Comments of the Week September 9-15
Comments of the Week September 9-15
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
“Thanks, Loren. As a teenager who read a lot of history, prophecy and beasts fascinated me. As I have traveled the road of life, though, I have become more and more fascinated with Jesus; His teachings on how to live a life in this world that is meaningful and beneficial (to others as well as to myself) while still preparing me for His promised eternal life. I would rather see Jesus who, I know now if I let Him, will take care of those beasts as needed.”
–Norm H. Harebottle Jr.
1 Cor 13:2 “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”
–Maryann Lee
The Case for Fresh, New Leadership
“Loren, there is another issue that you have not raised. We should not have situation where a person can spend 40 years as ordained clergy, and have 30 years of that been in administrative positions. Ministry happens at the congregational level. On who has not been in a congregation for the majority of their years of service is likely out of touch with real Adventism. Administrators should rotate back to congregational positions. I will suggest that such should be done after at least 10 years of administration.“
–Gregory Matthews
Open Letter Pleads for Wilson to Confront Alleged Sexual Predator
“The SDA church has a serious problem with justice. The order is to protect the institution at all costs, even if it means dismissing or ignoring criminal activities of its leaders.”
–Graça Para Viver
“David, it is rare in our subculture to question the text — but it must be done. Thank you! Interestingly, there is a great deal of this semen-stealing in ancient mythology—always when the man is drunk. In Greek Mythology Myrrha fell in love with her father Cinyras and tricked him into having sexual intercourse with her when her nurse had made him too drunk to realize what he was doing. The Osiris myth of Egyptian mythology describes how Nephthys, the childless twin sister of Isis, tricked Isis’ husband Osiris into fathering a child (Anubis) with her either by pretending to be Isis or by getting Osiris drunk. In Plato’s Symposium: ‘Now Poros who was the worse for nectar went into the garden of Zeus and fell into a heavy sleep, and Penia considering her own straitened circumstances, plotted to have a child by him, and accordingly she lay down at his side and conceived Eros’.”
-Loren Seibold
Aunty, Why does our church have such poor leadership?
“A contributing factor may be the attitude that a Master of Divinity is a universal degree that automatically qualifies one for any position—no matter what skillsets may actually be required.”
–Bryan Clayton
