Inside - Andrews University

FOUNDATION BOARD

Keith Colburn, Secretary/Treasurer

Raymond Cottrell

Donna Evans

Gary Fraser, Advisory Council

ChairJim Kaatz

Ervin Taylor, Board Chair

James Walters

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Jo & Ken Abbott

Gary & Jeanne Bogle

Antonius & Lilia Brandon

Todd Burley

Charlotte & John Cassell

Judy & Keith Colburn

James & Kathryn Dexter

Merlyn & Rosemary Duerksen

Donna Evans

Douglas Ewing

Beverly & Donald Farley

Gary & Sharon Fraser

Annette & Gary Frykman

Richard Green

Kathi & Richard Guth

Jackie & Jim Henneberg

Dennis & Jolene Hilliard

Susan & Wayne Jacobsen

John & Judy Jacobson

Elton & Marga Kerr

Janis and Richard Larsen

Florence & Ken Lorenz

Don & Penny Miller

Rick Murray

Thaine & Wanda Price

Gary & Ruthe-Marina Raines

Judith Rausch

Joyce & Phil Reisweig

Gordon & Judy Rick

Missy & Richard Rouhe

Cherie & Glenn Rouse

Doug & Sandy Schultz

Don & Ursula Shasky

James & Maryan Stirling

Ervin & Marilynn Taylor

Bob & Karen Torrey

John & Nancy Vogt

David Van Putten

James & Priscilla Walters

Betty & James Webster

Stephanie & Tim Welebir

2 March-April 1995 Adventist Today

Inside Adventist Today

W Adventists are goal-oriented. We're driven. We're aChievers..We rationally calculate ourends, and find means. But in our penchant for working toward a better future, we need notneglect the importance of Christian holy days that provide meaning for present life.

For many years we have expected the "imminent" coming of Christ, and our actions have followedsuit-we have worked hard to that end. We have calculated how best to "finish the work." We used sani-tariums to promote health as an entering wedge for gaining converts.

Eventually, rural sanitariums yielded to giant suburban medical centers. If Dorcas Societies in churchbasements were good, the worldwide help done through ADRA is better. Even if we are now not exactlysure when the Advent will occur, a diligent, rational work ethic has been established that pervades thecontemporary Adventist mindset.

Adventist Today is thoroughly Adventist, a goal-oriented, rationally-based publication that wants tomake things better by fostering thoughtful discussion of an increasingly complex church. Accordingly, forthis issue we invited members and former members to tell their stories about why they stay, leave or returnto the church. Also, here we remember Waco of two years ag(}--those former Adventists who were so trag-ically misled and ended in a fiery apocalypse.

By so doing, we give rational, truthful attention to important topics in our lives. But as a Christian pub-lication, AT also must take time apart from cool, dispassionate engagement with "the issues" to allow affec-tive, even passionate, reflection on our inner religious lives. So, even before reading the focus section onLeaving and Staying, why not tum to page 23 and spend 15 minutes--or a thoughtful hour-and allowEileen Greenwalt to lead you in contemplating the Passover. Consider its ancient past, its transformation2,000 years ago by the cross, a Sabbath rest and a glorious resurrection, and its meaning for 1995.

We Adventists are often so busy in pursuit of noble ends that we don't take time to remember-to saynothing of celebrate-the great Christian holy days. In Christendom Easter and the preceding LentenSeason have long been the most significant time in the Christian year. (Christmas is a distant second.)Yet, as much as I'd like to spend this Easter in worship (as I sometimes do when I am not too busy), I maybe preoccupied this year. My colleagues and I at Lorna Linda University have planned a business trip I amexpected to make. My daughters' Adventist academy has planned a school outing for the weekend. Mywife's academy has invited her class of 1965 to a 30th anniversary held on Easter weekend.

When I was a kid in the 50s, growing up in a sleepy little Adventist college town, I got the sense thatwe believers had it all together, and when a sufficient percentage of the world joined our near-petfect com-munity, the New Earth would appear. When I pastored in the early 70s, I prepared each sermon with asense of urgency that had little time for the cyclic holidays or the routine seasons of the Christian calendar.

But now we Adventists are coming to acknowledge our own humanness-for example, divorce near thenational average. Perhaps it is time we paused in our activity and reflected along with the Christian worldduring this present season of Lent-a time for collective penitence. And then on the climactic Passion ofour Lord on April 14-16, we can reflect on the meaning of Good Friday and the importance of Sabbathrest, and we can celebrate the joy of Easter Sunday.

Jim Walters

Jim Walters teaches andwrites on ethics at LamaLinda University. Healso helps teach aSabbath School class.

Cover photo: Richard Cross and Richard TInker

Rosalie Anderson Lynn 7

John Martin 14

John K. Testerman 12

Walter Fahlsing 6

Contents

REFLECTIONS -------------------------------------

LEITERS

20 Women in the Church21 Creation Articles

IN THE NEWS -------------------------------------18 Folkenberg Explains Remarks on Nurture the editors

18 Nielsen Rates Lifestyle Magazine Albert Dittes

18 Church Finds AIDS Challenge in Africa the editors

19 Truth and Financial Consequences the editors

19 NegativeMail on Women's Ordination the editors

24 Financial Irregularities and Sexual Misconduct Charges the editors

24 Creationism: A Hot Issue in Leadership Circles the editors

A CLOSERLOOK: MEMBERSSTAYINGAND LEAVING _4 Why I Left the Seventh~day Adventist Church Clela Fuller

6 A Letter to the Church Board Walter Fahlsing

7 Coming Back to Family Rosalie Anderson Lynn

8 Treasure (and a Few Other Things) Hid in a Field Maryan Stirling

9 I Am an Adventist DavidJ. Entz

10 Why I Am Still in Love Richard L. Bates

12 The Stages of Faith John K. Testennan

14 The Real Reason People Quit the Church John R. Martin

THE FIREAT WAco-A Two ..YEAR MEMORIAL _15 The Branch Davidians Today the editors

16 Understanding David Koresh Joseph Greig

17 Adventists and the Waco Syndrome Raymond Cottrell

23 Across a Century of Centuries Eileen Greenwalt

AQ\iENnsTToDAYVol. 3, No.2March-April 1995

EDITOR: Raymond CottrellExECUTIVE EDITOR:

James WaltersMANAGING EDITOR:

Cherie RouseAsSISTANT EDITORS:

Cheri Lynn GregoryJames H. Stirling

EDITORIAL ADVISOR:

Steve DailyDIREcroR OF DEVELOPMENT:

Dean KinseyOFFICE MANAGER:

Hanan SadekDESIGN AND PRODUCTION:

Richard TinkerColleen Moore TinkerEDITORIAL CONSULTANTS:

Antonius Brandon, Lorna Linda UniversityBarry Casey, Columbia Union CoUegeGlenn Cae, South Windsor, ConnecdcutDonna Evans, Cascade Christian Academy

Frank Knittel, La Sierra UniversityAndy Nash, Andrews UniversityBeatrice Neall, Union ColkgeJoel Sandefur, La Sierra UniversityLynn Sauls, Southern Colkg,Larry Downing, Anaheim Advendst Chllrch, CACaleb Rosado, Humloldt SWte University, CA

Adventist Today reports on contempo,rary issues of importance to Adventistchurch members. Following basicprinciples of ethics and canons ofjournalism, this publication strives forfairness, candor, and good taste.

Unsolicited submissionsare encouraged. Payment is com~petitive. Send a self-addressedstamped envelope for writers'guidelines.

Annual subscriptions:$18 for individuals$12 for students$29 for institutions(Payment by check or credit card. Add $10 foraddresses outside North America.)

Telephone (909) 884-1224Fax (909) 884-3391

Adventist Today (USPS Pending) is publishedbimonthly by Adventist Today Foundation,1845 S, Business Center Dr., Suite 140, SanBernardino, CA 92408. Application to mailat second-class postage rates is pending atSan Bernardino, CA. POSTMASTER:send address changes to Adtrntist Today, PO.Box 1220, Lorna Linda, CA 92354-1220.

Copyright@1995 by AdventistToday Foundation, a nonprofitorganization dedicated to fosteringopen dialogue in the Adventistcommunity. ~

Adventist Today March-April 1995 3

A Closer Look: Members Staying and Leaving

hy I Le

of State for two years. Later I worked for ParadiseValley Hospital in nursing administration for about20 years and retired in 1990.

My four children received all their education inAdventist schools. Two are still in the Adventistchurch. I move comfortably among all my children

Church

Seventft,day

by Clela Fuller

Adventist

Mother took me to Sabbath Schooland church at North Park church inSan Diego. I was baptized and mar-

ried in that same church. My mother followed EllenWhite's recommendation and taught me at homeuntil I was eight, and then I attended San DiegoAcademy and went on to take pre-nursing at LaSierra College and nursing at Loma Linda Universityand the White Memorial Hospital.

I married a medical student who felt called to be amissionary. So, after graduation we went to Africaand the Caribbean for the General Conference foreight years. Later we lived in Mogadiscio, Somalia,where my husband worked for the U. S. Department

Clela Fuller, a medical/legalconsultant in SouthernCalifornia, alsoputsues interests in history,geology,archeology,and poetrywriting.

and we freely discuss our religious beliefs. I wasalways content with the Adventist way of life andthe schools and the happy, positive people. It was agood life, and I don't live much differently now.

The transition from Sabbath School teacher tononmember took 12 years. About 1979 I becameacquainted with someone who had no religious back-ground and did not believe in the Bible. Yet this per-son believed in God and was a good individual. Heenjoyed attending church with me and listened care-fully through Sabbath School and church, and wassoon asking questions: "Why do you take one part ofthe Bible literally, but not another part? Why do youkeep this Old Testament law and not that one? Whydo you do this on Sabbath, but not that?" He neverargued with me, but I had the feeling that myanswers did not make sense to him. Worse yet, manyof the answers didn't make sense to me.

As if that was not problem enough in my religiouslife, there were some developments within thechurch which caused me great distress. The first wasthe Davenport situation. I studied everything in theBible related to tithe and church finances. I stoppedpaying tithe through the regular channels, but gaveto the local church budget and to special projectsthat appealed to me.

Next came Glacier View and I studied everythingthe Bible says about the Investigative Judgment,which didn't take long, and then I abandoned thattraditional Adventist doctrine. As new informationconcerning Ellen White and her writings came tomy attention, my concept of her as a prophet andher position in the church had to be greatly altered.

Now this was getting serious. I felt I was beingshaken off my foundation and decided I needed tolook closely at all my beliefs. I allowed some ques-tions concerning the Bible to enter my consciousnessthat I had previously put aside. Why are there hun-dreds of Christian churches and sects all based onthe Bible, but who cannot worship together, for eachone considers itself to be the one and only truechurch? If God is a gracious God who wants every-one to be saved, why is the Bible, the basis for salva-


tion, so difficult to understand? Why do Christians ofall faiths believe the portions of the Bible that theyjudge to make sense or fit in with their understand-ing of God and ignore or explain away the rest? Ifthe Biblical Christ is the only source of salvation,why has the Bible never been available to more thana small portion of the world's population?

I also had a problem with prayer. I believe thatwhenever and by whatever means the human racecame to be, the creator made us very special and dif-ferent from all other creatures by giving us the free-dom of choice. If God manipulates us as individualsor nations, or would interfere in anyone else's lifebecause of our prayers, that would violate our pre-cious freedom of choice.

At the beginning of 1988, instead of making myusual resolution to study the Bible and pray moreduring the coming year, I made a written declarationthat I would look for truth elsewhere. I read exten-sively, but most importantly, I examined all mybeliefs to see if they made sense to me. Here's anexample: Christianity characterizes all of us as sin-ners, our righteousness as filthy rags. I am nothing.Apparently a feeling of worthlessness is necessary soas to recognize the need for a Savior. Yet it is evidentthat in all other successful pursuits, self-esteem isnecessary to function successfully. We wouldn't thinkmuch of an earthly parent who enjoyed belittling hischildren, or made them feel worthless; so why wouldthe heavenly Father use such tactics?

