Circling back to Atlanta, where the idea was launched over six years ago, The One Project convened for the thirtieth time on October 21 and 22, 2017. This time, emphasizing Sola Scriptura, the group met in a paneled, chandeliered banquet room over Maggiano’s Little Italy in Buckhead, a well-to-do suburb of Atlanta. Japhet De Oliveira mused as the event began that whenever people decide to emphasize Jesus, they will encounter many questions and the questions will have implications. All along, the goal has been to provide space for looking at Jesus and sowing seeds for transformation. The One Project planners had the vision to provide moments and pauses for a Seventh-day Adventist immersion in Jesus—His life, death, resurrection, and meanings for us now. Perhaps it is fitting that this project of revival comes to a finale near the 500-year anniversary of the Reformation. Revival and Reformation.
What definition was given in the meeting to the Reformation war-cry "Sola Scriptura?" Many find it inadequate and misleading, while having some importance at the same time. It needs parsing badly in the modern era.
A great book to read for the One Project is this one–
“The Jesus Driven Life – Reconnecting Humanity With Jesus”, by Michael Hardin.
AND “Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time”, by Marcus Borg
AND “The Jesus Creed – Loving God, Loving Others”, by Scot McKnight.
Jesus WAS NOT for the then Current Religious Scene, but HE was for
an IMPROVED view of Learning to “Loving God” and for “Loving One’s
Fellow-man and Neighbor – whether that Neighbor was a Friend OR A
FOE, one of a different Ethnic Group, or one of a different RELIGIOUS
Group.”
Isn’t it mind boggling seeing that a group who decided to preach “Jesus Only” was accused since the beginning of being heretical, therefore, they had to be put under pressure and kept under the lid?
I don’t know the reason(s) why they decided to end their movement. But, knowing Adventism for over 60 years (since I was a little child) I have my hints on this issue. I bet they value their jobs and believe that they can continue being a good influence in the places where they act as spiritual leaders. This must be better “for the cause” than losing their jobs… But this is just a guess since at this time I do not have enough info on the issue.
One thing that I loudly applaud them for, again, is for finishing their initiative with an emphasis on an issue that needs much more attention in the Church: the “Sola Scriptura” principle. I don’t understand why a Church like ours refuses to utilize “Sola Scriptura” as the ONLY source of faith and doctrine and call itself “Christian.” Long time ago I decided to adhere to the “Sola Scriptura” principle, therefore I call myself a Christian Adventist… Not every Adventist can claim such a title…
I am only sorry that on this site we cannot further discuss this issue. The “one comment only” policy is such an absurd rule, it’s like a gag order. No wonder Dr Cupino called it GagOne*, or was it OneGag? I still call it OneGate… This is probably why Spectrum is now losing so badly to Adventist Today (www.atoday.org), where there is no gag order, therefore freedom of speech is valued and respected. @elmer_cupino@harrpa@niteguy2@robert_sonter@andreas
Edit:
*- G W Bush would probably say, “Gag me once, Gag me twice, … then you cannot Gag me again”…
“Jesus only” or “Jesus is enough” are ambiguous clichés that promote an agenda.
Let the person who uses/quotes them elaborate enough so that one can understand what the purpose is.
Most of the time they are used by ignorant, secular Adventists for diminution of scripture and to undermine the work of the Holy Spirit & grace of God.
The “mystery of iniquity” has been at work for 2000 years.
Gospel = good news of God’s grace that forgives & fixes Earthlings
SDA denomination is in need of reformation BADLY.
The teaching approaches are inept
Sermons are usually U suck-try harder, religious vaccination , vitamin therapy talks that just repeat SDA trite, cliché lingo notions.
Samo, samo …
“we need to totally surrender to Jesus”
“We need to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit”
“We need to share the 3 angels message with people”
“We are lazy, lousy, lukewarm, lip service Laodicean losers”
Last Sabbath the brave SS substitute teacher polled the class to see who read the SS lesson…
Maybe 10-20 %
Oh but so many are too busy using their 7000 weekly waking minutes on more important stuff like the WORLD…
SDA doesn’t need just a split from WO…it needs some dedicated, consecrated conference officials, pastors & teachers…to stop playing church!
Think about this…what cause some universities to be regarded as better than the rest or have an 'Ivy league "reputation?
Is it because they have fancier old building or cost more for tuition?
Most SDA = Laodicean because the teaching of SDA pastors & SS teachers are inept. An example is the SS lesson #4 this week which is about the same as the SS lesson #4 of last quarter in Galatians.
