Dear Aunt Sevvy: I may have done a terrible thing. I always make and freeze homemade lasagne hamburger casseroles for my family, and vegetarian ones for church potluck. On a recent Sabbath I pulled one out of the freezer and took it to church, where I heated it up and set it on the serving […]
By Werner E. Lange This commentary corresponds with “Satan and His Allies,” Sabbath School lesson for February 23-March 1. The Adventist interpretation of the second beast in Revelation 13 is unique. Adventist interpreters, starting with John N. Andrews in the 1860s, have it identified as the United States of America. This second beast rose from […]
by Ron Lawson, Ph.D. | 28 February 2019 | Seventh-day Adventists have been involved in a number of landmark court cases bearing on both the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and on statutory law. The main issues have included security of employment for Sabbath observers, the right […]
Dear Aunt Sevvy: Our pastor was preaching recently on Christian families, when he suddenly went off on the topic of spanking. He didn’t just mention it as an option of last resort, but talked about it at length and with enthusiasm, almost as though he took joy in spanking children. My spouse and I don’t […]
by Ronald Lawson | 22 February 2019 | This was an answer to a question posed by Gerald Winslow for a Metro New York Adventist Forum meeting in April of 2010. A sect is defined by Stark and Bainbridge as having high tension with society, marked by separation/exclusivity, difference, and mutual antagonism. Early Adventism was […]
By Werner E. Lange | This commentary corresponds to “Satan, a Defeated Enemy,” Sabbath School lesson for February 16-22 Some Christians fear the devil as a fierce opponent. But Revelation 12:11 reveals the secret of how he can be overcome: “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Christ has […]
by Ronald Lawson | 13 February 2019 | We have uploaded two closely-related papers to my web-site. The title of the first is “From Sect Towards Denomination: Tracing the Trajectory of Seventh-day Adventism in the USA over Time.” Many Adventists become upset when Adventists are referred to as a “sect.” (One such uproar occurred on […]
By Werner E. Lange | 10 February 2018 | This is commentary for Lesson 7, The Seven Trumpets The description of the events that take place when the trumpets are sounded (Rev 8-9) is one of the most controversial parts of Revelation—even among Adventist interpreters, who come to very different conclusions about what these events mean. […]
7 February 2018 | Aunt Sevvy isn’t answering a question this week. Instead, she wants to talk to you about Valentine’s Day. Historically, Valentine’s day started out as a quasi-religious holiday—a feast day to the now-demoted St. Valentine, who may never have actually existed. But who cares? Even in its present commercialized form, Aunt Sevvy […]
by Ronald Lawson, Ph.D. | 1 February 2019 Long before I became fascinated with comparing Mormons, Adventists, and Witnesses, the three religious groups that began in the United States during the nineteenth century and went on to globalize, I had a discussion with the then-editor of Sociology of Religion about how Adventists and Witnesses, which […]
By Werner E. Lange | 1 February 2019 | This commentary corresponds to Sabbath School Lesson 6 for February 2-8, “The Sealed People of God.” Revelation 7 describes the sealing of the 144,000. The meaning of this seal is described in Rev 9:4: “They [the locusts] were told not to harm the grass of the earth […]
1 February 2019 | Dear Aunt Sevvy: The Super Bowl is coming up, and it caps a season of disagreement between my husband and me about sports. I like fitness, and I do think playing certain sports taught our children fairness and cooperation—Ellen White’s competitive sports statements notwithstanding. But all I see in professional and […]