Thursday, December 23, 2010

Reviewing the Adventist Review

November 25, 2010
Vol. 187, No. 38

GENERAL COMMENTS
This issue doesn’t strain any brain cells, but it has its moments. Ellen provides some surprising advice concerning evangelizing city residents, the docs info is worth the price of the subscription, and it’s left to me to clarify the difference between a paraphrase and the Clear Word.

WORLD NEWS AND PERSPECTIVES
Leslie Pollard is Oakwood University’s Thirteenth President.

Scholars at Andrews University Symposium’s Theology of Salvation discussed Arminianism and Adventism.

National Camps for Blind Children, a SDA Christian Record sponsored program, begun in 1967 has “nudged more than 50,000 blind campers toward achievement and self-confidence”.

The story of Kirsten Wolcott, murdered Adventist student missionary, is told in the new book, Love, Kirsten by Rainey H. Park with Andy Nash.

REVIEWS
In his editorial, AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE, Gerald A. Klingbeil reminds us “that gratitude is not seasonal, limited to a couple of days in late November. Gratitude is an attitude, ‘always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father’ ” (Eph. 5:20, NASB).

Wilona Karimabadi identifies THE PLACE THAT MADE ME STAY as La Sierra University, “the place where I understood this [SDA] movement had a place for me. It was there I learned that no two of us practice our faith in exactly the same way, and that’s OK. And it was there I learned that God is big enough for all of us.

CHOOSING A BIBLE TRANSLATION by Michael Zwaagstra does a good job of defining and illustrating the different translation approaches to the Bible: essentially literal, dynamic equivalence, and free paraphrase. Unfortunately, his credibility is somewhat damaged when he includes the Clear Word as a paraphrase. It is not! Reputable biblical scholars refer to it as “The Adventist Bible” because it has been expanded to contain a considerable amount of Seventh Day Adventist theology.

In WORD TO THE WISE Hyveth Williams, a professor of homiletics explains that “preaching is more than standing in a pulpit and proclaiming words.

There is HOPE IN MANHATTAN. Mark A. Kellner answers the question, “Can anything good come from a city as large, impersonal, and imposing as New York? If it’s the Church of the Advent Hope and its outreach to young professionals who could otherwise end up estranged from Adventism, the answer seems to be a resounding ‘yes.’ ”

The selection of A PASSION FOR REACHING THE BIG CITIES from the writings of Ellen White is a curious combination of concern for “the abandoned classes”, pragmatic advice for city evangelists, and dire warnings about life in the city.

“In visions of the night I was shown the difficulties that must be met in the work of warning the people in the cities; but in spite of difficulties and discouragement, efforts should be made to preach the truth to all classes. There are some who advise that our efforts begin with the abandoned classes; but this is not the wisest course. It is true that some souls would be reached by this plan; but if our workers should begin their labors in the cities with this class, they would surely be cut off from the broad work that should be done. Rather let us devise means whereby we may reach the very best class of people; then our work for the abandoned classes will follow. Physicians can do a good work in devising plans for the working out of this problem…

“As I consider the conditions in the cities that are so manifestly under the power of Satan, I ask myself the question, What will be the end of these things? The wickedness in many cities is increasing. Crime and iniquity are at work on every hand. New species of idolatry are continually being introduced into society. In every nation the minds of men are turning to the invention of some new thing. Rashness of deed and confusion of mind are everywhere increasing. Surely the cities of the earth are becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, January 25, 1912

ASTHMA and bed-wetting (enuresis) are tackled in the latest column from Drs. Handysides and Landless.

WHAT STOLEN JEEP? is the humorous experience that taught Michael W. Campbell “to check the license plate of the vehicle you’re going to borrow” and “ministry isn’t about perfection; it’s about authenticity. I made an honest mistake. Now that enough time has passed I can even laugh about the whole episode. I think most church members, including the sheriff, know this”.

WHEN WORDS WEAVE recounts the events that turned rent from an adult book story into funds that provided a full-time pediatrician for the Adventist hospital in Haiti.

AT REST
MEYER, Earl G.—b. Nov. 15, 1916, Beaumont, Calif.; d. Jan. 21, 2010, Ceres, Calif.
MOORE, Arthur Bryson—b. Nov. 17, 1918, Los Angeles, Calif.; d. Apr. 15, 2010, Loma Linda, Calif.
PEARSON, Rex—b. 1920, Durban, South Africa; d. Dec. 12, 2009, Cheltenham, England.
SANTEE, Enid Irene Grossman Cortez—b. Sept. 30, 1930, Rolla, Kans.; d. Jan. 2, 2010, Euless, Tex.
SCHMIDT, Harold H.—b. Feb. 2, 1910, Scottsbluff, Nebr.; d. Jan. 2, 2010, Altamonte Springs, Fla.
SIMMONS, J. Elizabeth West—b. Oct. 24, 1922, Roanoke, Va.; d. Aug. 10, 2009, Rushville, Ill.
SLATE, Sarah J.—b. May 25, 1921, Gaston County, N.C.; d. Dec. 16, 2009, Davidson County, N.C.
WILLIAMS, Benjamin J.—b. Jan. 13, 1917; d. Nov. 12, 2009, Portland, Oreg.

Leah called him Judah. HIS NAME WAS “THANKS”. And the Bible records the reasons he deserved the name.

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