LEARNING THE (ADVENTIST) LINGO words or references Adventist Sabbath? Pathfinders? Haystacks? How confusing— events my family doesn’t know about.” well, at least for those of us who weren’t raised Adventist. The Adventist subculture and lingo is fun and makes Adventists unique. There’s a arlier in my life, I certainly wasn’t familiar with these things. sense of unity in these things, They didn’t ring a bell for me like they might for others. I was and even when someone is new to this group called the “Seventh-day Adventists,” who, unfamiliar with them, it’ll all as far as I knew, ate strange foods and didn’t have fun on the make sense eventually as they weekend. Coming into Adventism was sort of like walking into a become fluent. room where the people in it are either playing a board game you don’t understand or speaking a language you don’t speak. There are certain norms and expectations that are definitely not negative things—just different! When I was about the age of 11, I was brought into the Adventist sphere of influence by a family member who began attending an Adventist church. Soon enough, I too was attending the same church and found myself in Vacation Bible School, an Adventist middle school, and Pathfinders. One overarching thing everyone spoke of was the Sabbath, which was a completely new word for me. Prior to Adventism I was raised non-denominational, so the idea that on the same day I went to church also meant I couldn’t Micah Rose is a compartake in so many activities, like watching certain movies/shows, was very odd to my younger self. Many times when I was told “You munication major from Alpharetta, Georgia, can’t do that—it’s Sabbath” or “We can’t go there today” I would actually get upset and heavily question this new church I was going attending Union College in to. However, eventually I came to understand the reasons why and Lincoln, Nebraska. became just as used to it as those raised following the Sabbath. I came to learn that Sabbath is not just a day of rules or no fun; it’s a day to observe what God has given us, and a day to rest as He did upon the same day. I know I’m not the only one who has had this experience. Many others have found themselves in culture shock when first encountering Adventism. A friend informed me of her transition into Adventism and what struck her the most: she was raised Presbyterian, a Protestant denomination that greatly differs from Adventism. She stated, “It was weird; definitely not what I was used to. The theology was really new, including the idea that the dead don’t go to heaven upon death. But the theology wasn’t the only weird thing to me. People used lingo I just wasn’t used to. Names for food, events and other things associated with Adventism were constantly thrown at me, which was a little alienating. I eventually came to know these words, either from being around other Adventists long enough to learn them, or by asking for explanations. After a while, I too was using the Adventist lingo. You just become sort of used to it all, and it becomes new and exciting. Now I’m the one that uses ‘weird’
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10 OUTLOOKMAG.ORG MAY 2022
If somebody is new to Adventism and does not understand these terms, help them out! A good way to do so is to explain what they mean. Special-K Loaf
A baked loaf made from Special-K cereal
Haystacks
The Adventist spin on taco salad
General Conference Session
World church business meeting every five years
Pathfinders
The Adventist co-ed version of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts
Ellen G. White
Co-founder of the Seventhday Adventist Church
Big Franks
Vegetarian hot dogs
