The Adventist Experience

I grew up in a household that was surprisingly open about faith and religion. We did not hold the sabbath particularly closely, but we did go to church on occasion. Here are a few stories from my family’s time in the church that I think you all would find interesting.

-My father cheated on my mother, and my mother was told by the pastor of the church that the only way she could be a good mother was to stay with him after he was baptized. They last 20 years after that before she finally left him.

• My sister went to Walla Walla for college where she was told that her clinical depression and psychological needs were just her not accepting God into her life. She ended up not even making it a full school year before needing to come home.

• I grew up and realized how very fabulously gay I actually am. Family got into a huge fight where my grandmother was citing White’s discussion about families breaking apart at the end times. This all started because my very religious aunt posted something about the Supreme Court gay marriage ruling being incorrect.

• I was told by a woman in the church how much of a disappointment I was for attending a local university instead of one of the Adventist schools because now I was never going to meet a good Adventist girl.

That’s just a few of the stories I remember from my times living in/around the church. I still claim the church as my religion, but never go to church. I’m sure you can imagine why.