28 June 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, With menopause and cancer treatment, my libido has reached the non-existent stage. I’m embarrassed to ask, Aunty, but are so-called “marital aids” (sex toys) such as a vibrator acceptable for getting back those urges? Signed, Missing it a lot Dear Missing it, Aunty is so sorry to hear […]
21 June 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Aunty, I confess I’m resonating with some of your other questioners. The time away from church has helped me to see that I was too often enduring the local church experience, not enjoying it. Being with community of real people should be encouraging and spiritually uplifting. But in […]
14 June 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, In my region in Africa the custom is that a woman who is marrying must wear a veil to show that she is a virgin. It isn’t unknown for elders to initiate a physical investigation to discover if the woman is qualified to wear the veil! The woman […]
8 June 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Recently my wife and I began attending a small Adventist congregation near us. Officially it has been downgraded from a church to a company: all members have their membership at a larger church in the region, or in the conference church. (Companies can’t officially hold members.) Our pastor […]
1 June 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Recently the adult son of one of our congregation’s leading families was arrested for propositioning a minor for sex. The family bailed him out of jail pending a trial, but they all insist that he did nothing wrong. It was the girl’s fault, they say—this teenager “seduced” him. But […]
24 May 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Recently a motion was brought before the church to remove the membership of a gay man because he was, according to some, an adulterer. I voted against it, but it still passed by a strong margin. This man, who had been attending regularly, has said that he no […]
17 May 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Why is it so hard for people in my generation to “make it”? So many of my friends (I’m around 40) work hard, and no matter what we do, we just can’t get ahead. My parents and friends from the baby-boomer generation sometimes sound as if they’re blaming […]
10 May 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, As a child, Sabbath was my favorite day of the week. For the majority of my adult life as a church employee, however, Sabbath has felt like another work day: preparing for Sabbath School or worship, rehearsing, cooking for potluck or supervising kids—a lot of work. Since COVID-19 […]
26 April 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, The book of Revelation is said to be the Revelation of Jesus, and according to Revelation 5:1-5 only Jesus can explain it correctly. Yet why does it seem that sometimes it is the Revelation of the Adventist Church or the Revelation of Ellen White rather than the Revelation […]
19 April 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy: You are correct that there is a lot of misinformation out there on Covid-19 vaccines. But in the interests of good journalism, should you not at least allow for the other side of the debate, and let informed citizens decide for themselves? In George Washington’s day, expert medical […]
12 April 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy: I have heard the argument recently that couples shouldn’t have sex on Sabbath because it is a holy day. They cite verses from Exodus 19:15ff: “And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto […]
2 April 2021 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, I’ve been listening to Dr. Walter Veith, and the things he says trouble me. His talks appear to be mostly about conspiracies. What do you think? Slightly Suspicious Dear Suspicious, Walter Veith (pronounced with a long “i”, like “rice”) is a popular Adventist speaker and writer from South […]