Editorial: “On Reading Counsels on Diet and Foods”
A few weeks ago a commenter responded to an Aunt Sevvy column,
Most, if not at all, of the issues that garner so much feedback—like the current questions about The Great Controversy, the role of Ellen White, perfectionism, what you eat and wear—are so much white noise in the light of the gospel. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem anything is going to change, and so Aunt Sevvy will continue to receive questions regarding peripheral and unimportant matters.
We at Adventist Today are often surprised at how eagerly Adventists engage in conversations about food and jewelry, the unfulfilled details of the end times, and Ellen White’s many, many instructions. It shows how much this majoring-in-minors has twisted our understanding of what it means to be a godly person.
Sometimes I feel hopeful enough to think, “Perhaps we are at long last maturing past Cradle Roll faith. Perhaps we Adventists are learning to value nothing ‘save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.’” But then the General Conference Executive Committee meets, people are flown in (at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars) from all over the world—and the president of the General Conference spends hours reading aloud to them from Ellen White’s Counsels on Diets and Foods and Last Day Events.
We long for a church that values kindness, mercy, and God’s grace more than anything else. But when the man at the very pinnacle of church leadership tells us that he really does think that eating the right food is the most important thing we have to worry about, I am forced to conclude that our church is led by men with an immature understanding of God.
The way our leaders have presented our faith has caused so much anxiety—and about things that even the Bible writers say isn’t important! The apostle Paul himself said, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
That’s why sometimes Adventist Today has to name the things we have been told to fret about, and remind you when they are silly or unimportant.
Let us set our sights higher. Let us be like Jesus. Let us love God, and our neighbors as ourselves. Let us practice love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
That’s enough—really!
Loren Seibold
Executive Editor, Adventist Today
26 October 2024
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