July 1, 2003 - 12:00pm - Editors

Scholars and Gospel

 

I enjoy reading your Journal and find it very informative and thought provoking. A few writers give the impression that unless you are formally educated you will not be able to understand the Gospel of Jesus, the plan of Salvation, the End Times, or other important teachings of the Scriptures. . . . I found many members of the church who were "attendees" in church and supported our schools by sending their children to them. I refrained from making them feel uncomfortable because I had formal education and they did not. Most of your writers do very well in not giving one the impression that if you are not a scholar you're going to miss the Savior's promises. That is why I continue my subscription.

 

Roy F. Battle Via the Internet

 

A Different Viewpoint

 

Please send the Glacier View conference reports to my father, Arnold Toews. He is a current subscriber to AT. He asked me to contact you for him as he is 86. . . He enjoys your periodical very much and looks forward to each issue. Your viewpoint is not commonly held by our local church congregation in many cases and is appreciated.

 

Judy Cutts Via the Internet

 

Lifetime Listing

 

Yes indeed, please do---add me to the list for the reports from the Glacier View Conference. And since I plan to subscribe for the rest of my days, why not start a lifetime list?

 

Delmer W. Holbrook Via the Internet

 

A Broader View

 

We would like to receive reports from the conference. . . . We intend to keep subscribing to AT. We enjoy and appreciate the broader view of things than is given in the Review.

 

Roy and Jinny Olson Via the Internet

 

AT Reports

 

Hi! Appreciate the opportunity to receive the reports. Please sign us up. We love AT.

 

Edwin and Bev Krick Via the Internet

 

Read Upon Receiving

 

I appreciate Adventist Today and read all issues almost immediately on receiving them. Yes I would like to receive the postings from the Glacier View ll conference.

 

Berryl Longway Via the Internet

 

Implications of the Conference

 

I'll be very interested in reading the reports from Glacier View in August. I suspect this Faith and Science conference will be even more controversial than the previous Investigative Judgment and Sanctuary conference because the outcome could have such an impact on our outreach to educated and secular 21st-Century minds. I hope that exploring this topic will not cost our GC president his job.

 

Margarita Merriman Via the Internet

 

Catastrophic Ramifications of the Conference

 

I am very much interested and concerned with the meetings and the dialog that is taking place at GVR. While I do not know all the data on the findings, or what a polemic actually is, the bottom line issue to me is: Where Is Our Ultimate Authority? Is it in whatever new data the scientific community can bring us about the age of the earth or how this world was created, or is it in the Bible? Ultimately this is just another test of our faith and commitment to our acceptance of the Divine inspiration of the Bible and that it is indeed trustworthy. Never mind all the arguments about how we should love one another and be tolerant of different and diverse views; this is an issue of inspiration, and the ramifications of this discussion and outcome are catastrophic! I believe the most loving thing to do is to meet this in an uncompromising way, and allow those who can no longer subscribe to this very fundamental belief of His church, to move on to other academic pastures and opportunities outside of this church. . . . Let us be earnestly praying for our church (His church) our leaders and the outcome of this meeting at GVR.

 

Pastor Lonny G. Liebelt Via the Internet

 

Reports to Share With White Estate

 

On behalf of the Ellen G. White Estate, that's a subscriber to Adventist Today, I'm requesting to be put on the mailing list to receive your reporter's "Glacier View Reports." . . . Our director, Dr. Jim Nix, who is attending and presenting, asked me to make the arrangements, . . . to share with our staff.

 

Larry J. Crews Silver Spring, Maryland

 

Thank you so much for the daily synopsis of the Glacier View meetings. I have read some of the reports to my husband, Ed Hare. He used the story of Joseph Bates and Ellen White's vision of the planets often when talking about Inspiration. Only it is Jupiter and not Uranus that she saw with four moons. Ed always used Jupiter for the example. She mentions Uranus with six moons. Arthur White stops his quote a little too soon in his biography. You may want to check out pp. 258, 259 of Loughborough's The Great Second Advent Movement to get it firsthand. Here are a significant couple of sentences:

 

"From that evening Elder Bates became fully satisfied that the visions of Mrs. White were outside of her knowledge and control. This and the character of the reproof and instruction given, satisfied him that they were from God."

 

It is so obvious and such a wonderful illustration of how God uses Inspiration for specific purposes and how important it is to take into account time and place. I'm glad someone presented it.

