by Loren Seibold | 22 October 2024 | A friend wrote me a note today. “Happy Great Disappointment Day,” he said. “Another year of remembering that something didn’t happen.” Actually, the bearded ones told us something did happen. And who knows for sure?—though I confess I don’t find the tortured arithmetic terribly convincing. But my […]
21 October 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Growing up, I heard so much against Adventists joining workers’ unions. It was considered by some a sin, and people were denied positions of service in the church if it were found out they had joined one. My father lost many benefits by not joining a union. Where […]
Item #6: “Unauthorized or improper disclosure of information–unauthorized or improper use or release of personal, confidential, private, or proprietary employer or denominational information by any means.” Serious wide-ranging, and concerning new communication rules for church clergy and church employees were discussed this week at the General Conference (GC) Autumn Council in Silver Spring, Maryland. This […]
by Alvin Masarira | 18 October 2024 | The General Conference Executive Committee (GC Excom) met this year from October 10 to 16. The GC Excom is one of the most influential bodies of the worldwide church and it meets more frequently—at least twice a year, so 10 times in five years—than the General Conference […]
by Stephen Ferguson | 17 October 2024 | I am interested in religion, especially its more philosophical aspects—but I would say I have never been a particularly spiritual person. I have always struggled to pray, meditate, or contemplate. The closest thing I have ever had to an extraordinary mystical experience had nothing to do with […]
17 October 2024 | At least in the United States, church and state are held separately to prevent the interjection of the government into the free exercise of religion. However, does that mean the church is to remain neutral in all matters of politics? We will explore some of the historical episodes of the Adventist […]
by Reinder Bruinsma, PhD | 16 October 2024 | This lecture was originally scheduled for Loma Linda University on October 16, but was canceled on orders from General Conference president Ted Wilson. It was rescheduled for the Norte Vista High School Theater in Riverside, California. It was also the occasion of launching Dr. Bruinsma’s new […]
by Loren Seibold | 15 October 2024 | A week or so ago I received a letter from Catherine Taylor, a family therapist who is also a member of Kinship International, the organization for LGBTQ+ people from a Seventh-day Adventist background. Please be clear: everything I’m about to tell you comes from the letter Catherine […]
14 October 2024 | Dear Aunty, I’m a fourth-generation Adventist who spent 16 years in our educational system. I’ve been on a 50-year journey to get “deprogrammed” from the disinformation and fear I was exposed to. However, I find I can still be “triggered” by certain phrases, and one of those is “the time of […]
I am unimpressed by “John 3:16” unfurled from a fan’s seat along the front tier of a baseball stadium, or graffitied on a wall or stall. Yes, believing in Jesus is important. It’s a first step. But John 3:16, taken out of context and presented as the whole picture, means little. I don’t want to […]
