By
Lawrence G. Downing
Dr. Earle Hilgert, former Andrews University Seminary professor and Professor Emeritus at McCormick Seminary, in his presentation at the inaugural Richard Hammell Lectureship at Loma Linda University Church, examined what he termed the Essentials and the Accidentals of the Christian faith. He defined Essentials as those properties that are fundamental to an object or person. He defined Accidentals as those properties which are part of an object but are not essential to its being. Hilgert employed the metaphor of a triangle to illustrate his point. The angles of a triangle will add up to 180 degrees—always. This is an essential. The area of a triangle is an accidental.
Hilgert’s search to discover the Essentials of the Christian faith led him to discover what appear to be the earliest New Testament confessionals. From his examination of these confessionals, Hilgert concluded that the first Christians counted the following as Essentials: Jesus Christ is Lord, he was crucified, and he rose from the dead.
Examples of Accidentals, using Hilgert’s definition as a starting point, include the Nativity story—Matthew and Luke describe Jesus’ birth; Mark, John and the other New Testament writers don’t. These authors do not tell us where He was born and make only oblique reference to His virgin birth. We find similar divergences when we read what the New Testament authors wrote about Jesus’ divine/human nature and the relationship between Jesus and the Father.
This paper argues that Hilgert is “on to something”, in that it offers an explanation for the current theological divisions in the Adventist Church and the growing influence of administrators on theology and practice.
Hilgert chose geometry as his metaphor to illustrate the difference between Essentials and Accidentals. He might also have used a musical note. A trumpet, a piano, flute or violin each has the ability to generate a tone. When a tone is produced with a vibration of approximately 440 vibrations per second (v.p.s.) at 72º F, it is an “A”. The vibrations per second produce the Essential. The harmonics, or accidentals produced by the individual instrument, are what differentiate one instrument from another. This is how we know the difference between a trumpet and a bassoon.
What we discover, however, is that when one examines individual instruments from within the same subgroup, accidentals have a subtle, though significant role. A concert violinist, when given the choice, will select a Stradivarius over a 21st Century mass-produced violin.
Triangles and musical instruments are one thing; religious belief and practices are quite another; however the metaphor is instructive. Religious organizations subscribe to commonly accepted Essentials, such as belief in the existence of a higher Being God, and the notion that human beings have the potential to become better in some broadly defined moral sense.
Subgroups within the Christian metagroup affirm a sub set of Essentials. These are beliefs regarding the Trinity, baptism, forgiveness of sin, salvation by faith in Christ alone, and the authority of Scripture. What differentiates one Christian group from the other is the emphasis a specific entity places upon the Accidentals. The Seventh day Adventist Church emphasizes a particular day for worship. Baptists believe in an eternal hell fire and in baptism by immersion. Roman Catholics affirm the infallibility of the Pope and Mormons believe the president of the Church of Latter Day Saints Church is endowed with the prophetic gift.
What one subgroup identifies as an Essential may be viewed as Accidental, inconsequential, or heretical by another group. For example, both Methodists and Baptists believe in baptism. The Methodists baptize by immersion or sprinkling. Baptists do not accept sprinkling. The mode of baptism is an Essential to the Baptists; it is an Accidental to the Methodist.
As one more closely differentiates between subgroups, Accidentals tend to become Essentials. Because Accidentals are what define and give character to individual subgroups, the more distinct the Accidental, the more importance it may have for the group. To illustrate this point I will reference the church I know best.
The Adventist Church has a set of 28 Fundamental Beliefs. These are its Essentials. This list includes beliefs commonly accepted as Essential by other Christian groups: God is the Creator, salvation is by faith in Christ alone and Scripture is God's authoritative word. There are, however, other statements of belief within the 28 that most Christians do not accept: the seventh day Sabbath; the 2300 days prophecy found in Daniel 8:14; abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and unclean meats; tithing; and the belief that Ellen White was a prophet of God. These Accidentals turned Essentials provide this subgroup with its unique identity and have become basic to its continued existence.
Religious subgroups sometimes consider it mandatory to persuade members of its Metagroup to accept their beliefs and adopt their Accidentals as Essential. These refinements tend to further isolate these subgroups from others in the metagroup. Energy and effort is also required to defend and promote these doctrines. If members of the subgroup challenge one or more of these “official” beliefs, group leaders may try to mediate differences and/or attempt to enforce established doctrine.
