While an expanded LEAD Conference on Adventist Education kicked off the activities of the 2017 Annual Council, it was news of what action might be taken against the unions that have ordained women that everyone wanted to hear. The members of the General Conference and Division Officers committee gathered Thursday evening to consider a revised action document. This time the language was more pastoral with the threat of any potential punishment left undefined. The item will now be slotted into the schedule for the Annual Council business session where a very full agenda awaits the General Conference Executive Committee, including a proposal that a 29th fundamental belief be added regarding Adventist education.
I have to confess to being extremely puzzled by this push for a new fundamental belief on education. When I saw some reference to this earlier today, I actually thought it was a joke.
Can anyone elaborate on the intended purpose of such a fundamental belief, and whether there is yet a proposed wording?
If I correctly understand the existing fundamental beliefs, they are essentially a âClaytonsâ creed (ie., the creed you have when you donât have a creed.) They outline the key elements of Adventist theology, doctrine and lifestyle practice. I just donât see how education fits into this, unless there is a move to redefine what education actually is. And while this may just be my suspicious mind at work, I do fear perhaps this is the agenda. To enshrine in doctrine, principles of education that are at odds with the generally understood meaning of the word.
After all, the church has a real dilemma as regards offering higher education in subject areas where church belief conflicts with mainstream theories (this is evident in the sciences as well as theology, where specific Adventist beliefs diverge from mainstream Christian thought).
Ultimately I donât see education as being in any way related to salvation. And church leaders have done enough recently to engender significant distrust. Together, this causes me to think someone is up to no good here.
To paraphrase EGW, education, from a Christian perspective is not only to prepare good citizens for this world but, more so, for the World to come, hence the salvational dimension. In addition as all manner of ideologies, and world views continue to encroach on, and impact, our Adventist belief and lifestyle, we ought to establish clear boundaries of what constitutes Adventist Christian education. I thought this was already well spelt out in the book Education and many other documents from the GC Education department. Consequently, unless I can be persuaded otherwise, I see no need of another fundamental belief to the 28. Dr J Paulsen had the 28th added during his presidency, which I didnât think was necessary either. We already have a big volume of our Theological beliefs. Thatâs more than sufficient. Our fundamental beliefs can be easily summarised in one sentence: âLove God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your fellow humans as yourself and if you love God keep His commandments (including the ten) as you prepare for Jesusâs soon comingâ. Thatâs our message. The sum and heart of all our beliefs. Our mission is to live it and Tell it to the World! Now Ted Wilson wants one during his presidency. If Jesus does not return soon, are we going to have a new Fundamental Belief every five years? Where is that going to lead to ?
The SDA gospel has always included reams of âhow toâ instructions - from what not to eat (to get ready); what not to wear (to get ready); what not to read (to get ready); how not to spread the gospel - through females, (to get ready).
The only thing we can DO âto get readyâ for Christâs return is to accept Godâs gift of grace, which doesnât sit piggyback on a threat, as does this YEAR OF GRACE. Maybe the SDA management doesnât understand that. If thatâs true, then they donât understand the gospel - which, lest we forget, means âgood newsâ - not threats. If that is the case, weâre sitting in the wrong pew.
To be honest all these wordsâŚeducation, mission, hearts and mindsâŚblah blah blah. Every single person in that room is thinking about one thingâŚWO and the recent events surrounding it.
To postpone action in âa year of graceâ or whatever is just a form of denial. While this issue isnât sorted due to ridiculous discriminatory thinking, we stagnate. Apathy grows, whatever actual mission the SDA church has loses momentum and dissipates.
Iâm pleased to learn of the emphasis on education. Letâs provide more support for it!
And letâs hope the more educated (the universityâs scholars) can be better appreciated for what they have to say about WO, and that recognition will be given for the need to keep the next generation in the pews.
On another thread, Jeremy said # 29 was ALREADY coming up to be voted on [in relation to the âthreatâ of Unions].
So This one would be # 30.
Question â Is our Theological Focus to get ready much like the Jews of the time of Jesus? Eat, Drink, Wear, Read, Segregation of Social Classes All these Doâs and Donâts. Having a Legal Relationship with God? So we can PROVE we are worthy to enter the kingdom?
NOT promoting a Family Relationship with Our Father, Our Brother. And enjoying the Holy Spirit.
The Commandments 1-4 is about the promoting a Relationship with Our Heavenly Family.
The Commandments 5-10 is about having a healthy Relationship with ourselves, our family, our âneighborsâ, our community.
TOO MUCH the â10â are promoted as â10 RULESâ. Keep them OR DIE!!! One does die. But that is because without Healthy Relationship we become very dysfunctional persons, unhealthy mentally, emotionally, relationally.
These Legalistic thinking attitudes can be promoted at and early age in Church School and in Sabbath School. Once formed, usually stay with us ALL our Adult Life. And we pass them on to our kids and others in the next generation or two [maybe 3].
to Tom [edit]-- I appreciated my Boarding Academy experience. I was immersed in Adventism [Bible and spirit of prophecy]. We had practical vocational training in our 4 hour a day âwork programâ. at the time a 21-bed nursing home, a productive farm [growing a lot of our Summer and Winter food, preserving it], constructing our own buildings, maintaining our vehicles, kitchens to feed everyone. I learned a lot of skills would have missed staying home, attending local High School. Would have also missed my life Vocation.
