Adventism

The Family International was founded by David Brandt Berg and originally named The Children of God. Berg was a Christian missionary in 1944 and in the 1960s he began to try to appeal to the “lost and confused youth of America.” The new religions appearing at this time period were “a fusion of an evangelical Christian awakening and the youth counterculture of the 1960s.” David Berg focused his preaching on rejecting the old and accepting the new. David Berg was deemed a prophet and eventually the king on earth for God. He was seen as a father figure for members and a central part of the group. It was David Berg that introduced radical beliefs into the Family. The church in the 1970s faced two revelations that make dramatic changes to the group. Firstly Berg isolating himself from his own community and began writing letters, because he believed that God wanted him to distance himself. The letters became known as MO letters. MO stood for Moses. This name was a part of the religious symbolism for the Family. The other revelation was that the United States was soon going to be destroyed and that the Children of God needed to escape. This was why that the group ended up in countries all around the world. Berg became a very central part of the Family’s belief system. It was him that told member what was acceptable by God. His letters became a part of text for the group in addition to the bible. Sexual ministry was encouraged by one of David Berg’s letters…

Cults use the psychological methods normative social influence, groupthink and foot-in-the-door to manipulate individuals and control their thoughts as seen in the cults Jonestown and The Branch Davidians. Cults are defined as an ideology of religious worship and adherence directed toward a particular figure or object. Cults are everywhere. Some are normal and widely accepted. Others are isolationist and hide from investigation. Some cause great suffering while others appear very helpful and…

Cults In the past there have been clubs, religions, and social groups, but there is a different kind of organization that doesn’t fit in within these groups. This organization is known as Cults. Cults are worship groups following “godly” things of their religious beliefs regarded by others as weird or sinister. Throughout history there have been different types of cults, some with good intention and some with bad intentions. Although the cults with “good intentions” followed or used part of the…

begins by briefly explaining how Adventism was shaped through theological…

alcohol/drugs/tobacco, the relation between church and state, and marriage and family are not only appropriate discussions for church, but also vitally necessary. You cannot separate a truth from the Bible simply because it has become political, and we should never pick and choose our beliefs based on what political party we are a part of. This is a position of strength, and will reap results. When writing about the results of this approach—which generally seems to be practiced throughout the…

Growing up in the Seventh-day Adventist church, I experienced first-hand our denomination’s tendency to separate itself from society at large. This reality takes on a physical meaning in the form of the Adventist school system as well as becoming a more abstract phenomenon in regards to the Church’s fundamental leaning on issues such as Sabbath keeping and consumption of meat. In the introduction and part one of their book Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventist and the American Dream,…

disbeliever in his own faith. During some years later, Russell attend an Adventist gathering, and at this meeting he was told that Jesus would return. This is where the bible became a great interest to Russell. Not only did this man influenced the development of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but other people as well influence Russell that lead to his beliefs and preaching to his new developed religious group known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. William Miller was the preacher and leader of the…

I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. Though a woman founded the denomination, Seventh-day Adventism has struggled to come to terms with how women should fill leadership roles. This past summer, church officials and delegates voted against allowing women to be ordained as ministers. As a female biblical studies student and Seventh-day Adventist, I am highly unusual. During my undergraduate years, a number of professors in my major department felt that I should not be studying with my male…

In Minersville vs. Gobitis and West Virginia B.O.E vs. Barnette, the freedoms given unto the minority religious groups were in danger of being taken away and in the end, from the Barnette decision, the overturning of Gobitis opened the door for many other minority groups to realize what rights they have and the majority which included school and public officials could not take those away from them. In future cases that involved minority religious groups, one that involved Seventh-day Adventists…

'd like to live on-campus, I 'm interested in schools in a small urban area (Pop. < 250,000), I 'd prefer to go to a school that is public, I 'm interested in coed schools, I 'm not interested in attending a historically black school, my kind of school is Selective (admits 1/3 to 2/3 of apps), it 's important to me to attend a school where most students graduate, I want to participate in Academic Clubs, Choir, Concert Band, Marching Band (you know to keep me from going insane), I 'm looking…