9 May 2019 | Mjøndalen, Norway [Tor Tjeransen]
Christian Ødegård had barely heard about Seventh-day Adventists. However, while serving in the Norwegian armed forces, he saw a war movie that made a huge impact on him. The film was Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge with the young Adventist paramedic, Desmond Doss, as the main character.
Christian Ødegård [Photo: Tor Tjeransen/ADAMS]The way Doss stood up for his Christian convictions really impressed the young Norwegian soldier. He was fascinated that the American soldier in the movie kept the Sabbath and was a vegetarian. Over lunch one day, his older brother mentioned that almost all the teachers in the school where he was currently doing substitute teaching were vegetarians.
That made Christian think about Doss and his lifestyle. He knew the school his brother taught at was a Christian school, so he asked, “Is there any chance these teachers also keep the Sabbath?”
“Of course,” his brother replied, “They are Adventists.”
Christian realised that there was a church full people with the same convictions as Doss in his local community. He decided to at least check it out and drove up to the church parking lot on a Sunday, confident that he would not meet anyone there on that day. To his surprise, there were many Pathfinders outside the church.
What followed was an interesting conversation with the Pathfinder leaders inviting Christian to church the next Sabbath. He came and enjoyed it so much that he has attended ever since and is now a baptised member.
But let Christian tell the story for himself in this video report.
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Deana Stojkovic, associate editor
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tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division.