Comic from Frank & Ernest by Thaves
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Thursday, February 4, 2010
Reviewing Adventist World, NAD Edition
January 2009
Vol. 6, No. 1
www.adventistworld.org
Adventist World is free online. For that reason, I only review or comment on articles and editorials that I believe to be of special interest.
GENERAL COMMENT
This issue has some fascinating articles. Two others left me scratching my head, and there is a shockingly advertisement!
REVIEWS
The cover story, BABEL UNDONE, by Marcos Paseggi is the MUST READ account of how Adventist translators help to advance the mission of the church. Their task requires more than a word-for-word translation. This article may come as a surprise to those who believe that only one translation of anything, the Bible included, is authoritative.
“Every language is a world in itself, involving its own grammatical rules and a particular system of punctuation, wording, and phrasing. In most cases there is no way a literal rendering can match up to a similar phrase in the target language. Translation implies looking for a “dynamic equivalence,” where the original meaning is both kept and “re-created” into a new phrase that somehow communicates what the original said in the first place. This often implies a change in word order, sentence or paragraph structure, or even leaving aside the first and second choices and starting to rewrite from scratch. It requires mastering the target language so as to “process” the use of idioms, figures of speech, and metaphors.
“Finally, in every language there are some “untranslatable” terms and cultural references that must be somehow explained or “interpreted” in order to be correctly understood by the target audience. As Lars Hoem, English-Norwegian translator for the Adventist Norwegian Publishing House, puts it. . .“How would you explain the concept ‘Lamb of God’ to an Inuit who has never seen a lamb in his entire life? What is the best conceivable equivalent for ‘innocence’ to an Inuit? Perhaps a baby seal?”
NORTH AMERICAN CHURCH FINANCES HOLD IN SPITE OF TITHE DECLINE. “Seventh-day Adventists in North America returned $893.1 million in tithe during the economically challenged year of 2008, $3.4 million less than was received in the previous year, division officials reported November 6, 2009. An additional $23.6 million in mission offerings were furnished by parishioners, a drop of $405,000 from 2008.”
“A variety of economic circumstances are affecting donations to Seventh-day Adventist congregations, among them being the state of the overall economy; downward adjustments in housing prices; the banking collapse; and continued volatility in the stock market.” (I wonder where the money came from to play the market, err, I mean invest in stocks?)
SOUTH AFRICAN COURT RULING FAVORS ADVENTIST CHURCH. Other informing the reader that this court ruling created “an environment for church unity, improved growth, and more efficient operations” which removed “any real or perceived structure of discrimination that may be a barrier toward church unity”, no further information regarding the lawsuit is provided. My attempt to read the litigation statement provided by the Southern Africa Union conference website, was not permitted.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE WANDERERS? by Kari Paulsen is a MUST READ short biography of Kari Paulsen. The pictures of the youthful Paulsen family are not to be missed.
MINNEAPOLIS, 1888: AN ADVENTIST WATERSHED by Gerhard Pfandl is an authoritative account of A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner’s theological bombshell, righteousness by faith. It’s a MUST READ!
PREACHER COMFORTS by Bernadine Delafield tells the story of how a tiny congregation in Kulm, North Dakota, consistently hosts Adventism’s best-known preachers. Check out Adventist Preaching DVDs.
www.plusline.org/article.php?id=2983
CAN A HIATAL HERNIA END IN CANCER? by Allan R. Handysides and Peter N. Landless once come through with a clear explanation of medical risks and treatments.
WHAT GOD DO YOU SERVE by Mike Ryan is a mission story you won’t want to miss.
OLYMPIC MEDALIST IS WINNING SOULS FOR CHRIST by Tihomir Zestic is the story of Eugenia Tovstogan “a professional handball player who once performed for the Soviet Union national team. With her club Spartak, based in Kiev, Ukraine, she won many titles. Today Tovstogan is retired from this professional sport. She lives in Israel and works as a volunteer to produce radio health programs for AWR’s FM broadcasts.”
