Radical skepticism about the claims of the gospels is in vogue, including the “Jesus as myth” position, which argues that Jesus never even existed.
Read MoreTen questions for Dr. Ken Shaw
Having spent most of your career at a state university, what do you like best about your move into the Adventist educational system?
Read MoreWhy Women's Ordination Matters
“If we ever come to the place as a Church where we can interpret 'husband of one wife' to mean 'wife of one husband' or simply 'faithful man or woman,' then we can make any passage of Scripture mean whatever we want it to mean or whatever our culture tells us it should mean."
Read MoreDo the Writings of Ellen White Authorize Female Ordination?
When we read Ellen White in context, she confirms what Scripture teaches. Men are the heads and priests of their families, and that headship role carries over into the church, to the male office of elder/overseer. Ellen White does not contradict Scripture on the roles of the sexes in the church, but rather fleshes them out, suggesting ways that women should be involved in a ministry that will complement the ministry of the male elders/overseers.
Read MoreDoes the life of Ellen White authorize female ordination?
Among many Adventists who have a high regard for the prophetic authority of Ellen White, there is an inchoate but strong feeling that the example of her life somehow did away with the pattern of male spiritual leadership found throughout Scripture.
Read MoreCan America's Religious Freedom be Restored?
This is a very revealing moment in our national life. The intolerance of the “gay rights movement” has been laid bare, and it is ugly. If gay activists were interested in mutual toleration, in “live and let live,” there are plenty of bakers, florists and photographers who would be thrilled to take their money. Instead gay activists are seeking out people with moral objections to same-sex marriage, to punish them, to publicly ruin them, and thus to make them an example for anyone else who might step out of line.
Read MoreFinancial troubles spur Texas conference to close Valley Grande Academy
Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventist’s executive committee voted Feb. 26 to close Valley Grande Adventist Academy, a 100-year-old boarding school in Weslaco, Texas. This seems to be the final chapter for an institution founded in 1911 that has long been a feeder school for Southwestern Adventist University. This decision was taken despite a 39 percent increase in enrollment at the K-12 educational facility, from 121 students last year to 168 students in the current school year.
Read MoreAppeal dismissed in LSU-3 lawsuit
The North American Division has announced that the appeal in the LSU-3 lawsuit has been dismissed, thus finally ending the litigation. ADvindicate readers will recall that this case began with an inadvertent recording of a conversation among three La Sierra professors Jeffrey Kaatz, James Beach, and Gary Bradley and La Sierra board member Lenny Darnell at the home of James Beach April 20, 2011.
Read MoreA troubling precedent
Anyone paying attention to Western political leaders in the years since September 11, 2001, will have noticed that they often opine about what Islam is or is not. To cite a recent example, in responding to the massacre of the senior staff of Charlie Hebdo, a Paris magazine that published cartoons deriding Muhammad, French President Francois Hollande said this: “Those who committed these acts, these fanatics, have nothing to do with the Muslim religion.”
Read MoreGeneral Conference 2015: Back to the Future
The conservative Ted Wilson has set up a vote that, if the conservatives lose, will give the liberals what they asked for, but if the conservatives win, will merely reiterate the 1995 vote that the liberals have already ignored with impunity. I believe Elder Wilson's heart is in the right place, but he has been completely outmaneuvered on this issue.
Read MorePaying the bills
Do you enjoy reading ADvindicate? Do you like having a forum in which to discuss the religious issues of the day? Is it important to you to have a fresh, unique perspective on Adventist news? Is it important for you to have a conservative Adventist perspective on church events that is not the bland, official propaganda, and certainly not the corrosive cynicism of those who would transform the church?
Read MoreIs God's model of church organization optional?
The final meeting of the Theology of Ordination Study Committee saw the emergence of a “third way” caucus. This group acknowledges that Scripture sets forth a “model,” “pattern” or “ideal” of male leadership in the church, but feels that because male leadership relates to organization, it can be waived or altered by local constituencies of the church. Male leadership in the church, they argue, is among those ideals that...
Read MoreJust another sin, or capstone of rebellion?
As the homosexual lifestyle and same-sex marriage become normal and accepted in society, the Adventist Church will face greater pressure to accept them as well. The church will be expected to welcome homosexual members, deacons, and elders; this is already happening in some local Adventist churches. One of the arguments employed by those who seek to gradually normalize practicing homosexual church members is that it is “just another sin, and we are all sinners.”
Read MoreASI Highlights
Adventist Laymans' Services and Industries (ASI) recently held its annual convention, this year at Grand Rapids, Michigan. I wasn't there this year (for only the second time in the past six years) but I took note of some of the highlights.
Read MoreThe Guns of August
This month marks the centenary, the hundredth anniversary, of the beginning of the First World War, which erupted in Europe in August, 1914. It was the most destructive war in history up to that point, with military deaths of about 9 to10 million and combined military and civilian deaths of about 16 to 17 million. The war also facilitated the rapid spread of an influenza epidemic in 1918 that killed an estimated 50 million people.
“Fearful tests and trials await the people of God. The spirit of war is stirring the nations from one end of the earth to the other.”-- Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 17. (1909)
Read MorePope hints at change to celibate priest rule
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.
Read MoreThe Strange Doctrine of the Vallejo Drive Church
Four days after censuring Vellejo Drive member Elizabeth Iskander in a business meeting on April 15th for “making people uncomfortable” by discussing homosexuality in private conversations with other members, Senior Pastor Mike Kim had this to say in his sermon, “We do not want to be concerned about whether we have practicing homosexuals in our midst. Why? Because that's immorality of the flesh, and how important is immorality of the flesh? NOT VERY IMPORTANT AT ALL!”
Read MoreSurprise “third way” option emerges at final TOSC Meeting
The headline depends upon how one aggregates the votes. A clear majority—54 to 40—believes that the Bible teaches an ideal of male leadership. But the news being trumpeted in the church's liberal precincts is that an even larger majority—62 to 32—believes that unions should be allowed to independently decide the issue of female ordination.
Read MoreThe best argument for ordaining women
There is one argument for female ordination that always struck me as having considerable merit. It goes like this...
Read MoreJudge spanks LSU-3 for "extraordinarily ill-advised case"
On March 5th, Rich McCune, counsel for the LSU-3 (Beach, Bradley, and Kaatz), had a bad day in court. Riverside County law & motion Judge Edward D. Webster not only threw out the plaintiffs' case, he made McCune stay after school so he could tell Mr. McCune what he really thought of his case and his clients, “I think this case is extraordinarily ill-advised for a lot of different reasons."
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