Comic from Pickles, by Brian Crane
(click image to enlarge)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Reviewing the Adventist Review
October 22, 2009
Vol. 186, No. 30
www.adventistreview.org/index.php?issue=2009-1530
REVIEWS
This issue, with two exceptions (three if you count the lead story in KidsView) was worthy of publication. The IN BOX provided a range of thoughtful responses from readers; Roy Adam’s editorial, FOOT WASHING: REMOVING THE EMBARRASSMENT, was generous and inclusive; AFTER by Kimberly Luste Maran was a cautionary tale of needless worry; WORLD NEWS AND PERSPECTIVES included the amazing humanitarian work of ADRA and an appeal from Jan Paulsen for young adults to push their agenda, politically and theologically; Reinder Bruinsma wrote a lovely ode to foot washing.
FOCUS ON THE REAL ISSUES, is a timely admonition by Ellen White “not to engage in controversy” with enemies lest we “be diverted and hindered from our work”. HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY by Handysides and Landless is a MUST READ. Jimmy Phillips asks readers to “adopt the Jesus model by taking healing action before we challenge people’s appearance, lifestyle, and theology”.
A HOLY SPELL by Michael W. Campbell is a carefully researched account of Adventist worship practices before the Adventist Church was formally organized in 1863. It’s a MUST READ.
Monte Salin does his usual excellent job of recommending Christian reading. IN This issue the common theme is evangelism. In WAITING FOR THE KING, Elfriede Volke reflects on her glimpse of the motorcade of Belgium’s King Leopold. She was a girl of six in a crowd of “cast-offs of society” waiting to see a king who never noticed her. It broke her heart.
COMMENTS
There are three pieces in this Review that are poorly written, but they frustrate and sadden me for additional and more important reasons. The first and most egregiously upsetting is the cover story, JUST 144,000? REALY? by Ganoune Diop. The cover promised to untangle “the secret behind the mysterious number”. It didn’t! This was in spite the editorial “help” of Wilona Karimabadi, author of 144K IN CYBERSPACE, the article’s sidebar that equated the 144,000 with other “tough” theological concepts.
First of all, The 144,000 isn’t “a favorite topic of ‘parlor conversation’—particularly on Sabbath afternoons—among Adventists”. It’s only a popular topic for traditional Adventist literalists, thankfully a diminishing minority, who have to reinterpret the number of the “saved”, a very big number in 1863, to mean a much bigger number today—15,000,000 and counting!
As to the attempt to “untangle the secret behind the mysterious number” we have first to “untangle” words such as “stand” and “standing”.
“The 144,000 are able to stand because they worship the Lamb. Notwithstanding the angels who stand in the book of Revelation, humans are able to stand because the Lamb is standing. Revelation 5 tells us that the Lamb was slain but is standing. This refers to Christ’s death and resurrection in apocalyptic language. The concept of victory is central to the entire message of chapter 5. Without the Lamb’s victory, there is no other victory.
“It is no accident that Revelation 14, in referring to the 144,000, describes them as standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion and that they follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Rev. 14:1-5).”
Finally, Diop, concludes, “The number 144,000 is a symbolic number.” Words fail me once again.
A MESSAGE FOR REVELATION’S SAINTS by Hyveith Williams claims her interpretation of Revelation provides a “comfort, encouragement, incentive to believers facing persecution and possible death! What hope for these uncertain times”. Maybe it’s just me, but her preceding paragraphs describing the fiery liqueur “served undiluted into the cup of divine judgment” to those “tormented” souls who have “the mark of the beast”, left me uncomfortable and uncomforted.
Why KISVIEW features the story Jenny, THE LITTLE MILLERITE, who “wasn’t sure about her relationship with Jesus because her experience had been scary”, i.e. Jesus didn’t return on October 22, 1844, is puzzling. Even though she decided to join “a church” when she was 11 and went on “to study her Bible, and to not follow without first asking questions and studying for herself”, the author fails to make explicit the historical significance of story, the lesson to be learned, or the relevance of the story to the kids reading it.
