Adventism’s Belief About the Mentally Disabled
I have some questions, and I would really appreciate it if you can shed some light on them. I’ve understood that due to Adventism’s view that the Holy Spirit resides in the brain they don’t think that, for example, demented or mentally disabled people can be saved. I assume this comes from EGW, but could you point me to a specific source where she says that? To give some context, my sister is severely mentally disabled. A long time ago I stumbled upon some Adventist nursing home web site and was horrified to read how they described providing good care for their residents “during their existence”—not their lives. Existence. It still makes me so angry, and I’d like to know the source behind this view. How dark it all is!
Secondly, I wonder how Adventists view Melchizedek—who is he to them? Two years ago when I was in the process of joining the Adventist “church”, I was studying the Bible and came across Melchizedek. I decided to message an Adventist friend to ask who this Melchizedek is. He delayed replying by saying he’s busy, gave a time when he would, but eventually never replied to me. I definitely understand it might be that he just forgot, but now that I see Adventism as it is, I’ve been wondering whether they might have some explanation which is so unorthodox that he didn’t want to share it in order to not scare me away or something…
Talking about pictures, to my shock only today did I discover that as a child I had an Adventist Bible book! No wonder the picture of Jesus as a Levitical priest in your aforementioned article looked so familiar. Funnily enough, this subject just kept resurfacing, so I started digging. And yes, as a child Ihad at least one book of the illustrated Bible story series by Arthur S. Maxwell. I don’t know where it came from ,but there were definitely some weird Adventist flavors in my childhood, like being taught at home that pork is filthy and bad and some weird concept of death which I can only describe now as soul sleep. I’m still in the process of unlearning that.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: the Adventist tradition of believing that the mentally disabled cannot understand the gospel and thus will be lost is an old one. I have never been able to find a direct EGW quote to this effect, yet in her book The Southern Work and some other of her writings, she clearly wrote about the American slaves and the “colored race” as intellectually inferior to white people. I will link you an article that includes several of her quotes about the black people needing to be taught by white people and never the other way around.
This quotation from an 1895 issue of The Review and Herald, for example, shows her belief that black people were intellectually inferior and that this supposed intellectual debasement stood in the way of their understanding what they needed to know to be saved:
Among most of the colored people we find unseemly practices in their worship of God. They become much excited, and put forth physical exertions that are uncalled for in the solemn worship of God. Their superstitious ideas and uncomely practices cannot at once be dispelled. We must not combat their ideas and treat them with contempt. But let the worker give them an example of what constitutes true heart-service in religious worship. Let not the colored people be excluded from the religious assemblies of the white people. They have no chance to exchange their superstitious exercises for a worship that is more sacred and elevating if they are shut out from association with intelligent white people who should give them an example of what they should be and do. Let the white people practice the self-denial necessary, and let them remember that nothing is to be regarded as unimportant which affects the religious life of so vast a number of people as that which composes the colored race. They conduct their worship according to the instruction they have received, and they think that a religion which has no excitement, no noise, no bodily exercises, is not worth the name of religion. These ignorant worshipers need instruction and guidance. They can be won by kindness, and can be confirmed in well-doing. Both old and young will need to be instructed as one would instruct a family of children. {RH December 3, 1895, par. 4}
In the early part of the 20th century, Adventists seemed to incorporate many of the ideas connected with eugenics into their medical training and general “ethos”. During WWII, for example, they worked in Germany with the Nazis, printing their Nazi pamphlets in their Adventist presses and helping to distribute them. They expressed their ideological agreement with Hitler’s vegetarianism and anti-smoking and drinking stance. They paid the way for a Nazi spokesperson to speak at a general conference session in California in the 1930s before the war broke out.
All to say, I have never been able to find a direct EGW quote about the mentally disabled not being saved, yet that idea was endemic among Adventists. I have known families who institutionalized their Down’s syndrome children for their lifetimes in order to get them out of the public eye and to remove the shame associated with having a mentally “defective” child in their family. I grew up believing that they could not be saved because they did not have the mental capacity to understand how to be saved. We had no framework for understanding spiritual life and “knowing”.
The following link is to an article written by a German-born SDA historian who was teaching at Walla Walla College when I was a student: Nazi Race Hygiene and the Adventists
I believe that these attitudes are born from their physicalist worldview that denies personhood to a baby not yet born (and thus breathing), and to a person who has died. They believe that the human spirit is literally one’s breath, and that when a person ceases to breathe (or before they breathe), they are not yet a soul. They do not exist as a “person”.
