Misconceptions about the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Explained below are some of the common misconception or misunderstandings that people have about the Adventist Church.
If you would like to clarify any views on the Church, email the Communications Department
Click a link below to view a misconception -
- Do Adventists give and accept blood?
- Do Adventists meet on Saturday just to be different?
- Do Adventists promote alternative health remedies and diets above conventional medical treatments?
- Do Adventists believe they need to do good works to go to heaven?
- Do Adventists believe Ellen G. White and her writings to be as important as God and the Bible?
- Do people have to be vegetarians to be Adventists?
- Do Adventists believe that only 144,000 people will go to heaven and that they will only be Seventh-day Adventists?
- Do Adventists consider themselves to be the only true, remnant church?
- Do Adventists belong to a cult?
- Do Adventists believe in a pre-determined date for the second coming of Jesus Christ?
- Do Adventists dislike Catholic people?
- Do Adventists have their own edition of the Bible called the Clear Word?
- Do Adventists believe in the same things as Jehovah's Witnesses?
- Do Adventists think that the media persecuted the church during the Lindy Chamberlain incident?
The Sydney Adventist Hospital has its own Pathology Department where patrons can donate blood.
Often at regional meetings, the Adventist Church will invite groups such as the Australian Red Cross Blood Service to collect blood from church members. Adventists in southern Queensland have been donating blood at their regional meetings for more than 30 years.
Our statement on blood transfusion
Seventh-day Adventists value life and have a commitment to health and healing.
They also value freedom of religious belief.
Adventists see no biblical evidence to discourage the use of blood and blood products in medical treatment.
Most Adventists will donate blood for others, and personally accept a blood transfusion if it is deemed necessary for their health care.
For more than 100 years, Adventist hospitals worldwide have used blood transfusions as needed for medical purposes.
Several major Adventist hospitals perform organ transplantation, with Loma Linda University Medical Centre's infant heart transplantation program perhaps the most famous.
Adventists should not be confused with other groups who refuse blood and blood products on grounds of conscience.
- Dr Percy Harrold, former associate director of Adventist health ministries for the Adventist Church in the South Pacific
Our statement on health fanaticism
The Seventh-day Adventist Church does not condone removing a person from hospital care or failing to seek professional medical care.
"The church does not condone extreme diets, the removal of children from medical care or the failure to seek advice from health professionals," says Bevan Hokin, pathology director at Sydney Adventist Hospital in Wahroonga, New South Wales. "We believe in health care."
"The choice of diet is a personal matter," says Melissa Harris, former associate director of the Adventist Health department in the South Pacific. "Adventists encourage rational and responsible decision-making about what foods to eat. Diet alone is not a treatment for disease or illness."
Adventists believe only Jesus’ death and His resurrection make it possible for people to overcome sin and be forgiven. God provided the ultimate sacrifice so we may have the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation can be achieved only through believing in Jesus and what He did.
Adventists also believe that the way we live in faith should reflect the love and gratitude we feel for Jesus and His sacrifice. This means, among other things, helping people in need, observing the seventh-day Sabbath, and treating our bodies as “temples of God”. These ‘good works’ are a response to the assurance of salvation we have received because of our faith in Jesus, not in themselves a passport to heaven.