Vol. 186, No. 30
www.adventistreview.org/index.php?issue=2009-1530
REVIEWS
This issue, with two exceptions (three if you count the lead story in KidsView) was worthy of publication. The IN BOX provided a range of thoughtful responses from readers; Roy Adam’s editorial, FOOT WASHING: REMOVING THE EMBARRASSMENT, was generous and inclusive; AFTER by Kimberly Luste Maran was a cautionary tale of needless worry; WORLD NEWS AND PERSPECTIVES included the amazing humanitarian work of ADRA and an appeal from Jan Paulsen for young adults to push their agenda, politically and theologically; Reinder Bruinsma wrote a lovely ode to foot washing.
FOCUS ON THE REAL ISSUES, is a timely admonition by Ellen White “not to engage in controversy” with enemies lest we “be diverted and hindered from our work”. HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY by Handysides and Landless is a MUST READ. Jimmy Phillips asks readers to “adopt the Jesus model by taking healing action before we challenge people’s appearance, lifestyle, and theology”.
A HOLY SPELL by Michael W. Campbell is a carefully researched account of Adventist worship practices before the Adventist Church was formally organized in 1863. It’s a MUST READ.
Monte Salin does his usual excellent job of recommending Christian reading. IN This issue the common theme is evangelism. In WAITING FOR THE KING, Elfriede Volke reflects on her glimpse of the motorcade of Belgium’s King Leopold. She was a girl of six in a crowd of “cast-offs of society” waiting to see a king who never noticed her. It broke her heart.
COMMENTS
There are three pieces in this Review that are poorly written, but they frustrate and sadden me for additional and more important reasons. The first and most egregiously upsetting is the cover story, JUST 144,000? REALY? by Ganoune Diop. The cover promised to untangle “the secret behind the mysterious number”. It didn’t! This was in spite the editorial “help” of Wilona Karimabadi, author of 144K IN CYBERSPACE, the article’s sidebar that equated the 144,000 with other “tough” theological concepts.
First of all, The 144,000 isn’t “a favorite topic of ‘parlor conversation’—particularly on Sabbath afternoons—among Adventists”. It’s only a popular topic for traditional Adventist literalists, thankfully a diminishing minority, who have to reinterpret the number of the “saved”, a very big number in 1863, to mean a much bigger number today—15,000,000 and counting!
As to the attempt to “untangle the secret behind the mysterious number” we have first to “untangle” words such as “stand” and “standing”.
“The 144,000 are able to stand because they worship the Lamb. Notwithstanding the angels who stand in the book of Revelation, humans are able to stand because the Lamb is standing. Revelation 5 tells us that the Lamb was slain but is standing. This refers to Christ’s death and resurrection in apocalyptic language. The concept of victory is central to the entire message of chapter 5. Without the Lamb’s victory, there is no other victory.
“It is no accident that Revelation 14, in referring to the 144,000, describes them as standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion and that they follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Rev. 14:1-5).”
Finally, Diop, concludes, “The number 144,000 is a symbolic number.” Words fail me once again.
A MESSAGE FOR REVELATION’S SAINTS by Hyveith Williams claims her interpretation of Revelation provides a “comfort, encouragement, incentive to believers facing persecution and possible death! What hope for these uncertain times”. Maybe it’s just me, but her preceding paragraphs describing the fiery liqueur “served undiluted into the cup of divine judgment” to those “tormented” souls who have “the mark of the beast”, left me uncomfortable and uncomforted.
Why KISVIEW features the story Jenny, THE LITTLE MILLERITE, who “wasn’t sure about her relationship with Jesus because her experience had been scary”, i.e. Jesus didn’t return on October 22, 1844, is puzzling. Even though she decided to join “a church” when she was 11 and went on “to study her Bible, and to not follow without first asking questions and studying for herself”, the author fails to make explicit the historical significance of story, the lesson to be learned, or the relevance of the story to the kids reading it.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Reviewing the Adventist Review
October 15, 2009
Vol. 189, N. 29
www.adventistreview.org/index.php?issue=2009-1529
GENERAL COMMENTS
I read this issue in “one sitting” (actually in “one lying” in bed, from 4 to 5:30 last Monday morning). Instead of putting me back to sleep as I intended, it was so packed with expressions and comments and editorials that so challenged my thinking that I turned off my alarm clock at got up a half-hour early.
