Qualified in the journey: a response to 'Adam and Steve'

Satan is laying hold of multitudes, which brings me to the sad case of Jonathan Henderson. In his presentation, “Adam and Steve,” in front of impressionable students during Week of Prayer, he makes a number of declarations. It’s almost as though he’s in a fist fight with God’s Word insisting on a new and different “truth.” He mocks those who believe in God’s written Word, mocks God, and mocks the sanctity of marriage.

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Adam and Steve

Pacific Union College chaplain and PUC Church associate pastor Jonathan Henderson was the featured speaker at PUC's Fall Revival last week, an annual fall quarter week of spiritual emphasis, focused on relationships. Monday began with Adam and God, and Tuesday followed with Adam and Eve, but on Wednesday, Henderson focused his attention on the issue of homosexuality in a sermon titled "Adam and Steve."

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Adam’s role as representative of his immediate family

We have seen that Adam was the legal representative of humanity. For those who see full equality before the fall (egalitarians), at the very least, Adam’s legal-corporate responsibility was different than Eve’s. Therefore, while it is true that Adam and Eve were similar in resemblance, constitution, and relationship, there was not full equality in representational function. We will now look at Adam’s role as representative of his immediate family.

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Where is my honor?

Lately I have realized that I do not reverence God as I should. If we are all honest, none of us reverences God as we should. To think angels veil their faces before him, and cry “holy, holy, holy” is an awesome thought. My finite mind cannot comprehend the majesty of God.  When Moses met God in the burning bush, he was told to take the shoes from off his feet for the place where he stood was holy ground (Exodus 3).  When God came down on Mount Sinai, the whole mountain shook, His voice thundered and man dared not touch the mount lest they died instantaneously (Exodus 19, 20). 

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Is 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...

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Gathering up the fragments

There just isn’t enough time in the day. Have you ever heard that saying? Or maybe you have been the one to utter it. Time, time, time--it seems as though we can never get enough of it. Even with all the timesaving devices on the market, this generation still appears to have less time than previous ones. We have wonderful goals and aspirations of what we would like to achieve, if only we had the time. But I have come to a startling realization in my life, and that is, there is enough time available to do all God would have us do. We just have not mastered the art of gathering up the fragments.

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Just 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.” 

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Report on the International Conference on the Bible and Science

This August I was blessed to attend the International Conference on the Bible and Science: Affirming Creation, which was put on by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists’ Faith and Science Council, with significant contributions by the General Conference Education Department and Loma Linda University Department of Earth and Biological Sciences. The 400+ attendees came primarily from Adventist unions, conferences, and educational institutions all over the world. They included scientists, theologians, graduate students, and church administrators as well as some lay members and a few guests from other denominations.

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Legal representation in scripture

In "Federal headship," we saw that Adam was the legal “representative of the whole human family” (Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets 48), and that his fall directly affected the nature of humanity. This point alone negates the egalitarian position of full equality in representation function. While there was ontological equality, Adam’s role as monarch or legal representative, shows that God intended him to fulfill a role different than Eve. Interestingly, the idea of a legal representation is not unique to Adam’s federal role. The concept can be found throughout Scripture.

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How is your GLOW being used?

While I was traveling by train from Germany to the Czech Republic, I met my former language teacher for Czech. We had a nice conversation and as a thank you gift for the fairly good language course she taught, I gave her The Great Controversy in Czech and a Steps to Health tract in German and Czech. She thanked me especially for the GLOW tracts and said she would like to use them as...

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Federal headship

Some scholars have proposed (1) that man and woman were equal before the fall and that there was no “hint of a headship . . . or hierarchical relationship” (2) or that headship is a “new theology ... that permits no compromise or diversity.” (3)  In general, those who believe in a pre-fall equivalent role status (4) are referred to as “egalitarians.” (5) One scholar noted “there is nothing in Gen. 2 to indicate a hierarchical view. . .  [and] no hint of a headship of one over the other or a hierarchical relationship between husband and wife.” (6) He further proposed that before the fall there was full equality in “resemblance/constitution, in relationship, and in representation/function.” (7) Those who believe in a pre-fall non-equivalent role status are called “complementarians.”

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Your investment with ADvindicate

You can help ADvindicate raise $30,000 in four months to expand its news coverage and reach. From now until Dec. 31, we will be fundraising to cover projected expenses for 2015. Over the last two years, you provided the funds for ADvindicate to establish itself as a 501(c)3 non-profit, which benefits future supporters by allowing all donations to be tax deductible. You provided the funds for the basic operation of ADvindicate, and we are so thankful. You provided funds that allowed ADvindicate to host booths at ASI and GYC. These conventions help bring greater awareness and increased readership.

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Church celebrities: assessing an old but contemporary challenge

Her name was Maria Anne Hirschmann.  I don’t even know if she’s still alive.  (Her former husband recently passed away, I am told.)  An Adventist teenager living in the German-dominated Sudetenland of what was then Czechoslovakia, she left home at the age of fourteen to receive advanced training in the Hitler Youth movement.  Soon she became a devout and passionate Nazi, leaving the faith of her childhood behind.

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