoked. He seemed to think that smoking was an acceptable activity for Christians. My own father smoked, and so did my foster father, an MD. Both died at a relatively early age directly as a result of smoking.
Regarding ‘unclean’ meats, I agree that the New Testament removes the Jewish prohibition against eating them. However, I think there are good reasons that the Jews were forbidden to use those species as food. Many of them are scavengers that eat the bodies of other dead animals. Vultures, hawks and shrimp are good examples. Pigs will eat just about anything.
For me, the massive amount of suffering that is caused to consciously aware species that are exploited on factory farms is, in itself a good reason for not contributing to the problem my own dietary choices.
I think that my experience in Adventism was, over all positive. I left because I found that some of Ellen White’s teachings, and some of the church doctrines, did not square with the Bible. However, I think that throwing out all of the sensible health teachings would be a mistake.
Regards, Alan
I believe that smoking will be a person’s cause of death, but I don’t believe smoking will cause a person’s death, unless the Lord allows it to. If a person can figure out how to outsmart God in causing their own premature death, then it would stand to reason that they can also outsmart God by causing their own extension of life. You are free to make your own dietary choices, for your own reasons, and as you say, certain foods are no longer prohibited by Scripture.
I patently refuse to receive any “sensible health teachings” from an organization such as Seventh Day Adventism. I never, once, in my piece suggested that people throw them out, just because they were attached to Adventism. EVERYTHING we were taught in Adventism needs to be examined with a VERY fine toothed comb, because it is ALL tainted. Anything a person might choose to keep should be because of a very compelling reason, for solidly researched reasons, with sources completely removed from Adventism. I’m not advocating against that. I’m advocating against trusting in your own efforts to do anything to influence God or somehow earn or warrant His “good favor.”
I’m not here to argue with you about your personal choices, nor condemn you for them. You may eat, or not eat, in freedom, as taught by Scripture.
Let me rephrase my first statement: I believe that smoking can be a cause of death. I don’t believe that smoking WILL be THE cause of a person’s death, unless the Lord allows it.