REVIEWS
I am delighted that The Shack by Wm. Paul Young is being discussed and evaluated by Review readers. Grace Connection, a Chico based, loosely affiliated parish of the Paradise Adventist Church, is sponsoring a Paul Young visit to Chico in May of next year.
Approval for an Adventist University is pending in the Paraguayan Congress. The expected approval will enable Dr. Jan Marie NIck, a professor at Loma Linda University, working with Adventists in Paraguay, to establish a nursing program in a country with one nurse for every 10,000 people. It’s reports like this from Elizabeth Lechleitner and Ansel Oliver that make me proud to be an Adventist.
In BEEN THERE—DONE THAT! Gerald A. Klingbeil, as a new “American”, big city Adventist, explores his reaction to cafeteria Adventism, when members have choices with regard to worship services, study groups, and fellowship lunches. He’s concerned that Adventists have “become like tourists, snapping wildly at different motifs, trying to get the most thrilling, exciting, entertaining menu for our Sabbath mornings, but not staying long enough to enjoy the quietness of God’s gentle whisper or the sometimes jarring but badly needed polishing that God’s Spirit is doing on our characters through the brother or sister sitting next to us in that pew”?
Fredrick A. Russell provides a thoughtful and timely admonition regarding VERBAL ANARCHY. “The danger of the growing incivility in our society. . .can move our culture from verbal anarchy into a societal meltdown that will impact us all. . .Civility in discourse is the bedrock of any sane society; it’s nonnegotiable in the body of Christ.”
I’ve grown to love Andrew McChesney! THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S is so personal and honest that he’s destroyed my stereotypical idea of journalists, not to mention Moscow journalists!
“Sasha hung up. But Satan wasn’t going to let me off so easily. After an hour, Sasha called again, asking if I had changed my mind. Then he called again. Sitting at home in front of the computer was boring, especially when I could be out [on Friday night] having fun. As I stared at my computer screen, I knew that if Sasha called one more time, I wouldn’t be able to refuse. I prayed desperately.”
SARAH’S SORROW by Jill Morikone, a music teacher, chronicles her encounter with a little girl who was “standing there all alone in the center of the room, those expressive eyes flooded over, the tears making a trail down her face.” (Warning: Kleenex required.)
COMMENTS
ARE WE KILLING ADVENTIST EDUCATION by Shane Anderson is just plain wrong in his assessment of Adventist education. His list of primary and secondary causes for the decline of enrollment is simply an extension of the thinking that has made the lives of Adventist teachers, parents, and pastors extremely difficult. It’s the old “blame game” played to a different tune.
Speaking as a Professor of Education, a teacher the three years in an Adventist junior high school, a longtime Adventist school board member, and, for one memorable and humbling year, an acting principal of an Adventist elementary school, “the six primary factors behind Adventist educational decline” listed by Anderson reveal his ignorance rather than his expertise.
Make Adventist education free and/or make “full ride” work-study programs available, and Adventist schools, colleges, and universities would be alive and well overnight. These are tough economic times, and Adventist parents and students, out of necessity, have discovered that public schools aren’t the devil’s playgrounds that traditional Adventist mythology has made them out to be. *
To directly reference Anderson’s “factors behind Adventist educational decline”, let me add that I’ve supervised over 1000 elementary and secondary student teachers in 90+ public and private schools and school districts, and I have never encountered more dedicated, better educated, more Christian teachers; more loving, concerned parents; better church support; better administrative leadership; more responsibly conservative school curriculums; and more passionate community support for education than in the Adventist schools I and my children have attended.
Now that I’ve expressed my opinion, here are the words that elicited that response.
