I spent a significant portion of my childhood and teens intensely jealous of the spiritually certain. Those who spoke of ‘blessed assurance’; who claimed, ‘I haven’t a doubt in my mind that….’; or believed that ‘God has made it unmistakably clear that….’ How could they be so unwavering in their faith, I wondered? What did […]
18 October 2023 | One of the reasons God was so incensed with injustice—after all, he raised prophets such as Isaiah and Ezekiel and others who were prophets particularly of social justice—is because injustice is so much against who he is and what he is about. If God’s nature is love, and God’s mission is […]
16 October 2023 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Halloween has been popular here in Germany since the 1990s, but has rarely been recognized by Adventists. Now, my Adventist adult children have begun celebrating it. From my point of view, Halloween makes light of fear, death, witches, and ghosts—and it worries me that it could pave the […]
When I was an undergraduate, I didn’t understand how much representation mattered. I’d heard people argue about it, but I thought the discussion was superfluous. I heard it discussed in church, but assumed it was just bickering. Sure, it would be nice if there were more women in positions of influence, but that shouldn’t affect […]
11 October 2023 | In this class we will compare the Bible’s model of creation (nature with natural law, family, and Sabbath) with the model of ancient Mesopotamia (economics, kingship, contractual relationships and law.) Since these contrasting models have affected our world since the beginning of ancient civilization, we will use them to examine ethics […]
9 October 2023 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, In Australia the leaders of the famous Hillsong church made front page news awhile back for issues with the Australian Tax office: it turns out their ministers were regularly traveling first class on church business, and using luxury accommodations. How would high-ranking Adventist officials fare if investigated about […]
Some years ago I was the pastor of a venerable congregation in Ohio with a name you would recognize, mostly because of the vegetarian meat analogs that were manufactured there. The congregation had outgrown their old church, and we were building a new one. As we were planning the new church, I remember asking one […]
4 October 2023 | Adventist healthcare ministry was once considered the “entering wedge” for our church. Other faith-based healthcare ministries were common at the time, with similar goals and objectives: serving the public in our communities with regard to health and well-being, all the while hoping they would join the church. As Adventism went up […]
2 October 2023 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, My college religion classes convinced me that it’s best to form beliefs on a multiplicity of texts—not a single text, not “here a little and there a little.” We find fault when the Latter-day Saints argue for baptism for the dead based on a single Bible verse. But […]
2 October 2023 | Dear Editor: In her September 29 essay, “Why Did God Put That Tree in the Garden?”, Danielle Simmons informs us of how she was taught as a child of the placement of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the center of the Garden of Eden in the second […]
Some time ago, Adventist Today was forwarded a video clip from an independent ministry that made what immediately seemed to us some rather preposterous assertions. I needn’t tell you who it came from or what the claims were; if you’ve not seen the one we saw, you’ve seen many very much like it. Without even looking […]
27 September 2023 | In discussions about theology and spiritual lives, the aesthetic hardly ever gets the spotlight. When it does, it is often a battle of preferences, not an exchange of informed or “sensed-through” comments on the deeper makeup of the concept and related fields. Things like beauty and arts exist, an artifact may […]