Christian church history suggests that there is a common thread of paranoia and intolerance in subgroups as they more carefully define and emphasize the aspects of the beliefs that differentiate them from the metagroup. As a subgroup begins to focus on and promote its peculiar characteristics, Accidentals tend to become Essentials, and the subgroup becomes increasingly certain of its unique role in the cosmic scheme of things. As a consequence, it perceives its Essentials to be of increasing importance. The gulf between the subgroup and the metagroup increases, and the subgroup comes to believe that if they modify or abandon their unique Essentials, their identity will be lost and their existence threatened. Ironically, this course of action may weaken their influence within the metagroup and lead to their eventual irrelevance and dissolution.
Today, Seventh-day Adventists are under pressure to decide if it is possible for one member’s Essentials to be another member’s Accidentals? While the majority of Adventists accept the Sabbath as an Essential, there is less support for the Church’s official position regarding inspiration, eschatology, a short-earth chronology, and a worldwide flood.
Can the Seventh-day Adventist church permit a diversity of belief without destroying their Christian fellowship? For some Adventists this question is debatable; for others it is not. There are those who believe it is important to precisely define the Essentials and set precise doctrinal boundaries. These members expend energy and resources to promote what Hilgert defines as Accidentals. The end result of these efforts is division, infighting, and loss of credibility. As a result, the Adventist church’s contribution to a progressive understanding of Essential Christian theology will be heavily discounted.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Doggerel
by Jeff Harris
illustrations by Thomas Anderson
#1
When the heart lies down with the fat dogs
in the fat town,
Whimpering when your dinner’s late,
Let piety adjust your face
To the seasoning of his brand of grace,
And help yourself to your neighbor’s plate.
#2
When the heart lies down with the fat dogs
in the fat town,
Howling hosannas and drowling for dinner
Bow your head saintly and pray like a sinner:
“Oh life is so simple,
Life is so sweet.
Thanks for the kibbles, god,
How ‘bout some meat?”
#3
When the heart lies down with the fat dogs
in the fat town,
Saluting with due pro-piety
Your deity at First and Main,
Rejoice as you bless with humble derision
The gods at the corners of others’ religions.
The First Memoir
Here is the story of the worldwide flood recorded in Genesis 6-9. (I have also included what God had to say about meat eating in Genesis 9:2-4. This is for the benefit of my SDA brothers and sisters.)What really happened? Read the Biblical account, and then I’ll tell you.
- Andy
Can you read this and believe it’s literally true? What about the physical size of the ark, the numbers of animals housed and fed, what about amphibians, the identification of “clean” an “unclean” animals before dietary laws were pronounced at Sinai, contradictory statements, the Lord smelling the “pleasing aroma” of Noah’s burnt offering. This account also makes God look stupid. He tried to destroy violence by the most catastrophic and violent act described in the Bible, and he failed miserably.
Before I describe what probably happened, I offer the following assumptions.
Assumption 1: the careful reading of the Bible will increase its value as a moral compass for behavior and will stimulate healthy intellectual inquiry.
Assumption 2: the actual reading of the Bible need not inspire fear, destructive doubt, or the rejection of the Bible as an inspired book.
Richard Elliott Friedman offers an explanation for the conflicting “facts” that are contained in the Biblical narrative. In his book, "Who Wrote the Bible”, He suggests that the Genesis flood story is actually two separate stories that someone “cut up and combined into one”.
Friedman’s thesis opens the door, at least a crack, for the consideration of the Flood, not as a literal account of what really happened, but a story about something like a tsunami.
Possible scenario: Earthquakes, probably the subduction or collision of tectonic plates, enlarged or broke through the land forms separating Europe (Gibraltar) from the coast of Africa and also created the Bosporus channel.
Fact: The Mediterranean and Black Sea bottoms contain evidence of previous human habitation.
Fact: Describing an event similar to the tsunami in South East Asia makes it possible to explain the Flood as something other than the result of God’s wrath; that we do not serve a god that is unforgiving and vindictive, who ruthlessly drowns innocent children and animals. That seems to me to be a worthy endeavor.