“Now that we’ve looked at some secondary causes of the problem of Adventist educational decline--waning commitment to Adventist institutions, tuition costs, and poor marketing--let’s get to the primary causes. I believe the six primary factors behind Adventist educational decline are:
1. The lack of passion among churchgoing members for being a “conservative” Seventh-day Adventist.
2. A misunderstanding of what constitutes biblical discipleship.
3. Poor pastoral support of Adventist education.
4. Poor parenting.
5. The inroads of postmodernism, secularism, and “liberalism” in Adventism.
6. Poor-quality schools.”
WHERE HAVE ALL THE GROWN-UPS GONE? By Kameron Devasher is accompanied with one of the most nauseating pictures on record. It’s an adult, middle-aged man sucking his thumb and attempting to look like he imagines a petulant two-year-old would look when asked to eat his string beans.
Devasher wants Adventists to “reclaim the distinction of being “people of the Book”. He references “the commands of the Lord, through Moses, to ‘impress [his instructions] “on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut. 6:7).
As Moses discovered, this kind of admonition worked only occasionally with the Israelites, even when God was on record as killing off thousands of them when they didn’t get the message.
SO WHERE DID DEATH COME FROM? by Deryl Corbit claims support for the notion that God’s law “requires the death of those who sin”, and that same law required God to kill (I’ll admit “sacrifice sounds better.) part of himself, if you are a Trinitarian, a.k.a. Jesus, who “died in our place, that we might live”. [Corbit’s], “truth’s trump card is not ultimately found in scientifically determining the origin of life, but rather in correctly understanding the origin of death.” Words fail me.
HOW GOD GENTLY LEADS by Esther Block begins with a meaningless but oh so pious cliché that Review editors should banish forever. “Our Sabbath school leader challenged us to let go of the control of all areas of our lives and allow God to be in charge.”
* In the meantime, how about considering before and/or after school religion classes taught by local pastors for students who can’t attend Adventist elementary and secondary schools, and Adventist dormitories for students who attend selected secular colleges and universities?
Vol. 189, N. 29
www.adventistreview.org/index.php?issue=2009-1529
GENERAL COMMENTS
I read this issue in “one sitting” (actually in “one lying” in bed, from 4 to 5:30 last Monday morning). Instead of putting me back to sleep as I intended, it was so packed with expressions and comments and editorials that so challenged my thinking that I turned off my alarm clock at got up a half-hour early.
REVIEWS
I am delighted that The Shack by Wm. Paul Young is being discussed and evaluated by Review readers. Grace Connection, a Chico based, loosely affiliated parish of the Paradise Adventist Church, is sponsoring a Paul Young visit to Chico in May of next year.
Approval for an Adventist University is pending in the Paraguayan Congress. The expected approval will enable Dr. Jan Marie NIck, a professor at Loma Linda University, working with Adventists in Paraguay, to establish a nursing program in a country with one nurse for every 10,000 people. It’s reports like this from Elizabeth Lechleitner and Ansel Oliver that make me proud to be an Adventist.
In BEEN THERE—DONE THAT! Gerald A. Klingbeil, as a new “American”, big city Adventist, explores his reaction to cafeteria Adventism, when members have choices with regard to worship services, study groups, and fellowship lunches. He’s concerned that Adventists have “become like tourists, snapping wildly at different motifs, trying to get the most thrilling, exciting, entertaining menu for our Sabbath mornings, but not staying long enough to enjoy the quietness of God’s gentle whisper or the sometimes jarring but badly needed polishing that God’s Spirit is doing on our characters through the brother or sister sitting next to us in that pew”?
Fredrick A. Russell provides a thoughtful and timely admonition regarding VERBAL ANARCHY. “The danger of the growing incivility in our society. . .can move our culture from verbal anarchy into a societal meltdown that will impact us all. . .Civility in discourse is the bedrock of any sane society; it’s nonnegotiable in the body of Christ.”
I’ve grown to love Andrew McChesney! THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S is so personal and honest that he’s destroyed my stereotypical idea of journalists, not to mention Moscow journalists!
“Sasha hung up. But Satan wasn’t going to let me off so easily. After an hour, Sasha called again, asking if I had changed my mind. Then he called again. Sitting at home in front of the computer was boring, especially when I could be out [on Friday night] having fun. As I stared at my computer screen, I knew that if Sasha called one more time, I wouldn’t be able to refuse. I prayed desperately.”