During those unsettling years of trying to find away that was right for me, I read the Review,Spectrum, Ministry and other church publications,watching closely what was going on in the Adventistchurch. I became more and more disillusioned withthe Adventist religion specifically and with all orga-nized religions in general.

I suffered severely from "anti-institutionalism."Institutionalism, the established, unnecessary hierar-chy and bureaucracy, is the reason many are leavingthe Adventist church. Finally I had to face the factthat I was no longer an Adventist, and I doubtedthat I was a Christian, yet I loved my local churchand the people and didn't know how to be anythingbut an Adventist. But I could not pretend to besomething that I was not; and with that decisionmade, I suddenly stopped going to church.

My absence was noticed and several church mem-bers called to say they missed me and hoped I wouldreturn soon, and I knew they were sincere. But noone ever asked why I was no longer attending. Italked with my former Sabbath School teacher, butno one else asked or knew the reason. It was stillmore than a year before I could bring myself to askthat my name be dropped from membership, for itwas so painful. After such a momentous decision I

could not just fade away into the sunset. I asked thepastor for an appointment, and he and the headelder did come visit me. I appreciated their kindnessand understanding. The way they handled the situa-tion produced as little trauma as possible to me andthe church.

The fact that I question much about the Bibleand prayer doesn't mean that I don't know rightfrom wrong. Here are a few of the concepts thatmake sense to me, not because they are original, butbecause they meet my needs where I live every day.

1. I have come to rely more on my inner guidancesystem-the conscience, the Holy Spirit, the InnerSelf, whatever you choose to call it-to guide me inright decisions and in moral behavior. I am becom-ing more aware of the way the Spirit works in me,promoting peace and harmony when all is well andcausing discomfort when I violate my value system.

2. There are resources available to us humans, tocontribute to our happiness and health beyond any-thing that we could imagine to ask for, if we endeav-or to live within the harmony intended for thisworld.

3. Love your neighbor and "do unto others" arebasic to most of the great religions of the world. Iknow that is the way of life that gives me and othersthe greatest peace and happiness. Incidentally, sinceleaving the church I recognize my neighborhood asencompassing a larger scope than ever before.

But I could not pretend to be somethingthat Iwas not; and with that decisionmade, I suddenly stopped going to church.

4. There is such diversity in the human race, sucha wide range of culture, values, ways of eating andliving, that I doubt that one beli~f system could fitall. I relish my uniqueness and have become muchmore tolerant of people who think differently than1- much more tolerant than when I was part of"The Remnant" and had "The Truth."

Yes, I have a definition of sin or moral wrong:Anything that prevents me from reaching my high-est potential, or prevents someone else from reachingtheirs. That is a high standard, but not difficult toapply in most situations.

Please accept these as some truths for me, for now.I expect I will adjust them as I further endeavor tointegrate my spiritual self with the reality of everydayliving. I will not attempt to convert others to my wayof thinking, for I believe that our valued beliefs mustbe very personal and individually customized. ~


A Letter to the Board

June 27, 1983

Dear Church Baard:The purpase af this "epistle" is to. resign from the membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This resignatian is effective taday and is nat

negatiable.I will attempt to. be mercifully brief with my reasans, at the risk af being misunderstaad. Far tao. any years, I "went alang to. get alang." But withthe present furor within the Church I am abligated by canscience to. take a stand. I have reviewed with great persanal agany my r~hglOusbehefsand philasaphy. To. my great dismay, I find significant, glaring errars, misinterpretatians ("unique" Adventist e~egesls), an~ absesslOns. Further,there are distartians af Bible metaphars, prophecies, dactrines and teachings. I realize that I have made sweepmg generahzatlOns, but I am alwayswilling to. discuss these with anyane interested in details.To. be intellectually hanest with myself and to. be fair to. my brethren, I am campelled to. leave "this" fald. The i~stituti?nal Seventh-day. ~dventistChurch daes nat have raam far a dubiaus believer such as myself. Kenneth Waad, farmer editar af the A~ven~1St R~vlew, dearly stated. An~?,newho.professes to. be a Seventh-day Adventist shauld be able to. affirm, withaut mental reservatian ar quahflcatJons, I beheve these dactnnes

Adventist Review, July 1, 1982 (italics supplied).

Please allaw me to. give twa incamplete lists af beliefs ar dactrines.

I do.nat believe: . h 'f f h . th .dthe Adventist Church is the final autharity af what is "Truth", the Adventist Church is the remnant church, t. e gl t a prop ecy I~ e 1 en-tifying mark af the "remnant" church, that Ellen G. White is the Spirit af Prophecy, given her dacumented dlshanesty m producuan af herwarks, the sanctuary dactrine, the investigative judgment dactrine, the Adventist "signs" af ~he end af theea~h (e.g., the 19th centu.ryfalling af the stars, the maan turning to. blaad, the dark day, etc.), the Adventist absessian wIth ntual ~rohlbltl~,ns regardmg d~ess, d~;: anddiversians the idea that a manastic lifestyle makes ane "mare" Christian than ather behevers, the natlOn that colorless and simple .IS eVI-dence af ~reater maral excellence than being "calarful and camplex," the dactrine that the "shaking time" af the BIble refers to. leavmg

the Adventist Church.

I do.certainly believe: . . h HIS .. t' ththat we are saved by Jesus Christ and by His grace alane, that the Bible, when read by a behever who. IS led by tea y pmt, can ams ~truth abaut salvatian, that my pasitian is not set in "cancrete" (except far the twa ~reviaus statements, all ather conduslOns must be tentat~ve),that the understanding and interpretatians af Truth is progressive, that the Adventist Church cantams same af the mast beauuful bam agam

Christians in the warld.Please do.nat label me with the familiar Adventist cliche, a "backslidden" Adventist. This label is repugnant, and mare impartantly, inaccurate.

Taday, I am an unchurched Christian.I pray far yau, and I ask that yau do. the same far me. Thus we might have "eye salve," and "white raiment." I trust that aur witness to. the Gaspel

af Jesus Christ is to. expase truth, nat to. impase it.

Sincerely, Walt Fahlsing

=------

ReflectionsTen Years Later

Today would not substantively changewhat I said ten years ago. I have evenstronger convictions naw as to the insid-

ious damage caused by some traditional Adventistbeliefs. I will elaborate on three af them.

First, the only unique doctrine contributed byAdventists to Christendom is the seriously flawedSanctuary doctrine. This is a glaring example oftext selection/rejection and text manipulation. Isit not strange that a date such as 1517, whenMartin Luther first reemphasized th~ Gospel, wasnot foretold in Scripture? The fact of the matter isthat Scripture fails to foretell any date after AD70. John the Revelator, writing to seven churchesin Asia Minor, clearly believed, and stated so inseven places, that he was living in the "end time."

Second, there is no scriptural identification ofthe Seventh.day Adventist Church as to time,place or message. Two passages,Revelation 12:17


and 19:10, have been egregiausly warped to vali.date the existence of the Adventist denominatian.

Third, I wish to address Ellen White as a spe.cial prophetess. I realize that these words willsound harsh, but in order to get believers' atten.tion and awaken them from the sedation of "wehave the Truth," I will risk being misunderstood.

Ellen White was a piaus fraud and a,liar.Her frequent insistence that her messages werefree af can temporary influences and uniqueand direct from Gad ("the Lard shawed me"),and is to. place the reader in the camp af thegullible. Her plagiarism is well dacumented.

Ellen White was a false prophetess. Faraver seven years she defended (later "reinter.preted") her "shut daor" dactrine. Imagine theagany and sarraw she inflicted an her believ.ers during thase seven years.

The "Health Message" that she claimedwas unique, is permeated with the cantempa.rary health beliefs and facts af the 1800's (veg.etarianism, hydrotherapy, "secret sins",phrenalagy, drugless therapeutics, etc.).

She exhibited strange neuro.psychiatric

behavior cansistent with medically establisheddiagnasis af temparal epilepsy and camplexpartial seizures. Finally, it is pathetic that the"gaad" in her writings was nat original andthe "original" was nat gaad.

These three areas that I have defined, but havenot elaborated, are enough to question theAdventist denominatian's reason for existence.The foregoing has accented the negative (false reli.gian expased) and no one is saved by this process.

One is saved by accepting Gad's graciaus giftembadied alane in the Gospel. Apastasy is therenunciatian af Jesus Christ-nat leaving a par.ticular denominatianal church. A specific labelis not required af Christians. The new light isthe same as the aId light-the Gaspel. TheGospel anly is unique far salvation.

The Gaspel: Nathing more, nothing less, nath.ing else. The Gospel: Believe it, live it, share it.

Walter Fah1sing, MD, raised and educated anAdventist, was an active member until 1983. Naw aconfident "generic Christian," he advises Adventists natto. smather the gospel, but to realize Daniel 8:14 (1844doctrine) is no match far John 3:16 (the gospel). ~


ONE WOMAN'S STORY OF THE JOURNEY BACK TO HER CHURCH FAMILY

Coming Back to Familyby Rosalie Anderson Lynn"5 h' J ')"a w en [s esus commg.

The words drifted threat-eningly. My eight-year-

old mind searched for the right answer.I didn't know, and I didn't think thequestioner knew.

"Within 10 years," I replied, thinkingthat the answer was safe.

"How can you say that? Jesus is goingto be here soon,S years at the most!"The words no longer drifted, theyaccused and humiliated me.

"Guilty as charged. Your sentence,Miss Anderson, is prison and death." Iknew from the beginning that would bethe verdict and sentence, but the wordsstill shocked and shamed me. Thejunior Sabbath school room had beenturned into a mock courtroom, presum-ably to motivate us into learning ourBible so that when we'd stand trial forour faith we'd give all the right answers.I should not have been surprised that Iwas the one chosen to be tried. I was theone usually asking the questions.

Replaying the event in my mind, Ican still see delight in the eyes of thejunior room leader and can still feel thehot blush of my face and the tremblingof my hands.

Over the years I learned to fear humil-iation from church people. I also learnedthat to belong to the Seventh-dayAdventist denomination, I had to believea particular set of doctrines and behave incertain ways. By the time I enteredWalla Walla College I knew that I didn'tbelong to the Adventist "in crowd."

More troubling than not belongingwere the questions that I had about life.Weren't the Bible, church, and religionintended to help with living? But mystruggles seemed to be outside theirpurview. Instead I found an echo to my

questions in Dostoevsky, "How can aloving God allow innocent children tosuffer?" and in Sartre and Nietzsche,"What can be more courageous than tocome face to face with nothingness?" Ikept asking, "If religion isn't working forme, of what value is it? Why keep doingit? If love is the essence of God, and thechurch is a loveless wasteland, whybother to look for God in the church?"

The day I requested that my name beremoved from church membership, Iacted with integrity. I didn't believe as Ihad been instructed to believe and I did-n't behave as I had been instructed tobehave. I did not belong. I have neverregretted that request. It was confirmingexternally what was already happeningin my mind. I was throwing out brokenmodels of God and the church.

In the next few years my marriagewould fail, my business would fail, andthoughts of suicide would become myconstant companion. Jestingly I wouldsay, "If there is a God, you can't prove itby me." The heroic stance of coura-geously facing meaninglessness felt hol-low, devoid of anything heroic.Furthermore, the magic potions that Iwas buying in the bazaar of our contem-porary culture had short shelf lives.

Insteadof the healing that I washoping to find in some of theAmericanized eastern religions and

in psychology as religious substitute, Iwas finding only deeper spiritual dissatis-faction. Time passed.

