Questions About Seventh-day Adventists
    Occasionally, people confuse us with other religious groups. Or they hear things about us that are  inaccurate. Earlier, we addressed two such misconceptions: that Adventists believe we alone will be saved and that we believe is salvation through good works ( legalism ).
    Now we'd like to answer a few more of the questions people sometimes ask us.

Q. Are you the church that does not believe in blood transfusions?
A. No. You may be confusing us with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Q. Don't you have a lot of churches in Utah?
A. We do have a number of churches in the state of Utah. But you may be confusing us with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormans ), headquartered in Salt Lake City. A possible source of the confusion may be that the Mormans abbreviate their church as the LDS church - and we often abbreviate ours as the SDA church.

Q. Aren't Seventh-day Adventists a cult?
A. As noted in the section on what we believe, we most certainly believe in the gifts of the Spirit, including the gift of tongues. However, we believe that when Paul discusses this gift in 1 Corinthians 14, his clear emphasis is on the communication of an intelligibel message. He speaks against the use of a meaningless gibberish. We believe that the gift of tongues at Pentecost gave the disciples a miraculous ability to speak languages they had never learned before so that they could witness to those from other countries who were visiting Jerusalem.

Q. Do Adventists have women pastors?
A. A few women currently serve as Adventist pastors, though the church has not yet ordained any women to the gospel ministry. The possibility of ordaining women to the ministry is being carefully studied by the church.

Q. Hasn't the Adventist Church a number of times set a date for the second coming of Christ?
A. Though William Miller's movement ( see the section on how Adventists began ) did set a time for the return of Christ - and while it is true that some who joined Miller in looking for Christ to return in the year 1844 later helped establish the Seventh-day Adventist Church - the church itself has never set a date for the second coming. We hold to the Bible teaching that no one can know the exact date of Christ's return. ( See Mark 13:32. )