NOTICE: The contribution titled “Teachers of falsehood” was removed due to the anonymity of the sources. We apologize for this oversight and the inconvenience for those who are interested in the subject. We are working to determine when the contributors will be willing to attach their names to the submission. Thank you for your patience. Stay tuned. -Mary Hilde, news editor
The question of how to deal with religious offenders, whether doctrinal or moral, is one deeply troubling to many laypersons and leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist Church today. How are we to properly address challenges to the integrity and practice of our faith? How are justice and mercy to be balanced in such decisions? At what point does responsible firmness give way to undue severity, Christian tolerance to secular license?
Independent Adventist seminar speaker Herb Montgomery, who describes himself as “an author, internationally recognized speaker, and director of Renewed Heart Ministries,” has aligned with SDA Kinship, a homosexual organization that, among other activities, holds Kinship Kampmeeting each summer. Montgomery, who is married with three children and lives in West Virginia, was a featured speaker at last week's Kinship Kampmeeting.
Some are crippled by bitterness, some are crippled by guilt, and some paralyzed by fear. For some there are painful memories that they cling to, allowing the pain to define them. In this condition, we are the first to criticize, and the last to forgive. Some, crippled by lies, run from relationships, fearing the honesty that they demand. But that's not who you are, friend. God created each of us with the ability to give and receive love (1 John 4:7; 2 Cor. 7:2).
It appears that Pope Francis may be rethinking the idea of clerical celibacy. In an interview with La Repubblica, an Italian daily newspaper, Pope Francis described the celibacy of the priesthood as "a problem" in need of a solution. “There definitely is a problem but it is not a major one. This needs time but there are solutions and I will find them,” Francis said, without elaborating further.
“I've got to ask our denomination a tough question: Is your window open? . . . I challenge you, in our lives as Seventh-day Adventists, are we going to shut the window? Or are we going to continue to stand for what God tells us to stand for even though it may mean us significant harm.” “Is your window open? Or have we shut the window, afraid of persecution, afraid of trial?”
Human sexuality, along with a pleasing sexual imperative, is introduced at the very beginning of the Bible story. Mankind was created with gender. Gender was created with purpose. Compliantly, in the narrative, Adam “knew” his wife and she conceived a son, and then another, and then a third. And though we don’t have details about differing sexual orientations before the flood, it is certain that only heterosexuals were on the Ark.
Kroll, who has lived in Castle Rock for 31 years, said he doesn’t remember entering the online sweepstakes. He said he was “shocked” and “surprised” when Publishers Clearing House representatives knocked on his door Monday. “The odds of winning something like this are like getting struck by lightning,” he said.