Reviewing the Adventist Review

January 19, 2012
Vol. 189, No. 2
http://www.adventistreview.org/index.php?issue=2012-1502

GENERAL COMMENT
Once again, this review is a twofer: two reviews for the price of one!

REVIEWS
This issue includes an inspiring biography of Terry Lyndon who refuses to allow his dyslexia to derail his dreams of AN ACCOMPLISHED LIFE; Hyveth Williams suggestion that young people raised in the church and are now nationally known athletes IN THE ARENA of sports might be “an untapped resource for Christian mission”; ‘I AM MAD, REALLY MAD, Walter Thompson’s refutation of the argument that God is in any way responsible for the tragedies of life; and a great miracle story, THE VOICE ON THE ROAD, by Delmer G. Ross.

COMMENT
Cliff Goldstein’s iPADS IN HEAVEN is his usual downer:

“Most folk, though, never come close to achieving what [Steve Jobs] did. Even those who achieve their dreams often find that they still struggle with a sense of meaninglessness because death…will take it all away from them and, eventually, from everyone else as well…What pushed [Jobs] to seek a greater stake in this world, death (at least the inevitability of it), should have been what revealed the futility of putting down roots too deep here, in what’s always shallow ground. Most folk are dead a lot longer than they’re alive, and the reality of death always threatens to nullify the meaning of that life anyway. Sure, Jobs accomplished a lot, but in contrast to a million years, or to eternity, what does it matter?

"As Jesus said, ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal’” (Matt. 6:19, 20). 

This final quotation carelessly misrepresents the meaning of Christ’s admonition and turns this homily on its head! These are words that forever give the lie to those who claim that in the end, our lives are meaningless.


Reviewing the Adventist Review
January 26, 2012
Vol. 189, No. 3
http://www.adventistreview.org/index.php?issue=2012-1503

REVIEWS
This issue includes HEALTHY COMPETITION, Kimberly Luste Maran’s delightful reminder of what it was like to be parent leader in children’s Sabbath school; Delber Baker’s CONFLICT HAPPENS, WHAT THEN is a straightforward essay on what it takes to solve interpersonal and theological problems; and Gena Wahlen’s THE NOTE is about an abusive father and a teenage girl’s answer to prayer.

IT'S NOT A FAD by Miroslav Pujic is a MUST READ challenge for Adventist leadership in a postmodern world.

Andrew McChesney is in top form once again. TEAM SPIRIT is a real life deus ex machina solution to his editorial conundrum. It will make you smile!