{"id":18561,"date":"2010-04-30T16:21:57","date_gmt":"2010-05-01T00:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=18561"},"modified":"2010-04-30T17:10:10","modified_gmt":"2010-05-01T01:10:10","slug":"seeking-a-sanctuary-seventh-day-adventism-and-the-american-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=18561","title":{"rendered":"Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventism and the American Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the best book<\/a> written on the Seventh-Day Adventist church.<\/p>\n

A much darker glance at Adventism is provided in We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda<\/a><\/em>. It tells the story of Adventist leaders in Rwanda who participated in the genocide of Tutsis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s weird that I am on this kick of reading books about my former church. When I was an Adventist, I could not wait to get out of the church and into the wider world where I would do magnificent and influential things.<\/p>\n

Now I’m in the big world as well as the small world of Orthodox Judaism and I’m thinking about all the pretty girls I left behind at Pacific Union College. <\/p>\n

I’m wondering why I was so eager to get away. Sure, the Church seemed dumb, but the girls were hot. So why run, bucko?<\/p>\n

In that small community, I was known. Everybody who met me knew that I was not in the popular crowd. So as a marginal Adventist, I dreamed of a much much better world outside the church where everybody wouldn’t already know I was a loser who couldn’t say yes to Cindy’s sixth grade invite note dropped on my desk<\/a>, “Would you like to go with me?”<\/p>\n

I had no idea when I converted to Judaism in 1993 that I would carry all my anti-social, self-destructive tendencies into my new faith. I thought I was leaving old Luke behind. I thought I was wedded to Dennis Prager<\/a> and that I was going to be a good Jew<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I thought that all those lonely nights listening to love songs would be a thing of the past. Air Supply<\/a> would no longer be my favorite music group. My tastes would become more sophisticated, more Jewish and more like Prager’s.<\/p>\n

I thought I could get away from who I was by converting to a new religion. I thought the girls outside of Adventism would be even hotter. I thought that my chances for success would be even better.<\/p>\n

I imagined I’d no longer be held back by ridiculous strictures and my inner super wonderfulness would bloom and the world would pay due diligence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the best book written on the Seventh-Day Adventist church. A much darker glance at Adventism is provided in We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda. It tells the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,21],"tags":[29761,20374,22043,1132,12188,22044],"class_list":["post-18561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventist","category-personal","tag-dennis-prager","tag-destructive-tendencies","tag-favorite-music-group","tag-orthodox-judaism","tag-seventh-day-adventism","tag-those-lonely-nights"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t