Carsten Thomsen, “Ten Celebrations of Adventist Theology”

The following paragraphs are the background to the piece you’ll be reading and discussing this week, called “Ten Celebrations of Adventist Theology.”

I’m probably a lifelong rebel. Always exploring, examining from different angles. As an engineer, I love dreaming of crazy, innovative ideas that ultimately must meet the test of the real world. Some enjoying world-class success and others a devastating failure.

Religion, although it deals with things we cannot measure, see, or feel, also must be tested in real life. “By their fruits shall ye know them”.  

I was baptized too early. As an 11-year-old, I accepted it all—hook, line, and sinker. But at Andrews University, I learned to question, explore, and think.

Since 1973 I’ve worked in “worldly” electronics firms until my recent retirement. I’ve been blessed by meeting many sincere, kind, creative, and ethical individuals. I’ve seen God bless his own creatures, regardless of creed.

But I’ve been troubled by the conflict between logic, faith, and glaring inconsistencies in the church. I’ve been frustrated by poor decision making, intolerance, religious arrogance, and hypocrisy…also in my own life…

In recent years, that frustration boiled over when I watched the 2015 General Conference session and heard Ted Wilson’s words following the vote regarding women’s ordination. Words I perceived as trampling on the women of the church. I almost smashed my iPad.

At the 2021 Autumn Council I heard Ted Wilson’s Sabbath sermon, which struck me as negative, intolerant, and un-Christian. When I awoke at 3 a.m. that night, my anger had not subsided. Then I remembered: “Turn your negative energy into something positive”. I grabbed my Mac, sat up in bed, and wrote the “10 Celebrations of Adventist Theology”.

I was tired of being negative, I was tired of being tired of….

That night I forced myself to look in my mental mirror and ask myself what I really believed. I had to be honest. And it was cathartic. No longer an inherited or pass-me-down belief. Yet always a work in progress.

I want to raise my view of Ellen White by following her advice and look up to the Bible. I want to raise my view of the Bible by looking up to Christ. It is not sola scripture, but sola Christ. I don’t worship the Bible, but the Lord of the Bible. I want to learn from Him who reveals himself through so many channels.

I want a belief that is a big tent, but built on the rock. Not a house-of-cards religion that collapses if just one card falls. 

So, I would like to share with you my journey through the Ten Celebrations of Adventist Theology in the Adventist Today Sabbath Seminar (ATSS) on October 22. Contribute your comments, critiques, and questions, and in our dialogue, I hope we can lift each other in growth and understanding. 

—Carsten Thomsen

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