It's Ok Not to be a Seventh-Day Adventist [Paperback]

Teresa Beem (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2008

This book candidly examines Seventh-day Adventist history and doctrines. Beginning with self-appointed prophet William Miller who convinced over 50,000 New Englanders that in1844 Christ would come again in fiery judgment. Then the birth of Adventism as those who explained that Miller had misunderstood the prophecy and judgement had begun not on earth but in heaven. The book explores SDA prophetess, Ellen White whose “visions” urge their members to proclaim that in end-times all Christians worshipping on the first day of the week will receive the Mark of the Beast, then hunt down and torture Adventists. The book thoroughly documents the history of Sunday church services to disabuse member’s belief that those who worship on Sunday are disobeying the fourth commandment. Written to lift the wounded Adventist’s eyes to Christ for healing; however pastors, theologians, those with Adventist family, neighbors, colleagues and friends will find this book a treasure in understanding Adventism.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arthur and Teresa Beem grew up in typical Adventists families. They are third generation Seventh-day Adventists and attended the church’s schools from first grade through the university level. For twenty years Teresa taught in SDA schools and churches as well as serving on high-level church committees. She has published in denomination’s publications including Abortion: Ethical Issues and Options, Adventists Review, Signs of the Times, Women of Spirit, Spectrum, Adventist Affirm and Southwestern Adventist Record. Both have friends and family as church administrators and pastors. Arthur has worked in the Adventist hospital system and his family built radio stations and school buildings for the institution. It would be difficult to find two people who were more entrenched and more knowledgeable about Seventh-day Adventism. After almost forty years in the church, they had their memberships removed and currently minister to former Adventists who feel they were hurt by SDA theology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (July 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419654675
• ISBN-13: 978-1419654671
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #842,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Protestantism > Seventh-Day Adventist

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The untold story also being untrue!, February 11, 2011

By 

Stephen Dexter - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It's Ok Not to be a Seventh-Day Adventist (Paperback)

2/11/11

My Dear Tesa and Author,

I usually do not spend time reading Adventist anti-apologetic books, but because you both are my friends, and I was concerned about the effect your views might have on yourself and others, I have read your book. It seems to me that the work you set out to do was already so elegantly done in the terrific book by Walter Martin entitled "Kingdom of the Cults" The main difference being that he is an actual biblical scholar and theologian and he tried not to have any particular obvious bias against the SDA church which is markedly different then the tone of your book. I guess you thought it was necessary to reprint much of the inaccurate, much of it out of context, anti-SDA rhetoric that has been going around for many years and pile it all up in one place for others to read; that's quite an accomplishment. I have listed a few of the things that I am concerned about for your thought not because I think you will listen to me, but because you have been my friends, your influence has touched me in a personal way, and most specifically affected my children as they respected you and loved you. Time will tell whether your book is doing more good then harm. I fear for the later and the tone within your current websites suggest a defensive and even hateful spirit at times. I would have to write an entire book myself if I were to try and address all of the issues that I have with your book, but I will only go over some important topics to me personally. And to be fair, I recognize at the onset, that your book was in your own words "not written for me". You mention this over and over, I assume because you realize that so many Adventist will think themselves unfairly represented in the book. This however does not relinquish your responsibility to be accurate, fair and kind in your book as you present the book as being accurate and reliable which it is not, as I will go into below. I believe that what you should have done is leave the church and go about business, rejoicing in your re-discovered freedom in Christ (something you always had access to inside the church but did not realize it I guess). Why accuse the brethren like this in such a accusatory negative spirit? Your work regarding the doctrines has already been done as mentioned before, and much better at that as Walter Martin really attempted to be non-biased, accurate and truthful. It is truly amazing to me that you can interpret our 28 fundamental beliefs in such a legalistic way, never finding Jesus Christ freedom to think and to do in them. I would tell you, God's grace and freedom to do as you believe is there in our beliefs. But as you say, God led you out of the SDA church in order for you to enjoy His blessings that I say He meant for you all along. It is OK not to be a Seventh Day Adventist, this has always been the case. You need to worship with like minded people, something that you would never find with your current philosophy towards the SDA denomination. I am sorry you felt duped all those years. Tragic.

