Archive for July, 2010
Introduction
This news item might be old news for most Adventists. I am in the process of transferring what is worth saving from the www.sdaforum.com to this new web site before the old forum is deleted. Nevertheless, the old domain name will point at this new one, which means that those familiar with the old forum will gain immediate access to the new one without the need to alter the access link.
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For those interested in learning the truth about what has been taking place at the 3ABN network, there is a source of a large number of documents dealing with all the allegations and counter allegations connected with the “growing number of moral, ethical, and financial” dealings by the leading individuals in charge of the Three Angels’ Broadcasting Network which threatens to damage or destroy the defectiveness of this independent Seventh-day Adventist religious organization. Some individuals who are greatly concerned about the future of the network have created a website dedicated to the stated goal of saving the network from disaster.
According to the documents posted on this website, Danny Shelton, the founder of 3ABN, has exhibited a lack of fairness and equanimity in the treatment of his former wife, Linda Shelton, co-founder of the organization and former vice president of the network. An analysis of the voluminous number of E-mails exchanged between the parties seems to reveal the following:
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Introduction
The reader may wonder why am I associating Finkelstein with Darwin and Hitler. The reason is simple. Hitler’s meteoric political rise came at a time when the Germany’s economy was in shambles. He managed to restore Germany’s prestige and economic power, and did a lot of good. Even Americans remember him for giving Germans and the world the Volkswagen. That was the only car my dad drove until he couldn’t drive anymore. Nevertheless, the world remembers Hitler not for the good he performed on behalf of others, but rather for his genocide of six million Jews.
We could say something similar about Darwin. He opened the eyes of scientists about the fact that species do not remain static as time goes on and environments change, but rather tend to adapt to those altered circumstances. Nevertheless, sooner or later, I believe that he will be remembered by the baleful influence of his iconoclastic theory which succeeded in turning people’s reliance in God as the source of life and everything that is good and beneficial. Actually, Hitler was philosophically indebted to Darwin for his survival of the fittest suggestion, which led him to posit the superiority of the German race.
Who is Israel Finkelstein?
At this point, someone may wonder who is Israel Finkelstein. He is the director of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, and co-author of the book “The Bible Unearthed,” a “truly iconoclastic and provocative work” written with the overt objective of “challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures” and suggesting that the lack of archaeological evidence tends to support his notion that “many of the most famous stories of the bible—the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire—reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts.” (John Shelby Spong, back cover of Finkelstein’s book.)
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I wrote the following article three years ago at the request of Dr. Ervin Taylor, Executive Editor of “Adventist Today.” A shortened, edited version was published in the January/February/2007 issue of said magazine. The publication generated a highly controversial exchange between the author and one of the magazine readers. This unedited exchange is posted below
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The Puzzling SDA Apathy Towards the Plight of the Unborn
The Plight of the Unborn
Never in the history of humankind the lives of the unborn have been at risk on such a mass scale. There is no question but that the womb, the sacred chamber God provided for the protection of the unborn, is today the most dangerous place on earth (1). According to statistics provided by the Alan Guttmacher Institute [Planned Parenthood], the number of abortions performed per year in the U.S. since 1973 averages 1,560,198 (2). The statistics for the entire world is even scarier: Approximately 46 Million (3). This surpasses by far any other cause of death, including wars (4).
If car accidents, smoking, or cancer, were responsible for the deaths of such a large number of human beings, I suspect that SDA’s would be demanding that something be done to put a stop to such a waste of human life. Half of all abortions in the U.S. are performed at or before the eight week of pregnancy (5); which means that approximately 800,000 developing babies are denied the right to life each year at a stage when they look very human, with recognizable arms, legs, head and feet, as revealed by ultrasound pictures (6). This is why when an abortion is performed, the nurse must account for all the parts of the dismembered baby to avoid serious health hazards for the mother.
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I grew up in South America where machismo is quite predominant in society. In spite of this, I believe that our ministerial ordination practices should be gender blind and neutral. If the Lord calls women for church service in that capacity, who are we to abort that call?
I do not think that this issue will split the church, provided we do it without imposing women’s ordination on the rest of Adventism. If we do, it will fail like our American decision to impose democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It will take an unusual amount of courage to implement such a monumental change, but doing what is right has never been easy. Think about how hard it was to do away with the old denominational practice of compensating women on a lower scale for the same type of work and responsibility.
