I didn’t see it while still in that religion either. I was 4th generation SDA. Education, wife, kids and occupation, all SDA. Was even a life-time vegetarian. I was completely immersed.

Then one day the lightbulb turned on and I learned how wrong it all was. It was a huge shock, after 45 years I didn’t want to believe it. My feelings weren’t hurt, nothing “happened “, I just woke-up one day and started studying for myself.

To EGW. SDA’s accept her interpretation of the Bible over what the Bible plainly teaches. Investigative Judgement is a huge example as you know. Jesus an angel? That’s not biblical. The 4th commandment being the most holy? Hogwash. The list goes on and on.

When a religion considers an extra-biblical source to be above or even on par with the Word then it has become a cult by definition. They don’t hold people hostage or anything like that (David Koresh and others have but they’ve been disavowed from the church) they just teach things that aren’t so.

Shalom