1. I will start by quoting your own book, using just one of your so called true statements regarding Adventist to help anyone who might be considering purchasing your book as a possible helpful, insightful, honest account of what SDA Christians are like. Your book consistently offended me throughout its pages, but the following quotation is an excellent representative of your attitude, spirit, and tone of your book. Your words are so unkind, yet so personally untrue, and you present it as a clear obvious fact that is without question. I present it here so that anyone considering reading your book will understand your position as given in your own words. Your book says on page 238, paragraph 2 "Adventist have withdrawn from and abandoned mankind. - Elitism and separateness have made Adventist become the antithesis of Christ (emphasis supplied). It has made them hardhearted and judgmental- afraid of the porn addict, the AID's patient, the alcoholic, and the homosexual." Do you believe that is a fair statement about me personally and Adventist in general. It is like you have never met me. Tesa, how could you write such a thing? If any reader is to believe your book, then I am like that because I am an SDA Christian. There is no other interpretation as you do not state that this is your opinion only and may represent a few of the Adventist that you know. The fact is that I am a physician who personally treats AID's patients and alcoholics every day, and I treat them with loving kindness and understanding and to say that I am afraid of them is ridiculous. Maybe you think I am the exception, but Tesa, your book is filled with so many similar untrue judgmental statements that it cannot be trusted as reliable in any sense of the word. Your critics I see have also been hard on you and rightfully so literarily speaking. But I just wanted to point out to anyone who might read this, that your book is filled with inaccurate statements and judgments that are simply not true even in the general sense, this being just one example. I gathered from your book that you have been personally severely injured by judgmental un-Christ like SDA people, which of course are out there and are in all denominations. I bet there are a few in the congregation you now attend which is Catholic to my understanding. The fact that you consider your statements as wise, truthful, honest and insightful is beyond reasoning for me. I think I deserve an apology for the hundreds of untrue statements about me because I am a Seventh day- Adventist, you know me personally, and you know that I am not like the people you describe in your book as true SDA Christians. You are such a good writer, and you could have written and very good novel using this subject matter. But what you have done is shameful Tesa, and you need to apologize for your book and the untold damage that you are causing with the inaccurate untrue things you have said, this being just one of hundreds of things that are simply untrue. Authors name is on the book as well, and if he is reading this, he owes me an apology too. We were good friends not long ago. Did we treat you like your book says we do?

2. I don't think it is fair to attack the SDA Church in general regarding righteousness by faith. Fundamental belief number 10 "This faith which receives salvation comes through the divine power of the Word and is the gift of God's grace." It is clearly in the official teachings of the church that we are saved by grace alone and you consistently attack the church for not teaching this and claim that we are primarily based on righteousness by works. You might be getting confused because the bible also teaches that faith without works is dead. There is lots of room for discussion on this topic.

3. I do not believe you are being fair regarding the use of what "Adventist believe" or "Adventist teach". In fact, your book consistently offended me personally whenever you claim some thing that "they" teach when in fact, I am part of "they", and you never asked me. But the worst of it is, that you do not make the distinction between your opinion of something the church believes in and what the church officially teaches.

4. You appear to have misnamed the book. It seems clear to me that your book is about why Tesa and Author Beem left the SDA church and your book appears to relate an exhaustive outpouring of your rationalizing your way out of the denomination. A better title would have been "Its NOT OK to be a Seventh day Adventist". Your attempt to get people who have left the church to read your book by your title seems misleading as I would guess that most people who leave the SDA church, or any other church for that matter, is that they have drifted away from spending time with God personally. God can find people anywhere they are if that person is seeking Him. No where does the SDA Church teach that it is not OK to be an SDA, and your title implies in a negative way that the church teaches this.