Here is my scenario. The people who survived the Flood lived some distance from their respective valley floors where cities, usually associated with sinful or at least secular behavior were likely to be situated. (Sodom and Gomorrah?) These people were savvy enough to head for higher ground when the animals did. Consequently, they ended up on the tops of hills accompanied by lots of animals. Some boats survived the general destruction.
The rainbow “promise” story was told by shamans to reassure shocked survivors, particularly children. The statement that “the waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet”, indicates the incredible magnitude of the event.
NOTE: Cartoon taken from Non Sequitur by Wiley
(click image to enlarge)
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Remnant — A Parable
by Eric Ayars
It was a small boat, as boats went. It was hardly more than a rowboat, really; but it was safe, dry, and watertight. Rather pretty too, James thought, as he and the other rowers took a short break. It was white, appropriately enough, with a neat line of oars down one side and sturdy wooden benches for the crew. Its name, which they were all so proud of, was stenciled in large red block letters on each side of the bow. Everyone could see that this was no ordinary rowboat: this was the Remnant.
It was a strange name for a boat, but that name filled the crew with hope. They had a mission: saving swimmers. They had a destination: port. They had promises, given to them by The Captain Himself. He had promised them that the Remnant would never sink. He had promised that all those on board would live. He had promised that they would reach port safely. And so, day after day, they rowed.
It seemed to James that surely they should have reached port by now. He knew they weren’t lost—they had a map, drawn by The Captain Himself. It was spread out on a small platform near the bow, next to the careful painting of a compass that showed them they were heading the right direction. Despite all that, though, they had not reached port. James still wondered occasionally if they should have oars on both sides of the boat; but when they had tried that they had run aground almost immediately. "We should return to the old ways," the leaders had told them in the aftermath of that disaster, "and row harder."
James tried to remember how long he’d been on the boat. It seemed like he’d been rowing all his life. Perhaps he’d been born on the boat! After all, his parents were on the boat too, just a few benches away. Come to think of it, so were his grandparents. Well, he grinned to himself as he began to row once more, The Captain hadn’t said how long the trip was—He’d just promised that they would get there safely.
Not everyone on the Remnant had been born there, of course. Next to James sat Steve, who’d been pulled from the surrounding water quite recently. Steve still dripped and smelled a little bit like chlorine, but James didn’t mind. It felt good to have been a part of saving a man’s life. He wished that he could do more for the rest of the swimmers surrounding the boat; but most showed no desire to come aboard. They seemed utterly unaware of their lost and drowning condition as they splashed happily about in their indecent outfits and garish rubber hats. Some swam back and forth endlessly, as if they could reach port on their own. Others clung to small inflatable toys, as if those could carry them safely through the great storms of the end. Most seemed to treat their condition as a game, unconcerned that they weren’t on the Remnant.
Sadder still to James were his memories of those who had once been on the Remnant but had left. His sister had rowed for a long time on the bench beside him, until one day she’d started talking excitedly about “looking farther” and “seeing the big picture”. They had all tried convincing her to calm down and keep rowing, but she wouldn’t. She and his best friend had jumped overboard, and were last seen wading hand in hand into the distance. Someday, he hoped, they would come back to the Remnant; but until they made that choice there was nothing he could do. He bent his back once again into his oar as the painted compass pointed them onwards.
Far above, on the bridge of the great ocean liner, Remnant, the watch was changing.
"Morning, Gabe. Coffee?"
"Thanks, Michael." The glowing creature folded himself into a chair with a sigh and held the steaming mug under his nose.
"Ah, that hits the spot. Quiet watch?"
"I wish! More of the usual, I'm afraid, with emphasis on wars and rumors of wars. I'll be glad when this trip is over!"
"We're almost there now, I'm sure. Soon we'll all be home…" It was such an old joke that they snorted the punchline almost in unison: "…Even the Adventists."
The two archangels sat for another companionable moment before Gabriel broke the silence. "I know this is a strange question to ask after so many years, but I was working with the situation down on China deck in the mid-nineteenth century and missed all the fun. How'd they get that lifeboat to the pool deck in the first place?"
It was a small boat, as boats went. It was hardly more than a rowboat, really; but it was safe, dry, and watertight. Rather pretty too, James thought, as he and the other rowers took a short break. It was white, appropriately enough, with a neat line of oars down one side and sturdy wooden benches for the crew. Its name, which they were all so proud of, was stenciled in large red block letters on each side of the bow. Everyone could see that this was no ordinary rowboat: this was the Remnant.
