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Comments of the Week August 19-25

Comments of the Week August 19-25

Welcome to a new feature, where we select the best comments of the week, and invite you to revisit the essays where they were made. —Editors

Why Do You Let Ex-Adventists Write for Adventist Today?

“Adventist apologists and fundamentalism in general ask people to put reason and brains in park. And create closed communities that pressure those who want the car to move. Thank you, Loren, for putting it in drive! And for providing an open space for the free exchange of ideas.”

–Frank Merendino

“Thank you, Adventist Today, for providing a safe spiritual “family” for the questioners, the studiers, the researchers, the examiners, and for those who are inside the fence, on the fence, and outside the fence.”

–Ruth Kent Stewart

Northern New England Conference Responds to Conrad Vine Sermon

“Given what Conrad Vine said, the Conference should have said a lot more than that. This is beyond just being tepid, and is so obtuse that had one known nothing about what was said, it would be incomprehensible. Knowing better and keeping quiet when someone expresses the kind of dangerous anti-vax views that Vine did will likely result in lives lost. My wife and I lost at least one family member due to these kinds of views. The leadership needs to confront talk like this head-on.”

–Bryan Ness

“I have my concerns about letting this man speak at any event. I do not believe he should be in any leadership position within the church, or organizations that bear the church’s name, whatsoever. I was an employee of his, and I regret it every day.”

–Robert Martin Campbell

Are Adventists Anti-Catholic Bigots? Officially, Yes!

“I am a retired SDA pastor, and for a part-time job I am a driver for men and women religious from the Catholic Church. I have been driving for a long time and find the most loving and caring people in that faith.

To make the insinuation that the RC church is akin to the anti-Christ is both factious and false. For the sake of those who do not know, the Catholic Church is made up of 24 different groups of diverse persuasions, Nuns, priests, monks, aesthetics, conservatives, moderates, liberals, and vocations that make a true difference in our daily lives.
Whenever we castigate a group we may be guilty of using them to make our group feel collectively better.
Suppose we try talking with our Catholic, Baptist, Episcopal neighbors as friends. Find some common ground and embrace that ground. Uplift Jesus and let the Holy Spirit work. We might find that there is light in everyone that follows Jesus.”

–Jim Thoreson

“I like that essential criterion for reading the Bible – as DESCRIPTIVE of other people’s ideas, beliefs, and experiences, and NOT PRESCRIPTIVE of what ours are or should be!
But I question your starting assumption – that all religions start with a book. The ‘book’ is the RESULT of someone’s experience and testimony. Some real encounter or enlightenment or feeling of liberation or fullness or resolution through input that validates a person’s life in some way, then inspires him or her to write about it and witness to their REVELATION of truth.
Then some religious enthusiasts turn it into doctrines and creeds and do-it-yourself holiness, and so another religious cult is born, and tangles people up in legalism!”
–Connie French
“How exactly do his ideas fit in with Jesus’ example of showing love and kindness to everyone? I’m not seeing any of that in this example.“
–Kellie Walker Azor

“Sometimes I find the titles of reports like this to be a bit sensationalist. This title undersold what this guy said. Yikes! For someone who is supposed to be leading an international missionary organization, he sounds way too much like a Fox News pundit.

I guess it goes to show how difficult it is to lead. You have people here who (rightfully at times) criticize Wilson for being too conservative. And then you have people like this dude who criticize him for being woke-ish.”

–Tyler Kraft

Struggling Conferences Are Giving Pastors Many More Churches. Is This a Good Plan?

“Yes. This is a sad commentary. I belong to a very progressive Adventist church. Those of you who frequent this website will have seen my posts. I’m afraid you are right. The average age of North American Adventists is 55. God will raise up another denomination if need be. I am glad to be with a vibrant SDA church with 5 pastors. We have a mixed racial staff and a mixed racial congregation. I feel sorry for the folk who do not have a contemporary Adventist church near by. However, there is a solution. Zoom. You can connect with a contemporary Adventist church. So people who live in distant areas can still worship up to date.”

–J David Newman

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