I am ignorant as to the nature of seventh day adventist. Is it a denomination accepted by the majority of US Christians, or is it a cult, on the lines of jehovahs witness? Do they have any glaring ideological differences. The idea of a christian school could be nice(i.e. no gunners, collaborative, etc, etc), but I was under the impression that SDA wasn't standard christian. Please inform me. 🙂
More LLU actions, time for thedoctor8706 to make another entrance
😛 SDA is not considered a cult, but a mainstream protestant religion. It has a lot in common with many other protestant religions, the biggest unique quality being that SDA's celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday. Jehovah's Witness is NOT a good comparison at all. Basically picture protestants who go to church on Saturday morning.
They have some odd cultish qualities about them (no drinking/smoking of any kind, no meat) and they also have parts of Jehovah's witness about them (Some woman name emily white apparently received inspiration from God and her book is sort of on the same grounds as the Bible).
I could talk about this all day lol. The lifestyle agreements such as abstaining from alcohol and smoking are mainly health lifestyles, not religious doctrine. I eat meat/drink caffiene all the time. It's not as healthy, but hey, Dr. Pepper is too good to tack on a few extra years onto my life haha. I actually think it's pretty sad how some Adventists claim this health message of abstaining from certain foods, then they pig out on super high fatty diets loaded with cheese & carbs. It is true though, if you look at the people who adhere to certain health policies that the SDA church preaches, they are some of the healthiest, longest lived people in America. Loma Linda is considered a blue zone, having the second highest rates of longevity in the US.
But the school is very open to non-christians (they have jews, atheists, etc...). Even their weekly chapel meeting is very non-denominational in that it just teaches general principals that many religions would agree with. I think it has been said that it is 50% SDA and 50% other (though preference is given to Christians of any denomination)
Loma Linda's Adcom does first look at SDA's, then at Christians in general, but that doesn't mean the
accept SDA's first. They just get first looks. Our class this year is indeed about 50:50, and even next year's upcoming class had a good mix of religious backgrounds accepted on the first day. (with SDA's predominating for obvious reasons). But the school does accept a big background of applicants. Just know that if you came here, don't be surprised when your teacher's pray, you pray on rounds, etc.
As for there not being gunners.... get out of here! if anything I can imagine this school to be worse because not only will you have gunners, but these people will be thinking that they are doing it for God and will have even less shame in being cut-throat. As you probably know, christian ideals don't always transfer over into christians' lives.
I'll be honest, when I first got here, I thought my class was full of a bunch of stuck up pricks, to put it bluntly. But that was my insecurity of starting med school. Once everyone settled in, we have one of the most accepting and collaborative classes I could imagine, it's crazy. Everyone exchanges notes, teaches each other in labs, pitches in to study before tests... I have never been without help if I needed it. Obviously there are the two or three lone wolves who have their own thing going, but for the most part, our glass is very "non-gunner-ish" and not cut throat at all.
No offense to anybody that goes to Loma Linda, but that just sounds awful.
You must have missed my follow up posts to those. Those statements are false. There is meat/caffiene everywhere if you need a fix. I eat meat on a daily basis and plenty of different restaurants are within 5 mins of my house. (Need I mention In-N-Out again???? I eat there way too much...) Coffee is served in the hospital. They even had free coffee in church this week. Not the fake stuff, but fresh ground beans right in front of you with about 1,000 different shots or creamer options lol.
I am under the impression that SDA, especially in the last 40 years, has become very similar to other mainstream protestants and is not so cultish in nature. I imagine it is pretty accepting of baptist, methodist, presyb, and non-denominational Christians. Any other thoughts on this.
This. I have a lot of SDA & nonSDA friends alike here, and no one has issues or passes judgment on anyone else. It's quite nice actually, having a range of views. No one pushes views on anyone else, unless it is asked for or welcomed.
I post in the Loma Linda threads a lot, not because I'm getting defensive or anything, there just seems to be a general misunderstanding of what goes down here, and I want anyone to have a good idea of what to expect. True there are some obvious turn offs to people, and that's understandable. I would just hate for someone to jeopardize their medical education or not give this great school a chance, based on some fallacy. It's a Christian university, and you would have to be ok with that, but it's not like some fenced in pavillion with the end game being drinking a spiked punch bowl for unified transcendence.