Here is our Proclamation! Article on EGWs racism: Adventism’s Racist Leanings Ignored In Charlottesville Statement
Adventist Family Teaching My Children
I am a long-time follower of your ministry, dating back to the early 2000s. I was attending school at [a state university] when I met the woman who would become my wife. She was Adventist, and in my desire to be with her, I came to understand their teachings. I came upon FAF after stumbling (by God’s grace) onto the forum and spending hours reading over all the materials and following the links. I was able to share with my now-wife what I learned, and while it took time and prayer, she came to understand Adventism to be false and left. Her family is very Adventist, but over the past 20-plus years, countless seeds have been planted.
I popped onto FAF from time to time looking to see what was new. I served in the armed services and followed the ministry from all around the United States. I found the FAF podcast when you were about eight weeks into the Fundamental Beliefs series and have been faithfully listening ever since. I must say, those 28 episodes are possibly the most extensive explanations of Adventist beliefs that exist anywhere, and I know even that wasn’t complete! I learned so much from that!
Okay, now comes my question for you: A couple months ago, my sister-in-law was baptized at an Adventist church. She has been raised Adventist and has been through her share of trials and then some. This was a huge step for her and honestly, my wife and I are happy for her… but I could not and still cannot shake the discomfort I had listening to her statement of faith knowing what was behind all of it. Knowing what I know about Adventism, I actually found it to be quite sad, and admittedly I feel bad for it…
I have often heard the phrase “God has his people in all churches.” Oddly enough, I only ever heard it phrased that way from Adventists. What do you make of the phrase, and what would be your response to it? Also, how do I best handle when my Adventist in-laws try to “teach” my children about the Bible? This has been an increasing struggle as my children have gotten older.
Thank you for your time and attention reading this. If I may offer a suggestion, I’d love for the podcast to take on a discussion of Adventist media and their deceptive practices, an exposé if you will. Thank you for all you do!
Response: First, about those Adventist relatives. That is always a hard thing to handle. The Adventist phrase about God having people in all churches reflects their lack of understanding that the Lord’s church is those who are made spiritually alive, born-again, through belief in the Lord Jesus. They call themselves a church, but their roots are not the apostolic gospel; they are firmly rooted in the ancient heresy of Arianism. They are a counterfeit and not part of the true church of the born again. They are often sincere, but their Adventist, great controversy, physicalist worldview causes them to have an unbiblical view of the nature of (and hence of the need) of humanity, the nature of Christ, the nature of sin, and the nature of salvation. Most Adventists are not actually true believers and are not born again through faith in the Lord Jesus alone.
As hard as it is, Richard and I would take the position that you have to ask them NOT to teach your children. They WILL try to teach them Adventism and the things of Scripture through an EGW worldview lens. Nikki and I recently addressed the issue of compromise with Adventism at last month’s FAF Conference in our live podcast with questions at the end. You might find it pertinent:
Second, I’m so glad that you found the FAF podcast! Second, your suggestion about Adventist media is a good one. We actually do have another podcast that, while not directly addressing all Wrong PriestAdventist media, is addressing the weekly Adventist publications of the Sabbath School lessons. The proof-texting and appropriation of Scripture and the subtle manipulation that causes the readers to see Adventism instead of the Bible is insidious and dangerous. We call it Adventist Fact Check, and you can find it both on any podcast carrier as well as on our Former Adventist YouTube Channel:
Our reason for doing these podcasts (which we launched shortly before Christmas of 2023) is to show that the Adventist worldview is pervasive and still the current teaching of Adventism despite the ways they try to mis-identify their true beliefs in public. The Sabbath School lessons are worldwide, and the whole world studies the same Sabbath School lesson on the same Sabbath every week of the year. This is an indoctrination tool for them.
We also have addressed the influence of Adventist art to teach their worldview. Here is a link to an article in which we address this issue along with their misuse of Hebrews 7: Jesus is Not an Old Covenant Priest
Meanwhile, although we are not currently publishing a printed version of Proclamation! magazine, all our back issues are online here: Proclamation Magazine Archive.
We have also added your name to our weekly Proclamation! email updates. You may need to add the email address mail@LifeAssuranceMinistries.org to your contacts in order for the email not to be directed toward your Spam folder. These emails will arrive every Friday. Archived articles are available at ProclamationMagazine.com.
You might also enjoy our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/FormerAdventist/featured
Also, you have already found our podcasts here; many say these help them unpack the Adventism hidden in the recesses of their minds: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/former-adventist/id1482887969 †
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