Menu
comments-of-the-week-aqua

Comments of the Week Feb 24–Mar 2

Comments of the Week Feb 24–Mar 2

“Well done. This line spoke volumes to me: ‘When women are silenced, a part of God is silenced, and the church cannot fully encounter him.’ If I want people to see and experience God, I must give voice to women.” –Dennis Austin on How a Sexist Church Hurts All of Us

Comments on Editorial, How a Sexist Church Hurts All of Us, The Killing of USAID & DEI, The Cult of Individualism, Our Prophet Problem, Satire, and Aunt Sevvy

EDITORIAL: Watermelon, Soup, & the Gospel

“Now to talk about how far you can wade into the water on Sabbath!“
–Steve Tatum
“I’ve heard individuals say, ‘I’m so thirsty but it hasn’t been an hour since we finished eating.’”
–Mary Louise Knapp

A Sexist Church Hurts All of Us: Commentary on Safe Church by Andrew J Bauman

“Well done. This line spoke volumes to me: ‘When women are silenced, a part of God is silenced, and the church cannot fully encounter him.’ If I want people to see and experience God, I must give voice to women.“

–Dennis Austin

The Killing of USAID & DEI: Where Is the Moral Outrage?

“Our church Founders were abolitionists that risked prison to help slaves gain their freedom. I think they would be disappointed to see what’s become of our church.”

–Carl Schmid

SATIRE: Adventist School Bans Rainbows in Science Class to Avoid “Unintended Theological Statements”

“The Bible says that laughter doeth good for the soul…. I love how we can use satire as a way to allow us not only to laugh at ourselves but also to provide profound questions in our theology worth pondering on.”

–Jeremy Brooks
“Love the satire. Keep it coming. Mark of good satire is your first thought is ‘That is ridiculous!’ Second thought is ‘I know people who think like that.’”
-Bryan Clayton

Kingdom Thinking vs. the Cult of Individualism

“The modern individualist gospel of personal salvation has predisposed American evangelical Christians to falling for a demagogue like Trump. Because, salvation and spiritual experience with God is relegated to private life having nothing to do with caring for others, with working for a truly just society, etc. Thus, how the weak are mistreated, how the planet is abused for profit, and more, become side issues…. As long as I have my personal relationship with Jesus and know that I’m saved by grace and going to heaven, I’m good.

Uh, no. It misses the whole point and the gospel itself. It’s a truncated twisting of it. The results are evident.“

–Frank Merendino

“Okay. This is a different way of stating the things I’ve come to believe over time since the turn of the century. While my salvation may be individual, I am making a mistake if I then turn around and ignore the plight of my neighbor, and where necessary, band together with my community to attempt to make sure no one’s needs fall through the cracks. Since leaving a fundamentalist Christian mindset it has become apparent to me that Christlike living means not only engaging on a more local, nongovernmental level to care for my neighbor, but also working (and voting) for public policy that cares for others when it becomes apparent that all individual, private, local, and regional initiatives are not willing or adequate to the task. ”

-John Carson

Revisiting Our Prophet Problem

“I’m all for ‘flawed’ people being allowed to have valid messages. The issue isn’t her being flawed.

The issue is her claim that God gave her these messages directly from His voice to her ‘ear.’ It’s the false claim that invalidates her messages. NOT that she was flawed.
Many flawed people offer amazingly valid messages. It’s the claim that hers came direct from God’s ‘voice’ to her ‘ear’ that invalidates the plausibility of her messages.
Certainly that’s what needs to be addressed and investigated. Not the ‘nothing to see here’ diversionary tactic of ‘oh, she was just a flawed person like all “prophets” and messengers’ tried and tested Adventist approach.“

–Peter Dixon

But the message itself from her pen and the melange of others that she cobbled together under her name actually distorts the gospel so much that the question is, what is there to invalidate? It already does much of that itself and has thrown this denomination into its own theological confusion regarding the central issues of the gospel and a distorted eschatology.
Getting back to the basics would be far better. Without her.
-Frank Merendino

Aunty, I’m afraid to go to my friend’s Roman Catholic funeral

“I would be more afraid of the large, orange idol that people are so enthralled with.”

-Morgan Wade

“I’ve been an Adventist all my life.

“I have been to MANY Catholic services, both as a spouse to my husband and occasional teacher in the separate school system. I have sung, played the piano and led in prayer, shared Bible stories with students, taught songs, and even learned about a forgiving God. I was there for 16 years and worked for their teachers as president (4 yrs) and office assistant for 18 yrs. I learned that I was and was treated as a professional with kindness, respect, patience, and compassion when my Adventist roots closed my mind to friendship and a chance to share my love and understanding of God. I have since worked and worshipped with Anglicans, Presbyterians, and atheists. Huge shift in the way I now view and understand the world. Huge.”
–Lois MacKinnon Lafond

 

Related Posts

Adventist Today
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.