Thank you for this post and thank you everyone that responded. Interestingly enough, as far back as the 1880s, D. M. Canright observed that youth raised in other denominations that leave their parents' church typically join another denomination. Not so with youth raised SDA who then leave. Young people raised in the SDA church, Canright said, are far more likely to become "infidels" (his word) than join another denomination. I think you've all hit on why: having had the errors of others pointed out all your life, it's not something you're going to go out and embrace once you leave Adventism behind.

I was a fifth-generation Adventist. I am now a pagan. I don't worship the devil because I don't believe the devil (as presented by SDAs) exists. I still worship the Creator but am not a member of one of the three Abrahamic religions (the definition of a pagan.)

I have heard former SDAs say they threw everything out for a number of years and then came back, accepting that we are now under the new covenant and they're all happily worshipping on Sunday, confident in their salvation. My situation is different. I have studied my way out. There is no way I can ever come back because I know too much now. I know too much to ever be a Christian again and certainly way to much to EVER be an SDA. After reading books such as "Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed At All" and "The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold," there is no way I can go back to being a Christian. I know too much. Furthermore, I find it very telling that the ones who are most likely to BE "infidels" are Bible scholars: those who have actually studied it all out, rather than just accepted the word of another what to believe.

At first, learning the lie of Ellen White, left me floundering. I was so used to having a long list of things to do and from which to abstain. The weird thing, though, is that for the first time in my life, I am not laboring under a heavy burden of guilt-guilt-guilt. I am happy. I am free to enjoy life and my conscience is clear before the Creator.