SARAH’S SORROW by Jill Morikone, a music teacher, chronicles her encounter with a little girl who was “standing there all alone in the center of the room, those expressive eyes flooded over, the tears making a trail down her face.” (Warning: Kleenex required.)
COMMENTS
ARE WE KILLING ADVENTIST EDUCATION by Shane Anderson is just plain wrong in his assessment of Adventist education. His list of primary and secondary causes for the decline of enrollment is simply an extension of the thinking that has made the lives of Adventist teachers, parents, and pastors extremely difficult. It’s the old “blame game” played to a different tune.
Speaking as a Professor of Education, a teacher the three years in an Adventist junior high school, a longtime Adventist school board member, and, for one memorable and humbling year, an acting principal of an Adventist elementary school, “the six primary factors behind Adventist educational decline” listed by Anderson reveal his ignorance rather than his expertise.
Make Adventist education free and/or make “full ride” work-study programs available, and Adventist schools, colleges, and universities would be alive and well overnight. These are tough economic times, and Adventist parents and students, out of necessity, have discovered that public schools aren’t the devil’s playgrounds that traditional Adventist mythology has made them out to be. *
To directly reference Anderson’s “factors behind Adventist educational decline”, let me add that I’ve supervised over 1000 elementary and secondary student teachers in 90+ public and private schools and school districts, and I have never encountered more dedicated, better educated, more Christian teachers; more loving, concerned parents; better church support; better administrative leadership; more responsibly conservative school curriculums; and more passionate community support for education than in the Adventist schools I and my children have attended.
Now that I’ve expressed my opinion, here are the words that elicited that response.
“Now that we’ve looked at some secondary causes of the problem of Adventist educational decline--waning commitment to Adventist institutions, tuition costs, and poor marketing--let’s get to the primary causes. I believe the six primary factors behind Adventist educational decline are:
1. The lack of passion among churchgoing members for being a “conservative” Seventh-day Adventist.
2. A misunderstanding of what constitutes biblical discipleship.
3. Poor pastoral support of Adventist education.
4. Poor parenting.
5. The inroads of postmodernism, secularism, and “liberalism” in Adventism.
6. Poor-quality schools.”
WHERE HAVE ALL THE GROWN-UPS GONE? By Kameron Devasher is accompanied with one of the most nauseating pictures on record. It’s an adult, middle-aged man sucking his thumb and attempting to look like he imagines a petulant two-year-old would look when asked to eat his string beans.
Devasher wants Adventists to “reclaim the distinction of being “people of the Book”. He references “the commands of the Lord, through Moses, to ‘impress [his instructions] “on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut. 6:7).
As Moses discovered, this kind of admonition worked only occasionally with the Israelites, even when God was on record as killing off thousands of them when they didn’t get the message.
SO WHERE DID DEATH COME FROM? by Deryl Corbit claims support for the notion that God’s law “requires the death of those who sin”, and that same law required God to kill (I’ll admit “sacrifice sounds better.) part of himself, if you are a Trinitarian, a.k.a. Jesus, who “died in our place, that we might live”. [Corbit’s], “truth’s trump card is not ultimately found in scientifically determining the origin of life, but rather in correctly understanding the origin of death.” Words fail me.
HOW GOD GENTLY LEADS by Esther Block begins with a meaningless but oh so pious cliché that Review editors should banish forever. “Our Sabbath school leader challenged us to let go of the control of all areas of our lives and allow God to be in charge.”
* In the meantime, how about considering before and/or after school religion classes taught by local pastors for students who can’t attend Adventist elementary and secondary schools, and Adventist dormitories for students who attend selected secular colleges and universities?