One day a thought broke into myconsciousness, "I never knew the God ofthe Bible, personally. I knew only theimages of God fashioned by others andgiven to me." Immediately I bought aNIV Bible translation. I read it not tofigure out doctrine, but to discover theGod behind the Bible.

I came to realize that while God,through Christ, had already forgiven myresentment of others and my outragetoward God for not fixing the world, thisforgiveness was merely the vehicle forsomething greater, a space of loving. YetI could not enter this space of lovingwithout consciously and deliberatelyaccepting God's forgiveness. At thesame time I was aware that loving Godwould be taking the greatest risk of mylife. It would be the most demandingendeavor I could ever undertake. Itwould mean being in fellowship withChristians who seemed to have morehang-ups than people of the world. Itmight even mean being affiliated with adysfunctional denomination. Perish thethought!

A friend invited me to sing inthe choir of a local evangel-ical church. During the two

years that I was involved in their Biblestudy groups and worship services, Ilearned that other denominations arealso dysfunctional. I learned that mostChristians struggle with intellectual dis-sonance. I learned, however, thatbelonging to the family of God-thebody of Christians-is foundational andthat out of this belonging grows beliefand behavior. In the same way that Ibelong to my family of origin without

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Rosalie Anderson Lynn,born in Ethiopia to mission-ary parents, has an M.A. ineducation from ClaremontGraduate School and ownsa real estate company inSouthern California. Sheteaches a Sabbath Schoolclass at her local Adventistchurch.



TREASURE(and a few other things)

HID IN A FIELD

My second metaphor appears as a symbol in thebook of Revelation. All of the seven churches(Chapter 1) are represented as candlesticks. Now, acandlestick is a very good thing to have, especiallyback there when they didn't have halogen lightsand car lights and all the rest. The only way to illu-minate any place was to light a candle.

So the church is a light, and if it's burning, it'sdoing a wonderful thing for the world. But some-times the lamp is "burning dim before the sacredark," as you know. And sometimes the light seems

CANDLESTICKS

Now, when you buy a field, the deal is that youdon't just get the treasure-you get the field. AndI've learned that when you get a field you get anenormous amount of dirt! And you get a pretty lit-tle creek that's flowing through the field, and youget wildflowers and ferns in shady places. You getlovely things. Vesper bells, magic moments aroundthe log fire, choirs and camp meeting.

Along with all that, you get stickers and poisonoak, and I might as well admit-not to name anynames-but my field has some snakes in it. I'vebeen cheated and I've been lied to. I've beenmanipulated and exploited and used. But in thatsame field I've been dealt with honestly and gra-ciously, and my love of truth has been nurtured.I've been affirmed and appreciated.

A field is a place to grow things. Well, I've beenplanted in that field for 52 years, and I'm growing.And to tell you the truth, my roots have gone sodeeply into that field that most of what's standinghere today is from that field. I've learned my waysof thinking and speaking from the minds that I'veinteracted with in this church. I doubt that trans-planting me to any other field would be successful.Staying in the church may be, for me, a reasonableresponse.

Maryan Stirling is ajournalist in SouthernCalifornia and long-timeactive member of theAdventist church. Besideswriting, she is turned on bysymbolismin theology.

I found a treasure hidden in a field a long, longtime ago. I was a high school kid, and when I got aglimpse of that treasure, I wanted it. I needed thattreasure, the kingdom of heaven. I needed thegospel and I needed Jesus. And to get the treasure, Ibought the field-oh, did I buy that field! I didone double flip from being a high school kid tobeing a Pacific Union College student-in a matterof months! And then I married a fourth-generationAdventist and produced fifth-generationAdventists. I sold all I had and bought that field.

THE FIELD

Te San Diego chapter of Adventist Forumshad two meetings about the reasons why Maryan Stirlingmany people leave the church. They have

some pretty good reasons, there's no doubt aboutthat. And those reasons involve aberrations that weall are aware of. But we don't all walk away. Quite alot of us remain committed Seventh-dayAdventists, and it seems useful to talk about why.

In the year since those meetings I've been a lit-tle bit like a brown bear, stumbling through thewoods, turning over rocks and looking under them.It's called "soul searching." You wander around inyour mind, turning over your presuppositions to seeif there's anything reasonable under there.

One of the biggest rocks I've had to roll over ismy "list." I have this unwritten list of wise and gen-tle people, people I trust. As long as they remain,they are my church. They define it for me, and I'mcomfortable. Tum that rock over, and there's anawful question under it: "Suppose they left? What ifthey all gave up on the church and left? Thenwhat would hold me?"

I think something would.In a year's pondering, I've found four metaphors

that help me to make sense of my continuing iden-tification with the church.


to go out completely. What I want to say is thateven if the flame flickers and falters, everyone ofthose seven churches is a candlestick of gold. Notgold-plated, but gold all the way through.

It's not just the illumination that the church cangive to the world. In itself, a church is a very valu-able thing. Nearly any kind of a church does won-derful things for families that worship in it. It's asocial system that stabilizes homes. It's a culturalstronghold, an educational institution. It's the saltand the yeast and the warm hand reaching out.The earth would be worse off without all thechurches, however weird their teachings may seemto us. Exclude, maybe, a few that stockpile assaultweapons.

The seven churches don't have perfect theology.It's not required. Whether ultimately all our 27doctrines wash or not, I think I'll stay.

COCOON

We got a catalog of Native American art, andthe page that caught my interest was a picture of aliving thing. You can't see the living thing. It's allwound around with something that hides it. Butyou can see that something inside is straining, puls-ing, living. It's immobilized. Whatever's happeningis not being done by the thing. Something is actingon it. There's biology going on. There's biochem-istry turning a worm into a butterfly. What crawledin will fly out. It has happened to every butterflyyou've ever seen. Metamorphosis. Transformation.

Now, when you

buy a field, the

deal is that you

don't just get the

treasure---you get

the field. And I've

learned that when

you get a field you

get an enornwus

amount of dirt!

Radical, fundamental change is a standard part ofits life cycle. Can it be a part of our church's naturalhistory? Why not? I think I'll stick around and see.

DRY BONES

In my fourth metaphor, Ezekiel (Chapter 37) hasa vision about a valley piled high with humanbones. Very many; very dry.

God asks him if these bones can live. Ezekieldoesn't know. God tells him to make them live byhearing the word of the Lord. So Ezekiel speaks theliving word of God to the bones, and there's a greatrattling all around the prophet. Those bones sortthemselves into skeletons. The whole process ofdeath reverses itself. Muscles and skin, hearts, lungsall come into place. They're ready to live, but theyaren't breathing yet.

Ezekiel calls the breath of life from the fourwinds, and all the vital signs surge into action.They're alive! They spring to their feet-anexceeding great army! And they're us! Well,they're God's people at some time when there's adaunting job to be done. They're God's people whohave lain down and died. Lost their vision. (Theyget it back.) Lost their energy. (They get it back.)Lost their spiritual life. (They get it back.) They getit all back and strike up the band. They unroll theflags. They remember who the enemy is and whatthe fight's about. The exceeding great army takesthe field.

I don't want to miss that. I'm staying. ~

What IMean Stating:

I Am an Adventistby David]. Entz

W>,hile I am working wholeheart-edly to make a better world

here and now, my hope is not in humanprogress but rather in divine interven-tion-the second coming of Jesus. Iidentify and work with all who, likeAbraham, seek a better country, even aheavenly, but also seek justice andpeace on earth as it is heaven.

I do not identify with those whospeculate as to the time of Jesus' return,either now or in the past. Had I lived

in the days of William Miller, I wouldnot have been a Millerite, distractedfrom the work of reform.

I cannot identify with any whoinvent a complicated scenario of finalevents that supposedly must ensue beforeJesus can come. Groups which arose outof the Millerite excitement do so, but Ido not find such a scenario in my Bible.What I do find there is that Jesus maycome unexpectedly at any moment; Imust look for him momentarily.

Finally, as an Adventist, I must keepconstantly in view the judgment scenedescribed by Jesus (Matt 25) to takeplace at his coming. This defines notonly the issues of eternal destiny butalso of present duty and final crisis. Ido not know of any crisis which has notrevolved about the issue of how wetreat one another, especially the weak-est and most vulnerable among us. Asan Adventist trying to emulate theapostles James,'John and Peter, I cannotidentify with any who shift the focus tosectarian distinctives.

David J. Entz is an attorney practicinglaw in Madison, Tennessee. He has beenactiye in various ministries independentof the Adventist denomination.

Adventist Today March.April1995 9

A Closer LJok: Members Staying and Leaving

WhyIAmStill in ove

by Richard L. Bates

Richard L. Bates has beenactive in the Adventistchurch since his baptism49 years ago, serving onnumerous school, churchand conference commit-tees and boards. He worksas a physicist for the Navy,specializingin infrareddetectors.

ome of my Adventist brothers and sisters know thatI don't subscribe to all the traditional doctrines, butI have energetically and enthusiastically participatedin church life and have worked to support thechurch. Therefore, on several occasions, they haveasked me to explain this-why I believe differentlybut remain an involved member.

As I explain my experience, I find two themes.One thread is the development of my love of knowl-edge and my enlarging understanding of the natureof knowledge. The other strand is my growingappreciation that diversity is a blessing forhumankind and for the church.

LOVE AFFAIR WITH KNOWLEDGE

When I was 12, with no family religious back-ground at all, my parents enrolled me in a nearbySeventh-day Adventist church school. I was an avidreader, so very soon I was reading Messages to YoungPeople and other church books. The InvestigativeJudgment and standing before Jesus at his secondcoming was impressed on my mind. I had visions ofstanding before the judgment bar with all my familyand friends gathered around while God ran a movieprojector (the latest technology) which showed all ofmy secret sins. It was a sobering experience, but Isoon adapted. Youth is so rich that it can endure anincredible amount of guilt. I enjoyed the church,especially Sabbath School, and learning. I volun-teered to help teach a class in the primary division,and had such a good experience that eventually Ihave been involved in every Sabbath school depart-ment from cradle roll to the senior division. I fin-ished church school, academy, and La Sierra Collegewhere I received a degree in physics.

1962 was the start of a renewal of theologicalemphasis in my life. I was a teacher in thelLa Sierra

Church Sabbath school and also the coordinator forthe 13 class instructors, many of them faculty mem-bers of the college. Early Sabbath morning eachweek the teachers met for a pre-class session. It wasa good experience, and all the teachers attended.One can only imagine how exciting it was withmost college departments represented for an in-depth look at God.

I was disappointed when I realized that not allchurch members were as supportive of the writingsof the church prophet, Ellen White, as I was.About 15 years ago a good friend of mine, an SDApsychiatrist, came up to me after class and told mehow impressed he was with my imitation of her styleand thinking.

This revelation caused me to reassess myself, andI decided that I would bring more balance into mystudy of God and his creation. I began by readinghistory by non-church authors and historians. I wasintroduced to William Durant's The Story ofCivilization and numerous other works. An under-standing of "infidel writers" developed, and I beganto read a cross section of their works. It is interestingwhat a close and passionate experience these peoplehad with God. In spite of the powerful religioussuppression of their thinking, they still had theenergy and courage to share their feelings with theworld.

I was delighted to refine my understanding ofknowledge. As I read, I noted that a look at churchhistory shows that the scientist, along with the his-torian, is guilty of heresy. Neither allows fornon-sensory evidence when examining nature andthe past.

My experience illustrates an irony in the empha-sis on the Adventist church being especially chosenby God, and our emphasis on education. We takethe mind and the simple faith of a child and educate


it upwardly in this world to heresy, and then arebewildered by the number of our children who donot continue in the church. It is at this point that Iam tempted to ask: What should we expect to hap-pen when we partake of the fruit of the tree ofknowledge?