It was a strange name for a boat, but that name filled the crew with hope. They had a mission: saving swimmers. They had a destination: port. They had promises, given to them by The Captain Himself. He had promised them that the Remnant would never sink. He had promised that all those on board would live. He had promised that they would reach port safely. And so, day after day, they rowed.
It seemed to James that surely they should have reached port by now. He knew they weren’t lost—they had a map, drawn by The Captain Himself. It was spread out on a small platform near the bow, next to the careful painting of a compass that showed them they were heading the right direction. Despite all that, though, they had not reached port. James still wondered occasionally if they should have oars on both sides of the boat; but when they had tried that they had run aground almost immediately. "We should return to the old ways," the leaders had told them in the aftermath of that disaster, "and row harder."
James tried to remember how long he’d been on the boat. It seemed like he’d been rowing all his life. Perhaps he’d been born on the boat! After all, his parents were on the boat too, just a few benches away. Come to think of it, so were his grandparents. Well, he grinned to himself as he began to row once more, The Captain hadn’t said how long the trip was—He’d just promised that they would get there safely.
Not everyone on the Remnant had been born there, of course. Next to James sat Steve, who’d been pulled from the surrounding water quite recently. Steve still dripped and smelled a little bit like chlorine, but James didn’t mind. It felt good to have been a part of saving a man’s life. He wished that he could do more for the rest of the swimmers surrounding the boat; but most showed no desire to come aboard. They seemed utterly unaware of their lost and drowning condition as they splashed happily about in their indecent outfits and garish rubber hats. Some swam back and forth endlessly, as if they could reach port on their own. Others clung to small inflatable toys, as if those could carry them safely through the great storms of the end. Most seemed to treat their condition as a game, unconcerned that they weren’t on the Remnant.
Sadder still to James were his memories of those who had once been on the Remnant but had left. His sister had rowed for a long time on the bench beside him, until one day she’d started talking excitedly about “looking farther” and “seeing the big picture”. They had all tried convincing her to calm down and keep rowing, but she wouldn’t. She and his best friend had jumped overboard, and were last seen wading hand in hand into the distance. Someday, he hoped, they would come back to the Remnant; but until they made that choice there was nothing he could do. He bent his back once again into his oar as the painted compass pointed them onwards.
Far above, on the bridge of the great ocean liner, Remnant, the watch was changing.
"Morning, Gabe. Coffee?"
"Thanks, Michael." The glowing creature folded himself into a chair with a sigh and held the steaming mug under his nose.
"Ah, that hits the spot. Quiet watch?"
"I wish! More of the usual, I'm afraid, with emphasis on wars and rumors of wars. I'll be glad when this trip is over!"
"We're almost there now, I'm sure. Soon we'll all be home…" It was such an old joke that they snorted the punchline almost in unison: "…Even the Adventists."
The two archangels sat for another companionable moment before Gabriel broke the silence. "I know this is a strange question to ask after so many years, but I was working with the situation down on China deck in the mid-nineteenth century and missed all the fun. How'd they get that lifeboat to the pool deck in the first place?"
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Reviewing the Review
October 11, 2007
Vol. 184, N. 28
Reviewer’s Note:
For those of you who get the Review electronically, this review might seem late. However, I am only comfortable writing reviews when I have the actual magazine beside me. I just got it yesterday.
LETTERS These letters refer to articles and editorials in July and August! This is October! Why the lag time? Just today, on our town’s Alzheimer’s Walk, one of my Grace Connection friends told me that he enjoys reading Letters. Then, without reading further, he often tosses his Review in the trash because the letters refer to articles and editorials two months old!
The responses to the June 14 articles on the church’s position on the War in Iraq, while differing in support of non-combatant status, all shared a basic unease about American foreign policy. I’m more than uneasy; I want us out of Iraq ASAP.
Don’t we citizens get it? Everyone who pays federal taxes is “supporting the war”. I wonder what would happen if all the Adventists in America refused to pay taxes because, as conscientious followers of Christ, we cannot support a national policy of killing our enemies and causing the inevitable “collateral damage” of war. Talk about bringing on “The Latter Rain”! That would do the job in a hurry!
