An Open Letter to Fellow Seventh-day Adventists

[spectrumbot]

I grew up in a wonderful home, in a pleasant valley, the third child of four, during the 1960s and 70s. I am a product of an Adventist home, Adventist education, Adventist church life. I am deeply in love with Jesus. I am wholly devoted to the God of the universe, the creator of all we know.

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://spectrummagazine.org/views/2018/open-letter-fellow-seventh-day-adventists

[timteichman]

Thanks for this!

I just wrote a somewhat snippy but serious post that tried to say some of what you wrote, but you did it much better.

Could the Solution to the Church’s Stalemate Come Out of Africa?

You actually use three capital letters. I’m gonna mark this day on my calendar. And let’s not forget the others he has left behind: WomenAdventists YouthAdventists LGBTAdventists EducatedAdventists ThinkingAdventists AdventistsWhoThinkEqualityForAllIsImportant MeatEatingAdventists JewelryWearingAdventists DrinkingAdventists (a group I’ve only recently become aware of - and they’re everywhere!) UnsureAdventists CriticalThinkingAdventists IDontBuyAllOfThe28Adventists ThisChurchIsN…

[aliciajohnston]

Thank you for this well articulated, rational, and gracious insight. I share your dream of a church that has a bigger tent for everyone and isn’t interested in flushing out the heretics but is interested in spreading the teachings of Jesus. Our church should be about what it’s about, not about attacking minorities and people who see scripture a little differently but agree with the core of Adventist teaching and want to be Adventist.

[CliveF (Clive Ferguson)]

I think you might like this book – “What Every Adventist Should Know About GLBTQ: The Call To Radical Ministry” by Raymond S King Jr.

Start reading it for free: http://amzn.eu/aUus8Zy

I just finished reading this and highly recommend reading it.

May its contents enlighten and bless you by God’s grace.

[ECCLESIASTES]

Agreed, Alicia J.
The Church is about WHO UNITES us,
and not what divides us.
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another.” John 13:35

[RonCorson]

and the current U.S. Administration’s working to create a change in Federal policy that would seek to erase transgender people from the United States. Not that a change in U.S. policy would cause them/me to suddenly go away. The proposed policy would take a stance hostile to civil rights for transgender people, increase the challenge of obtaining healthcare and health coverage, making it much more difficult for transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex people to live safe, productive lives in the United States.

So you write a whole article on a supposed new US policy and cite not one bit of information about the policy! What is this in reference to, rolling back Obama’s use of gender in US title iX law as if gender meant the same thing as sex? Hardly too upsetting that we return to the original meaning of a voted law. About the only other thing could be the elimination of transgendered in the military, which certainly would not get rid of transgendered people from the united states. But looked at the footnotes. nothing there about the US policy. Maybe we are supposed to read between the lines, a completely horrible way of reading anything!

[timteichman]

So you write a whole article on a supposed new US policy and cite not one bit of information about the policy! What is this in reference to, rolling back Obama’s use of gender in US title iX law as if gender meant the same thing as sex?

I expect the author figures all are aware. It’s been big in the news lately. Here are a couple of links.

‘Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration

The Discrimination Administration

In this way the tRump Administration is as ridiculous as the SDA Chuch’s recent statements on human sexuality, which are non-starters they are so inept.

[RonCorson]

so it is just the title 9 stuff.

“Now the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive government financial assistance, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times.”

Like I said hard to be upset about using the correct terms in legislation.

[timteichman]

so it is just the title 9 stuff.

Not at all. It’s much more far reaching.

[RonCorson]

Yes, usually those who traffic in fear mongering often think some effect will be horrible. Remember 20-30 years ago the progressives would say don’t confuse sex with gender. Then Progressives redefine title 9 references to sexual discrimination to gender discrimination and suddenly gender and sex are the same. Problem is if gender is fluid or there are 82 sundry genders than the laws don’t really mean what they meant when written. So now people have to actually define sex scientifically and again gender cannot equal sex when we actually have definitions used in laws.

[cincerity (Kim Green)]

Wonderful, Randi! Thank-you so much for your carefully thought out and written article. I so hope and pray that your words will be a clarion call for greater understanding and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ in both the Adventist world and outside of it. We are all God’s children and it is time that we embrace this.

[floyd (Floyd Poenitz)]

Sadly this book obviously knows very little about the GLBTQ issues, and skimming the book, I saw several mistakes, so in my opinion it has no credibility. I would recommend googling Kathy Baldock’s “Unclobbing the Mess” videos on YouTube. There are two of them and they are very eye opening.

[CliveF (Clive Ferguson)]

Please enlighten us to the “several mistakes” that you have seen in the book that I recommended earlier.

[cincerity (Kim Green)]

Let’s see if he can handle that task.

[GeorgeTichy]

Hey Tom, good seeing you again. Hope you are doing well.

[efcee]

I sympathize with the feelings expressed by the author here, but I don’t think that “othering” those who reach different conclusions than we, devaluing “their God”, and the like, will bear much fruit.

[bigtomwoodcutter (Tom Loop)]

Hey Tom, good seeing you again

It looks like both of my posts were deleted. Has TW been in cahoots with Trump to define me out of existence??

[webEd (Website Editor)]

@bigtomwoodcutter, your comments were replies to someone else’s comment, and that comment was deleted because it violated our commenting policy. Replies to deleted comments are auto-deleted as well. Hope that helps explain!

-WebEd

[bigtomwoodcutter (Tom Loop)]

Replies to deleted comments are auto-deleted as well. Hope that helps explain!

I get it. My comment probably wasn’t the nicest in the world, but I couldn’t resist, given the ridiculous comment I was responding to.

[bibletruthSOP (Frank Karth)]

It would be useful at the very least to present the bible, i.e. what saith the Lord, when speaking of these issues. Even murder for hire hit persons may be wonderful family persons but that doesn’t change who or what they actually are.