NAD LETTERS includes a thoughtful observation by Doug Schmidt. “We insult the spirituality of young people [who leave the church] when we focus exclusively on practical solutions—attitudes, approaches, programs—without addressing the probability that the real underlying problem might be a lack of spiritual power in the church. Young people are leaving today because they haven’t met Jesus. Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up. . .will draw all. . .unto me (John 12:32, KJV)”
COMMENTS
CAN WE ALWAYS COUNT ON GOD’S PROTECTION? J. Stanley McCluskey asserts that, “The angel of the Lord does encamp round about those who fear Him, and does deliver us from any lasting harm, according to the plan of our loving God (see Ps. 34:7; Jer. 29:11). The eternal God surely is our refuge “and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27).” Stan, how do you account for the following?
Barbara Ann Norton Kay reports the death of Bob and Neiba Norton, Gladys, a child and his mother, and a young girl in need of emergency surgery when Bob’s Cessna 182 crashed during a humanitarian flight in Venezuela in LIVING GOD’S LOVE.
Check out WHAT IS APOSTASY? by Angel Manuel Rodriguez. If you don’t want to screw up and torch a heretic rather than an apostate, Dr. Rodriguez, Director of the Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference, is the authorized Inquisitor.
What an inspiring offer! I’m signing up for the free three months of Premium Movie Channels! Thanks Mark!
Vol. 6, No. 1
www.adventistworld.org
Adventist World is free online. For that reason, I only review or comment on articles and editorials that I believe to be of special interest.
GENERAL COMMENT
This issue has some fascinating articles. Two others left me scratching my head, and there is a shockingly advertisement!
REVIEWS
The cover story, BABEL UNDONE, by Marcos Paseggi is the MUST READ account of how Adventist translators help to advance the mission of the church. Their task requires more than a word-for-word translation. This article may come as a surprise to those who believe that only one translation of anything, the Bible included, is authoritative.
“Every language is a world in itself, involving its own grammatical rules and a particular system of punctuation, wording, and phrasing. In most cases there is no way a literal rendering can match up to a similar phrase in the target language. Translation implies looking for a “dynamic equivalence,” where the original meaning is both kept and “re-created” into a new phrase that somehow communicates what the original said in the first place. This often implies a change in word order, sentence or paragraph structure, or even leaving aside the first and second choices and starting to rewrite from scratch. It requires mastering the target language so as to “process” the use of idioms, figures of speech, and metaphors.
“Finally, in every language there are some “untranslatable” terms and cultural references that must be somehow explained or “interpreted” in order to be correctly understood by the target audience. As Lars Hoem, English-Norwegian translator for the Adventist Norwegian Publishing House, puts it. . .“How would you explain the concept ‘Lamb of God’ to an Inuit who has never seen a lamb in his entire life? What is the best conceivable equivalent for ‘innocence’ to an Inuit? Perhaps a baby seal?”
NORTH AMERICAN CHURCH FINANCES HOLD IN SPITE OF TITHE DECLINE. “Seventh-day Adventists in North America returned $893.1 million in tithe during the economically challenged year of 2008, $3.4 million less than was received in the previous year, division officials reported November 6, 2009. An additional $23.6 million in mission offerings were furnished by parishioners, a drop of $405,000 from 2008.”
“A variety of economic circumstances are affecting donations to Seventh-day Adventist congregations, among them being the state of the overall economy; downward adjustments in housing prices; the banking collapse; and continued volatility in the stock market.” (I wonder where the money came from to play the market, err, I mean invest in stocks?)
SOUTH AFRICAN COURT RULING FAVORS ADVENTIST CHURCH. Other informing the reader that this court ruling created “an environment for church unity, improved growth, and more efficient operations” which removed “any real or perceived structure of discrimination that may be a barrier toward church unity”, no further information regarding the lawsuit is provided. My attempt to read the litigation statement provided by the Southern Africa Union conference website, was not permitted.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE WANDERERS? by Kari Paulsen is a MUST READ short biography of Kari Paulsen. The pictures of the youthful Paulsen family are not to be missed.
