We can learn about what mattered most to Christ about His comrades-in-arms by examining the people He revealed Himself to and the contexts of those revelations. Following are descriptions of three of those encounters.
This is beautifully written and fully of many profound questions or thoughts. What is the answer, though, does Dr Aamodt think, to the final question: WAS it the Samaritan woman’s need that made her “grasp His message so confidently”? I guess Calvinists would say she was given a special grace, and mightn’t that be so?
The article is an interesting departure from the Sabbath school material.
I wonder if those who actually read the Sabbath school lessons notice what I do…
“Great controversy” mentioned:
Lesson 7—10 times
Lesson 8 — 8 times
Lesson 9 —6 times
Lesson 10— 11 times
Lesson 11—6 times
Lesson 12 —6 times
Lesson 13 — 5 times
or more
Is this quarterly on Rebellion & Redemption or great controversy?
the most assuring was the encounter with Peter on the shore following Christ’s resurrection. TZ
Like Dudley, I believe the salient factor in all these stories is the sense of “need”. In order to look for salvation, we have to feel the need for it. There can be no sense of need if we are tied to canned answers from one organization or another. How does anyone feel the need to even look for Christ if his whole life is lived in compliance to prescribed list of any kind?
You could say that if that list is stringent enough, then no one can live up to it, and there would then be a continuous sense of failure. I suppose that’s one way to make it work - raise the bar high enough, you will always feel like a failure. But I don’t think that’s the kind of “need” that’s needed.
Interesting that all three examples are women. Women, even back then, were second class humans - not counted in genealogies or in the order of inheritance, or anything else, it would seem. The only other group lower, would be the lepers. Women had a built-in need just to even be seen. That need formed their thirst for recognition and Jesus gave that to them.
The Martha/Mary episode places women on an equal level with the rest of society, giving legitimacy to their spiritual quest that may take them out of the kitchen and the nursery. (And I’m no feminist.)
Mary Magdalene had the most urgent need as she stood there weeping for all she thought was lost. To make her, the most vulnerable character in this saga, the ultimate proof of the resurrection, is one of the best ironies of the whole story. On her discovery and declaration rests the entire basis for Christianity. “He is risen.”
Terri Dopps has written an excellent article demonstrating for me the reality that we need more articles, authors, and points of view from our sisters in the church. Full participation includes equal opportunities to serve in ministry by being on a level paying field for ordination and leadership positions. The status quo of gender discrimination in our ministerial ordination policies is unacceptable. We need more women in SDA church leadership, NOW!
In our church we sorely need more women in leadership positions. We already know from considerable research the private sector that companies are better off when they have more women in top management roles, especially when it comes to innovation, unity and creativity. Studies have consistently shown that, when companies introduced women onto their top management teams, they generated an average of 1 percent more economic value, which typically meant more than $40 million.
We have failed in recognizing the direct advantages that women as leaders bring to the table, which often include diverse perspectives, collaborative styles, dedication to mentoring and keen understanding of employees and constituents. But we’ve largely overlooked the beneficial effects that women have on the men around them. When women join top management teams, they encourage male colleagues to treat employees more generously and to share knowledge more freely. Increases in motivation, cooperation, and innovation in companies may be fueled not only by the direct actions of female leaders, but also by their influence on male leaders.
We cannot afford to wait until Brothers Ted and Doug and others catch up. The way that Sandra Roberts has been treated by some General Conference leaders, in her post as our first SDA conference president, is shameful. It’s often said that behind every great man stands a great woman. In light of the profound influence that women can potentially have in our church today and in men’s generosity, it might be more accurate to say that in front of every great man walks a great woman. If we’re wise, we’ll follow her lead.
The church needs more feminists! Those who firmly believe in equality for all: in voting, education, the work place, and equal pay.
If you do not agree with these premises, you are not a feminist. But the history of how long and hard women have fought the “system” to gain equal access did not happen because the men in authority thought it was a good idea. It was fought by strong women who only wanted what was rightfully theirs, not denied by their reproductive organs.
That is why I, and millions of Americans strongly disagree with Steinem and Albright who said that “there is a special place in hell for women who do not support women”; this was an insulting suggestion for women to vote for a woman president just because of her sex.
Gender should never determine a woman’s equality; and that includes the church that still mantains her inferiority for the “highest” positions."
I recognized from the beginning that this quarter is about the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan. After all, that’s what rebellion and redemption are all about. Lucifer rebelled and hoodwinked us into joining him. He’s been warring against the government of God ever since. The controversy isn’t over until he and his accomplices are destroyed.
Wouldn’t it be the “Great Convergence” to have all of these women, indeed be one?..And that one be “the disciple that Jesus loved”…The same that caressed Him in Luke 7…And maybe wrote “the Book of John”? Couldn’t He have loved her on all levels? To me that would give incredible depth to the story’s impact…
The use of women God saw as partners in God’s mission to showcase devine thought gives me courage and motivation to also be one God can use for the greater good.
Women take cue to be the perennial flowers: stalwart, stubbornly resilient, season after season. There’s dignity in delicate for inspiration of sweetness approved of them. The win that matters hone the Devine within, nothing is beyond reach. In recreation, place of worship, family, friends, blessing of community to their experience with: The women at the well or Martha and the Death of Lazarus or Mary Magdalene at the Tomb. Every gathering of two is really a fellowship of three. Christ the Messiah with his comrades-in-arms.