My daughter keeps forgetting her glasses. It’s inconceivable to me how she could. I’ve been wearing glasses since 4th grade. Without them, my world is a blurry mess. But she seems quite happy to go about her life with a fuzzy view of the world.
Those who proudly call themselves Christians, Even Adventists, are a disgrace to Christ’s name when they reject this way to the Syrian refugees, or any of the world’s people who are fleeing terrorism for their very lives. What should they expect from others in their time of persecution which they fervently believe is soon to come? Who will come to their aid?
Each night I see the pictures of refugees fleeing and risking their lives to escape from death that is almost inevitable if they remain in their homes. These are not riff-raff or future terrorists but often professionals, business owners, teachers: IOW just like them except birthplace.
But I’m not an Adventist, just one who left and is an agnostic toward
organized religions.
Marc Alan Schelske, thank you for reminding me to clean my lenses every day so that I can see clearly through the lens of Jesus.
I feel your pain…
Something I said a year ago:
From André Reis’ link:
The Assumptions of DARCOM and other Sources in
Defending 1844
By Roy Ingram.
‖ By far, the great majority of
Adventists have no understanding of
these issues and few could give an
intelligent Bible study on the prophecies
of Daniel 8 and 9. They just accept the
church‘s teaching on the subject. How
will they feel when they eventually
discover that this doctrine that we make
so central is unbiblical?
I am reminded of William Johnsson’s discussion with Walter Martin and John Ankerberg about the Adventist “little people” who were disturbed by the EGW “revelations” several decades ago.
This discussion can be found somewhere in the 5-part series here.
Little people. Really.
Downton Abbey comes to mind, but really, those snobs were far more solicitous of the welfare of their “underlings” than sophisticated, mentally agile, elite Adventists are capable of being, it seems.
But perhaps I’m not as unsympathetic as I might seem to the Adventist intelligentsia, though they do appear, at best, to be in a dissociated state regarding the plight of the “little people,” and their part in it.
Adventism truly is a moral morass, reaching terminal velocity in a death spiral, it appears to me. I’m tempted to say it’s a tragic moral dilemma, where nothing anyone does will help. There aren’t any good choices.
Desmond Ford fell on his sword, but what became of it but the pervasive liberal meme that Ellen White should be read pastorally and devotionally, and those who actually believe her most vehement, adamant statements about herself are “misusing” her? Adding insult to injury, I would say, and miring the Adventist culture deeper in a murky cognitive swamp.
Ford unwittingly sacrificed his son’s welfare to maintain his integrity, and it was like pouring his canteen out on the burning sand, looking from the outside, anyway.
Our unconscious moral instincts are to protect our own kin, and it appears Desmond Ford had “one thought too many,” and sacrificed himself for the collective, helpless to protect his son from the fallout.
Several times I’ve lamented online the lack of sacrificial leadership in Adventism, but, reflecting on Desmond Ford’s family, I think I was wrong. Some situations are simply, irreducibly morally tragic, as philosopher Lisa Tessman suggests, and it seems to me now.
I would never suggest anyone sacrifice their children’s welfare for the Adventist cause. Never.
I’ve said a number of times that Adventism is about Adventism. Note the thread title. Mortal Wound to ADVENTISM.
Tessman suggests that there can be danger in sacralizing things, and it appears to me that Ellen White’s writings and Adventism itself have been sacralized by conservatives and liberals alike, which results in the face-blindness to the plight of what Johnsson went along with calling the ignorant, credulous “little people.”
It appears nothing can be done about it.
Sacralizing human beings will have to be done outside of Adventism.
I think this graphic is evocative of the social situation in Adventism:
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Adventism has nothing to build on. Ellen White was fundamentally dishonest in a way that cannot be reconciled with basic ethics, as LLU ethicist Jim Walters pointed out in his paper, Ellen White and Truth-telling, and this trait has characterized the institution since the 19th century.
There’s nowhere to go from here.
Fred Hoyt, Professor of History at La Sierra University: Any discussion of such questions will quickly lead to that complex ethical, moral, spiritual, and legal morass known as PLAGIARISM.(emphasis is the author’s). Some would instantly object to this concept being applied to any of Ellen white’s writings. Others would insist that another term, at the very least, such as 'literacy dependency" should be used. This paper insists that such euphemistic manipulation is unacceptable. Clever semantic games in the past have served only to further obfuscate the esential inherent problems rather than shed light on them.
http://www.formeradventist.com/discus/messages/5371/4659.html?11576443815
Scriven Addresses a Critical Issue
By Erv Taylor
Dr. Scriven has called for all of us to do something that will be very hard for some to carry out, but it must be done for the long-term intellectual and theological health of Adventism in the 21st century.
I suggest that anyone seriously concerned with the long-term viability and credibility of the institutional Adventist faith community in the modern world among educated individuals must carefully read and consider the points raised by Dr. Scriven. His message is a straightforward plea: “Tell the truth about the Adventist prophet.”
http://atoday.org/lets-tell-truth-ellen-white-charles-scriven-addresses-critical-issue.html
Yes, but you can’t, really, because it will hurt so many people and create a mess that five battalions of angels couldn’t clean up in 5,000 years.
This is truly an irreducibly tragic moral situation.
As Sorensen puts it, A God-sized Problem.
Glad I can help! Thanks for the comment.
