Thursday, April 7, 2011

Reviewing the Adventist Review

March 17, 2011
Vol. 188, No. 8

GENERAL COMMENTS
The big news in this issue is Cliff Goldstein’s confession that the Big Bang theory has at least some merit. The rest of the issue, like Limoni Manu O’Uiha’s tribute to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, leans toward interesting. It’s one you can feel comfortable sharing with nonAdventist friends and neighbors.

WORLD NEWS AND PERSPECTIVES
ADRA, along with members of the New Zealand Adventist Church, have teamed up with the Sanitarium Health Food Company to assist earthquake victims in the Christchurch area. Coverage includes David Asscherick’s firsthand report.

Marge Jetton, “Blue Zones” icon, has died. She was 106.

A NAD Spanish NET Event featured Adly Campos. She is their first female primary speaker, and the first to focus on family relationships.

REVIEWS
Gerald Klingbeil’s editorial, WHAT DRIVES YOU? asks the question, “What drives you as you give your tithe and offerings? What motivates you to volunteer time at a homeless shelter? What does my heart really say when I give and share and listen and encourage and hug and cry and—yes—open my bank account?”

WHAT GREATER LEGACY? by Sandra Blackmer offers the following tribute to her mother who recently lots her fight with cancer: “She allowed God to use her to reach others.”

MY OBESSION WITH DVDS is an account of Andrew McChesney’s discovery that he was addicted to DVD’s and how our intrepid Moscow reporter conquered that addiction and made some garbage man happy!

In THE BIG BANG THEORY Clifford Goldstein takes a tentative step to meld science and faith. It’s a cautious first step down a slippery slope.

“I can live with Big Bang cosmogony for now, although it’s probably wrong or, at least, in need of radical surgery. But that’s the nature of most scientific knowledge: tenuous, contingent, and often false (though I don’t think the moving earth is going to be changed anytime soon).

“Thus we have to be careful about how closely we tie our faith to science, even when it buttresses our beliefs, and even more so when it contradicts them.”

AS OTHERS DON'T SEE US by Mark A. Kellner contains two memorable quotes from media specialists.

“A lot of Christians believe media don’t like us because of what we stand for. I think a lot of media don’t like us because of the way we behave.” Mark DeMoss

“A ‘perception audit’ might be useful: leaders and constituents in a given congregation or other unit would want to ask themselves these questions: ‘Who are you? What do you do?’; ‘How are you perceived?’; and ‘What’s the difference between the two?’” Larry Ross

In FLAWED-BUT BEAUTIFUL Limoni Manu O'Uiha reflects on lessons learned from the most famous leaning tower in the world.

“Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the church, in many ways, is far from being perfect. It has its own problems and weaknesses. Nevertheless, in spite of its flaws, the church is still beautiful. Failure to recognize this fundamental truth has led some Adventist Christians astray. The quest for perfection rather than progress often leads to disillusionment and apostasy.”

SYMBOLS OF CHRIST'S FIRST AND SECOND ADVENT by Hyveth Williams is a call to action.

“Since the church is the apple of God’s eye, we can’t just sit here another day and continue to drink from spiritual wells we did not dig without protesting the greed, violence, prejudice, and abuse that sap the moral strength of our world. We can’t just sit by another year and warm ourselves by fires we didn’t kindle and remain silent against sin’s increasingly evil shadow over an age of excess and aggression.”

Rick Fleck writes THE LETTER to Bill Lotoski, a dying mentor and friend, from Centinela State Prison in Imperial, California, where he is serving a life sentence. What he has to say is, in Rick’s words, “of life-and-death importance”.

IT'S NOT JUST THE ECONOMY is a reminder from Andy Nash that, “The primary problem with giving in North America isn’t that because of the economy members are giving less than they used to. The problem is that many members aren’t giving at all.” Why do you suppose that is? Here’s hoping that Andy addresses himself to that question in his next column.

WORD-LESS features one of the longest words in the English language. Marcos Paseggi uses it in the following paragraph. It’s context should provide a clue to its meaning, but for a dictionary definition, you’ll either have to read the essay or look it up.

“So it is always with Jesus. Generally His most powerful statements lack any verbosity, but they surely leave an indelible impression. “Come, follow Me”; “It is finished”; “I will come again”—these are not expressions to trifle with. You may believe in them or not, but you cannot ignore them. It’s impossible to belittle them. No floccinaucinihilipilification here.”

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