May 26, 2011
Vol, 188, No. 15
GENERAL COMMENTS
This issue breaks no new ground, theologically or intellectually. Consequently, it must be judged a success by everyone that matters in official Adventism. However, the odor of naivety and the smell of unconscious truth accompany some of the language used. I’ll bet you can sniff it out.
Gerald A. Kringbeil’s IT SMELLS! is ostensibly an editorial about the pleasing aroma of official Adventism’s sectarian “revival and reformation”. Yet it contains these words: “Paul (and Mary) were not too concerned about a corporate image or ministry emphasis. They realized in their different ways that this was a matter of life and death that required a heart response—up close and personal.”
JUDGMENT TIME? YES. is Mark A. Kellner’s admonition about God’s expectations that, inadvertently, might offer encouragement to critics of current church policies. “It’s not a comfortable position to advise repentance so as to avoid calamity. Just ask Jonah! But it’s an essential task for the Christian. And if others are offended, I’m sorry about that, but they must still be warned. The Lord expects no less.”
THE PERFECT HERO by J. Harold Alomia is Jesus, of course. However, he fails to mention Jesus’ scathing indictment of religious leaders in Mathew 23. Just an oversight, presumably.
REVIRGINALIZATION: A SPIRITUAL APPLICATION by Delbert W. Baker talks about the spiritual idea of revirginalization. “Revirginization is also a deeply rooted Christian desire. The Bible reminds us that we’re all sinners. We all want and desperately need a do-over. We want to become unsinners, to live as though we’d never sinned.
CAN WE TALK? Is Steve Moran’s advice on what to say to an atheist. My question: how is this different from engaging in a meaningful conversation with a church member? a marriage partner? one of your children? a neo-conservative? a flaming liberal?
1. Look for a Bridge: There is no better way to begin a conversation than by asking what the other person believes.
2. Demonstrate Love: “The first lesson from this story is that, when we engage in acts of kindness and compassion, some of the people we serve will move into a saving, trusting relationship with Jesus. The second lesson is less obvious, but perhaps more important. God has created each of us with the gift of compassion. Even atheists and agnostics have compassion; sometimes, it seems, in greater measure than in Christians.” Really?
Question: What other test is there for membership in Christ’s kingdom? It doesn’t seem to matter to the Son of Man whether you are atheist or believer when he shows up! Compassion is the only test, according to Mathew 25: 31-36.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “
3. Have Reasonable Expectations: Don’t expect an immediate conversion to your way of thinking.
4. Tell a Story/Tell Your Story: Allow others to know you intimately.
Allan R. Handysides and Peter N. Landless provide their usual excellent advice in KNEE TROUBLE. It’s a MUST READ if you have a trick knee. Their advice in a nutshell: “If you have consulted with more than one physician and they both agree on your needing a knee replacement, I would think the operation will likely bring you significant improvement.”
Bert Beach suggests a pretty liberal Christian THEOLOGY IN A (POST)MODERN WORLD. However, I looked in vain for “equality of human rights as it affects” the ordination of women, homosexuals, and those with other genetic differences.
“While “objective neutrality” in the study of religion can be a useful tool of scholarship, though never fully attainable, it is both impossible and undesirable in dealing with theological doctrine and ethics. It is deplorable, at least from a Christian perspective, to be neutral, without sturdy personal convictions regarding certain issues. These questions include, among others: religious liberty and the right to believe or not to believe; equality of human rights as it affects men and women, race and caste; female and child slavery; crying human needs, such as hunger and poverty; the plan of salvation; the nefarious influences of few (or many) in unbalancing or deregulating economic and other systems and forces. A Seventh-day Adventist cannot be neutral in regard to the Creator and His creation. Adventists cannot be oblivious to the reminding and reviving power of the Holy Spirit and His gifts.”
ONCE MORE WITH POWER: REVIVAL AND REFORMATION: Shawn Brace reports a revival of Adventism in the New England Conference.
In WHEN GOD CALLS YOU HERE, Jimmy Phillips talks about “answered calls”.
“Have you been echoing Isaiah’s (and Adelaide’s) words? “Here am I. Send me!” (Isa. 6:8). Has it occurred to you that you may have already been sent?”
ETC.--BOOKMARK: ALL ABOUT THE NEW BOOK "MADE TO CRAVE"
“Diets don’t work. But the concepts in Made to Crave will help you achieve the picture of health you desire. According to www.madetocrave.org.”
GOD AND HUMAN CATASTROPHE is Clifford Pitts attempt to justify God’s hand in cataclysmic events. Unfortunately, Pitts can only offer the following: “Our justification of God, then, is His own justification of Himself in the suffering and death of God the Son.”
CHURCH NEWS
Yoselin Perez was baptized in November
Adventists give aide in wake of deadly twister.
U.S. Postal Service cancels Sunday delivery.
PBS release highlights church's health work.
Adventist publishing house stems money losses.
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