LOVE AFFAIR WITH DIVERSITY

Those who feel they have been guided by Godhave naturally desired to control and guide theworld to an ideal destiny. And of course, there havealways been persons who see God differently. Thishas been true in Christianity and certainly is thehistory of Seventh-day Adventism. Paul pled withthe early church to stop stabbing each other in theback over the nature of meat and the nature of veg-etables. About 400 years later, Constantine, whointegrated Christianity into the Roman Empire tohelp promote unity, had this to say about thechurches' constant warring over the nature of theTrinity:

"Let the divine providence dissipate the horriddeeds of your quarrelsomeness, we [Christians] donothing but what tends to strife and hatred, and, tospeak plainly, the destruction of the human race."

Issues such as the nature of Christ and the natureof man were contested within Adventism from ourbeginning. The Adventist writers of the 19th cen-tury church reveal a plurality of viewpoints. Todaythe nature of woman is fiercely debated in ourchurch. This is emblematic of our continuing theenduring Christian conflict.

The church has always felt the controversybetween members with tender scruples and thosewith robust consciences, between members whoexcel in faith and those who insist on reason,between those who eschew the senses and thosewho can only be sensible. I'm not convinced thedifferences will ever be resolved unless God repentsof the way he designed us. Until then we should bevery careful! One must be wise when relating tosuch diversity.

I have never been quite sure which it is, the ten-der or the robust, who with God in perfect focus, areable to bring about "spiritual," faculty "cleansings"in such institutions as Andrews University,Southern College, or Pacific Union College.

A popular hope within Christianity is that Godwill recall our brains at the second coming, and thatthe chip responsible for differences of opinion willbe neutralized.

I personally suspect "the kingdom of heaven"might imply that those with tender scruples willappreciate that God also created the robust con-science, and that the Creator enjoys and loves us

both because he loves creaturely freedom and plural-ity. Meanwhile, here in the church, hell is periodi-cally meted out because we can't tolerate these dif-ferences of opinion about God. It is a remarkablecommentary on the human spirit that in the midstof this tension anyone can stay within the fold.

Historically the 150 years of Adventism is amicrocosm of the Christian world. We are notunique. Why should we be? God doesn't choose aspecial people in the world. A look at the Gospelsshows God choosing the whole world.

WVE AFFAIR WITH ALL OF GOD'S CHILDREN

I now see clearly that we are in this world and ofthis world. We may even be as "catholic" as ourdreaded apostate brothers and sisters, or as supersti-tious as our pagan, pumpkin-, pine tree-, bunny-wor-shipping neighbors. 1 am more excited about thisthan the mystical ideal of being the special chosenpeople.

The reason is that I have fallen in love with thepeople of this world. They are real, warm, and fel-low creatures of God. If this is what Jesus meantwhen he ate with publicans and sinners, then Iknow what he meant when he kept repeating, "Thekingdom of heaven is at hand." I am more interest-ed in the next pagan I will meet than in seeing thecloud the size of a man's hand in the sky. I even goso far as to think that the experience I have withthis pagan is the same as inviting God in to dinewith me.

I am still a member because there are peoplewithin the church who are filled with the Spirit ofGod. They are friends. I can share the thoughtsand feelings of my soul with them. When we com-pare our different understandings of God and theworld, it is a heavenly experience.

It has been 49 years since I joined the church.There is no doctrine, no Bible verse, no Spirit ofProphecy quote, no tradition that is more importantto me than the social community God gave us. Thekingdom of heaven is among us.

There are angels in this community. They helpprotect me from a tyranny of others' ideals. Theyare not judgmental. They hold creaturely freedomsacred. They recognize.thar-.people are the appleof God's eye, and that God took a big bite fromthat enlightening fruit right along with Eve andme on that momentous day, long ago, at thedawning of Bible times. They understand thatknowledge is a shared attribute that makes thecreator and his creature complete, and allows forcommunion together in heaven. They are thereason I am still a member of the Seventh-dayAdventist church. ~

Iam still a

member because

there are people

within the church

who are filled

with the Spirit ofGod. They are

friends.


III. Faith CommunityThe teenager in Stage 3 sees the world through the lens of the

peer community. We are socialized into our faith community,"catching" our values and ways of thinking unconsciously fromour peer group and subculture. Weare immersed in the thoughtsystem of our faith community like a fish that does not perceivethe water in which it swims.

II. Concrete FamilyStage 2 children of ages 6-12 see the world through the lens of

story-a concrete, literal, narrative world of family and tribe, ritu-al and myth. They begin to identify with a faith community,which may be religiously, politically or culturally defined, and tolocate themselves within its "Master Story"-the story that tellsyou who you are. The Adventist "Master Story" not only includesthe Christian story of creation, fall and redemption, but continueswith the story of the Millerite movement, the great disappoint-ment of 1844, the heavenly sanctuary, Ellen White, and so on.

Stage 2 collapses when teenagers use their newfound power ofabstract thought to deconstruct their previous concrete under-standing of the world. If they are not provided with a Christianpeer group and adult level religious teaching, they will now be athigh risk for rejecting their religion as childish, and identifyinginstead with the surrounding secular culture.

I. Magical WorldThe Stage 1 child of ages 2-6 perceives the world through the

lens of imagination and intuition unrestrained by logic. Thepreschooler thus lives in a numinous, magical world in whichanything is possible.

matic, accompanied by much painful soul-searching, and theycan bring people into conflict with their faith communities.

John Testerman, M.D., directs a familypractice residency program. He has foundJames Fowler's work on faith stages usefulfor understanding his own faith journeyand for increasing understanding andbuilding tolerance among members inthe church.


ife can be viewed as a quest in which we seek tounderstand the world we find ourselves in, discoverits meaning, and locate ourselves within the grand

scheme of things. As we go about the lifelong business of con-'structing our intelligible worlds, we pass through different eras orstages in our life, in each of which we approach our meaning-making task quite differently. James Fowler called these life stagesthe "stages of faith"-your faith being the way you make sense ofthe world. After listening to the life stories of hundreds of people,Fowler believed he had found a consistent pattern of six majorfaith stages which occur in aninvariantorder ..Howev~r, mostpeople complete only three or four during their lifetime.

These stages have to do with the type of faith but not with theamount of faith. Profound faith in God or unbelief may occur atany stage. Faith stage determines what one considers to be theimportant questions, what counts as evidence, and how and withwhat cognitive tools one looks for answers. The stages can bethought of as the different lenses through which we view theworld as we journey through life.

Faith stage transitions occur when, in response to new experi-ences or life crises, our old way of seeing the world collapses and anew faith structure is built. As seen in the stories in this issue ofAdventist Today, these faith stage transitions are sometimes trau-


and find a supportive local church community with Stage 4Adventist role models and tolerance of diversity. Leaders whoinsist on having 100 percent of the church agreeing with all 27 ofthe Adventist "fundamental beliefs" as a condition of retainingmembership are essentially demanding that all Stage 4 Adventistsleave the church. Members who happen to be passing throughthe Stage 4 transition but who hold highly visible positions in thedenominatio~ often become casualties, whereas less vulnerableindividuals who are members of supportive local church commu-nities may remain and thrive.

Stage 4 collapses when we run up against the limits of rationalthought and the search for certainty ends in failure and evendespair. Stage 5, which may begin at mid-life or later, in some

_respects is similar to Stage 1. Seeing once more through the lens ofthe imagination and intuition, we again come to live in a numi-nous universe of mystery, wonder and paradox. The answer is notan explanation, so reason is no longer the primary tool with whichwe attempt to apprehend ultimate reality. Having taken authorityinto ourselves at Stage 4, we now give back to sacred symbol,story, tradition, liturgy and faith community the numinous powerthey enjoyed in our consciousness decades earlier. God, previouslythe target of much theological discussion, is experienced in a waythat is not so neatly captured in a theological box. Without giv-ing up or devaluing one's own religious heritage, there may be anew openness to learn from other faith traditions.

Stage 3 usually continues as the adult faith stage of most peo-ple in our church and society. Once the culturally accepted waysof thinking become part of us, we tend not to question them, northe authoritative sources from which they derive. At Stage 3 myidentity is based on being part of a group with shared history, tra-ditions and values. Without Stage 3 persons, denominations orcultures would have little cohesiveness or continuity. People maychange denominations, however, if they can be convinced thatthe new group is more faithful to accepted authoritative sources,such as the Bible.

Group-based identity is also a cause of conflict. It is hard todeal calmly and rationally with issues which touch on one's iden-tity. In the early 1980s, Desmond Ford, a prominent Adventisttheologian, publicly questioned features of the Sanctuary doc-trine. Although to many it was an obscure doctrine, it was anidentity issue, part of our Master Story. The ensuing intense reac-tion, which nearly split the denomination, was a predictableresponse to a perceived attack on the Master Story. You can rein-terpret the Master Story, even radically, but directly attacking itwill provoke outrage. This is a homeostatic mechanism that pro-tects the continuity of faith communities. Unfortunately, a lot ofinnocent people get hurt in the process of trying to maintain thecontinuity.

Adult Stage 3 Adventists, then, tend to be loyal and supportthe church and its beliefs and subcultural lifestyle practices. Theymay react strongly if they perceive any of these things as underattack, since their identity is tied to them. They form the majori-ty and financially supportive backbone of our denomination, andwithout them it is doubtful that we could maintain such institu-tions as Andrews University.

V. Numinous Universe

VI. Selfless Service

IV. Rational ConstructsIf the traditional answers stop making sense, Stage 3 collapses.

In some respects Stage 4 is a continuation of the rational exami-nation of belief that begins during Stage 3. Now, however, notonly individual beliefs, but the whole previously unquestionedtraditional and authoritative bases of belief are called into radicalaccount. One develops the capacity to step back from one's ownfaith heritage and examine it through the lens of reason, compareit to other faith traditions, throw out the parts that don't makesense, or even abandon it altogether. One's universe is nowreconstructed along self-chosen rational lines, and one's religion(if retained) must, above all, make sense.

Usually people at Stage 4 have little interest in the marks ofAdventist subcultural identity, because there is a moving awayfrom group-based identity, as well as from dependence on externalsources of authority. Thus Stage 4 Adventists are extremely irri-tated by the traditional Adventist habit of using quotations fromEllen White as "discussion stoppers."

As illustrated in many of the stories in this issue of AdventistToday, adult Adventists in transition to Stage 4 may experiencedeep disappointment and anger on finding that some of thebeliefs they had based their lives on do not stand up to theirinvestigation. They may nevertheless remain in the church ifthey can reinterpret their Adventist faith along reasonable lines

Stage 6 faith is rare. Such individuals identify deeply with allof humanity, and therefore tend to spend themselves in service ofworldwide issues of love, justice and brotherhood. Some possibleexamples are Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, and MotherTheresa.

Coexistence .~ How are people at all these faith stages supposed to coexist in

the same church? To those at any given stage, the next stagelooks like loss of faith and the previous stage is repulsive. To peo-ple in Stage 3, Stage 4 sounds like giving away the store. To thosein Stage 4, Stage 3 looks like unthinking traditionalism and Stage5 like mystical mush. The problem is worsened by some Stage 3'swho engage in witch hunting at the first scent of heresy, andStage 4's who gleefully bait or ridicule their Stage 3 colleagues.

How do we provide for diversity without losing community?This is not an easy problem, and historically we Adventists havenot done especially well at solving it. Many of the stories in thisissue are testimony to our failings. There is, of course, no easyanswer. But knowing about stages of faith can help us understandhow tradition and continuity, as well as new ideas and diversity inthe church, are inevitable and necessary. All of the stages areimportant and valid expressions of faith, and people in all stageshave a right to serve and be served by the church. ~


A Closer Look:Members Staying and Leaving

Lately the Adventist Review and Ministry magazines have addressed our church's "swingingback door." A growing chorus of voices say that people leave the church because it is "coldand uncaring." As a pastor for the last 25 years, who has visited hundreds of former and

inactive members, I perceive a dangerous misconception: the majority of people who leave thechurch do not leave because the church is cold and uncaring. Rather, they do not want to makethe selrdiscipline commitment to Christ that active membership demands.