As long as teachers warp the doctrine of justification by faith, Adventists will continue to be passive, spectator, worldly, fleshly, lip service pew warming, fanatic cult, isolationist, exclusive minded Protestants.
So many here want to pick on Ted Wilson…the group that need to be replaced and that are overpaid are the inept ministerial directors/secretaries starting with Jerry Page. the next group are the inept conference Sabbath school secretaries.
Perhaps the ONE project was a little early … but then, we are a prophetic movement.
To be called ignorant when you uplift Christ and him alone is an honour (1 Cor 2:2)
To be called secular when you dare to live in this world, describes fulfilling
the mission of Christ. (John 17:11)
There are plenty of texts that come to my mind as I read the critics of the ONE project. Perhaps Mk 9:40 is the most telling (and you might even want to read the context).
We need a Christ-centeredness more than ever before. Christ, the living Word. Solus Christus. Sola Scriptura…
I[quote=“GeorgeTichy, post:4, topic:14661”]
Isn’t it mind boggling seeing that a group who decided to preach “Jesus Only” was accused since the beginning of being heretical,
[/quote]
The One Project’s lethal mistake was not including EGW in their message. Had they taken a page or two from “Amazing Facts” and “Secrets Unsealed” and mentioned her they would have had the backing of the GC. But when the president of the GC’s MA thesis bibliography stands solely on EGW citations, T1P’s demise was a foregone conclusion. Just an observation.
@GeorgeTichy, “losing” implies that we are in competition with Adventist Today. There is plenty of Adventist news to go around, and we appreciate our fellow news organizations, including Adventist Today, that strive to report that news with honesty, transparency, and clarity. One can never have too many persons (or organizations) lighting a path forward.
As for our commenting policy, as you are well aware, this policy was set almost three years ago by the Adventist Forum Board of Directors. You are welcome, as always, to contact them directly to discuss your concerns. (See our “Contact Us” page.)
Thank you for continuing to be part of the conversation, even three years after a change you feel so strongly against.
There were all kind of wild accusations hurled at the One Project by the Old Guard. I think you are right Elmer, that the GC saw them as suspect because the OP didn’t cite EGW. It’s a shame that it
is now disbanding.
Like @GeorgeTichy I too raise my voice in opposition to this ONE GATE. Spectrum conversation used to be invigorating. Now there is little give and take anymore, so participation has fallen off.
In May of 1844 – not too far in time from the first, smaller, Spring, Adventist ‘disappointment’ that year – Samuel Morse sent his, ‘What hath God wrought ?’, message over the new-fangled telegraph wires of the what was soon to become the ‘Victorian Internet’. Samuel Morse was also an active advocate for reuniting science with religion.
44 years later – circa ‘1888’ – Mark Twain had finally published his, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, about a displaced, science-technology-savvy ‘can do’ factory boss attempting to ‘engineer’ a new economic, philosophical and political social structure in ancient England. Mark Twain – ‘every man’ – had also just blown his fortune investing in the ‘Paige Compositor’ typesetting machine – a one century early ‘word processor’ – and was suffering the effects of a world speaking tour, hoping through book and ticket sales to pay back his creditors. Mark Twain, publicly, had all of the right questions about God that Waggoner and Jones were trying to provide answers for, publicly . . . without the full, pledged, ‘loyal’ support of the General Conference of SDAs. Ellen was sent to Australia, half a world away, by the ‘dis-loyal’ GC. . . .
Going back 500 years:
Where would Luther’s religious ‘scripture’ revival and reformation have been without the latest scientific ‘communications technology’ accredited to Johannes Gutenberg ?
Isn’t it strange, but familiar, then, that God’s SDA ‘Reformers’ today, still cannot make the ‘One’ connection between ‘science’ and ‘religion’ – in the same place, at the same time ? Both science and scripture – in their truest harmonious forms – originated through ‘Jesus All’ who is the ‘Word of God’ in both Creation and Scripture. He is ‘All’ of both, not of one or of the other.
Even today the ‘line in the sand’ that makes the SDA GC a ‘Two Project’ – regarding WO among other issues – is really a ‘Rocky’ ‘Continental Divide’ between
those SDA leaders and future leaders who primarily teach and study ‘science’ on the ‘West Coast’ of America – and are commonlyfor WO – and
those SDA leaders and future leaders who primarily teach and study ‘religion’ toward the ‘East Coast’ of America – and are divided on WO.