I AM CONCERNED that the GC is forcing BIBLICAL SCIENCE in our Academies and Universities.
Makes it very difficult to teach the sciences.
I AM CONCERNED that the GC is forcing NO ASKING of Questions in our Bible-Theology Classes. The not able to say, There Is More to be Known. WE have Not asked all the Questions. We have not understood ALL the Answers.
Attending Adventist Education from K to 12 is NO guarantee that oneâs child will remain SDA. At Laurelbrook we have quite a number of Alumni who come back year after year whoâs SDA experience is that one week-end a year. On the other hand we have a large majority who are active in their home SDA churches. A number who decided they wanted to be preachers while attending academy. A number who are serving in mission fields.
Maybe they enjoy coming back year after year because ALL are Welcome, no matter where one is on their Spiritual Journey. And THAT is OK.
While being a strong supporter for education âŚI still feel that such effort somehow has a fig leave function that nobody can object to - while at the same distracting from the actual lack of education within our church.
If education means (as it currently seems to be intended): indoctrination in the one and only way the GC âsuggestsâ and donât allow for variance and advancement in thinking (âunityâ) ⌠I certainly would struggle being an educator.
âTo paraphrase EGW, education, from a Christian perspective is not only to prepare good citizens for this world but, more so, for the World to come, hence the salvational dimension.â
Are we now basing our fundamental beliefs on the writings of EGW and no longer purely on scripture? We are headed down a very slippery slope.
Knowing Ted Wilson, I fear the doctrine will most likely be an expression of opposition to education. It will be something that can be used as a cudgel against our colleges and universities. It will countenance the ignorance of those who only read the Bible and the writings of Ellen White. Instead of highlighting the importance of education, the doctrine will probably attempt to dictate what is and is not education, based upon the fundamentalist mindset of Elder Wilson.
Does anyone honestly think that all of the schools closed in the last forty years will be reopened as a result of the new doctrine? Is the new doctrine an indication of new financial priorities? I donâ't think so.
Every meeting of a General Conference council over the past 5 years has resulted in increased confusion and more dictatorial mandates. Seventh-day Adventists used to know what we believed and understood our part individually and as a collective body when it came to those beliefs. We donât have to be told that we have to help to pay for the electricity at our church, read our Sabbath School lessons, teach our children about the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus, refrain from going to strip clubs, avoid prostitution, show compassion to the sick and poor, appreciate the beauty of nature, thank God before we eat, wash our bodies and our clothes, stay out of the stores on the Sabbath hours, etc. We know how to live as Adventists. Iâm waiting for someone to make it a fundamental belief that we not eat cheese and not own bicycles because EGW wrote about it somewhere. Really! We should be concerned about how we are being coerced to nickel-and-dime our beliefs. The Church Manual already does that, and most of our pastors donât adhere to it unless it serves their own purpose.
Maybe, just maybe, something else is in the making that the laity donât know about, something big, and we are being primed for it. This effort to add another fundamental belief (we didnât need the 28th one, since it was clearly implied in the 27 that existed prior), is a precursor to the addition of more stringent âdoctrineâ that is in the shadows sitting on a slow cooker on the back burner. BEWARE, Church! The vice is slowly being turned. We need to put a halt to it before the life is squeezed out of our Church.
Most people, except for radicals and extremists, donât want to join a denomination that has a long list of rules and regulations, especially when there is little Biblical basis for them. That is the behavior of a cult. It was the behavior of the Pharisees. This is NOT the Gospel that Jesus asked us to spread. His was a Gospel of love, peace, compassion and simplicity.
Hasnât it already been established that the Great Controversy is at the center of all Adventist beliefs and teachings? Basing todayâs education on a 100 year old very historically inaccurate and questionable thesis is to reject all the knowledge we have learned since that time as contrary to Adventist education. Who is writing this stuff?
If students and their parents want them to be taught Adventist history and associate with fellow students whose parents sent them to SdA colleges for the same reason, maybe, just maybe, they will remain Adventists (even though the stats do not support this). But if parents and students want a well-rounded education in all the subjects and learn how to critically evaluate all sides, go to a college that is not part of a religious indoctrination program.
