by Ervin Taylor Ted is the current leader of a relatively young—not yet 150 years old—very conservative and, in many places, fundamentalist Protestant denomination. This denomination, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, claims about 17 million members. Although its origins and early development occurred in 19th Century America, about 80% of its members now live in Third […]
by Debbonnaire Kovacs What if I were in the upper room when the wind started? What if I weren't Peter, or James, or John, or even Matthias? What if I were some wholly unknown person–maybe one of the women? (Not Mary or Mary or the other Mary–someone no one ever heard of or ever will.) […]
by Jack Hoehn Perhaps the greatest fear Adventist Young Earth Creationists have with revising the chronology of Creation and age of the earth, is what it might do to our Sabbath. After all Exodus 20 with the Sabbath commandment is what we believe was written in stone. I don’t find it helpful to argue if […]
by Debbonnaire Kovacs In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples that they need to abide in him the way branches live in a grapevine. We've been discussing and arguing and analyzing what that means ever since. We check ourselves, check each other, check our actions, and check the church manual. We make sermons and songs […]
by Ervin Taylor In Part II of this blog, I’d like to address what, in my view, would appear to be a second major reason why certain politically well-connected Adventists want, need and are currently working hard to make sure that the wording of FB#6 is made more explicit. The hypothesis is that an important […]
by Debbonnaire Kovacs [An apology for not posting for a few weeks] Grief, I've decided, is like a giant fun house. Not fun, at all, just full of traps. You're walking along and suddenly everything goes all stretchy and distorted, like one of those nightmares where sound becomes something from a monster movie and movement […]
by Mark Gutman Tabloids such as The National Enquirer used to print predictions by psychics. The tabloids never seemed to go back to see how accurate previous predictions had been; they mainly were interested in achieving current sales by printing new lists. And if a psychic prediction ever seemed to work out, the tabloids […]
by Donna Jean Walker Haerich The Theology of Hosea, Part II Following the first three vignettes Hosea presents, the rest of the book of Hosea appears to be a collection of pronouncements or oracles delivered by the prophet over an extended period of time. These various oracles form the framework for an overarching message […]
by Stephen Foster The reception of officially formatted and sanctioned information is one thing; education is another. What is considered the source or authority from which information is derived and measured is critical. This, I submit, is the difference between education and officially formatted information. Either human beings invented God or God invented human beings. […]
by Herbert Douglass If a person lives long enough, he or she will watch the unveiling of pleasant companions. Friends that he or she has trusted often veer into valleys and landscapes that reveal their personal “drummers”! I have treasured Max Lucado for decades. Among his books I have cherished are Just Like Jesus, When […]
by Lawrence Downing In Orange County California, where I live, we have witnessed a plethora (what a great word!) of people accused of bilking individuals and corporations out of tens of millions of dollars. A significant number of the alleged perpetrators are associated with religious or not-for-profit organizations. Some of these individuals have been convicted, […]
by Monte Sahlin It is really a simple question. It was asked of pastors and lay leaders in a random sample of more than 11,000 congregations of all faiths across America. “Would you agree? Our congregation is spiritually vital and alive.” The leaders who responded to this survey could pick one of five answers from […]