Loren Seibold
About Loren Seibold
Posts by Loren Seibold:
Aunt Sevvy, can a person go to heaven without being an Adventist?
20 January 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, In order to go to heaven, the Bible says only you must believe in Jesus and be baptized. But our church says that you must also be an official member of our church, which requires a commitment to 13 baptismal vows and 28 Fundamental beliefs, some of them […]
Pastor Dies in Australian Floodwaters
19 January 2025 | Search and rescue is about to go into its second full day for missing 53-year-old pastor William (Willie) Strickland, whose utility vehicle was swept off the road by raging floodwaters on Saturday night in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. Pastor Strickland was in a convoy of vehicles […]
Editorial: “The Weak Sister & the Coffee Urn”
I remember once, in a church where I was a pastor, that the suggestion was made that we set up a coffee urn in the lobby. I’m not a big coffee drinker—a cup is about all the caffeine I can handle—but I didn’t see what it could hurt. Virtually everyone in the meeting admitted they […]
The Ministerial Exception: How Church Workers Lost Legal Employment Protection
by Loren Seibold | 17 January 2025 | In comments under a recent Aunt Sevvy, someone asked about the status of church employees under the law. The question intrigued me enough that I started digging a bit into it. (I’m focusing here on the United States, since that’s where I have lived and worked. Perhaps […]
ATSS: Kärt Lazic, “Reframing and Reforming Congregational Worship: An Appeal for a Reset”
8 January 2025 | What is it that happens when we come together for a “church service”? What should happen? Church members are regularly encouraged to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together” (Heb. 10:25). But what are we supposed to do when what we experience there seems to be so far removed from our needs? When […]
Who Controls Our Theological Narrative?
by Reinder Bruinsma | 15 January 2025 | Church authority is a complicated topic. Is it primarily about administrative oversight and personnel management, financial issues, the upkeep of buildings, and denominational strategies? Or is theology the most important role of ecclesial authority? Or perhaps it is about practical application of the church’s teachings, and it’s […]
Broken Trust: My strange and disturbing summer at Adventist summer camp
by Carlos J. Gonzalez | 14 January 2025 | I’m a native of Brooklyn, New York. I loved my city while growing up there—and I still do. The salsa and beat-heavy music, and the air of innocence on DeKalb Avenue, were a utopia for me. But for my mother, things were not as good. She […]
Aunt Sevvy, is Michael the Archangel also Jesus Christ?
13 January 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Is Michael the Archangel the same as Jesus? I’ve only heard this in the Adventist Church, and I wonder: is it unique to us? Signed, Curiouser and Curiouser Dear Curiouser, The White Estate asserts that “many” non-Adventist Bible scholars equate Michael with Christ—but Aunty has heard it only […]
Editorial: “Limited-Time Offer: Receive Adventist Today Magazine for Free!”
We’ve heard from so many of our readers who absolutely love our print magazine. Every quarter, under the brilliant curation of our Executive Editor (and my very good friend), Loren Seibold, our magazine comes alive with a selection of thought-provoking and provocative articles, essays, and features. We bring together some of the finest thinkers and […]
Do I Wear the Badge of an Oppressor?
by Kara Wibberding | 11 January 2025 How do I do good wearing the badge of those who have done evil? Standing on the porch of a Kenyan elementary school, I locked eyes with a woman at the school entrance. She stood in a tiny gap between the two gates, just big enough for her […]
Do Ordinary Christians Need Exorcisms?
by Stephen Ferguson | 9 January 2025 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world”—1 John 4:1. Recently I had some Adventist friends ask my advice about demons. It had been put to them by […]