MINNEAPOLIS, 1888: AN ADVENTIST WATERSHED by Gerhard Pfandl is an authoritative account of A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner’s theological bombshell, righteousness by faith. It’s a MUST READ!
PREACHER COMFORTS by Bernadine Delafield tells the story of how a tiny congregation in Kulm, North Dakota, consistently hosts Adventism’s best-known preachers. Check out Adventist Preaching DVDs.
www.plusline.org/article.php?id=2983
CAN A HIATAL HERNIA END IN CANCER? by Allan R. Handysides and Peter N. Landless once come through with a clear explanation of medical risks and treatments.
WHAT GOD DO YOU SERVE by Mike Ryan is a mission story you won’t want to miss.
OLYMPIC MEDALIST IS WINNING SOULS FOR CHRIST by Tihomir Zestic is the story of Eugenia Tovstogan “a professional handball player who once performed for the Soviet Union national team. With her club Spartak, based in Kiev, Ukraine, she won many titles. Today Tovstogan is retired from this professional sport. She lives in Israel and works as a volunteer to produce radio health programs for AWR’s FM broadcasts.”
NAD LETTERS includes a thoughtful observation by Doug Schmidt. “We insult the spirituality of young people [who leave the church] when we focus exclusively on practical solutions—attitudes, approaches, programs—without addressing the probability that the real underlying problem might be a lack of spiritual power in the church. Young people are leaving today because they haven’t met Jesus. Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up. . .will draw all. . .unto me (John 12:32, KJV)”
COMMENTS
CAN WE ALWAYS COUNT ON GOD’S PROTECTION? J. Stanley McCluskey asserts that, “The angel of the Lord does encamp round about those who fear Him, and does deliver us from any lasting harm, according to the plan of our loving God (see Ps. 34:7; Jer. 29:11). The eternal God surely is our refuge “and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27).” Stan, how do you account for the following?
Barbara Ann Norton Kay reports the death of Bob and Neiba Norton, Gladys, a child and his mother, and a young girl in need of emergency surgery when Bob’s Cessna 182 crashed during a humanitarian flight in Venezuela in LIVING GOD’S LOVE.
Check out WHAT IS APOSTASY? by Angel Manuel Rodriguez. If you don’t want to screw up and torch a heretic rather than an apostate, Dr. Rodriguez, Director of the Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference, is the authorized Inquisitor.
What an inspiring offer! I’m signing up for the free three months of Premium Movie Channels! Thanks Mark!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sing along with Goat, “Dare to be a weirdo; dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose true; dare to make it known.”
Reviewing Adventist Today
Winter 2010
Vol. 18, No. 1
WWW.ATODAY.COM
GENERAL COMMENT
Unfortunately, the headlines promise more than the editorials and articles deliver.
REVIEWS
J. David Newman’s editorial, WOMEN PASTORS OFFICIALLY ORDAINED simply references old news. The Adventist Review reported that fact months ago.
In Edwin A. Schwisow’s commentary, TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK is a whine about AT being misunderstood for advocating financial reform.
LETTERS was allocated three pages. Unfortunately, the equivalent of one of those pages was taken up by graphics and the appeal for esoteric articles like “When did sin come into existence?” and “Will a person be saved regardless of their views on whether sin and death always existed”. A second “page” was devoted to Des Ford’s theology. Enough already!
IS THERE ROOM FOR MAVERICKS IN THE CHURCH by David Newman is another self-serving whine. “The [SDA] church too must wrestle with the challenge of encouraging the dreamer, learning from the heretic, tolerating the gadfly, and accommodating the maverick, even Adventist Today.”
