8 May 2024 | Misused and Underused: Revelation’s Untapped Potential Teacher: Sigve K. Tonstad is Research Professor of Biblical Interpretation and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Loma Linda University. He has worked as a physician and pastor and since 2007 as a faculty member at the School of Religion at Loma Linda University. His books in […]
6 May 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Our church lost our youth pastor a year ago and the conference didn’t replace him. This leaves only one pastor—who, to be fair, wasn’t hired to minister to children. The older members love him, and he ministers well to them. Still, he never tells a children’s story and […]
The first day of my oldest child’s life I snuggled her in my hospital bed and began to tell her Bible stories. I started with Noah’s Ark—but stopped because the story begins with the death of everyone in the world except Noah’s family. I moved to David and Goliath but stopped because it’s about a […]
1 May 2024 | We all read the Bible through the lens of our knowledge and experience. As a geneticist and biologist, I have often discovered that texts that were otherwise baffling come to life when applying some of the things I know about genetics. One of the most obvious examples involves the deal that […]
29 April 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Have you noticed how many pastors’ and teachers’ children end up leaving the church? I’ve also seen divorces result from the high demands and expectations on church workers. The rare person who sets up boundaries to protect their family is considered “not a team player.” It continues generation […]
My attempts at being an evangelist have been about as successful as my one (and only) academy banquet to which I got stood up by my date. My earliest Adventist outreach memory was of me in Hong Kong at age 5 when my missionary mom and her friends took me around town giving out “Stop […]
24 April 2024 | Human history is a gallery of the birth of religions as well as a graveyard of vanished religions. Some religions died in antiquity and others have flourished. At the macro level, how do religions perpetuate themselves? Are there specific elements that contribute to the endurance of a religion in changing times […]
22 April 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy I was a Roman Catholic. I recently discovered the Sabbath. I’d like to know: how do I keep Sabbath? Signed, New Sabbath Believer Dear Believer Welcome to our little corner of the world! The Sabbath is one of Aunty’s favorite things about being Seventh-day Adventist. It is a […]
17 April 2024 | What is the essence of a community? Or more specifically, of a faith community? It is, first of all, a group of believers, where faith is lived in a daily commitment to Christ, to our brothers and sisters in the faith, and the people around us who need us. How does an Adventist congregation […]
15 April 2024 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, In the Adventist community I grew up in, the power of Satan was presented vividly: the devil was more personally involved in everyone’s life than God and the angels. The angels would stay outside places like theaters, where the evil angels would congregate. God was ready to abandon […]
Potluck may be the secret sauce that can help bring unity and revitalization to the Adventist church. Here are three reasons why this humble tradition could have profound impacts: First, potluck draws us together regardless of where we fall on the theological spectrum of Adventist belief. The allure of Special K Loaf or veggie lasagna […]
10 April 2024 | TRIGGER WARNING The topic of sexual abuse in the Christian church has not abated after being brought to greater public attention in the twentieth century. With the legal system involved in cases of abuse, light has been shed on the suffering of both adults and children based on their traumatic experiences. […]