Ken Albertson, a letter writer from Scottsdale, “cannot visualize Christians rioting and burning buildings just because some ‘pagans’ misuse the Bible in some irreverent way". Ken, Christians have been guilty of that and a lot worse down through history. In fairly resent times German Christians planned and carried out the Holocaust, and Rwanda was the most “Christian” nation in Africa. By the way, a Rwandan Adventist church leader is a convicted war criminal.
BILL KNOTT’S EDITORIAL Bill, I was with you all the way until you said, “We should all rightly dread the day when policies are crafted to quiet critics, or positions taken only to ward off the darts of bloggers.” (These words seem to be an aside, written to avoid the wrath of a “conservative constituency”.) We “critics” and “bloggers” may speak corrective truths on occasion.
Come on, Bill, we are looking to you for leadership. Continue to be as unequivocal about truth and hypocrisy as you are in your last, paragraph: “Pray this day that the leaders you follow will have the courage to speak the truth as it is in Jesus—without fear, without change, without equivocation.”
WHEN YOU THINK YOUR PRAYERS AREN’T HEARD Wilona, how can you reference “Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith” when you write about the feeling that follows prayer? You “know that you are just fine. You are better than fine.”
ABUSE IN THE ADVENTIST CHURCH This Cover Feature deserves the billing. We as a church “must move forward to educate, to protect, and to provide healing environments for our hurting members.” Rene, Marciana, Gary and Linda, thanks for the reminder. THIS ARTICLE IS A MUST READ!
TRUTH, THE NEGLECTED VIRTUE This is a huge disappointment as “theology”. It’s difficult for me to believe that Rex Edwards was a university Dean. The language is cliché riddled, mangled almost beyond belief, and meaningless because terms are not defined and analogies are stupefying. Consider the following quotation:
“Self-will always repudiates a truth that challenges it. But however successful self-will may be, it’s never satisfied. That’s why the egotist is always critical. The head that wears the crown is uneasy—not because it’s tired of the crown, but because it’s tired of itself. It has it within its power to do anything it pleases, but living without boundaries and limitations becomes as dull and stagnant as a swamp.
“A river must be happier than a swamp, because it has banks and boundaries. A swamp is a valley of liberty that lost its shores and became liberal.”
Editors, do you just correct spelling?
PORTAGING THE CHINA CABINET Sari Fordham’s “Journeys” piece is a delightful, fresh read. She offers her analogy without heavy-handed moralizing.
PAULSEN: INCLUDE YOUNG ADULTS IN CHURCH, WOMEN IN MINISTRY The nine-panel member pastors featured in the September 13 interactive telecast are not identified by name, and the issues discussed are not close to resolution. It was particularly disheartening to read Jan Paulsen’s comment that even though the world church has never taken the position that the “concept” of ordaining women is rejected by the Bible or the writing of church cofounder Ellen G. White, “It’s just a question of ‘can we make this major change and still hold together as a global community?’”
ADRA preaches the Gospel message. Unfortunately, most of us just talk about it. Support ADRA www.adra.org
ADVENTIST/PRESBYTERIANS AFFIRM COMMON BELIEFS Of course we do; we are both Christian denominations. I hope the hotel accommodations were good and the other perks lived up to the expectations of the conference participants.
FAMILY WORSHIP A pretty standard homily. The notion that family worship started in the Garden of Eden conjured up, in my mind at least, a surreal vision of nudity and strategically placed fig leaves.
SEEKING AND BEING Seth Pierce realistically portrays grad school poverty along with the justifiable fear of what our wives had to say when we absent-mindedly forgot where we left our brains.
EMBRACED Lori Futcher reminds us of what a church family ought to be.
PUTTING THE “AWE” BACK IN Tompaul Wheeler asks us to make sure that our use of superlatives is not superlative.
Vol. 184, N. 28
Reviewer’s Note:
For those of you who get the Review electronically, this review might seem late. However, I am only comfortable writing reviews when I have the actual magazine beside me. I just got it yesterday.
LETTERS These letters refer to articles and editorials in July and August! This is October! Why the lag time? Just today, on our town’s Alzheimer’s Walk, one of my Grace Connection friends told me that he enjoys reading Letters. Then, without reading further, he often tosses his Review in the trash because the letters refer to articles and editorials two months old!