I recognize that there are some former memberswho have been genuinely hurt by church members.But my personal experience is that genuine cases ofcoldness and unconcern are relatively few. In aninformal survey I found that only 26 percent of for-mer Adventists thought of the church as "critical"and only 9.9 percent thought of the church as"ignoring them." Although 36 percent is a signifi-cant number, I have found that when you learn thefull story, often the "cold and critical" line of formerand inactive members is only an excuse for self-justi-fication.

Typically former members say, "The same old peo-ple always run the church. I wanted to be a deaconbut they wouldn't let anyone new into their littleclique." However, as I get to know the people andtheir story, I find that they had a problem withtobacco, alcohol,.Sabbath work etc.

Or people say, "When you are down and out thechurch won't help you; they just kick you out."However, I often find that such people have chronictrouble ( financial, emotional, or other) and that thechurch helped them several times, but when theyrefused to help themselves the church stopped carry-ing them.

Repeatedly, I have seen incredible outpourings oflove and support from our churches for new mem-bers, youth and those in crisis. However, the mem-bers of our churches are themselves very busy,


by John R. Martin

John Martin has servedasan Adventist pastor since1970 in the IllinoisandRockyMountainConferences.His primaryinterest is evangelism,andover the yearshe hasobservedwith concern thatthe hardest individualstoreach are formerAdventists.

stressed people. They are struggling to make endsmeet financially and to cope with their own prob-lems. They love to help in ways that enable peopleto stand in Jesus' strength. However, it seems unrea-sonable to expect that they should become long-term care givers for years and years carrying a caseload of people who have no personal commitment tothe doctrines of the church, to personal, self-disci-plined growth, or to the_support of the local congre-gation.

My survey further revealed that 29 percent reportthat they have fond memories, only 16 percentreport bad memories, 50 percent still consider them-selves Adventists, and 71 percent describe their for-mer church as supportive and friendly. This tells methat the "uncaring attitude" that I hear about-in theAdventist Review and at the workers' meetings is notan accurate picture.

Those who say that the revolving back door ismostly the fault of the church claim that if thechurch took more interest in people they would stay.There is a grain of truth in here. As I have affirmedand nurtured former members, I have seen a goodnumber return to relatively regular church atten-dance. However, in most cases they do not grow tothe point where they become active in the church asa matter of principle. They become a perpetual "caseload," and as soon as the level of nurture falls off-


THE FIRE AT WACO-A TWO-YEAR MEMORIAL

BRANCH DAVIDIANSTOO

by the edi tors

The Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas, aredown to a group of some 20 adherentswho have taken de facto possession of the

Mt. Carmel property, says Philipp Arnn, director ofthe Watchman Fellowship, an Arlington, Texas,organization that studies nontraditional faith groups.The Davidians, however, say they have between 50and 100 adherents worldwide, according to CliveDoyle, a survivor of the fire that burned the Mt.Carmel compound to the ground two years ago. Thelocal group calls itself the General Association ofBranch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, with anaddress in Axtell, Texas.

The Davidians' basic theology remains intact,including a belief that they are living in the 5th sealof the book of Revelation, according to Arnn. Doyleemphasizes that while the Davidians take propheticsymbols very seriously, they do not set times forevents to happen. They look for the reappearance oftheir fonner leader David Koresh, who died in theconflagration, at the time of the "special resurrec-tion" outlined by Ellen White, just prior to thereturn ofJesus. At the same time they expect all theother martyrs since Jesus' time to be likewise raisedfrom the dead. In the meantime they have noprophet for a leader, but are waiting for someone elsewho may bear the credentials of a prophet, onethrough whom the Holy Spirit speaks.

Nine of their members are now in jail, some withlong sentences, for accusations which Doyle sayswere cleared during their jury trial. One is a formerSeventh-day Adventist pastor. Communicationamong those inside and outside the jail helps keepup the morale and theological rationale for thegroup, says Larry Guinn, pastor of the WacoSeventh-day Adventist church.

Marc Breault, a former Davidian now living inAustralia, states that the propensity for reinterpretingprophetic time periods followsa precedent set by WilliamMiller,whose prophecy that the Second Advent wouldoccur in 1844 resulted in the Great Disappointment.

Beyond their penchant for interpreting propheticpassages, the Branch Davidians' primaty legacy fromSeventh-day Adventism was the Sabbath, dietarylaws, and the language of "present truth." DavidKoresh would talk of "present truth" in recruitingmembers from Adventist institutions by claimingthat God would give new truth through contempo-rary prophets in the last days of earth's history.

Koresh was perhaps honest in his own way, but hewas a master manipulator and sociopath, accordingto Arnn, who is a leading authority on theDavidians. Arnn sees Koresh as a "basket case" whoneeded professional therapy when he was a memberof the Tyler Adventist church in the late 1970s.Arnn says that Koresh caused a "massive upheaval"in the Tyler church, including Koresh's announce-ment to the local Adventist pastor that God hadtold him he should take the pastor's 14-year-olddaughter to be his wife.

The strongest non-Waco faction of BranchDavidians is in Alabama, and it never acceptedDavid Koresh as the legitimate leader.

The Branch Davidians split from the Shepherd'sRod group some 30 years ago, claiming that believers _should reject the dead rod and join the living branch.Today the Shepherd's Rod, or Davidian Seventh-dayAdventist Association, is headquartered in Exeter,Missouri. It is a parachurch organization with some 30employees who are primarily involved in its publishingwork, according to Jerial Bingham, vice president ofthe group. The Association claims to have 5,000 fol-lowers: 1,000 "full time supporters," perhaps 2-3,000"periodic supporters," and a number of sympathizers.The great majority of followers-{)ver 90 percent, saysBingham-are "closet" believers with membership inlocal Seventh-day Adventist organizations.

Many sympathizers with the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association view that group's founder,Victor Houteff, as a prophet because of the "prophetphenomenon" they inherited from Seventh-dayAdventism, says Jerial Gingham. David Koresh, withhis fanciful Biblical interpretations and his personalmessianic claims, represents a tragic outcome of thatperspective. ~

They look for

the reappearance

of their former

leader David

Koresh, who died

in the conflagra-

tion, at the time of

the "special resur-

rection" outlined

by Ellen White,

just prior to the

return of Jesus.



Understanding

A year after David Koresh's holocaust inWaco, Texas, we still have more ques-tions than answers. Perhaps we should

look at Koresh from the perspective of phenome-nology of religions. This may clarify the personaljourneys of Koresh and his followers. In his spiritu-al journey, David Koresh moved, from a devoted,deeply religious boy who could pray all night, to avisionary charismatic, a militant, self-proclaimedmessiah, willing to take on the U.S. governmentand die in defiance of its power.

Obtaining unbiased data on Koresh and his fol-lowers is difficult; the popular information dissem-inated by the popular media was emphaticallycontradicted by religious scholars and others whoclosely monitored the activities of the Bureau ofAlcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the FBI atthe Waco site. These observers presented theirviewpoints, along with testimony from a few sur-vivors of the holocaust, on November 22, 1993, atthe annual meeting of.the American Academy ofReligion held in Washington, D.C. One thingbecame certain: for some of the remnant of hisfollowers, David Koresh was messianic, while toothers he was demonic. How did a charismaticChristian leader like David Koresh provoke suchwidely divergent views of himself? Let's look at thedata from the perspective of phenomenology ofreligions.

Rudolph Otto argues that a religious personexperiences God through a unique state of mind.One's experience of God is underived. Religiousconsciousness results from a nonrational appre-hension of God as a mystery, the ineffable, theabsolute other, the "numinous." The encounterwith the mystery produces extraordinary butambivalent feelings: love and humility, but alsofear or terror (see Isaiah 6:5). The ambivalence ofreligious feeling represents a kind of a divine-demonic polarity in the experience. Movement


by Joseph Greig

Joseph Greig holds a PhD.in Old Testament theologyfrom the University ofEdinburgh. He teaches reli-gion, philosophy, andHebrew at AndrewsUniversity. Born and raisedin Wyoming, he keeps intouch with his westernroots by raising a smallflock of sheep.

toward the divine pole occurs when the encounterwith the numinous, while causing fear, gives anappreciation of moral obligation and leads to anethically and rationally structured religion. Thisencounter also brings the creature to an experi-ence of God's love. Thus, love is assuaged fear,quenched wrath.

In the experience of the numinous there issomething of the highest value which commandsdevotion and praise; but if the experience remainsmere feeling, if it is not given a moral direction orrational structure, it tends to lead to fanaticism, tothe demonic. The attraction of the fanatical in allforms of fundamentalism, with its control by fearand the negation of moral rationality, is evidencethat within fundamentalism lurks the shadow ofthe demonic.

David Koresh appears to have been controlledby his nonrational experience of the numinous.He was unpredictable and irrational. He claimedthat he took orders directly from God. His erraticand impetuous behavior fits well that of the reli-gious fanatic.

Koresh claimed to be a messiah, but technicallyspeaking, he was an antichrist. There are manysimilarities between Christ and antichrist. Theyboth develop out of the same religious matrix;only somewhere along the way, one gets on thewrong path and reverses the journey. This wouldseem to be the case with David Koresh. Christwas declared sinless; Koresh proclaimed himselfthe chief of sinners and put his belief into prac-tice. Christ was a pacifistic messiah, Koresh wasthe warrior messiah. This is not only a reversal ofthe earlier Shepherd's Rod's pacifist belief, but areversion to the royal-messiah figure of Psalm 2.The military messiah was the archetype ofKoresh's messianic understanding.



Adventists and the V\UCOSyndromeTwo years later, we recall the weird, irrational apocalypti-

cism of the Branch Davidians, the fanatical messiahshipof David Koresh, and the bizarre events that began to

unfold on February 28, 1993, at Mount Carmel Center nearWaco, Texas. It is appropriate now for us to identify the underly-ing factors and the measures that might prevent a recurrence ofthis tragedy.

I believe the "Waco syndrome" is rooted in an irrational inter-pretation of the Bible that appeals to naive, uneducated, eccentricminds that resonate with sensational ideas and esoteric knowledge.One and all, Shepherd's Rod and Davidian leaders have sufferedunder the additional delusion that they have a divine commissionto directly fulfill the Bible format for last-day events.

Key Bible passages on which the Waco syndrome relied are theseven seals of Revelation 5:1 to 8:1 and the executioners withdestroying weapons of Ezekiel 9. David Koresh claimed to beChrist reincarnate, the "Lamb" of Revelation 5:6-9, who alone is"worthy ....to open the seals," that~is, to direct their fulfillment inanticipation of "the great day" of divine "wrath" (6:17).

A Matter of InterpretationThe prophet Ezekiel was "among the Oewish] captives by the

river c.of Chebar" (1: 1) in Babylonia. He dates the message ofEzekiel 9 to the sixth year of his exile, about 591 B.C. "The eldersof Judah were sitting before [him]" (8:1, NIV), and he was takenoff in vision "to Jerusalem" and shown the "abominations that thehouse of Israel committeth here" (8:6). "The iniquity of the houseof Israel and Judah," he was told, was "exceeding great" (9:9). A"man clothed with linen" was commissioned to "go through the -midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a markupon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all theabominations that are be done in the midst thereof' (9:4). Six menwith destroying weapons were instructed to follow him and to"smite" everyone who did not have the mark.

Ezekiel himself and the historical context explicitly apply thisprophetic message to the people of Jerusalem in a particular his-torical situation, in 591 B.c. Neither here nor elsewhere inScripture is there any indication that Ezekiel 9 anticipates anyapplication of this passage beyond that time and place.

by Raymond Cottrell

Raymond Cottrell is a veteran Adventist leaderand scholar. In addition to many extensive schol-arly and administrative contributions, he hasgiven more than 30 different presentations tolocal chapters of the Association of AdventistForums.

