Another General Conference session will soon be upon us. Adventists will be eager to hear what the brethren (still almost all brethren, with but a small handful of sisteren) will come up with. You might want to temper your expectations a little. There’s an old song about a bear who went over the mountain to […]
I was 11 when the Adventist Church first crushed me. My missionary parents lost their jobs due to ruthless decisions at an Adventist higher education institution. Church politics had spiraled, and the fallout was brutal. To a mature adult, it might have been merely disappointing; to me, it shattered my world. I said goodbye to […]
March is Women’s History Month, a perfect time to celebrate the often unsung contributions of women. I want to tell you about Eva B. Dykes, who in 1921 became the first Black American woman to complete the requirements for a doctoral degree. Though she died in 1986, Dr. Dykes remains a symbol of courage, scholarship, […]
Not long ago in a conversation with a friend I referred to Adventists as “sectarian.” She asked me what that meant. In case you don’t know either, let me try to explain. In terms of doctrines, Seventh-day Adventists share a great deal with most other Christians. But we have quite a different kind of identity. The […]
I am not built for unprecedented times. Not many of us are giddy at the idea of a collapsing democracy or rising cultural tensions. But sometimes I fall into frantic anxiety. The usual platitudes about how it’s all in God’s plan and how we are living in the end times don’t provide comfort; they only […]
Almost every time an article in Adventist Today mentions some matter that politicians discuss, we get angry responses. It doesn’t matter if it is behavior addressed directly in the Bible. It could even be something Jesus himself talks about. If a politician has an opinion on it, we are criticized for mentioning it. Yet biblical ethics and […]
A few years ago I came across a Facebook post where Adventists were discussing Ellen White’s instruction that you shouldn’t drink liquids with your meal. They took it very seriously. Someone wrote, “Many soups have liquid in them. Are we allowed to eat soup?” After a bit of casting about, someone came up with the […]
I was reflecting recently on how my relationship with Jesus has changed since I left my childhood faith. Though I no longer believe all of the things from my Seventh-day Adventist childhood (I confess, I do not attend church anymore), I have found that Jesus has persisted in my life. I have always loved Jesus. […]
A friend of mine wrote this note to me: I think our church falls under the fundamentalist umbrella—and the so-called progressives do not feel at home. The trouble with fundamentalism is that it is “kicking against the pricks” of reality, and cannot stand scrutiny. This would mean that the church will only be successful evangelically […]
Last week a pastor in the United States wrote on Facebook about a frantic call he had received from a family in his church. The father of the family—one of the church elders—had been picked up at work by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and his wife didn’t know what was happening to him. “Pastor, […]
If Jesus stepped into our church, what would he see? Let’s ask ourselves a few preliminary questions first. Would he only visit an Adventist church, or would he fill his weekends checking on his other Sunday- and Saturday-worshiping children? If he walked in off the street, with rough hands, a work shirt, and jeans, would […]
A lot of you know Adventist Today (AT) because of the interesting and challenging articles on our website. But in fact AT has been publishing a quarterly paper magazine for over 30 years. I think you’ll like the magazine that is about to be mailed out next week. It’s titled “A Curious and Charming History.” It […]