( Even West Coast ‘CAP’ members may be trained at the seminary, East of the Great Divide.)
And here in a fluent Spectrum report describing the subject matter of the latest ‘One Project’ meeting this strangely enduring Great Divide between the ‘Jesus Half’ of’ ‘Scripture’ religion, and the ‘Jesus Half’ of scientific inspiration is clearly described as being still alive, still half-blind, and still kicking with one leg at a time. Or, did Kirstein make it clear that ‘sola Christus’ must mean all of ‘Jesus All’, simultaneously, harmoniously, not just half of all – in ‘scripture alone’.
‘A house or kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.’ ~ Jesus
God’s ‘One Project’ during this ‘Great era of At-One-Ment’ cannot succeed until His people open both eyes simultaneously and focus with binocular vision on the whole ‘Word of God’ – ALL of it in harmony – ‘science’ and ‘religion’, in perfect agreement . . . even at ‘One Project’ revival and reformation meetings.
Let’s not continue to revive the Reformer’s past half-mistakes.
So in next February’s last One Project meeting, you might redeem lost time by explaining just how important Luther’s understanding and acceptance of Copernicus’ heliocentric model was, in order for ‘his’ Protestant Reformation to not fail as it did during the Council of Trent – by failing to keep the ‘Scriptural’, 7th-revolution Sabbaths. If the Earth was at the center of all, then it would not need to revolve to explain the relative motions of the heavenly bodies. If Earth does not revolve, then an ‘evening-morning’ ‘day’ cycle might not have actually occurred until the 4th day of the scripture account when the Sun was made to move around the Earth . . . so, really, the ‘Sabbath’ was ‘made’ when God rested on the 4th, solar-reckoned day . . . ?
Without harmonizing the best ‘science’ from Copernicus, with scripture, there was much room for confusion of thought among the reformers, even, resulting in distrust, even, of ‘scripture alone’. If Luther (died 1546) had accepted and promoted Copernicus’ theory (published 1543) , and also the scriptural 7th day Sabbaths, the resulting harmony of science with religion may have saved the Reformation at Trent (Council from 1545-1563).
So, what use is it to promote, ‘Jesus All’, without simultaneously promoting ‘All of Jesus’ ?
And, what could such harmony do, today, to save the current SDA religion ?
Scripture clearly describes 2 separate, distinct ‘births’:
One ‘in Adam’. One ‘in Christ’.
14 years after John Harvey Kellogg (author of the ‘alpha’ of The Living Temple panentheism) died, in 1957, the structural model of DNA ‘in Adam’ was understood.
In 2010, as Ted Wilson was disfellowshipping ‘Spiritual Formation’ (thought by many to be the ‘omega’) at the GC in Atlanta, 21 leading brain scientists were publishing scientific evidence in the scientific journal Brain Structure and Function, relating to the Scriptural, ‘sex-less’, DNA-independent ‘re-birth’ – ‘in Christ’ – which Jesus described to Nicodemus, and which Waggoner and Jones began to preach, circa 1888.
So, I apologize to all of those ‘TLDR’ Spectrumites who are too bored or too weak to scroll down this long ‘reply’ . . . but, there are simple,harmonious solutions to SDA woes available, right now, for those who crave such things.
And, I don’t hear anyone else mentioning them.
Is all of the fighting and division in the church simply more entertaining ?
Let’s not be too proud to wash in the muddy Jordan, like Naaman . . . huh ?
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Very much enjoyed Alex Bryan’s challenging message, “It’s Time to Grow Up.”
Samuel is dead.
Abigail is an exhibit of maturity. Marks of maturity include:
Be a great listener. Abigail is a great listener. Alex quoted Parker Palmer from Let Your Life Speak: Listen to yourself through journaling. Read different perspectives.
Be action-oriented. Abigail “lost no time.” She moved into action. She didn’t form a committee. When Jesus came, He said, “We are changing things.” He didn’t wait for the Pharisees to create new policy. Bryan mentioned the #MeToo campaign. “Whenever we allow the mistreatment of women, we are complicit,” he said.
Be willing to sacrifice. Abigail is willing to give up something. Stephen, who was stoned, refused to be quiet. We need to ask, Did it cost us anything? Jesus went to the cross and said to us, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”
Be God-focused. Abigail focused on God. Don’t lost track of the Son. He will always guide us in the right direction.
The Bible is full of stories where people acted counter-culturally.
I was challenged by this presentation based on I Samuel 25:26-31 ESV