5. You appear to have missed out on what I consider to be a fundamental spiritual truth regarding laws and/or commandments. It is my opinion that all "law" is an attempt by God to improve our situation and give us a happy life, not God trying to make us worthy or good enough to save eternally. People in general seem to really like salvation by works because then you can feel like you deserve eternal life and the blessings surrounding this. Its the American way after all to work hard for what you get. The confusing, seemingly irrational, ceremonial laws such as "don't boil a calf in its mother milk", for instance, still would have had at its root, some element of improving the law abiding persons life, though certainly I would not know what that is. But I believe as a Seventh-day Adventist that all laws or commands of any kind given by God were and are given for the benefit of mankind, not to make us worthy of heaven. Jesus did obey all of these laws however, and in doing so, believing in him give us the right to be called sons of God and God views us as if we actually did keep them, and as such we are righteous if we trust in Him. But lets not get confused about the purpose of the law. They are for our benefit. They cannot save us.

6. You forgot to mention a few paramount things about the Sabbath. It was not first given on Mount Sinai as your book implies. It was given by God on day 7 of the earths creative existence and both Adam and God celebrated it on that day before sin or transgression of the law was ever experienced. God kept it in heaven, Adam in the garden, Jesus did while on earth and I believe God is still keeping it today. Not for some legal requirement. It made God happy and it was helpful to rest from His work in creation and it should make us happy to rest from our busy lives one day out of... Read more ›

159 of 207 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I feel sad for this author and the people they are misleading..., October 29, 2008

By 

Shawna (CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: It's Ok Not to be a Seventh-Day Adventist (Paperback)

I must start by saying that I have only read about half the book so far but really felt like I needed to speak up. Many of the facts in this book are taken way out of context. Some of the really important quotes that seem controversial aren't even referenced so you can't tell where they came from.

I am not saying that the Adventists have it ALL right by any means but I think you have to be careful not to judge an entire religion by SOME of the people in it. Everyone is human.

I, like the authors, was raised Adventist but fell away from the church many times. I bought this book hoping to find some proof that the end times wouldn't be as bad as Adventists say. What I found in this book is much history but many things out of context, sometimes the authors are grasping at straws to make a point. Example: Book states Ellen White wrote in Spiritual Gifts that Satan repented and that God would not forgive him. The authors then state that to Ellen white..."Satan was in reality a repentant victim and God's mercy was not big enough to cover his sin" WHOA! No where did Ellen White say that. Yes, she did say his sin had been so great that God could not blot it out (this is what they took out of context) but a few paragraphs later it explains itself, God knew Satan's heart. She didn't say God's mercy was not big enough.

I am not saying Ellen White never made any mistakes, on the contrary she has written some questionable passages. This review isn't about Ellen White it is merely about the fact that the authors material needs to be very carefully reviewed and researched for yourself.

They also rag on the Adventists about perfectionism and salvation by works. Let's go to the Bible for a couple verses:

1Jn 3:9: "whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin
James 2:17, 20: "even so faith, it if hath not works, is dead, being alone", "...faith without works is dead"

Romans and the whole idea of faith, works, salvation can be very confusing because some verses seem to work against each other because it does say that faith is what saves you through Jesus. Adventists do not believe you have to be an Adventist to be saved but you do have to follow the truth.

PLEASE DO NOT JUST TAKE THE AUTHORS WORD FOR THE MATERIAL AS IT IS NOT ALL ACCURATE, RESEARCH FOR YOURSELF!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, October 5, 2011

By 

HoustonReviewer (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Ok Not to be a Seventh-Day Adventist (Paperback)

The Beems are very sloppy with historical details. They fail to footnote in such a way that people can evaluate sources for themselves. They fail to use credible sources.

They make major historical errors, such as the claim that

"Most SDA's are completely unaware that the Church of God Seventh-day, Advent Christian Church, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Worldwide Church of God, 7th day Sabbath Creationists, the First day Adventists and the Second Adventists are all children of the same movement."

Most Adventists know well that Miller's movement gave birth to the Advent Christian Church. This point is made in every history of the subject. But the rest is mistaken. The Jehovah's Witnesses were not part of the same movement; their founder, Charles Taze Russell, wasn't even born until 1852. The Worldwide Church of God wasn't part of the Millerite movement; it was founded in 1933 by Herbert W. Armstrong, who was born in 1892. The Church of God (Seventh-Day) was an offshoot from Sabbatarian Adventism that rejected the leadership of James and Ellen White; that history is covered in SDA courses on church history and Ellen White. As to 7th Day Sabbath Creationists, maybe she means the Creation 7th Day Adventists, who left the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1988.