In WHAT REALLY IS THE REMNANT CHURCH? Harry Allen is given five pages, full-page graphic included, to reveal that there isn’t one. It is “an indiscernible network of affiliates whose names are known by God alone”. In other words, “people who “will be saved at his second coming”. (Mathew 25:31-46, anyone?)
My biggest disappointment is the feature article, LEGALISM OR PERMISSIVENESS: AN INESCAPABLE DILEMMA? reprinted with the permission of The Christian Century, April 16, 1980. L. A. King makes the following quasi sociological argument: Churches inevitably decline from legalistic cohesive beginnings to a collection of permissive “atomistic individuals, each of whom goes his or her own way without taking any responsibility for one’s fellows or accepting any concern from them”.
King believes that when this “atomistic” condition becomes unsatisfactory to “a person or small group”, there will be a spontaneous “new attempt to get back to primitive Christianity”. It will “reproduce the vividness or the original [legalistic] experiences”. This will produce “strikingly spontaneous agreement. No long debate, no rules imposed, little institutionalization, but a striking unity of the Spirit. There will also be a remarkable mutual concern and love for one another”. *
This article doesn’t answer to the question, “Where is the Adventist church on this continuum?” Because this commentary implies that this cycle of legalism to permissiveness is inevitable, there is no suggestion as to how this cycle can be broken. My question then, “Why waste the space?
WHAT DO WE DO IF WE DON’T AGREE? by Don Watson, is pretty simple. Listen, make sure you understand what the other person is saying, and remember, it’s the Holy Spirit’s job “to straighten them out”. Good advice for spouses. Good luck if you’re a teacher or administrator!
Loren Seibold suggests that LETTING ROMAN CATHOLICS OFF THE HOOK is a good idea. “Today religious liberty still has more dangerous enemies than Catholicism—in the United States, perhaps even some of our fellow conservative Protestants.” Earthshaking, this message is not.
I hope Nathan Brown is right when he poses the rhetorical question, DID GOD DIE FOR MORE THAN JUST PEOPLE? with these concluding remarks: “Because we have accepted God’s gift of salvation, we seek that same salvation and re-creation for our fellow human beings, our fellow creatures, and the whole created world.” I hope this is true. I love my dog.
Alden Thompson and I don’t always se eye-to-eye, but on this one we do. MESSAGES TO YOUNG PEOPLE—REVISITED, a compilation of Ellen White’s advice, wasn’t worth revisiting.
RACISM AND DARWIN, a book review by T. Joe Willey, is informative and well written, with one exception. It is not immediately clear that the introductory quote by Tony Campolo is inaccurate. It is included to provide a commonly held misconception that Darwin considered skin color to be an indicator of God’s favoritism when it came to the human genetics. This misstep gets the reader off on the proverbial wrong foot, and slows the realization that Darwin detested the idea.
7 QUESTIONS by Marcel Schwantes is an interview of filmmaker Martin Doblmeier who is currently producing The Adventists, a documentary film inspired by the fact that we Adventists live a long time. The film will be shown on PBS stations around Easter.
ADVENTIST MAN tries hard and is satirically successful about half the time. That success rate isn’t bad when you consider his competition this time around. I’ve awarded him my “E” for effort.
*The argument seems to be that legalism is the glue that holds churches together. If this is true, then Adventist leaders are responding to a real threat to their salaries when they attempt to enforce uniformity of belief.
Vol. 18, No. 1
WWW.ATODAY.COM
GENERAL COMMENT
Unfortunately, the headlines promise more than the editorials and articles deliver.
REVIEWS
J. David Newman’s editorial, WOMEN PASTORS OFFICIALLY ORDAINED simply references old news. The Adventist Review reported that fact months ago.
In Edwin A. Schwisow’s commentary, TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK is a whine about AT being misunderstood for advocating financial reform.
