In the beginning, before the modern age, when man hurt himself from injury or acquired a disease there was no one to help him. So he cried out for healing, and someone responded, and studied how they might help man and cure him from his disease. And he became known as a doctor or teacher, and because there were so few doctors to help man from his aliments, man had to wait a long time to see the doctor, hence man became known as a patient, for if he wanted to be helped--he must be very patient!

I often hear the expression (used rather glibly, I must say): “God told me.” The words are typically the preamble to a description of some strongly held conviction. But the expression leaves me uncomfortable.

For starters, just how did God tell the person? Was there a booming voice from heaven that all in the room heard? Was there an actual voice, but audible only to the person? Or was it just a strong conviction—a moment of clarity—that came at a crucial point in the person’s mental wrestling?

View our live conversation on the 82nd Academy Awards below.
Great bunch of films this year!

With this session we approach what could be one of the most contentious and impassible subjects to be tackled in a SS class. There is much heat generated on how literally one should read Genesis and whether YEC (Young Earth Creationism) and/or YLC (Young Life Creationism) is mandatory to be a true Adventist or not. One prominent Adventist thought leader has suggested those who do not adhere to such conservative views are, in effect, “Seventh-day Darwinists” and ‘fifth columnists”[1].

Environmentalism did not begin with Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis in 1972. It didn’t start with the founding of Green Peace in 1971 or the celebration of Earth Day in 1970. Its commencement preceded the publication of Carson's Silent Spring in 1962 and even John Muir’s efforts to establish the Sierra Club in 1892.

February 11, 2010 - Vol. 187, No. 4

GENERAL COMMENTS
There is nothing in this issue that isn’t kosher, including a shot at critics of the church in a letter from Trevor Connell, comparing them to “Jesus’ enemies”.

WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

In previous posts, we’ve discussed both Augustine’s biography, and also the Platonism that influenced much of his thought. For better or worse, most of us in the Christian or post-Christian West have imbibed from this well.

Theology, Philosophy, Medicine, Justice

Damien Hirst

2008

Bull sharks, glass, steel, silicone and formaldehyde

When I was young, my family’s vegetarianism embarrassed me. I thought vegetarianism was a strange affectation, just one of many things that made me self-conscious, eccentricities that separated me from non-Adventist friends.

Today, during his Board of Trustees briefing, President Niels-Erik Andreasen announced that Dr. Andrea Luxton will become the second woman to hold the Provost position at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.

I am happy to see my friend Peter Laarman holding forth in this informed discussion with David Gushee on the futures of the evangelical and mainline Christian movements.

Is there really a universal human longing for transcendence? Augustine famously wrote “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee”. But is he right? Is there really a ‘Hound of Heaven’ in pursuit or might any such perceptions, if they exist at all, be better explained as naturalistically grounded in physiology or psychology?

By Desmond Murray and Charity Garcia

February 2010 - Vol. 6, No. 2

Adventist World is free online. For that reason, I only review or comment on articles and editorials that I believe to be of special interest.

REVIEWS

"There are 6,000 Adventist Churches in North America—each one has a story."

G. K. Chesterton observed, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” Arguably, this statement is most clearly true in Jesus’ call to love our enemies.[1] If you’re anything like me, you embrace this teaching at a cerebral level and yet have difficulty responding with kindness when even slightly provoked or criticized.

With this posting I begin an 11 part series structured for possible use as an alternate Sabbath School Study Guide. I will post one lesson/study per week. The springboard for discussion comes from a PBS television program (subsequently released as a DVD) and book entitled The Question of God. The book is authored by Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Armand Nicholi, who also developed and produced the PBS broadcasts. I integrated segments from the DVD into the class. The issues he raises touch some of the most foundational spiritual questions people face.

Welcome back to the Lenten series on giving our time to work for peace and justice.[1] Today’s focus is community. This may not be the first topic that comes to mind when contemplating social action, but I believe it is important for positioning our future discussions. Even the Lord’s Prayer begins with a sense of community—“Our Father…”[2] “The prayer Jesus taught us is a prayer of community and reconciliation, belonging to a new kind of people who have left the land of ‘me.’”[3]

January 28, 2010 - Vol. 187, No. 3

GENERAL COMMENT
If you like a Review that is potentially more inspirational than thought provoking, this is your issue. However, I am going to do my best to get you to rip the lid off the theological monologue that accompanies the cover article, SIFTING THROUGH THE PAST, and sober up the saccharine manikins posing for the cover shot.

OPEN DOORS, Gerald Klingbeil uses open and closed doors as metaphors for the Christian life.

Today is Ash Wednesday, which means that Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans, Catholics and faithful members of other denominations are beginning the observance of Lent, the 40-plus days leading to Easter that are marked by fasting and repentance. I think early Adventists would have whole-heartedly participated in this Day of Atonement writ large if not for Fat Tuesday blocking the way.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: a rabbi, an imam and a swami walk into a restaurant. . . .

But what if 6,000 religious people, from 100 different faiths, met together to discuss the world’s problems, and whether it might be better to cooperate than to compete?

January 21, 2010 - Vol. 186, No, 2

GENERAL COMMENTS
I’m loving the reviewing the Review. This issue is not only exceptional, it’s personally, very special.

WHAT PEOPLE SWALLOW

The following statements are by Ellen White from the compilation Counsels to Writers and Editors:

"There is no excuse for anyone taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation...

On the planet Pandora, electrochemical communication across an underground root system links trees together, through billions of connections, like synapses between neurons in our brains.

For immediate release

La Sierra Board Action
Larry Becker
Executive Director, University Relations
Febrary 12, 2010
1-1-1

Reaffirmation of Board Statement

La Sierra University's Board of Trustees has reaffirmed their previous action from November 2009 upholding the Adventist Church's doctrine of creation. The trustees voted their actuion during their February 11, 2010 meeting. The specific action reads:

Equally a source of bellyache laughter, fascination, and sincere belief, the brand of premarital sexual purity hawked by evangelicals has made headlines for decades. Everyone from Justin Timberlake-era Britney Spears with her purported virginity to right-wing Christian writers like I Kissed Dating Goodbye Joshua Harris, cashed in on pooh-poohing pre-knot-tying nookie. But what were you supposed to do if you weren’t married but had already gotten laid? Just how screwed were you?

Biblical Inerrancy. Subordination of Women. Teaching Evolution. Perfectionsim. King James Version vs. New International Version. People could spend days, weeks...even years trying to hash out the intricacies of topics like those. It took student filmmakers Adrian James and Albert Sabaté just over 80 minutes.

James, a senior psychology/philosophy major at La Sierra University and Sabaté, who is pursuing a master's degree in broadcast journalism at USC, have hit the road with a story that has become increasingly relevant in the two years since they started filming.

With La Sierra University’s Board scheduled to meet this week, the editor of the Educate Truth web site is highlighting the words of Central California Conference President Jerry Page

Plato is often the philosophical whipping boy of the Adventist community.

Chris Oberg, the senior pastor of the La Sierra University Church in Riverside, California, speaks for the Sabbath worship service during the university's Peace Week.