Reviewing Adventist World, NAD Edition
October, 2009
Vol. 5, No. 10
www.adventistworld.org
GENERAL COMMENTS
This issue is thoughtful, informative, and worth reading. As usual, I have some critical comments along with some MUST READ endorsements. (A quick reminder. Because Adventist World is free to the online audience, there are a number of excellent pieces that I will not review. There are, unfortunately, important articles in the print Adventist World that do not appear online. STILL FISHING by Eldyn Karr, a Voice of Prophecy biography, along with some great early pictures, is one of them. Also not available online is THE PLACE OF PRAYER, prayers from around the world that regularly break my heart.)
REVIEWS
Keeping youth and young adults engaged in the church must be one of our highest priorities, according to .Jan Paulsen. WHY DO THEY WALK AWAY? Is a very important MUST READ.
“Many teenagers choose to leave the church primarily because they feel “picked on.” They are made to feel unworthy; they have no useful role; they have no safe place within the church to work through those questions of behavior and standards with which they and their peers struggle.”
“Function and trust. Young adults and professionals also walk away because they are filled with ideas, opinions, and energy, and yet find no room to release this within the church. It’s not that they believe the church is irrelevant to them, but rather they believe they’re irrelevant to the church! So they may stay on for a while—for family or social reasons—but they’ve already ‘checked out.’”
THE GROWING CONCERN ABOUT FOOD ALLERGIES by Allan R. Handysides and Peter N. Landless once again deliver the goods. This is a MUST READ if a child or young person you know might be allergic to something in their diet.
In BETWEEN NATIONS AND THE KINGDOM, Ellen G. White issues a [timeless] warning in Basel, Switzerland, on September 24, 1885.
“Though some are decidedly French, others decidedly German, and others decidedly American, they will be just as decidedly Christlike.”
“I warn you, brethren and sisters, not to build up a wall of partition between different nationalities. On the contrary, seek to break it down wherever it exists. We should endeavor to bring all into the harmony that there is in Jesus, laboring for the one object, the salvation of our fellow men.”
COMMENTS
George T. Javor’s CELEBRATING CREATION makes the case that,
“God’s work is beyond fantastic, beyond incredible!” I agree. However, in our biosphere, in this “very good creation”, life can only be sustained by death. Javor does not deal with this troubling theological question.
“The ingenuity, resourcefulness, and sheer elegance of the way the living world is put together are beyond the human capacity to describe. Its contemplation forces the beholder to put their hand on the mouth (see Job 40:4); for whatever could be said would be unworthy and amount to a trivialization of this grand subject. Silence here is eloquence.
“Is it possible ever to doubt the goodness, love, and wisdom of the Being responsible for this vast, magnificent, and ‘very good’ creation? The answer can only be a resounding NO!”
WHY I DON’T DRINK ALCHOHOL by Tom Shepherd is a thoughtful attempt to justify Fundamental Doctrine 22 of the Adventist Church. His most convincing argument is “The Moral Imperative”. However, Shepherd’s biblical argument for abstinence is a bust. It’s pouring new wine into an old Adventist wineskin.
Is Abstinence a Moral Imperative?
“Some may concede that, given these explanations, one could logically support the value of a Christian life devoid of alcoholic beverages. But is it a moral imperative? Several lines of evidence combine to suggest that it is. First, World Health Organization statistics present the heavy toll alcohol produces. It accounts for approximately 1.8 million worldwide deaths annually (3.2 percent of total deaths) and 58.3 million disability-adjusted life years (4.0 percent of the total). It accounts for 20 to 30 percent of worldwide deaths from esophageal cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, homicide, epilepsy, and motor vehicle accidents. Its consumption is on the rise in developing countries with mostly no infrastructure for prevention and treatment of the problems associated with alcohol’s effects. If for no other reason than Christian concern for our neighbors, we have a moral responsibility to preach and teach total abstinence from alcohol.”
Is Abstinence Biblical?
There are 183 references to wine in the Old Testament and 32 in the New, and while the Bible condemns drunkenness, it hardly demonizes alcoholic beverages.
Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of God Most High served wine. (Genesis 14:18) It was counted a blessing from God. (Genesis 27:28) Along with the offering of a lamb, wine created “an aroma pleasing to the Lord”. (Numbers 15: 4-7) It could be given alone as a freewill offering (Deuteronomy 12:17) or a tithe (Deuteronomy 14:23) It was a ceremonial party drink. (Deuteronomy 14:26) Wine was to be given to the priests in Jerusalem upon request. (Ezra 6:9) Ester drank it (Ester 5:6) as did Job’s sons and daughters. (Job 1:13)
Wine “gladdens the heart of man”. (Psalms 104:15) The honored wife served it (Proverbs 9:2) and wise men recommend giving “beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish”. (Proverbs 31:6) Solomon counseled “drink your wine with a joyful heart, (Ecclesiastes 9:7) it makes life merry. (Ecclesiastes 10:19) He also considered it a potent love potion. (Song of Solomon 7:9) Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Zechariah include wine in their celebration of the coming utopian kingdom of Israel. (Isaiah 25:6, Jeremiah 31:12, Amos 9:14, Zechariah 9:17)
In the New Testament, Jesus creates wine, (John 2) Paul counsels Timothy to “stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses”, (1 Timothy 5:23) and the “living creatures” of Revelation warn: “Do not damage the oil and the wine!” (Revelation 6:6)
SALVATION BY CHILDBEARING? is a tortured attempt to make Paul politically correct. Angel Manuel Rodriguez fails miserably when he attempts to answer the question, “What did Paul mean when he wrote: ‘Women will be saved through childbearing?’” (1 Tim. 2:15)
“If that [my] reading of the text is correct, it would be better to take the preposition ‘through’ to mean ‘despite,’ describing the circumstances under which salvation takes place (cf. 1 Cor. 3:15). The woman will be saved despite the fact that she continues to experience pain in childbearing—a reminder of her sin. That salvation is not through childbearing is indicated by the use of the passive verb (‘she will be saved’), implying that God is the One who saves (the implied subject of the action). Fourth, the last part of the verse states that ‘they’ will be saved ‘if they continue [persevere] in faith, love and holiness with propriety’” (2:15b, NIV).
Vol. 5, No. 10
www.adventistworld.org
GENERAL COMMENTS
This issue is thoughtful, informative, and worth reading. As usual, I have some critical comments along with some MUST READ endorsements. (A quick reminder. Because Adventist World is free to the online audience, there are a number of excellent pieces that I will not review. There are, unfortunately, important articles in the print Adventist World that do not appear online. STILL FISHING by Eldyn Karr, a Voice of Prophecy biography, along with some great early pictures, is one of them. Also not available online is THE PLACE OF PRAYER, prayers from around the world that regularly break my heart.)
REVIEWS
Keeping youth and young adults engaged in the church must be one of our highest priorities, according to .Jan Paulsen. WHY DO THEY WALK AWAY? Is a very important MUST READ.
“Many teenagers choose to leave the church primarily because they feel “picked on.” They are made to feel unworthy; they have no useful role; they have no safe place within the church to work through those questions of behavior and standards with which they and their peers struggle.”
“Function and trust. Young adults and professionals also walk away because they are filled with ideas, opinions, and energy, and yet find no room to release this within the church. It’s not that they believe the church is irrelevant to them, but rather they believe they’re irrelevant to the church! So they may stay on for a while—for family or social reasons—but they’ve already ‘checked out.’”
THE GROWING CONCERN ABOUT FOOD ALLERGIES by Allan R. Handysides and Peter N. Landless once again deliver the goods. This is a MUST READ if a child or young person you know might be allergic to something in their diet.
In BETWEEN NATIONS AND THE KINGDOM, Ellen G. White issues a [timeless] warning in Basel, Switzerland, on September 24, 1885.
“Though some are decidedly French, others decidedly German, and others decidedly American, they will be just as decidedly Christlike.”
“I warn you, brethren and sisters, not to build up a wall of partition between different nationalities. On the contrary, seek to break it down wherever it exists. We should endeavor to bring all into the harmony that there is in Jesus, laboring for the one object, the salvation of our fellow men.”
COMMENTS
George T. Javor’s CELEBRATING CREATION makes the case that,
“God’s work is beyond fantastic, beyond incredible!” I agree. However, in our biosphere, in this “very good creation”, life can only be sustained by death. Javor does not deal with this troubling theological question.
