Thursday, December 8, 2011

Reviewing the Adventist Review

November 17, 2011
Vol. 188, No. 32

This review has something for everyone:

A letter by Lyle Bennett regarding a comment in the July 14 issue that criticized the music of “kids today”. “I don’t feel that this clever put-down…has any place in the Review. I’m personally glad that my grand-kids even bother to go to church and sing anything at all.”

A promise that a membership audit is in the offing, an “action” agenda for reviewing “ordination’s biblical origins—“If voted, material is to be placed on the 2015 General Conference session agenda."

A document is “undergoing a final revision” that will “change the culture and the way we (the Adventist Church) do business…We cannot assume that those who are spiritual are also ethical and moral”. (This reading seems to define “spiritual” in a whole new way!)

A technological breakthrough that “brings Adventist Scholarship to your hand”.

An essay from Cliff Goldstein on the term, “theodicy”, that will take a MILLENNIUM to comprehend. (Cliff thoughtfully provides Cliffs Notes.)

A definition of THE ONLY GROUP JESUS DIDN’T HAVE TIME FOR, according to Andy Nash. “People who want to be religious thought leaders apart from the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Definitions not provided. I guess it’s assumed you know who you are.)

The rest of the issue is pretty standard stuff, with the exception of a thoughtful attempt by Wilona Karimabadi to answer the question, “Are the cultural/language-based churches of their parents filling the spiritual needs of second-generation immigrants? THEIR CHURCH, OR MY CHURCH concludes:

“There is no right or wrong direction for everyone, and as many aspects of religious life, this one is a matter of personal preference.”

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