I hope you don't mind if I join this discussion.
I'm SDA, but have not attended in over 1-1/2 yrs. & not regularly in 2 or 3 yrs. My beef?
There are several issues.
1) Although SDA's love theology, they also PRIDE themselves with theology that they are right & everybody else (other denominations) are wrong! I can't stand this attitude. If it says in Ellen G. White's writing (which it does's sometimes) or if it doesn't say in the SDA Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, then it doesn't exist. Period. End of their discussion.
2) Although SDA's are very cliquish & lavish their love on regular members, they are very cold people toward newcomers & toward strangers. This may also be true of other denominations...I'm not really sure, but I really dislike the cliques.
3) I hear too much criticism from long-term members over things like smoking, eating meat & milk, wearing jewelery, violating the Sabbath by buying a coffee, etc.....like where is the love of Jesus in them? One Adventis's wife had just died from lung cancer from smoking but the congregation could not rub the issue in hard enough for the grieving spouse who did not smoke, & rub it in & rub it in, even though his wife had just died & he was grieving! Where is the compassion of SDA's?
4) I hope this is not a statement all SDA's believe, but one elder said to me that He would not believe his eyes if Jesus suddenly appeared to him in the church. We were discussing visions & dreams. Some people have the gift of visions & dreams. Some do not. Obviously this elder didn't but he said that Christians are of sound mind & do not go about "seeing" things. That rally offended me & alerted me that SDA's do not generally believe in visions & dreams other than what Ellen G. White experienced.
5) Although spiritual warfare is real & the enemy abounds at attacking Christians, SDA's do not in whole believe in spiritual warfare prayer. Huh? Why wouldn't you? You believe in the Bible. Why wouldn't you also believe that demons are real, that they exist, and that they need to be dealt with through spiritual warfare prayer?
6) I dislike having a sermon every week for 1 hr. to 1-1/2 hr. What's even worse...when pastors change over & the elders take their shot at sermonizing for that length of time....gets even more strenuous on my nerves. If the pastor was good as sermonizing, I wouldn't mind it a bit! But the pastor's in my church could take some lessons from the pastors on TV who do 1/2 hr or 1 hr. segment. A lot of my pastor's sermons sound more like he has a beef toward one particular person in the congregation & is harping on it for 1 hr. to 1-1/2 hrs.
7) I dislike having only 20 min. to 1/2 hr. praise & worship time. I came from a church before joining SDA's where worship was an hour & an hour really doesn't seem like that much time to me. But to me, isn't it more important to have more praise & worship time than an excessively long sermon time?
Well in general, I find SDA very cold & heartless people. They have their own set of beliefs & others don't measure up to them. They like to argue. They like to debate. They like to win their debates using Ellen G. White quotes, whether she was quoted accurately or not.
But having said all that, I would also like to take a minute to tell you what I do like about SDA's.
1) I like the fact that they study the Bible & that they devote a lot of time to studying it. Very commendable. Very few denominations do such a wonderful job as the SDA's. I think this is what attracted me to the SDA church in the first place.
2) I like keeping the Sat. Sabbath as oppposed to the Sun. Sabbath. That is a precious doctrine that I totally agree with. I wish more denominations also had a Sat. Sabbath church like the 7th Day Baptists do.
Ok...so these seem to be the only 2 really good qualities about SDA's that I treasure. I would add that I also like the fact that SDA's accept a prophet as their leader but I dislike the way they idolize her. And I also dislike their closed minds that there are other prophets out there like her.