Mining 2
by Andy Hanson, June 4, 2015: Reader, once again I have accumulated quotations from authors and readers of the Adventist Review, Adventist World, and Ministry Magazine. Enjoy with me the mixture of the insightful, contradictory, profound, and hapless quotes that follow. These Adventist publications deserve our financial support, praise, and/or critical reviews. Our input is required if they are to faithfully reflect the many facets of Adventist life.
Adventist Review, March 12, 2015 – Bill Knott
End-time prophecy is no comfort to the men and women whose most vital and intimate relationships are coming to an end, unsupported and unhelped.
Adventist World—NAD, March 2015 – Angel Rodriguez
We should not read Paul’s statement to mean that women are permanently forbidden to speak in church. The reason Paul gave for his counsel is that such conduct is unbecoming to Christian women in church. The church is not the place for a person—man or woman—to enter into verbal controversies with those in charge of instructing the congregation.
Ministry, April 2015 – Michael W. Campbell
Back to our question of sex on Sabbath. The principle the apostle Paul conveyed in another context may apply here as well: “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him” (Rom. 14:3, ESV).
Ministry, April 2015 – Alton D. Johnson
I have a pastor friend who was electrocuted in the baptistry after touching a wired but ungrounded microphone.
Adventist Review, March 19, 2015 – Halvard B. Thomsen
Everything the church does properly, legitimately and well will be oriented toward saving people. Even in a church well acquainted with policy, policy must never be more important than people.
Adventist Review, February 16, 2015 – Stephen Chavez
We seem to have developed an unhealthy obsession with evaluating who is called by the Holy Spirit, and under what circumstances. The unstated implication: You are not called by the Holy Spirit until we say you are…While leaders, committees, and institutions will always be necessary, God forbid that any of us should try to prevent any others from using their spiritual gifts for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom. We’re not primarily an institution; we’re Christ’s body, the church. Obviously.
Adventist Review, February 19, 2015 – Gerald Reynolds, inbox letter
What caught my eye was the picture accompanying the article. Photoshopped, I would guess. The speedometer indicates 98 mph (or 158 kph) while the tachometer indicates about 1450 rpm. In no car on the planet do those two numbers go together! (Oh, and the lights on the dash indicate that the seat belt is not fastened and a car door is open!)
Adventist Review, February 26, 2015 – Gerita Liebelt, inbox letter
I was surprised by the statue displayed in the lobby of the General Conference building and pictured in the December 11, 2014, Review. My reaction was “Can someone please throw some clothes on the woman?”
Adventist Review, February 12, 2015 – Curtis Rittenour
A rule of thumb when climbing Everest is that by 2:00 p.m., if you haven’t reached the top, you turn around—even if you are only 30 minutes from making it.
Adventist Review, February 12, 2015 – Linda Steinke, inbox letter
At the General Conference level the number of participating youth and young adults on the decision-making level is paltry at best.
Adventist World—NAD, February 2015 – Angel Manuel Rodriguez
The differences between I Chronicles and 2 Samuel are insignificant. The wrath of the Lord, mentioned as the cause for the census, is clarified as God allowing Satan to incite David to take the census. In His anger God does not intervene to protect David. Nevertheless, God is still the sovereign Lord who authorizes the action of Satan and brings the plague to an end.
Adventist World—NAD, February 2015 – Ted N. C. Wilson
No Seventh-day Adventist should think of themselves as better than anyone else or accuse others of not being holy or perfect.
Adventist World—NAD, January 2015 – Ted N. C. Wilson
To deny the special message that God has given to us and claim that we aren’t different from other Christians is one of the fastest and most effective ways to neutralize the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Ministry, February 2015 – Reinder Bruinsma
Let us be honest: The Adventist identity is a rather fluid concept. There is not one single way in which 18 million Adventists around the world can (or should) be Seventh-day Adventists. Moreover, I believe the quest for such a static, uniform Seventh-day Adventist identity is a misguided venture…This reality of diversity is the direct result of the church’s faithful response to the command of Jesus, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.”
Adventist World—NAD, January 2015 – Angel Manuel Rodriguez
It is mainly through David that the royal practice of having many wives was introduced in Israel. He had at least nine wives, and no less than 10 concubines. The function of his concubines is not clear.
Adventist World—NAD, January 2015
I’ve been off caffeine several months. I’m still not 100 percent myself, but every day gets better (thank the Lord!). I never knew what wicked stuff caffeine really was, not until this experience.
Adventist Review, March 19, 2015 – John S. Nixon
I once heard of a woman who felt uncomfortable when she came together with her husband in the bedroom. The source of her discomfort was a picture on the wall. She could not relax with her husband sexually until she had turned the picture of Jesus to the wall.
Adventist Review, December 18, 2014 – Robert Kennedy III
Leaders who must only make “right” and “perfect” decisions are already doomed leaders, whether the expectation is something they have placed upon themselves or is the unrealistic projection of their followers.
Adventist Review, December 18, 2014 – Janet Salazar, inbox letter
Since the top pay scale available to pastors is currently tied to whether they are ordained, it seems to indicate that although we train women, and employ them to do the same pastoral work as men, we are not willing to give them equal pay.
Adventist World—NAD, January 2015 – Daniel R. Jackson
Sometimes, in our attempts to correct what we think we see in others, we hit the mark; other times we miss altogether. Regardless, we always do damage. We often do this without taking into account the divine reality that there is only One who has the right to do such evaluations.
Adventist Review, November 27, 2014 – Andy Nash
On the battleground we know as earth, there exist two things: (1) the love of God for His children, and (2) the justice of God for the enemies of His children. In Scripture there is a specific term for the moment that God’s justice rolls forth: the day of the Lord. We see the day of the Lord on full display in such stories as the Flood and Sodom.
Adventist World—NAD, March 2015 – Rachel Yates, NAD Letters
Readers were requested in the first sentence of the article to imagine a designated smoking area outside the church. I did imagine, and I could smell the smoke permeating from a person’s hair and clothes. I then imagined getting a terrible headache from smelling the tobacco scent. This unpleasant encounter would eclipse my “Happy Sabbath Day” feeling.
Adventist World—NAD, March 2015 – Mark Finley, World Report, p. 4
And I leave wondering what would happen if this unified focus on mission and commitment to winning lost people to Christ overshadowed all self-interest and was the priority of every church, every conference, union and division.