I remember how a colleague of mine complained that her salary at an SDA institution was 60 percent of that of her male counterparts for the same type of work. She was told that the church paid men more because they were the main providers for their families.
-”That’s precisely why I need to be paid as my male counterparts are. I am the main breadwinner in my family,” she argued.
-”Sorry, but we can’t alter the church’s policy,” was the answer she got.
When a few decades ago a woman employed by the Pacific Press decided to do something about this inequality and appealed to a governmental agency, the church exerted all its power in an attempt to keep our loyal women subjugated under this unfair remunerating policy.
Will the church this time do what is right? I do not know, but the climate is changing, and perhaps the new leaders might muster the courage to do what is right.
One way of accomplishing the main objective of treating all church workers equally regardless of gender would be to drop entirely the term “ordination,” which has no biblical basis, and call the ritual by another name, be it “commissioning,” “appointment,” “assignment,” or any other term that would tend to soften the chance of being perceived as an outright rebellion against the rest of Adventism.
Three years ago, I received the visit of Dr.Ervin Taylor, the Executive Editor of “Adventist Today,” a magazine that enjoys a wide readership among Seventh-day Adventists, especially in the United States. He invited me to write an article in defense of my pro-life position on abortion.
Of course, I was more than happy to comply, and said article was included in the January/February/2007 issue of said periodical. It also includes a critical response by Dr. James Walters in defense of the SDA official pro-choice position on said highly controversial issue.
My question is: Is it right for Seventh-day Adventists to generously label ourselves as the “Remnant Church” that keeps God’s Commandments, one of which forbids murder, and proclaiming the “last message of mercy to a perishing world,” while at the same time officially justifying the practice of abortion?
We are concerned as a church about the deaths of innocent human beings in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deaths of American soldiers in said countries currently cursed by internal violent strife. We see and lament the indiscriminate shedding of innocent blood in that faraway land, but we are rather oblivious about the daily genocide of the unborn that is taking place in our own land of the free and the brave.
If you share my concerns and have access to the “Adventist Today” magazine, I invite you to read said article. In the event you don’t, I suggest you access the copy I posted on my “SDA Forum” website.
Article Title: The Puzzling SDA Apathy Towards the Plight of the Unborn
Internet link: http://sdaforum.com/page90.html
Note: In the event the sda forum link fails, you will need to copy and paste the title of the article onto the search blank space located on the top right-hand-corner of this page.
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When I wrote this article, several years ago, the tiny Pacific Island of Pitcairn had a population of 47, and six Islanders had been convicted of rape. If these men were convicted and jailed, the rest of the islanders might have faced a bleak future, since they were needed for the manning of the longboat that goes out to passing ships, and life on the island might have been placed in jeopardy.
Some islanders were saying that sex with underage girls as young as 12 or 13 was considered normal on the island; it is what their ancestors had done for generations. I am wondering if the SDA church was aware of this anomaly. You may be aware that the entire population converted to the SDA denomination many decades ago. William Johnson, the former editor of the “Adventist Review” probably responded by saying, “Don’t tell it in Gath.” Is sweeping this under the rug beneficial in the long run? What is your opinion?
You can read more about Pitcairn by clicking on the links listed below:
Pitcairn Facing A Fragile Future
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3950991.stm
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The purpose of this posting is to remind you that three years ago I was able to complete all the requirements for my doctoral program including the writing of my doctoral dissertation thesis. The title of my dissertation was: “From Pro-life to Pro-choice: A Dramatic Shift in Seventh-day Attitudes Towards Abortion.” This goal was reached on June 29, 2007.
Disclaimer:
The display of the SDA logo above should not be misinterpreted as an official endorsement of this article by the SDA church!
Your Imput is Needed
The main sources for the material utilized came from the pages of Ministry, Spectrum, Adventist Today, and several books authored by SDA scholars. It is possible that I might have included your opinion on this controversial issue. If you have published on the subject in the above mentioned venues, you may want to examine my report to determine the accuracy of what I have written.
You may contact me by E-mail at nicsamojluk@roadrunner.com, or you can post your opinion on this forum.
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Sometime ago I was reading another book written by Desmond Ford: “Right With God Right Now.” He cites Genesis 15:6 as proof that God declares believers righteous the moment they believe. Perhaps this is what the Lord does, but the biblical proof is flawed. Let me first quote the Scripture in question and then Ford’s comments:
“Abram believed the Lord, and he [the Lord] credited it to him as righteousness.”
