"You need to believe that your religion is the chosen one [if you’re going to be willing] to stay and make sacrifices to keep the religion going. The assimilators in Loma Linda and their children will be gone. It’s the Africans and Third World Adventists and the fundamentalists who will take over."

Those are the words of Luke Ford, son of defrocked Adventist theologian Desmond Ford, in a recent interview that was posted on the blog progressiveadventism.com. Luke Ford left the Seventh-day Adventist Church several years ago, ultimately embracing Judaism. But his comments definitely touched a nerve among current Adventist blog readers.

"Is it really true that the children of liberal Adventists are destined to leave the church?" asked one reader. "Do…conservative Adventist parents have a better ’retention rate’? Is there actual data on this?"

"You need to believe in the uniqueness and absolute remnancy of Adventism to stay and teach your children to stay," said another reader. "Otherwise, your kids will see that your Adventism is simply cultural Adventism, and many of them will choose some other club to belong to—like Judaism."

Although an Adventism that majors in minors provides little certainty of personal salvation and is heavy on triumphalism but low on joy would seem to be a major turnoff—and is to many—the reality is that liberals/progressives face a formidable challenge in retaining their offspring for the faith. Conservatives/traditionalists have a lot going for them, such as:

1. Black-and-white thinking. Life without shades of gray is in many ways less fraught with hazards. It’s straightforward. It’s simple and safe. The individual doesn’t have to make many decisions. It’s merely obedience versus disobedience. Just learn the rules. Even if the requirements are so galling that a youth leaves the Church—as many of my peers did—they know "what’s right." And some have even expressed their intention of returning at some point down the track—like when they see a national Sunday law being considered.

2. Absolute certainty. Black-and-white thinkers know what they believe. They specialize in answers more than in questions. They’re apologists/defenders not critics/questioners. The Church is the repository of truth rather than an outfitting station to equip us for further exploration. Truth is spoken of in terms of the already-discovered rather than in terms of the ongoing quest. Truth is to be safeguarded and shared, not altered and added to.

3. Total support. Conservatives/traditionalists support the Church’s beliefs and practices. They may acknowledge that individual members fail to live out perfectly the grand precepts of the faith. But they don’t question the precepts. Liberals/progressives, in comparison, not only acknowledge human frailty in living out the precepts but also acknowledge human frailty in the formulation of the precepts. Thus, for example, they may find great beauty in the concept of the Sabbath but may be repulsed by the idea of the Sabbath being the ultimate test of loyalty. They’re not comfortable with do-it-or-God-will-kill-you incentives to comply. So in many cases they don’t want their children to accept the faith exactly the way it’s been traditionally packaged by our denomination. It’s difficult to simultaneously fight with your faith and fight for your faith.

4. Life-and-death issues. Liberals/progressives believe that God is rather broad-minded. Although relatively few might call themselves universalists, they think it likely that a lot of people will be saved. They focus more on Revelation’s great multitude that defies numbering rather than on the narrow way described by Jesus. By contrast, conservatives/traditionalists see one’s spiritual walk as a life-and-death matter, and relatively few are going to make it. The expectations are daunting. My father—a lifetime Adventist, a conservative pillar in his local church, a man who sacrificed immensely to ensure that his six children received an Adventist education—told me, as bad health was limiting his quality of life, that he would welcome death if he could just be sure he’d be saved. Tragic.

Although the children of conservative/traditionalist church members may leave the faith, the foregoing factors (and many more could be cited) ensure that their departure will be fraught with fear—fear strong enough that it actually prevents many from leaving, however unsatisfying they find their spiritual experience.

Thus trapped, some seem to take delight in ensuring that if they aren’t enjoying their spiritual life no one else should be allowed to enjoy spiritual life either. Others, however, seek to find a satisfying spiritual existence. They begin to redefine their faith, holding on to what they see as core values but winnowing the wheat from what they perceive to be the chaff.

They build on the foundations their spiritual forebears laid down. But the faith structure that emerges has an altogether different feel and different face. Although they may find their redefined faith dramatically more satisfying, their very openness and their willingness to test and question may mean that their children will feel free to move much further or in an altogether different spiritual direction. Moreover, their openness means they’ll be unlikely to stand in their children’s way—which stands in sharp contrast to the guilt-tripping a "wayward" child might expect from a parent with a more black-and-white worldview.

In one sense, Luke Ford may be more correct than many of us would like to think.

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