 

Did anyone mention the wonderful quotation in Education, p. 128? "Since the book of nature and the book of revelation bear the impress of the same master mind, they cannot but speak in harmony. By different methods, and in different languages, they witness to the same great truths. Science is ever discovering new wonders; but she brings from her research nothing that, rightly understood, conflicts with divine revelation. The book of nature and the written word shed light upon each other. They make us acquainted with God by teaching us something of the laws through which He works." This was Ed's inspiration to keep pursuing and trying to understand. He gave a marvelous series a number of years ago at CUC in which he emphasized that the observations and evidence aren't controversial, just the interpretation we give either from science or the Bible. He showed many slides to show the evidence.

 

Thanks again for making these daily reports available. You are doing a great job with AT.

 

Patti Hare Via the Internet

 

Paulsen on Obedience

 

As I understand it, AT's position is that of a watchdog on the Adventist Church, seeking to ensure that it does not lose hold of its spiritual roots. . . So I take note of Ervin Taylor's review and commentary on Jan Paulsen's recent policy address (AT Nov/Dec 2002). In it Paulsen is quoted as saying, "Obedience is always obedience where one is." Paulsen continues, "Salvation is contingent on that obedience." Taylor leaves unchallenged this assertion . . .

 

In marked contrast to Paulsen's statement, Protestants believe Paul's assertion, "For by grace are ye saved through faith, not by works. . . . It is by not believing that salvation is "that simple," dependent only on God's grace empowering my faith, that the church has apparently lost sight of basic Protestantism. Adventists lament loss of their identity. . . . Jesus never used a word starting with those letters (obe*). If He did not, why are we so obsessive on the subject, to the point of destroying our joy by getting it backwards? Those in a love relationship with truth and God never give obedience a thought. I believe Paulsen's position is unchristian, is instead base heathen idolatry, and that the most important statement made by the Church President in his speech was left unchallenged by the Church's watchdog deserves notice by those who love truth.

 

Ken Cox Angwin, California

 

Greig on Logical Doctrine

 

Congratulations on a timely and brave article by Dr. Joe Greig (AT March/April, 2003) entitled "Should Adventist Doctrine Be Logical?" Also, thanks to John McLarty's editorial echoing a similar theme of blind acceptance of information and dogma without serious open--minded inquiry. Inquiry enhances faith. Too many believe that remaining ignorant (of doctrines and their origins) protect that faith. On the contrary, faith is made stronger by informing it. Whether in religion, science, medicine or any intellectual pursuit, untested beliefs return us to the Flat Earth Concept. I believe Dr. Grieg would return us to a world and society in which members will pursue a spirituality of quest and inquiry, not of answers and dogmas. That is the world 1 want to live in. An ancient holy man once said: "A seeker after truth must shun no science, scorn no book, nor cling fanatically to a single creed".

 

John Hughes Fresno, California

 

War Can Be Moral

 

Kudos to Janine Goffar for pointing out that "War Is Sometimes Moral" (Mar/Apr 2003). By helping free the Iraqi people and protect other nations, the United States anti the rest of the "coalition of the willing'' played, on an international level, the role of the Good Samaritan who helped someone in need. France and Germany were the men who ignored the victim and passed on the other side. We owe all our rights to armed conflicts. Was the American War of Independence immoral? Was the war to defeat Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan immoral? We Adventists are not of this world, but we are in this world for the duration and should have the sense of responsibility to fight for what is right, whether domestically or internationally.

 

Hector Hammerly Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

 

The Sanctuary and the Sacrifices

 

I just read the article on "The Sanctuary Doctrine--Asset or Liability?" (AT May/June 2002). I have been concerned about who wanted/needed the Sanctuary/sacrificial system. Jeremiah 7:21, 22 says, "I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them on the day I brought them out of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice." And in the new Peterson "The Message":

"When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I never said anything to them about wanting burnt offerings and sacrifices as such." Is this one of those "very hard to be understood verses"? I have come to believe that it was not God who needed or wanted the "systems" but the people, and as in the case of their wanting a king, God allowed them to have this and tried to use it to shed some light on sin and the concept of salvation.

 

Jay Rasco Via the Internet

 

Editor's note: The Exodus record states that God told Moses to build the sanctuary and begin the sacrifices. Of course, the slaughtered animals were later used by the priests for food. But the prophets such as Jeremiah were often at odds with the establishment, especially where the welfare of the people was concerned.