Do you see? God counts him righteous by faith alone, not by Abraham’s performance. Salvation is something received, not something achieved.
Now let us see why this biblical proof is flawed. What does the biblical record show? My Bible tells me that Abraham received his call from the Lord when he was seventy-five years old. He did believe the Lord, and he left his home country on the basis of this faith [Gen. 12]. Did the Lord declare him righteous the moment he believed? Perhaps he did, but there is no such record in the Bible.
Then a famine forced Abraham to go to Egypt. Chapters 13 record the story of how he and his nephew lot separated due to the increase in their cattle. All this takes time, of course. Chapter 14 relates how Abraham rescued Lot. Then comes chapter 15 where God declared Abraham righteous. My estimate is that Abraham must have been by now anywhere between 80 and 85 years old or perhaps even older.
My question is: Why did the Lord wait all these years before publicly declaring Abraham righteous? We don’t know. Perhaps he didn’t want to issue such a declaration on the basis of incipient, untested faith. Nevertheless, regardless of the reason, the fact remains that we have no biblical proof that Abraham was declared righteous the moment he believed! Someone once said: “True faith is never alone!”
As I was leafing through the August/2006 copy of the National Geographic Magazine I noticed the statistics showing the odds of dying of any cause in the United States.
The odds are as follows in descending order:
Heart disease: 1 in 5
Cancer: 1 in 7
Stroke: 1 in 24
Motor vehicle accident: 1 in 84 Suicide: 1 in 119
Falling: 1 in 218
Firearm assault: 1 in 314
Pedestrian accident: 1 in 626
Drowning: 1 in 1,008
Motorcycle accident: 1 in 1,020
Fire or smoke: 1 in 1,113
Bycycling accident: 1 in 4,919
Air/space accident: 1 in 5,051
Accidental firearm discharge: 1 in 5,134
Accidental electrocution: 1 in 9,968
Alcohol poisoning: 1 in 10,048
Hot weather: 1 in 13,729
Hornet wasp, or bee sting: 1 in 56,789
Legal execution: 1 in 62,468
Lightning: 1 in 79,746
Earthquake: 1 in 117,127
Flood: 1 in 144,156
Fireworks discharge: 1 in 340,733
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You are probably aware that some time ago the title of our Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide was “The Gospel, 1844, and Judgment.” Richard Rice wrote an article dealing with our unique Investigative Judgment doctrine, and he stated the following in his article:
This interpretation of the investigative judgment raises some important questions. For one thing, it does not explain why this review is conducted immediately before Christ’s return. Seventh- day Adventists believe that probation closes at death; there is no further opportunity to repent. But if a person’s eternal destiny is fixed at death, it is not clear why an endtime review is needed to establish the identity of the redeemed. This is something that could be determined throughout human history as individuals die.
In addition, this explanation of the investigative judgment does not indicate just who needs this review. The picture of God having to pore over books of record in order to find out who really belongs to him is unacceptable. It contradicts the attribute of perfect knowledge, the idea that God knows all there is to know immediately and intuitively. God doesn’t need records to find out anything. And perhaps more important, it conflicts with the belief that God enjoys a deep personal relationship with his human children. He knows who belongs to him. So we cannot explain this review as something God needs to discover who his loyal followers are …
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Introduction
The question of origins is being debated right now like never before, and if we want to be able to understand the issues involved in this controversy, it is urgent that we become familiar with the question posed by the title of this posting: Who Wrote the Pentateuch? After all, the first five books of the Bible are the ones dealing with the question of origins, and the first one of them is the book of Genesis.
Tradition ascribes the authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses, but critics have raised serious questions that need to be analyzed if we want to have a correct understanding of this problem. I am currently reading the Bible one more time, and I have been highlighting certain passages that are pertinent to this question. I want to share with you my initial conclusions related to this hot topic.
Reasons Used to Support the Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch
I would like to start by citing a few reasons that are used to support the Mosaic authorship of the first five books of the Bible:
A. Evidence found in the Pentateuch itself.
B. Evidence from the Hebrew Scriptures.
B. Evidence from the Gospels.
C. Evidence from the Epistles.
D. Evidence from Jewish Tradition.
E. Evidence from the Church Fathers.
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Introduction
Did Darwin support the belief in the spontaneous generation of life? The correct answer is “Yes” and “No”.