“The ingenuity, resourcefulness, and sheer elegance of the way the living world is put together are beyond the human capacity to describe. Its contemplation forces the beholder to put their hand on the mouth (see Job 40:4); for whatever could be said would be unworthy and amount to a trivialization of this grand subject. Silence here is eloquence.
“Is it possible ever to doubt the goodness, love, and wisdom of the Being responsible for this vast, magnificent, and ‘very good’ creation? The answer can only be a resounding NO!”
WHY I DON’T DRINK ALCHOHOL by Tom Shepherd is a thoughtful attempt to justify Fundamental Doctrine 22 of the Adventist Church. His most convincing argument is “The Moral Imperative”. However, Shepherd’s biblical argument for abstinence is a bust. It’s pouring new wine into an old Adventist wineskin.
Is Abstinence a Moral Imperative?
“Some may concede that, given these explanations, one could logically support the value of a Christian life devoid of alcoholic beverages. But is it a moral imperative? Several lines of evidence combine to suggest that it is. First, World Health Organization statistics present the heavy toll alcohol produces. It accounts for approximately 1.8 million worldwide deaths annually (3.2 percent of total deaths) and 58.3 million disability-adjusted life years (4.0 percent of the total). It accounts for 20 to 30 percent of worldwide deaths from esophageal cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, homicide, epilepsy, and motor vehicle accidents. Its consumption is on the rise in developing countries with mostly no infrastructure for prevention and treatment of the problems associated with alcohol’s effects. If for no other reason than Christian concern for our neighbors, we have a moral responsibility to preach and teach total abstinence from alcohol.”
Is Abstinence Biblical?
There are 183 references to wine in the Old Testament and 32 in the New, and while the Bible condemns drunkenness, it hardly demonizes alcoholic beverages.
Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of God Most High served wine. (Genesis 14:18) It was counted a blessing from God. (Genesis 27:28) Along with the offering of a lamb, wine created “an aroma pleasing to the Lord”. (Numbers 15: 4-7) It could be given alone as a freewill offering (Deuteronomy 12:17) or a tithe (Deuteronomy 14:23) It was a ceremonial party drink. (Deuteronomy 14:26) Wine was to be given to the priests in Jerusalem upon request. (Ezra 6:9) Ester drank it (Ester 5:6) as did Job’s sons and daughters. (Job 1:13)
Wine “gladdens the heart of man”. (Psalms 104:15) The honored wife served it (Proverbs 9:2) and wise men recommend giving “beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish”. (Proverbs 31:6) Solomon counseled “drink your wine with a joyful heart, (Ecclesiastes 9:7) it makes life merry. (Ecclesiastes 10:19) He also considered it a potent love potion. (Song of Solomon 7:9) Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Zechariah include wine in their celebration of the coming utopian kingdom of Israel. (Isaiah 25:6, Jeremiah 31:12, Amos 9:14, Zechariah 9:17)
In the New Testament, Jesus creates wine, (John 2) Paul counsels Timothy to “stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses”, (1 Timothy 5:23) and the “living creatures” of Revelation warn: “Do not damage the oil and the wine!” (Revelation 6:6)
SALVATION BY CHILDBEARING? is a tortured attempt to make Paul politically correct. Angel Manuel Rodriguez fails miserably when he attempts to answer the question, “What did Paul mean when he wrote: ‘Women will be saved through childbearing?’” (1 Tim. 2:15)
“If that [my] reading of the text is correct, it would be better to take the preposition ‘through’ to mean ‘despite,’ describing the circumstances under which salvation takes place (cf. 1 Cor. 3:15). The woman will be saved despite the fact that she continues to experience pain in childbearing—a reminder of her sin. That salvation is not through childbearing is indicated by the use of the passive verb (‘she will be saved’), implying that God is the One who saves (the implied subject of the action). Fourth, the last part of the verse states that ‘they’ will be saved ‘if they continue [persevere] in faith, love and holiness with propriety’” (2:15b, NIV).
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