The Waco Davidians, however, identify the Seventh-dayAdventist Church as "Jerusalem." Assuming that he was "theLord," David Koresh encouraged his followers to "sigh and groanover all the abominations" committed in the Seventh-dayAdventist Church and to slay all who opposed them, hence thearsenal of "destroying weapons" assembled in the Mount CarmelCenter, which led to the Federal raid on the compound.

On what basis did the Waco Davidians apply to the churchtoday the vision of Ezekiel 9 and other passages of Scripture thatreferred explicitly and exclusively to ancient Israel in the long ago?They ignored what the Bible itself actually says, and read into itswords a modem interpretation of their own devising.

Reasons for This InterpretationDavidian interpretation of the Bible is based on the proof text

method, which pays little or no heed to the meaning a Bible writerintended his words to convey, as determined by its literary and his-torical context, and reads into them whatever meaning suits thefancy of the reader. The ultimate cause of the Waco syndrome isthis defective, fatally flawed hermeneutic. It makes the Bibleappear to say whatever a modem reader may happen to think itsays or wants it to say. The historical method, which looks for themeaning the ancient inspired writer intended, has built-in safe-guards against ever, even inadvertently, making this error.

Adventist exposition of the Bible has not been altogether freefrom this error, particularly in the exposition of apocalypticprophecy. Most Davidians were formerly Adventists; Adventisttolerance of the proof text method over the years may, at least inpart, be responsible for their use of the method. Some minds arepredisposed to resonate with anything sensational, and Adventistapocalyptic exposition has sometimes seemed intended to appealto such minds.

Where Should We Go From Here?Let us have the Christian grace and maturity to examine our

biblical-theological infrastructure and our proclamation of thegospel objectively. The disaster in Waco summons us first to elim-inate every vestige of proof text principles and procedures from ourformulation of doctrine and our witness to the gospel, with specialattention to our exposition of Bible prophecy. Following proof textprinciples has unwittingly involved the church in traumatic intra-mural doctrinal controversy, and has been responsible for much ofthe criticism fellow Christians of other faiths often aim at us.

Second, we should eliminate the sensational language and gar-ish art we sometimes still use in our witness to Bible prophecy inrelation to current events, which tend to attract minds that res-onate with anything sensational and esoteric. Instead, let usemphasize gospel principles that alleviate the ills of society aM


In the News

Folkenberg ExplainsRemarks on Nurture

Recently, Robert Folkenberg,Adventist church president, posted

comments on the CompuServe Adventistbulletin board to explain his remarks onchurch nurture. He had criticized nurturein a speech at the Walla Walla CollegeChurch, as reported by Adventist Today(January/February, 1995). After churchmembers carried on a lively discussion ofthe Adventist Today report, posting theircomments via Compuserve, Folkenbergcame online to explain himself as follows:

Please, rest assured, I fully believe inand am committed to "nurture!" One can-not be a disciple or invite others to the joyof discipleship without it. However, "nur-ture," like so many other words, has a waxnose that can be pointed conveniently inany direction. It is so frustrating to seethat in much of the "first world" the con-cept of "nurture" has become a substitutionfor witnessing. We've defined it to meantaking care of each other. It should beinevitable that, as a natural consequenceof the conversion experience and our joyin Christ, our service and care for those inthe family would know no bounds.Nurturing would simply be a manifestationof love for one another. Further, the samemotivation would drive us to share boththe joy of salvation and the propheticurgency of the second coming with thosewho do not "know that you have eternallife" (l John 5:13). Sadly, it isn't alwaystrue.

It was this frustration that boiled overon that fateful Sabbath when I did say,

"Nurture is a four letter word." Clearly,I was not denigrating true Christian nur-ture, but the superficial platitudes that jus-tify inaction. Furthermore, I was in noway singling out the members of the WallaWalla Church. I was in no position toeven have an opinion of the life and visionof that congregation.

In retrospect, I wish I'd been more care-ful. Being offensive is seldom necessaryand rarely constructive. Obviously, theeffect of my comment is evidence that Ishould have been wiser in making thepoint. A few days after the meeting in


question, when I heard the feedback, Icalled the pastor to try to clarify what Iwas attempting to say. I appreciate theopportunity to drop the explanation intothe dialogue and hope it helps. I appreci-ate more than I can express those whowithheld judgement and were compassion-ate in their comments. Remember, I'm justa man, doing the best I know how a task Ididn't ask for. Only the Lord and His pres-ence, forgiveness, and power will ever getus through, for it won't be because of infal-lible leaders.

Nielsen RatesLifestyle Magazineby Albert Dittes

Ina recent fund-raising letter, DanMatthews, speaker-director of Faith

for Today, exclaimed, "I get a warm feel-ing every time I think of the millions ofdollars NBC spends trying to attract viewersaway from Lifestyle Magazine so they cangain and hold the #1 rating in New York.(They often tie us now in the ratings.)"

That sounds impressive! What do thesefigures mean?

Donna Webb, of the Lifestyle Magazinestaff, said the program runs 7 a.m. Sundayon WABC-TV in New York City and hasranked number one in the monthlyNielsen ratings.

"These monthly surveys measure themost households watching at that time,"Webb says, drawing a distinction betweenthe monthly surveys and the three-time-a-year "sweeps." "We are usually not consid-ered number one in the sweeps."

Two other programs Lifestyle Magazinecompetes against are NBC's Sunday Todayand The Hour of Power with RobertSchuler.

A check with WABC-TV in New Yorkverified that Lifestyle Magazine airs 7 a.m.Sundays and enjoys a number one rating."Most of the time it has been either num-ber one or tied," said Art Moore, directorof programming for WABC. "It wasn'tnumber one in January. The NBC SundayToday show beat them then."

WABC-TV does not promote Lifestyle

but invests its advertising dollars in showslike Oprah, NBC Nightly News andPrimetime.

The Greater New York metropolitanarea has 6,716,000 households, accordingto Pat Ligouri, research director at WABC-TV.

Moore said that 70,000 householdswatch Lifestyle Magazine, with 2.5 personsper household. That adds up to a viewingaudience of 175,000 people. Of this earlySunday morning audience, 75 percent con-sists of women 50 years old or older, 97 per-cent of whom do not work outside thehome. Of the total audience that time ofday, 77 percent is older than 35 years of age.

Church Finds AidsChallenge in Africa

InAmerica, there is a growing concernabout AIDS, and rightly so: 1 in 200

people in the U.S. are HIV positive. But itis hard for Americans to appreciate themagnitude of the AIDS epidemic else-where when we compare our .5 percentinfection rate to figures of 35-70 percent insub-Sahara Africa.

Nine million individuals are HIV-infected in sub-Sahara Africa; 300,000 areknown to have died of AIDS, and esti-mates place this figure closer to 500,000.In central Africa,. the HIV infection rateruns 30-35 percent, with the percentagefor young adults, college graduates, sol-diers, and policemen running between 50and 70 percent. In East Africa, the ratesare also high. In Malawi, for example,20-25 percent of women attending prena-tal screening are HIV positive.

The AIDS epidemic has claimed theparents of more than two million Africanchildren, and estimates are that ten mil-lion children will be orphaned by AIDS bythe year 2000. Currently, about 500,000children are HIV-infected; it is expectedthat this figure will quadruple in the nextfive years.

AIDS is affecting Adventist Africans aswell. Many African SDAs are converts,coming from high-risk lifestyles.According to Harvey Elder, MD, PhD, aLoma Linda specialist in infectious dis-

Negative Mail onWomen's Ordination

Robert Folkenberg, president of the General Conference of Seventh-dayAdventists, and Al McClure, president of the North American Division, have

recently received letters on the issue of women's ordination-nearly 100 percent ofthem negative, according to a GC staff person. If you desire to register your view,write to these leaders at the church headquarters, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, SilverSpring, MD 20904.-editors

eases, "A fair number of ministerial stu-dents, as many as 20-25 percent, are HIV-infected due to pre-conversion exposure.But they will not become symptomaticuntil they have graduated and taken on achurch of their own." Fortunately, says Dr.Elder, "There is increasing interest anddetermination on the part of the churchto move forward in meeting the uniquechallenges presented by AIDS." Elder hasserved as on-site consultant to severalAfrican AIDS programs.

Truth and FinancialConsequences

The Worldwide Church of God, withroots in Seventh-day Adventism,

recently recanted three of its fundamentalbeliefs. This was due to further Bible studyand theological reflection by its currentleadership. The seventh-day Sabbath,tithing and a unique view of the Holy Spirithave been given up. The 90,000-memberchurch is in upheaval because its PastorGeneral Joseph Tkach Sr. announced lastDecember that Sabbath no longer must beobserved on Saturday, and tithing is notmandatory. Revenues since the first of theyear have plunged over 30 percent, and thedenomination is facing possible bankruptcy.Due largely to doctrinal changes, some10,000 members have dropped out over thelast five years. Although church officials putmembership at 92,000, outside sourcesbelieve membership is closer to 60,000worldwide.

Leaders of this denomination, which isbased in Pasadena, California, are reviewingtotal operations of the church. Already thechurch is halting its $2.5 million subsidy toits prestigious concert series, adored by thou-sands of Southern California music lovers. Ithas laid off 15 percent of its headquartersstaff. Circulation of the church's Plain Truthmagazine, mailed to some 1.3 million per-sons, will be cut to one million or less.Tkach's private jet and limousine will besold, and ministers' salaries will likely be cut.The Los Angeles TImes, the source for muchof the information reported here, states thatthe denomination's prime 56-acre headquar-ters in Pasadena is likely to be sold.

The Worldwide Church of God, foundedby the late Herbert W. Armstrong in 1934,possesses a connection to the Seventh-dayAdventist church. It goes back to the presi-dent and secretary of the Iowa conference,Elders B.E Snook and WHo Brinkhoff, whoin the 1860's left the church primarilybecause of disbelief in Ellen White'sprophetic gift and disagreement over churchorganization. The Church of God(Adventist) Sabbatarian that they begannever achieved a membership larger thanabout 3,000. This small denomination wasthe immediate precursor to the WorldwideChurch of God.

The reason for the shocking doctrinalchanges announced by Worldwide Churchof God leadership was continued study ofreligion by key young leaders. The denomi-nation has long been secretive about itsoperations and insular in its theologicaldevelopment. However, several administra-tive aides attended Azusa Pacific University,a conservative Wesleyan institution a fewmiles from Pasadena. In the course of theirstudies they became convinced that theirdenomination's position on the Sabbathand mandatory tithing were not doctrinallysound. They convinced the elder church-man Joseph Tkach Sr. of their newfoundperspective, claims Phillip Arnn of theWatchman Fellowship that tracks nontradi-tional religious groups, and Tkach proceed-ed to announce the doctrinal shifts to thechurch.

The changes were introduced in a pre-cipitous and unpastoral fashion, say someoutside sources. But Tom Lapacka, directorof church relations at the Pasadena head-quarters, is quoted by the Los Angeles TImesas saying, "I'm very proud to be a part of achurch that will look at the Bible and say,

'This is how we read it and we're going tomake these changes, regardless of the costto us as an institution.'" Such doctrinalturnarounds are in the Adventist tradition,given the sudden shifts early Adventistsmade on issues such as the timing ofSabbath observance.

Today the 8-million-member Seventh-day Adventist denomination approaches itsdistinctive doctrines and the question offinances quite differently. One church offi-cial says that if Seventh-day Adventism isto make financial headway, it must loyallyproclaim its time-honored beliefs. JamesCress, head of the Seventh-day Adventistministerial association, writes in theFebruary 1995 issue of Ministry thatAdventist pastors' salaries have fallen 40.3percent in purchasing power since 1960.And if the pastors desire a raise, they must"proclaim unmistakable doctrinal loyalty.This will build confidence in your own min-istry among your members and will denythe charge of dissidents that our pulpitshave lost the distinctive Adventist mes-sage."