steve, i did bring up FB 29 on the norwegian union thread, but i meant what bonnieâs alluding to here (we arenât always going to be staying exactly on topic, ok )âŚ
personally, iâm all for an FB 29 on educationâŚitâs probably long overdueâŚin my mind, there is a definite connection between adventist education and staying adventist, even if one decides to leave the church for a timeâŚi think itâs quite amazing how often i think of my adventist education yrsâŚi attended non-adventist institutions before and since my time in adventist education, but i canât say i recall these yrs as thoroughly as i recall andrews junior high, pioneer valley academy, south lancaster academy, AUC, PUC and andrewsâŚmind you, college for me did come at an historic time in our church - a challenge to our sanctuary doctrine, challenges to the authority of egw , the beginnings of a serious look at sexual orientation - but aside from all this, the example and input of the many wonderful adventist teachers iâve had have definitely had an impact that has shaped the choices iâm making todayâŚif i had kids, theyâd all be in adventist schools for at least one of their degreesâŚ
i suspect the move behind this new FB is designed to bolster support for adventist education among rank and file church membersâŚmy impression is that support has been waning in recent yrs due to high tuition costs, as well as some of the stories people have been hearing in connection with our schools, like the racial problems that led to AUCâs closure, La Sierraâs evolution emphasis, PUCâs adam and steve, PUCâs academic freedom kerfuffle, andrewsâ gay cupcake problem, etcâŚthe people in my neck of the woods will likely see an FB 29 on education as a resolve to fight for our schools, and keep them adventistâŚhereâs a link to our current FBâs:
Is this a tacit admission that the language in the first bulletin was grossly inappropriate, if not unethical?
Perhaps Pastor Ted Wilson and his executive committee can pro-model how it is to repent publicly. How about if we give them a year to reflect on this? Must the SDA church need a prophet Nathan to confront our leaders for their misgivings and mental patellar reflex/knee-jerk reactions?
I fear you are right. Addition of more and more fundamental beliefs enshrined into more and more tightly defined creed serves only to exclude and judge. It ic scarcely concerned with inclusion but is intended to exclude. The change to FB#6 is an excellent example. It is intended to create uniformity not unity. If we were concerned for unity we would revert to a statement of what we really believed as a Christian community
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, Godâs only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
As Jesus said on oaths and elaborations.
36âNor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
37âBut let your statement be, âYes, yesâ or âNo, noâ; anything beyond these is of evil.
Only bad can come from enshrining clerical view of education as a closely defined doctrine. Do we really want Weimar pitched agains LSU as the epitome of Adventist education? Home schooling against formal education. Science against Adventist folklore and the supernaturalism couched as science of Sean Pitman. I fear not.
GC leadership should repent publicly. Acknowledge the missteps.
*Stacking the members of TOSC with non academics.
*Ignoring TOSC reports.
*Not making a recommendation based on TOSC.
*Strong arming fall council that the way forward must be a vote of a specifically worded proposition at GC 2015.
Not using the voting machines that had been brought onsite for all the votes at GC 2015âsuch as president, changes to wording to fundamental beliefs.
*Using voting machines for the womenâs ordination vote but allowing division strong arm tactics.
*Not allowing a full discussion at the microphone in which all divisions could be represented.
*Allowing too many points of order so that the discussion could not happen.
*Not enforcing decorum in relation to Jan Paulsenâs speech.
*Creating an ill conceived document (released last week) which implies that the NAD duly elected union officers for some unions will be removed and replaced by GC favorites.
I could go on. But, please, someone must realize that all of the actions have not brought unity and they wonât bring unity.
Some musings:
How can they consider removing duly elected union officials? We are supposed to have a representative organization with authority flowing from bottom to top. If they removed duly elected officers I think of all the people in those unions who voted for those people. Then, what about the rest of us in the US and parts of the world that appreciate democracy? We know this is wrong.
But, the issue which is causing all the trouble is womenâs ordination. A lengthy study found that the Bible was inconclusive on thisââit was a split decision. So for leadership to carve up the church on something in the realm of âgray areaâ? Unthinkable.
But, most of all this move represents God incorrectly. He is a God of persuasion who wants each to be convicted. So, a brash authoritative powerful move is against the nature of God.
The idea that all of Godâs church must march lock step is a heresy.
The ineffective, unwise maneuvering by top SDA leadership will result in longterm strife at the local level. Members with varied levels of information and understanding have already become entrenched in a position. We have a splitânow. Strong leadership does not mean coercive regulation. Strong leaders choose to speak words of healing and affirmation and inclusion with the understanding of varied perspectives.
In his book, The Fat Lady and the Kingdom, George Knight laid out the âmissiological quadrilateralâ that developed in early Adventism and served as a template that was replicated worldwide. This consisted of âpublishing, medical, educational and conference aspects of the denominationâs work.â (p. 81).
If we are going to add a fundamental belief on Christian education because it arose at the same time as mission and should be seen as one event (quoting Knightâs presentation), perhaps the other legs of the quadrilateral will follow? Perhaps FB#30 will be on Publishing. I wonder how Spectrum and Adventist Today will survive the standards laid down there! Maybe members can once again be asked each Sabbath (as in the church of my youth) how many books and tracts they distributed this week.
Ironically, it seems like the fat lady is picking up more packages instead of dropping them. Will she ever get through the door?
With regard to the Thursday presentation of vice president (sic) Jeffrey G. Mbwana about the Handbook of the IMBTE: "âŚhe said an attempt has been made to focus on broad principles and allow the Division Boards to develop the specifics that respond adequately to the needs in their territories."
?
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