JHS

 

Restoring Fallen Pastors

Errol Lawrence raised an interesting question when he asked if fallen SDA pastors either can or should be restored (AT Winter, Jan/Feb 2002). In my response I will write in the male gender, as most fallen SDA pastors are men.

In a sense, our church already attempts to restore such pastors. It does it by an accomplished practice of denial, which results in statements such as; penetration was incomplete, so intercourse did not take place; rubbing her breasts is not immorality; vaginal ejaculation did not take place, so there was no violation of the seventh commandment. The outside world knows better than this. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, as just about every military person knows, states that in rape cases penetration is not required. Penile contact with labia is all that is needed.

Our denial allows us to attempt to restore the person who is considered to have made a mistake in judgment. All too often this restoration has included such measures as: advice not to do it again, redemptive transfers, and attendance at a field school of evangelism. Advice not to do it again will most likely communicate that he should not get caught. Redemptive transfers are usually done without the knowledge of the gaining congregation. No one can hold the pastor accountable. Participation in evangelistic efforts neither deals with the root cause in the individual, nor really gives him time to devote to his spiritual life.

On a personal basis, I agree that sexual impropriety should not be an automatic, permanent disbarment from spiritual leadership functions. But, I believe that while there should be exceptions, in the majority of cases there should be a permanent withdrawing from pastoral care.

 

One example of an exception would be a single pastor who has stepped outside of bounds in a dating relationship. Another would be a pastor who patronizes a prostitute. These can both result from a "falling into sin" and not a commitment to sin. In addition, they may involve the individual's sexual maturation. It is common in the Adventist church to repress our sexuality. Some of the most vulnerable people are those who do so. It is very unhealthy for a pastor to be unable to acknowledge that he finds a certain female sexually attractive. It is a normal part of life to be sexually attracted to a person not your wife. The pastor, in establishing boundaries and standards for appropriate relationships, should acknowledge his sexual attraction to another and thus make decisions as to his future relationship with that person. One who can not acknowledge this places the relationship on an unconstrained basis where whatever happens, just happens. This is a failure to accept responsibility, and a foundation for real problems. These two exceptions, for me, represent cases where there can be a high likelihood of restoration, both spiritually and behaviorally.

 

The majority of situations of pastoral sexual misconduct will typically not allow for restoration to pastoral care. These will generally involve sexual misconduct with either a parishioner or with a minor. . . Secular ethics in the helping professions deal with the establishment of boundaries, transference and counter transference. All of these come into consideration when the sexual misconduct involves a parishioner. The violation of professional ethics is so great that serious consideration should be given to whether or not the pastor should ever again provide pastoral care. In the secular world there are standards that may provide for permanent loss of license or credentials. A certified public accountant who embezzles from a client my be permanently barred from accounting. A police officer who uses excessive force once, may never again work in law enforcement. The standards are tough. But, they are reasonable, and we need to hold pastors to tough standards. Sexual involvement with a congregational member is much more than an individual sin. It is a sin against the congregation, the denomination, and the profession of ministry. A reasonable consequence of such may be that the person never again is involved in pastoral care.

 

This also is true for one who has become sexually involved with a child. Pastoral care always has the potential for care to children. One who has been so involved can never be deemed to be safe to provide care to children. This involvement is not about sex. It may be about power, control, and violence. The sexual and emotional feelings that participated in the sexual assault on the child often remain in the criminal for years and even decades.

 

The criminal may talk a good story about repentance, and make behavioral changes. But, he may still see the twelve year-old as a small woman. He may refer to her as a Lolita, which indicates he still sexually fantasizes about her in his mind. Often he will have no idea of the emotional impact on the family and on the victim. Such children may develop significant behavioral problems and become spiritually estranged from God and church. Yet the criminal will see the victim as getting on with her life, and have no sense of the destructiveness of the sexual assault. Some will attempt to sublimate their unresolved sexual issues in a socially acceptable manner. Pastoral care provides a good means to do this. But, all the time the basic underlying issues remain in the criminal. Such people have justly earned a permanent disbarment from pastoral care. Grace is required of Christians. But, grace does not require restoration to a pastoral position. While there are exceptions, the majority of cases of pastoral sexual misconduct should not have a restoration to a pastoral position.

 

Gregory Matthews Brighton, Colorado

(Gregory Matthews is an ordained SDA minister and a retired U. S. Army Chaplain, and currently is a chaplain in a Veterans Affairs hospital in Denver, Colorado. He also participates in an Internet ministry to sexually abused women at: www.s-n-t.org).