Reviewing the Adventist Review

October 25, 2012
Vol. 189, No. 30
http://www.adventistreview.org/index.php?issue=2012-1530

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.

COMMENTS
DIVERSITY IN THE CHURCH: WHAT WE ARE DOING TO EMBRACE IT featuring red, black, green, blue, and yellow M&M’s is the promise on the cover page.

Five diversity issues were discussed at the October 31 Diversity Celebration Summit at Silver Spring: gender, disability, age, race, and culture. Ann Roda, Richard Mouzon, Andrew W. Kerbs, Calvin Rock, and Jimmy Shwe presented the issues and, with the exception of Ann Roda (gender diversity), provided the context in which it was discussed.

There was no mention of when the findings of this conference would be reported or the weight given to their recommendations. For these reasons, I smell a PR stunt rather than a serious attempt to discover the advantages and problems inherent in an increasingly diverse membership. I hope I’m wrong.

It’s too bad than Kimberly Luste Maran felt the need to counsel Jessica how to dress when “checking out” Adventist churches in her area, so that she would experience A GOOD VISIT.

It continues to be unfortunate that there is no middle ground in the creation issue. Uncertainty is not an Adventist option. Delbert W. Baker makes that crystal clear in ORIGINS: BELIEFS HAVE IMPLICATIONS, PART 2. Creation truth is interrelated with salvation truth.

Deleise Cole-Wilson is a theologian that certainly doesn’t speak for me in her essay, and our ideas about God would make it impossible for us to be TOGETHER PERFECT! In our lives we know how much we each deserve death for all of the things we constantly do wrong. If we had been around when bears ate people for being disobedient or disrespectful, many of us would not be here.

I emailed Andrew McChesney regarding his inability to “witness” to a Russian government official when Andrew asked him, WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? And the man replied, “I’m reading a book called About Prayer.” Our correspondence follows:

Andy Hanson
Upon reflection, did it occur to you that it was the government official that brought God into the conversation? Were you so busy thinking about how you could "witness" that you missed the fact that the official might have been witnessing to you? God is at work in the world.

Andy McChesney
I wholeheartedly concur with you! Warm regards.

Clifford Goldstein has written his first play. Shadow Men: A Play (Warburton, Victoria: Signs Publishing Company, 2012), 108 pages, A$14.95. The setting is Death Row. Chantal Klingbeil gives it a positive review.

There is a MUST READ article in this issue. MISSION FOCUSED LEARNING by Richard H. Hart provides an outstanding blueprint for effective teaching and learning in today’s world.

With the information explosion now all around us, this paradigm is fundamentally changing. Educators are being urged to create “learning environments” in which students can explore in their own way, at their own speed, driven by their own desire to learn and understand. To be effective, these learning environments require careful planning and orchestrating. Ultimately they will build the foundation for lifelong learning—an approach to education that becomes a pattern for life. It recognizes the broad spectrum of learning styles that we all have and lets students develop and maximize their own pathway to discovery and understanding.