Reviewing the Adventist Review

August 23, 2012
Vol. 189, No.24
http://www.adventistreview.org/index.php?issue=2012-1524

NOTE TO READERS:
WORLD NEWS AND PERSPECTIVES is an important section of each magazine. I don’t usually report on its contents because it is available at the online address I provide with every review.

GENERAL COMMENTS
This is the Tenth Anniversary of KIDS VIEW. The magazine is a stapled insert inside the Review on the third issue of each month, and is now a substantial eight pages and also published independently. THE VIEW FROM HERE by Wilona Karimabadi and Kimberly Luste Maran chronicles its ten year evolution.

Immediate plans involve a redesign and relaunch of its Web site that will soon include companion sites in French, Spanish, and Portuguese to make it possible for more kids around the world to have access. KidsView will continue to keep increasing its brand recognition as the magazine grows and evolves in order to keep up with its growing and evolving audience—which literally changes from year to year. 

A DIFFERENT MINISTRY by Julio C. Muñoz is a feature article describing the Risk Management division of the Adventist Church. It’s a MUST READ for every member who desires a clear explanation of how the church handles risk prevention, control of loss, and insurance. ARM’s child abuse prevention program, as described here, is thorough going and comprehensive; in Muñoz’s words, our most serious charge.

A priority for ARM and the Adventist Church is child abuse…Throughout the past 20 years ARM has paid slightly more than $1.5 million per year (a total of $30 million) in settling claims involving sexual misconduct in the United States for the entities we insure. This accounts for about 400 claims involving 526 victims.

Andrew McChesney’s current Moscow adventure has left him with this conclusion: The only way to be prepared for any occasion is to always wear a suit and tie. Find out why in his story about A SUIT AND TIE FIT FOR A CANADIAN MINISTER.

ORIGINS: BELIEFS HAVE IMPLICATIONS by Delbert W. Baker is the first of a two-part discussion of creation and origins. In the article, Baker concludes that:

Ellen White’s counsel about the dilemma dissolve principle is straightforward: when there appear to be discrepancies, we should deliberately place our confidence in the Bible. Why? Because both creation and evolution have to be accepted by faith, the safe path is to place our confidence in the Bible. Ellen White wrote about the danger if we don’t: “Those who doubt the reliability of the records of the Old and New Testaments too often go a step further, and doubt the existence of God, and attribute infinite power to nature. Having let go their anchor, they are left to beat about upon the rocks of infidelity”.

As usual, no middle ground is considered. Historical records that date thousands of years before the biblical 6000-year creation story exist in the Middle East and the Indus Valley. Given just these facts, Noah’s flood and the Tower of Babel stories have to be regarded as myth, given the biblical timelines.

I’m uncertain about many things, not just about the historical accuracy of a number of events chronicled in the Old Testament, and I know others who share my uncertainty. As far as I can tell, we remain church members in good standing and are not beating about on the rocks of infidelity, whatever that means.

Finally, A HOME IN MY HEART by Larisa Brass is a MUST READ story that powerfully defines the meaning of Christian love. (Larisa is the mother of six children, all adopted from Uganda.)