Perhaps, in making the change, theWorldwide Church of God leadershipshould have slowly educated their smallmembership in broader views, ratherthan issuing a sudden doctrinal fiat. Inthe Adventist church, with 8 millionmembers, leaders must run the denomi-nation in a financially responsible man-ner. Also, they have a pastoral responsi-bility to the vast majority of memberswho lack doctrinal sophistication, so ourleaders cannot, of course, take a 90-degree turn as did the WWCG leaders.But we also must maintain our rich tradi-tion of espousing progressive revelationand present truth. ~

Adventist Today March.April1995 19

Letters to the Editg-r:. _

WOMEN IN THE CHURCH

As to Holmes' Tip of the Iceberg:There lies a tremendous need for a sec-ond look by those who denigratewomen's place in the church. InGalatians 3:28 is...the fact ...that there isno room for male and female ...distinc-tion. Why? We are one in Jesus.... Thisis the Christian position-clear, and pos-itive and sweeping .... The ApostlePeter's speech at Pentecost included ..."Your sons and daughters shall prophesy"(Acts 3:28). You will note that "daugh-ters" are included ....

But there is a turnabout in Paul. Henow enjoins something else. "Womenmust be quiet at the gatherings of thechurch. They are not allowed to speak ...as the Law enjoins."

It is here that Paul appeals to the law(Torah) for authority ... He falls into thevery thing he told the Galatians theywere doing ... Every time Paul tried toput woman into a subordinate position,he appealed to the Old Testament(Torah) as his authority-not Jesus!Paul says of the woman, "Man was notmade from woman, but woman fromman, and man was not created forwoman but woman for man" (1 Cor11:8,9, Weymouth). Here Paul turnsright back to the creation ...not the newcreation in Jesus...but to the oldcovenant. Paul slipped a cog andthus ...caused much confusion. But weknow that he says that sometimes he wasnot inspired-he was speaking on hisown ...

William (Bill) RitzWalla Walla, Washington

Having watched the development ofthis ordination issue since the early 80s,I am convinced of a strong bias in itsfavor, not only with your publication,but generally in California and someeastern areas. Dr. Holmes' book is good.I have read it carefully. While I am not"dyed in the wool" against ordination ofwomen, I am forced to admit that thisdivisive issue has not been dealt withfairly, especially in church publica-tions ....


The ordination issue is not opposedbecause of sexual exclusion or inclusion,but because, after a full decade, noacceptable scriptural reasons for such amove have been presented ....

Admittedly, this issue threatens todivide us as a church. We have laboredin lands where it will never be accepted,which means that if some areas ordainwomen, the world church will be weak-ened by separation ...

The recent Fall Council voted tobring the issue back to the next GC,requesting just such a move; let thosedivisions which want to ordain womendo so. The assumption is that the NADhas dealt with the issue, and that themembership here is in favor of such anaction. How tragic! When have ourbrethren of NAD ever voted in favor ofordaining women? We have the tech-nology to carry out such a grass rootsvote, but church politics will doubtlessforestall any such move!

I am a retired missionary. I havealways endeavored to loyally support theChurch, and I will support the actionstaken now, but I feel saddened to see thedirection the leaders are taking us lately.

Earl G. MeyerOakhurst, California

Only one governing principle shouldguide all discussions on church matters:What does the Bible say on this? Anyother consideration-economic, social,or political-should be ignored. TheBible is clearly against the ordination ofwomen. Paul, under the inspiration ofthe Holy Spirit, made it very plain, nowomen should speak in church .... Thatwe are even considering the ordinationof women reveals how far from biblicaltruth our church has strayed as the resultof a long series of compromises.

The first great compromise with truthwas when we went against the plainword of Scripture and condemned slav-ery. The Bible does not condemn slav-ery (Lev 25:44-46). In fact, it specifical-ly endorses the role of the slave. Thewhole book of Philemon in the NewTestament supports slavery. The causeof those advocating the ordination of

women in our church began many yearsago when the plain word of Scripturewas ignored. "For they have sown thewind, and they shall reap the whirlwind"(Hosea 8:7).

James HiltonLoma Linda, California

Dr. Ray Holmes says that ordainingwomen to the ministry would mean "adeparture from full biblical authority"...He seriously misunderstands and mis-states the issues in the. church's discus-sion of women's ordination. Dr. Holmesapparently believes that unless we followthe letter of every scriptural command,we abandon "full biblical authority." Ifso, SDAs gave up that authority longago. We don't, for example, exclude newmothers from worship (and double theexclusion time for those who had girls),despite the counsel of Leviticus 12... Wedon't ... stone Sabbath breakers to death(Num 15:35) ... Our congregations don'tstone disobedient sons, as Deuteronomy21:18-21 commands.

Or, turning to PauL, should we pro-hibit women from praying with uncov-ered heads, on the basis of 1 Corinthians11:5, 13? Should we stop having femaleSabbath School superintendents, andforbid women to ask questions inSabbath School classes, rather than vio-late the "revelation of God" in 1Corinthians 14:34, 35? Shall we standon the "full authority" of 1 Timothy 2:9by casting out any woman who braidsher hair, in defiance of divine counsel? ..

I favor ordaining women because ofScripture, not in spite of it.... Paul saidmany different things about women'srole in the church. To oppose ordainingwomen, Dr. Holmes must develop someexplanation of Galatians 3:28, of 1Corinthians 11:5's provision for womento prophesy, of Paul's willingness to havePriscilla as well as Aquila teach him(which contradicts his statements toTimothy), of Paul's naming of Phoebe asa deacon and of the feminine Junias as"prominent among the apostles" inRomans 16 (NRSV). He must explainwhy New Testament acceptance of slav-ery is not binding on the modern church

(or accuse Ellen White of disdaining"full biblical authority") .... Opponents ofwomen's ordination have to do at leastas much "explaining" of Biblical materialas we proponents.

That's why this is not a debate aboutBiblical authority. I, like Dr. Holmes,accept the Bible as "a revelation fromGod in all its parts." I seek to interpretall of those parts by recognizing openlythe differences in time, place, personali-ty and circumstance, ...and I seek the...unity created by the eternal ...princi-pies behind the texts' ... surface dissimi-larities ....

"Theological pluralism," Dr. Holmesasserts, "is essential if the interpretationof the Bible allowing ordination towomen is to be accepted by the church."He knows, however, that manyAdventists with great skills in Biblicalinterpretation already favor ordainingwomen. "Theological pluralism" ishere-Dr. Holmes is as much a part of itas I am! In fact, such pluralism is also"essential" ...because many SDAs findcurrent church practice unscriptural andmorally wrong .... Pluralism has beenhere since Adventism (or, for that mat-ter,Christianity) began, and theChurch ... has advanced wonderfully.God seems better able to deal with plu-ralism than some of his faithful childrenare....

Darrell HoltzOverland Park, Kansas

CREATION ARTICLES

In his search for "interpretation ofevidence, scientific or scriptural, Dr.Webster (November/December 1994)seems to have accepted several assump-tions that are probably invalid. Heassumes, for instance, that Genesis 1 is amore accurate description of Earth's ori-gin than Genesis 2, which gives a com-pletely different story. Genesis 2 statesthat God planted things and that theman and the woman were created at dif-ferent times with enough time betweenfor Adam to name all the animals, real-ize other animals had companions which

he did not, and become lonesome. Thatcould take weeks, months, or even years.

Especially interesting is Genesis 2:5,which seems to say that the recordapplies only to the garden, not to theworld as a whole. God made it clear inhis speech on Mount Sinai and his sub-sequent writing on the tablets that hedid something special in six days, and itis reasonable to assume that He did itabout 6,000 years ago; but consideringGenesis 2, it is not at all clear what itwas that he did ....

[Webster] also makes the unwarrantedassumption that "death, of human andall other life forms, [is due] to the sin ofAdam." ....Apparently he believes the"evil" introduced by Adam somehowaltered the natural life cycle of animals(and perhaps some plants) .... Most ani-mals and even some plants are designedto survive on other animals. Anteaters,woodpeckers, sharks (all fish, for thatmatter), vultures, and hyenas, forinstance, were obviously designed to eatnothing else. They were not "evil"when God created them; why should wethink of their activity as "evil" today?....Only humans were given the tree oflife. Its very existence is proof that mandid not possess inherent immortality ....

Theologians who have little scientificknowledge have made many strangeassumptions ....

When seeking answers to scientificquestions, it is as foolish to rely on thereligious speculations of sages from pastmillenniums as it is to rely on Aristotleor Archimedes or even da Vinci forengineering data.

I appreciate Dr. Webster's reading ofProverbs 3:5-7, which speaks againsttrusting our own understanding, butthere are other texts which specificallychallenge us to learn and become wise(2 Tim 2:15, Isa 1:18, Matt 10:16)....Texts indicate we humans are expectedto be smart enough and wise enough torule and judge the world (Gen 1:26,28; 1Cor 6:2; Heb 2:6-8; Rev 20:6).

There needs to be balance in ourthinking. It is all right to make assump-tions (or hypotheses or postulates ortheories), but when a theory is not sup-

ported by some source of information, itis time to abandon the concept ....

Robert LeeAltamonte Springs, Florida

I found greater agreement with ClydeWebster than with Ervin Taylor(November/December, 1994) .... Theessence of the biblical record and theChristian religion is that God hasinvolved himself with every phase ofexistence both celestial and terrestrial. Icannot agree with Taylor that "It wasonly with the emergence of Homo sapi-ens that God was finally able to discussthe issues of 'freedom,' 'truth' and 'love'with creatures that could now 'thinkGod's thoughts after him.''' My God didnot "botch" his job of creation. The only"mistake" he may have made in creatingman was to give him "free will" with thepower to think and choose, which led tothe wrong choice, followed by degenera-tion rather than evolution!

Taylor suggests that "Some churchadministrators, with training in areasother than theology and science, tend toignore the views of our best-trained schol-ars and scientists." Probably the majorityof our "church administrators" have atleast been dealing with theological issues(though perhaps many are not academictheologians). Since the concept of originshas important religious overtones, wouldnot those who deal with the theologicalissuesof the church be as well qualified tovoice opinions on this subject as, say,an"anthropologist," since either way morefaith is involved than evidence?

...1 resent the insinuation that"thoughtful people" must move outsideof what has been called a "traditionalunderstanding" of origins, to paraphraseTaylor's parting statement! An elitistattitude is inappropriate for the propo-nents of either side.

Neil W. Rowland, Ph.D.,Professor Emeritus, BiologyUnion College, Nebraska

Letters to the EditorAdventist Today, P.O. Box 1220LornaLinda, CA 92354-1220


Understanding David KoreshCONTINUED FROM PAGE 16

The Old Testament has two majormessianic paradigms: One is the militarymessiah founded on kingship. In Psalm2, this figure is proclaimed the begottenson of God and promised victory overhis enemies. He would dash them topieces and subdue them with a rod ofiron. The other messianic figure is thesuffering servant of Isaiah 42. Isaiahspeaks of the messiah in whom Godtakes delight, or with whom God is wellpleased.

The military messiah was the oneexpected by the leaders of the Jews dur-ing the time of Christ; but it was the suf-fering messiah paradigm by which Jesusunderstood his role. The suffering ser-vant character of the messiah is clearlyevident in Mark 1:11. At his baptism(anointing) Jesus was called God'sbeloved son, an expression taken fromPsalm 2. But the military traits arerejected, and the response of God to thesuffering servant of Isaiah 42 is added:

Real. Reason People Quit the ChurchCONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

the nurturing pastor moves, their spiritualguardian leaves, etc.-they are right backwhere they started.

