“A Dark and Stormy Night”: a Bible story
Richard W. Coffen | 10 January 2023 | The Promised Land! It sits atop what once was called the Great Rift Valley. Here one tectonic plate is subducting (slipping under) the other. And on the top of this seam of plates, the Promised Land nestles, with its two lakes (the Sea of Galilee and the […]
Top Rankings for Adventist Hospitals from National Watchdog for Hospital Quality
9 January 2023 | The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog nonprofit for hospital quality and safety, has released a list of “Leapfrog Top Hospitals” that measure up to stringent criteria assessing hospital safety and quality of care. ANN states that in 2022, only 5 percent of hospitals evaluated by Leapfrog met the rigorous standards for […]
Aunty, is there a real, literal sanctuary tent up in heaven?
9 January 2023 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Was the tabernacle in the wilderness a literal copy of one in heaven? Or is it all just symbolic? Signed, Really Wondering Dear Wondering: You pose a provocative question, because the difference between the real and the symbolic is an overdue discussion in Adventism. Seventh-day Adventist eschatology has […]
How Ellen White Became St. Ellen—and Why That’s Not Necessarily Bad
by Jim Walters | 7 January 2023 | Ellen White was born into a devout shouting Methodist family, and coped with poor health and limited education. Nevertheless, Ellen rose to become a canonized authority in world Adventism, and that 22-million-member church now holds her writings—in practice, if not in doctrine—equal to the Bible. Consider two […]
Religión: ¡Hable menos y practíquela más!
Cuando mi tren llegó a la estación de Poona, eran casi las 7 de la mañana. Salí de la estación para alquilar un auto-taxi que me llevara a la casa de huéspedes de la misión en Salisbury Park, cuando un gran cartel llamó mi atención. “Religión:” decía. “Habla menos de ella y practícala más”. Más […]
Southern Adventist University Plans 29th Year of MLK Service Day Tradition
6 January 2023 | Southern Adventist University plans to continue an annual tradition of service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, encouraging students to give back to their community. The Chattanoogan reports that approximately 1,000 participants will join together on Southern’s MLK Service Day to serve organizations and community members within the Chattanooga area. This […]
Of Leaving the Faith and Returning to It
by Thandazani Mhlanga | 5 January 2023 | Towards the end of 2021, a fascinating religious drama played out on the internet and social media. Dr. Yitzhak Y. Melamed, a professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, posted to Facebook a letter he received from the Portuguese synagogue (the Esnoga) in Amsterdam. Dr. Melamed had […]
Cuando la Iglesia Adventista financió un Ministerio para Ex-Gays
Durante mucho tiempo, los Adventistas del Séptimo Día asumieron que no tenían miembros homosexuales o lesbianas, pese a que existían antecedentes de pastores homosexuales, algunos con altos cargos, que habían sido descubiertos y despedidos, y de miembros homosexuales desglosados. Sin embargo, cuando el Movimiento de Liberación Gay comenzó en Nueva York en 1969 y […]
News Briefs for January 5, 2023
5 January 2023 | SDA Opportunities in the Metaverse Experiences with the Metaverse in the Brazilian Adventist sphere have already begun in local congregations. This is the case of the APACVERSO project, an idea that was born in a partnership between the administrators of the Associação Paulista Central da Igreja Adventista, together with the Youth […]
ATSS: Reinder Bruinsma on “The Church, Fake News, & Conspiracy Theories”
4 January 2023 | Fake news and conspiracy theories are not new phenomena. They have been with us through the centuries. Jews, Muslims, Catholics, and secret societies have often been the subjects. Today these stories play an ever bigger role. Religious people of the more conservative variety appear to be especially susceptible for all kinds […]