The responses to the June 14 articles on the church’s position on the War in Iraq, while differing in support of non-combatant status, all shared a basic unease about American foreign policy. I’m more than uneasy; I want us out of Iraq ASAP.
Don’t we citizens get it? Everyone who pays federal taxes is “supporting the war”. I wonder what would happen if all the Adventists in America refused to pay taxes because, as conscientious followers of Christ, we cannot support a national policy of killing our enemies and causing the inevitable “collateral damage” of war. Talk about bringing on “The Latter Rain”! That would do the job in a hurry!
Ken Albertson, a letter writer from Scottsdale, “cannot visualize Christians rioting and burning buildings just because some ‘pagans’ misuse the Bible in some irreverent way". Ken, Christians have been guilty of that and a lot worse down through history. In fairly resent times German Christians planned and carried out the Holocaust, and Rwanda was the most “Christian” nation in Africa. By the way, a Rwandan Adventist church leader is a convicted war criminal.
BILL KNOTT’S EDITORIAL Bill, I was with you all the way until you said, “We should all rightly dread the day when policies are crafted to quiet critics, or positions taken only to ward off the darts of bloggers.” (These words seem to be an aside, written to avoid the wrath of a “conservative constituency”.) We “critics” and “bloggers” may speak corrective truths on occasion.
Come on, Bill, we are looking to you for leadership. Continue to be as unequivocal about truth and hypocrisy as you are in your last, paragraph: “Pray this day that the leaders you follow will have the courage to speak the truth as it is in Jesus—without fear, without change, without equivocation.”
WHEN YOU THINK YOUR PRAYERS AREN’T HEARD Wilona, how can you reference “Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith” when you write about the feeling that follows prayer? You “know that you are just fine. You are better than fine.”
ABUSE IN THE ADVENTIST CHURCH This Cover Feature deserves the billing. We as a church “must move forward to educate, to protect, and to provide healing environments for our hurting members.” Rene, Marciana, Gary and Linda, thanks for the reminder. THIS ARTICLE IS A MUST READ!
TRUTH, THE NEGLECTED VIRTUE This is a huge disappointment as “theology”. It’s difficult for me to believe that Rex Edwards was a university Dean. The language is cliché riddled, mangled almost beyond belief, and meaningless because terms are not defined and analogies are stupefying. Consider the following quotation:
“Self-will always repudiates a truth that challenges it. But however successful self-will may be, it’s never satisfied. That’s why the egotist is always critical. The head that wears the crown is uneasy—not because it’s tired of the crown, but because it’s tired of itself. It has it within its power to do anything it pleases, but living without boundaries and limitations becomes as dull and stagnant as a swamp.
“A river must be happier than a swamp, because it has banks and boundaries. A swamp is a valley of liberty that lost its shores and became liberal.”
Editors, do you just correct spelling?
PORTAGING THE CHINA CABINET Sari Fordham’s “Journeys” piece is a delightful, fresh read. She offers her analogy without heavy-handed moralizing.
PAULSEN: INCLUDE YOUNG ADULTS IN CHURCH, WOMEN IN MINISTRY The nine-panel member pastors featured in the September 13 interactive telecast are not identified by name, and the issues discussed are not close to resolution. It was particularly disheartening to read Jan Paulsen’s comment that even though the world church has never taken the position that the “concept” of ordaining women is rejected by the Bible or the writing of church cofounder Ellen G. White, “It’s just a question of ‘can we make this major change and still hold together as a global community?’”
ADRA preaches the Gospel message. Unfortunately, most of us just talk about it. Support ADRA www.adra.org
ADVENTIST/PRESBYTERIANS AFFIRM COMMON BELIEFS Of course we do; we are both Christian denominations. I hope the hotel accommodations were good and the other perks lived up to the expectations of the conference participants.
FAMILY WORSHIP A pretty standard homily. The notion that family worship started in the Garden of Eden conjured up, in my mind at least, a surreal vision of nudity and strategically placed fig leaves.
SEEKING AND BEING Seth Pierce realistically portrays grad school poverty along with the justifiable fear of what our wives had to say when we absent-mindedly forgot where we left our brains.
EMBRACED Lori Futcher reminds us of what a church family ought to be.
PUTTING THE “AWE” BACK IN Tompaul Wheeler asks us to make sure that our use of superlatives is not superlative.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
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