I will try to explain. If you are thinking about Charles Darwin, then the answer is probably “No”. At least not in an explicit manner in the book that made him famous: Origin of Species, although it could be implied by his theory and the way his followers and defenders have developed his theory of evolution after his death. Nevertheless, if you mean Erasmus Darwin, or what Charles Darwin wrote in a letter to his friend Joseph Hooker, then the answer is “Yes.”
And you might wonder who this Erasmus Darwin was. The answer is rather simple: He was Charles Darwin’s grandfather. But this shouldn’t surprise anybody, since at that time everybody believed in the spontaneous generation of life. It was Luis Pasteur who laid the theory of the spontaneous generation of life to rest with his famous experiment.
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Introduction
It is almost universally accepted that scientific belief is solidly based on tangible evidence, while religious conviction rests on intangible blind religious faith. Most scientists argue that science is the result of investigation, testing, experimentation, replication, and verification; and that it is subject to falsification; while religion cannot make similar claims, and that the main foundation of religious faith rests on the mystical claims of prophets, visionaries, and seers.
Is Religious Belief Based on Blind Faith?
In order to elucidate the accuracy of our perception of religious belief, I would like to ask the following question: Is religious belief based on blind faith? How can we determine the nature of religious conviction? One way is to go to the classic biblical chapter on faith: Hebrews 11. You might be surprised that in the first verse of said chapter there is a clear reference to evidence:
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
This alleged connection between faith and evidence is rather intriguing. Let us explore what else this chapter of faith may reveal. We find in it allusions to a long list of men of great faith, men who, prompted by their faith
conquered kingdoms … closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword … turned back foreign invaders … endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point …
My question is: What prompted these men of old to risk everything and to endure such odds? Was blind faith the main motivation behind their actions? The author of this chapter enumerates a long list of brave men whose actions were a reflection of strong convictions. Was their valor and allegiance to God’s requirements bereft of evidence?
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Some years ago, the Associated Press informed the public that the renowned physicist Stephen Hawkin confessed that he had been wrong about Black Holes. If this is the case, then, could it be that he was also wrong about the Big Bang?
LONDON — After almost 30 years of arguing that a black hole swallows up everything that falls into it, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking backpedaled Thursday. In doing so, he lost one of the most famous bets in recent scientific history.
The world-famous author of a “Brief History of Time” said he and other scientists had gotten it wrong — the galactic traps may in fact allow information to escape …
As times goes on, and the theory about the big Bang is carefully scrutinized by many scientists, it appears that there might exists serious questions about the Big Bang theory, which a few years ago revolutionized the thinking of science experts around the world. Listen to what a serious scientist has recently stated:
A cyclic universe, which bounces through a series of big bangs and “big crunches”, could solve the puzzle of our cosmological constant, physicists suggest.
The cosmological constant represents the energy of empty space, and is thought to be the most likely explanation for the observed speeding up of the expansion of the universe. But its measured value is a googol (1 followed by 100 zeroes) times smaller than that predicted by particle physics theories. It is a discrepancy that gives cosmologists a real headache.
In the 1980s, physicists considered the possibility that an initially large cosmological constant could decay down to the value measured today. But this theory was abandoned when calculations showed that it would take far longer than 14 billion years – the time since the big bang – for the constant to reach the level seen today.
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Introduction
I want to share with you something I wrote back in 2005 and add to this what much later Gadhafi stated regarding the future of Islam. I saw it coming and my belief was confirmed by what this Moslem leader described later on. Islam is on major effort to slowly establish its control over the entire world. The first step is the conquest of Europe, and then the U.S. and the rest of planet earth. This sleeping giant has never stopped dreaming about world domination, and it is determined to accomplish this purpose either by peaceful means or else by jihad.
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Is Islam a Peaceful Religion?
Right from the beginning, George Bush made it clear that the war against Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the war against terrorism had nothing to do with religion; and he insisted on several occasions that bin Laden and Zarqawi had hijacked a great religion for their own political end.
Statements like these represent good public relations, but a recent comment by Zarqawi made me wonder whether we are trying to convince ourselves and the world that we are not fighting a cultural war, when the truth is we are. He stated that Moslems should reject democracy, because democracy grants citizens the right to choose the religion of their preference.
This is anathema for Moslems, since their religion demands the death of apostates, and not only society, but even close relatives are expected to kill even their own children in the event they attempt to convert to another religion; and we have had recent reports of this taking place. If you are born to Moslem parents, you are a Moslem whether you like it or not. This is a clever way of keeping the membership of their religion stable and growing.
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