LETTERS was allocated three pages. Unfortunately, the equivalent of one of those pages was taken up by graphics and the appeal for esoteric articles like “When did sin come into existence?” and “Will a person be saved regardless of their views on whether sin and death always existed”. A second “page” was devoted to Des Ford’s theology. Enough already!
IS THERE ROOM FOR MAVERICKS IN THE CHURCH by David Newman is another self-serving whine. “The [SDA] church too must wrestle with the challenge of encouraging the dreamer, learning from the heretic, tolerating the gadfly, and accommodating the maverick, even Adventist Today.”
In WHAT REALLY IS THE REMNANT CHURCH? Harry Allen is given five pages, full-page graphic included, to reveal that there isn’t one. It is “an indiscernible network of affiliates whose names are known by God alone”. In other words, “people who “will be saved at his second coming”. (Mathew 25:31-46, anyone?)
My biggest disappointment is the feature article, LEGALISM OR PERMISSIVENESS: AN INESCAPABLE DILEMMA? reprinted with the permission of The Christian Century, April 16, 1980. L. A. King makes the following quasi sociological argument: Churches inevitably decline from legalistic cohesive beginnings to a collection of permissive “atomistic individuals, each of whom goes his or her own way without taking any responsibility for one’s fellows or accepting any concern from them”.
King believes that when this “atomistic” condition becomes unsatisfactory to “a person or small group”, there will be a spontaneous “new attempt to get back to primitive Christianity”. It will “reproduce the vividness or the original [legalistic] experiences”. This will produce “strikingly spontaneous agreement. No long debate, no rules imposed, little institutionalization, but a striking unity of the Spirit. There will also be a remarkable mutual concern and love for one another”. *
This article doesn’t answer to the question, “Where is the Adventist church on this continuum?” Because this commentary implies that this cycle of legalism to permissiveness is inevitable, there is no suggestion as to how this cycle can be broken. My question then, “Why waste the space?
WHAT DO WE DO IF WE DON’T AGREE? by Don Watson, is pretty simple. Listen, make sure you understand what the other person is saying, and remember, it’s the Holy Spirit’s job “to straighten them out”. Good advice for spouses. Good luck if you’re a teacher or administrator!
Loren Seibold suggests that LETTING ROMAN CATHOLICS OFF THE HOOK is a good idea. “Today religious liberty still has more dangerous enemies than Catholicism—in the United States, perhaps even some of our fellow conservative Protestants.” Earthshaking, this message is not.
I hope Nathan Brown is right when he poses the rhetorical question, DID GOD DIE FOR MORE THAN JUST PEOPLE? with these concluding remarks: “Because we have accepted God’s gift of salvation, we seek that same salvation and re-creation for our fellow human beings, our fellow creatures, and the whole created world.” I hope this is true. I love my dog.
Alden Thompson and I don’t always se eye-to-eye, but on this one we do. MESSAGES TO YOUNG PEOPLE—REVISITED, a compilation of Ellen White’s advice, wasn’t worth revisiting.
RACISM AND DARWIN, a book review by T. Joe Willey, is informative and well written, with one exception. It is not immediately clear that the introductory quote by Tony Campolo is inaccurate. It is included to provide a commonly held misconception that Darwin considered skin color to be an indicator of God’s favoritism when it came to the human genetics. This misstep gets the reader off on the proverbial wrong foot, and slows the realization that Darwin detested the idea.
7 QUESTIONS by Marcel Schwantes is an interview of filmmaker Martin Doblmeier who is currently producing The Adventists, a documentary film inspired by the fact that we Adventists live a long time. The film will be shown on PBS stations around Easter.
ADVENTIST MAN tries hard and is satirically successful about half the time. That success rate isn’t bad when you consider his competition this time around. I’ve awarded him my “E” for effort.
*The argument seems to be that legalism is the glue that holds churches together. If this is true, then Adventist leaders are responding to a real threat to their salaries when they attempt to enforce uniformity of belief.
Friday, January 22, 2010
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