A traveling salesman sold my paternal great-grandfather a copy of “The Great Controversy” by Ellen G. White in Alberta, Canada years ago. My great-grandfather had emigrated from Norway and started a dairy farm in the land of the Canuks, and I believe he was a Lutheran at that time. “The Great Controversy” is a book describing the epic spiritual battle between Jesus Christ and Lucifer for the souls of mankind. That book caused him to convert to Seventh-day Adventism. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if my father’s family had stayed Lutheran, but I suppose that’s a moot point, as my grandmother would never have met my grandfather if they hadn’t both been Seventh-day Adventist. That’s the only story I know as to how or why any of my ancestors chose to be SDA, having only been raised to follow what I was taught.
My parents met at Pacific Union College, a Seventh-day Adventist institution. When I asked my mother why she married my dad, she said, “Well, we were both Seventh-day Adventist. And we were both vegetarians.” Erm. Mom. You got any other reasons? I dragged a few out of her, but it was interesting to me that their religion was such a major factor. It makes sense to me now that I’m married myself and see how important my husband and my matching worldviews are. My parents raised my brother and me according to some Seventh-day Adventist traditions. From sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night we were not allowed to watch TV (excepting the rare religious or spiritual-themed movie), listen to secular music, go shopping, and go to secular events (like one neighbor’s birthday party that I notoriously snuck out of the house to attend when I was only six or so). My parents taught us to believe that we were the progeny of Adam and Eve, created by God some 6,000 years ago to live on a perfect planet until they rebelled against him and were booted from the Garden of Eden. Jesus Christ then came to die for mankind’s sins and all we needed to do was accept him into our hearts and we would be saved. Well, that and a few other things. I was taught because I was Seventh-day Adventist and knew the “truth” I would be more culpable for rejecting Christ than a heathen in a jungle would be for having never accepted him (because, of course, they would not have heard the “good news”).
My parents were also big advocates of Ellen G. White, one of the early church founders and the church’s “prophetess.” Many people in the SDA church disagree on whether she was divinely inspired or not, but my parents taught me that she was inspired by God and given visions. They also repeatedly pointed out to me (and still do) that Ms. White always said that the Bible was the number one source, not her, and that if she contradicted the good book to disavow her. One of the things that I simply cannot get out of my head about Ms. White is the fact that she was hit in the head with a rock when she was an adolescent and was subsequently comatose for three weeks and unable thereafter to complete her schooling. Then, when she was seventeen, she had her first vision (http://www.whiteestate.org/about/egwbio.asp#early). Yes, she was hit in the head with a rock and began having visions. Does that strike anyone else as odd, no pun intended?
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