Thirty-five percent report that theygradually abandoned the lifestyle, and 52percent report that they just got out of thehabit of attending church. Evidently, 87percent of former and inactive membershad such a low level of commitment toChrist that other things easily took prece-dence over church involvement. Most folkI have met do not think of themselves as

Coming Back to FamilyCONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

thinking and acting like my siblings, Ican belong to the family of God withoutbelieving and behaving exactly like myspiritual sisters and brothers.

Because of my commitment to God, Ican be committed, now, to the family of


"In whom I am well pleased."These two messianic expectations

grow out of different religious percep-tions developed during Israel's history.The observation "love is quenchedwrath" expresses a change of attitude,from the terror of the numinous project-ed as vengeance on enemies, to theexperience of God as compassionate andloving. The divine attributes of wrathand love stand in tension in the Bible, asdo the characteristics of good and evil,the divine and the demonic, God andSatan. Shifting the responsibility forKing David's census-taking of Israel fromthe Lord to Satan (2 Sam 24:1 and 1Chron 21: 1) is not only an example ofthis tension, but shows how the tensionis handled theologically for the needs ofthe hour. The chronicler is theologicallycritical of Israel's experience with Godthrough the exercise of what I havecalled moral rationality.

As a religious leader David Koreshfailed to apply moral rationality to hisreligious experiences and beliefs. This isnot to say that he was not a spiritual

"former" or "inactive" members (50 per-cent said that they still consider them-selves Adventists). Only 35 percent sayreligion plays no part in their life now andonly 3 percent indicate that they are con-nected to another denomination.

In my experience, most former andinactive members consider an active com-mitmenr to the church an importantoption that they plan to choose somedaybut at the present it doesn't fit their priori-ties. The real reason why most peoplebackslide is that they are unwilling to makethe requirements of God their top priorityin life-they lack a real conversion.

God-the family of all Christians, andagain to my "home" denomination, theSeventh-day Adventist Church.Although I still find pressure to conform,freedom in Christ liberates me from boththe fear of non-conforming and the needto rebel.

I see myself as one of many seekingtruth. All of us are becoming more our

man, but that his experience of thedivine remained essentially nonrationaland controlled mainly by feeling, andthus gravitated to the demonic. Theproblem is not that he understood him-self to be the son of God; a central fea-ture of deep mysticism is a merging withthe divine until personal identity is lost.The problem comes when one experi-ences the fear, wrath and glory of Godand then appropriates their demonicbackwash, imposing one's demonic willon others.

This seems to have happened toDavid Koresh and earlier to charismaticleader Jim Jones. They were drawn tothe demonic side of their religious expe-rience. It was not so much love that fas-cinated them, but wrath. Those whotested Koresh's teachings and actions bysome type of moral rationality eventuallyleft the group; those who were entrancedby the charismatic power and authorityof the prophet remained faithful to hisdemonic manifestation. The result was afiery death.

My appeal to the church is to focus onsaving others outside the church and toinspire dedicated self-disciplining commit-ment among those inside. Let's not take soseriously those who piously claim that thereason the back door swings is totally ourfault. Let us remember that even in Jesus'day when the cause of God required com-mitment and dedication so many peoplewent out through the back door that Jesussaid to the few that were left, "Will ye alsogo away?"

Let's let the dead (those who can seeonly the faults in the church) bury the dead(those who look only for nurture). ~

individual selves within community aswe grow more fully into our relationshipwith God. My church family has been asource of deep hurt and deep love.Because I am a daughter of God, I canbe content within the family of God andoffer my siblings forgiveness, encourage-ment, and love. ~

Reflections

Across a Century of CenturiesThe sanctuary darkens as Iawait the beginning of a

special vespers. This is Easter weekend and in thesemoments Ireflect upon the God who suffers and dies andlives again. But tonight is different. Tonight Ihave cometo observe a dramatization of the Seder, the ancientHebrew celebration of the Passover. As it begins, I tummy attention to the players in the front. These are familiarfaces. Playing the father is one of my husband's colleagues.Playing the mother is a deep-heart friend of mine, andthose playing the children, casting knowing looks in mydirection, are my own little children. Iam reminded thatthis is our moment of time, but the traditional words theyspeak are borrowed from the moments of millions of cele-brants across a century of centuries. The boundariesbetween stories are eroded. Iam awash with the pain, thehopefulness, the glory of this story we call Life.

Iam a slave in a far country. I am weary of theeffort of slavery-my arms heavy and numb, myfeet dragging disconsolately in the sand. Joseph

is forgotten. My community has broken apart; con-ventional religious language is empty for me. I amlost from the promises of deliverance. Life stretcheson endlessly, timelessly forward. I am not on my wayanywhere. There is no destination.

And then ... A Moses appears. A stammering, out-rageous Moses. A loud, crude, hairy, uncompromisingmidwife of deliverance. What kind of God sendssuch as Moses?

"I have met the I AM. I AM has sent for you."I have been called back into life. I exist. I do not

know where I am going. But my existence is enough. Ican come forth. I do not have to remain tightly boundin slavery. Through calamity and darkness I step out,in the Presence of a Fire that bums into the darkness.

The delivery is full of pain, the newborn comingforth gasping and screaming for breath ..."I am tooold for these birthings. Why are these creations souncontrolled and messy?"

The newborn's face is pressed into tight, tensefolds, eyes tightly shut against this suddenness of newlife, its uncompromising confrontations, its chal-lenges. But the delivery is completed. Suddenly thereis color and shape and depth in the world-freedomborn out of slavery.

Had God taken us from Egypt,Borne from slaveryInto freedom,

by Eileen Greenwalt

The delivery is

full of pain, the

newborn coming

forth gasping and

screaming for

breath ... "I am

too old for these

birthings."

Eileen Greenwalt is aspeech therapist inWashington State. Sheworks in the public schooldistrict teaching commu-nicatively challengedchildren.

Had she done this, only this,For this aloneWe would be grateful.

The newly-born awakes in a wilderness-to 40years in the wilderness. What does it mean-40years? Half a lifetime. Were we not called to live?But are we living a life in the midst of this wanderingfaith? Or are we to faithfully wait for something else?Is this still the journey or this ...the destination? Or isthis wild, freed life both journey and destination?

And then, the body of God appears. It is the bodyof suffering.

Sit in the Presence of the Fire and share in thesuffering. This is the price of living free in thewilderness. Hear the voice of suffering say, "Abba,Abba, if it be thy will, let this part be omitted. Spareme, spare me this. I have lived a life with miracles.Why are there no miracles for me this night? This ismy cup in remembrance of the Passover? And I amto be left in this wilderness?"

"Abba, Abba, why is the dying so much a part ofliving? Why hast thou forsaken me?"

I AM, lost in the wilderness, crying a darkepiphany, living out the dark truth of human existence.

And now, even God needs to rest from the agonyof being human. The Flaming Fire of the wildernessgoes out. Even the voice of God is silenced in grief.A Sabbath of rest. A stillness of night into day andnight again.

And in the fullness of time, life returns as themorning light, slowly ebbing into the Body Broken.Ebbing this brokenness into Being again. Life.Forever the same and forever changed.

Had God offered us the Sabbath,Offered restThrough nights of sadness,Had He done this, only this,For this aloneWe would be grateful.

As I look toward the front of the sanctuary, I see theireyes shining with their part in the story, these children. Itis their story, and my story. On the wings of tradition weawake as newly borne and find ourselves connected to allthe centuries of generations in memories of a sharedhuman existence, where suffering and death coexist withrebirth and renewal. ~


As We Go to Press

Financial Irregularitiesand Sexual MisconductCharged

On February 22 David D. Dennis, for-. mer General Conference auditor,filed papers in a Maryland circuit courtcharging Adventist church leaders RobertFolkenberg, Alfred McClure and others withmisuse of church funds. For 19 years Dennisserved as director of the General ConferenceAuditing Service but was terminatedDecember 29, 1994, on what he claims weretrumped-up allegations of sexual misconductdesigned to prevent him and his staff fromdisclosing financial irregularities.

Maryland state law requires those namedin the suit to file a reply within 30 days, butprovides for an extension of time underextenuating circumstances. Church leadershave claimed such circumstances, asked forthe extension, and have a number of attor-neys working on the case. When thechurch files its reply, the news media,including Adventist Today, will be able toreport both Dennis' charge and thechurch's legal response.

Creationism: A HotIssue in LeadershipCircles

Creationism, an issue that looms aspotentially divisive in Adventism,

was the focus of discussion at two recentmeetings of church leaders. The board ofthe Geological Research Institute took abig step from apologetics toward dialogue,and the Board of Higher Education votedto respond to the fact that a majority of thechurch's science professors do not acceptthe denomination's traditional belief oncreation. This was shown by a recentAdventist Today poll. The meetings werepart of the annual set of sessions held at

Loma Linda in February. The GRI boardasked the Institute staff to make plans forgenuine dialogue on interpretation of theGenesis account of creation.

The board, chaired by Calvin Rock, aGeneral Conference vice president, votedthat study be given by the director in consul-tation with the chailman, to a modificationof the GRI mission statement. This wouldexpand GR1'srole so that it can initiate dia-logue through formal and infonnal meetingswith Adventist science teachers who arestruggling to understand the church's inter-pretation of Genesis 1-11. Further, the Boardrecommends that this modification be com-pleted as soon as possible, circulated to theboard, and voted by telephone conferencingrather than waiting until the next scheduledGRI board meeting. Thomas Mostert, presi-dent of the Pacific Union, formulated thevoted motion.

The issue of creationism arose as part ofthe annual report presented by JamesGibson, who recently replaced the retiredAriel Roth as director. Gibson stated thatquestions are increasingly raised inAdventist academic circles about theGenesis account of creation. A board mem-ber related that during the 90 minutes ofdiscussion by board members, some dwelton the need to maintain church belief andfor discipline of the erring; this view wasprimarily advocated by men from thechurch headquarters. Others questioned theappropriateness of GRI staff members beingexpected to serve merely as apologists. Thisconcern was voiced by science professorsand other church leaders on the board.

"This action of the GRI board is more inline with the original intent of those whostarted GRI, envisioning the institute asengaged in genuine study and dialogue withscience teachers," stated Richard Hammill,who led in the formation of GRI in 1957and subsequently served as president ofAndrews University and a vice president ofthe world church.

In another meeting, held only a few dayslater, the denomination's college and uni-versity presidents in the U.S. were ques-

tioned about the beliefs of their science fac-ulty. It has been common knowledge forsome time that a diversity of views ondivine creation exists, but evidently theexplicit views revealed in an AdventistToday poll (November/December, 1994)caused a number of members to complainto church leaders.

The issue of creationism arose in aBoard of Higher Education meeting, butwas postponed for full discussion at a spe-cial session of the presidents held severalhours later in the day. Robert Folkenberg,president of the General Conference, andHumberto Rasi, director of the GC'sEducation Department, attended the meet-ing, expressing dismay that many scienceprofessors deviate from the traditionalthinking of the church. Discussion pursuedtwo different issues. The first was publicrelations-how would knowledge of diverseviews of science teachers affect some con-servative parents' decision to send theirchildren to Adventist colleges? The secondissue was the truth-value of various posi-tions held. One college president whoapproached the discussion in a theologicalmanner was admonished by another presi-dent to be more "pragmatic."

After considerable discussion, the groupagreed that the college presidents shouldtake the lead in dealing with their sciencefaculties. Various ideas were broached: forexample, a representative science facultymember could be interviewed for the generalchurch paper, or a group of science facultymembers could recommend steps the churchmight take for membership education on theinterface of science and religion. The ideathat science teachers could be required tosign a statement affirming their allegiance toa particular belief was discussed but notfavored by most presidents. One of three col-lege presidents contacted for this report stat-ed that in line with academic freedom he •••would like to see the science teachers conferamong themselves and come up with areport that would clarify the issues and givereasons for positions held.

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