Lots of books have been written on Millerism by fair and reliable historians, including, most recently, David Rowe, God's Strange Work: William Miller and the End of the World. That's a better place for the interested non-Adventist to start.

Who is the intended audience of the book? This is really confusing. Teresa has said elsewhere it was former Adventists who didn't get "the real truth." And yet the preface begins, "Have you ever wondered about this nice but unusual, vegetarian, Saturday-churchgoing people? You may have met an Adventist" in various ways (xi). Is that how you begin a book for former Adventists?

Elsewhere, the Beems speak of a missionary mandate:

"No one is doing the Adventists a favor by allowing them to believe lies. We must bring them the truth of the gospel." (xvi)

The material is organized around a debunking of what the Beems regard as the "pillars" of Adventism: "Ellen White as prophetess, The Three Angels' Message and Sanctuary Doctrine and lastly the Sabbath Doctrine" (64). But Ellen White is not one of the "pillar doctrines" of Adventism. Here's how Ellen herself spoke of the "pillars" or "landmarks":

"The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God's people upon the earth, [also] the first and second angels' messages and the third, unfurling the banner on which was inscribed, `The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.' One of the landmarks under this message was the temple of God, seen by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the ark containing the law of God. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God's law. The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks. All this cry about changing the old landmarks is all imaginary" (CW 30).

I find it interesting that they devoted so much time to Ellen White an important figure, one whom Adventists do believe to have had the gift of prophecy, but not a pillar or landmark doctrine) and yet say nothing about the Adventist teaching on the nature of man and conditional immortality.

I also find it interesting that the authors, who say, "We must bring them the truth of the gospel" (xvi), say nothing about Adventist discussions about the gospel. There is no mention of 1888, of E. J. Waggoner, of A. T. Jones, of Desmond Ford or Robert Brinsmead, of righteousness by faith or justification by faith-subjects that have been the focus of so much debate within Adventism! Yet they cavalierly say Adventists know nothing about the gospel, and are living in despair, burdened by legalism.

Their depiction of Adventism is very dated. Adventist schools do not shun competition (235); most have intramural sports and many, if not most, also have teams that play non-Adventist schools. Contrary to the list on pp. 250-251, Adventists have no problem voting their conscience at the polls (Adventist conference presidents don't issue voter's guides). Lots of Adventists wear jewelry these days (for good or ill). Most Adventists don't send their kids to church schools (ditto). Adventists watch Christian (and non-Christian) TV. Many Adventists love Billy Graham and C. S. Lewis. Most Adventists don't fret or worry about the end times-they believe the return of Jesus is "the blessed hope." Adventists use their imaginations (just look at those prophecy seminar brochures).

For a book that's supposed to be about helping former Adventists adjust, there's no guidance for where they might go. The authors thank a Baptist pastor and an Assemblies of God pastor at the beginning. Those churches have very different views on spiritual gifts. The Beems don't give their former Adventist readers any guidance on this. Or on the subject of other churches' views on death (a major difference). Or on interpretation of prophecy (is Dispensationalism taught in Scripture?).

And what about the Catholic church? After several years of checking out the evangelical world, the Beems became Catholic--around the same time their book was being published, it would seem. So which gospel do they want former Adventists to embrace-the Baptist gospel or the teachings of the Council of Trent? What do they say about Catholic visionaries like Anne Catherine Emmerich? Or Medjugorje? Or Catholic legalism? Or purgatory, or works of satisfaction, or indulgences? Or Catholic schools (that could perhaps also be described as a "lockdown system to keep families in the organization" (235))?

I think after reading this book a former Adventist may well pat him or herself on the back and say, "See, I was right!" But will they have any sense of where to go next? I don't think so.

But that's not really the point, I think. This book isn't about former Adventists. It isn't about current Adventists. It isn't about non-Adventists. It is about Teresa and Arthur. It is really about their need to get off their chest some frustrations and to come to some sort of closure about their Adventist experience. Some people need to do that.