ADVENTIST HEALTH SYSTEM THREAT
Thank you for your article on the state of the Adventist Health System. I had been hearing rumblings from various people about this topic and was myself concerned about the state of our health system. I am very happy to hear that the accusations are not true and that the individual is now behind bars. Thank you for keeping up on current issues and bringing the truth out.
Shelley Haase Guilford, Indiana

KATE SIMMONS ON WOMEN'S ISSUE
Kudos to Kate Simmons for her article “In Need of Our Mother in Heaven.” I am probably a little older than her mother, but my life experience is similar. My quest to be a “good Christian woman” almost cost my children and myself our lives. In the world in which we live, how can we afford to ignore that many in positions of power and trust—brothers, fathers, pastors, doctors, teachers, politicians and others—take advantage of the very ones they are supposed to be serving and protecting. It is important to respect legitimate authority, but also important to protect the vulnerable and to respect their right to defend themselves.

My grandmother, in the early 1900s and widowed with seven small children, was shunned out of her church because she cut her long hair. It was too much for her to do her daily tasks and still have time to care for her hair. In my mother’s day it was expected that ladies would wear hats to church— but, in the SDA community, NO T jewelry! The pastor who married me to my first husband was sure to teach us that wearing a wedding ring was EVIL, but never talked about the need for a husband to financially support his family, or to nurture his children and wife, or to refrain from violence.

It is possible that my children and grandchildren will live through the most challenging times of this earth’s history. I consider the time and energy that has been spent in my life contemplating if it was okay for girls to climb trees, whether it was okay to be smart and to do my budget, whether it was okay to disagree with the men in my life and to wear pants with (gasp!) a zipper in the front! I wonder if that time would have been better spent studying and preparing so that I could raise my children to face the future?

We are told that people will travel to and fro, that knowledge will increase, that the earth will wear out like a garment… My parents rarely left the state they were born in. I remember when we got our first TV and when engineers and scientists still used slide rules for their calculations. I remember when they scoffed that we would ever leave the earth’s atmosphere—gravity and the thickness of the air would make this an impossible dream. I remember when many ladies never learned to drive—that was for the husbands to do; and when a person with a bachelor’s degree was highly educated. Now that person is practically illiterate if he is not proficient on the computer, no matter how many years of college he has had.

How can our families, our churches, our nations hope to be strong if we devalue half of our people? Kate, keep following the way your heart is leading you. Your brain and your personhood are gifts of the Creator and no one has the right to take those away from you. Jesus died so that you could have a life! As much as we need church fellowship, you and your children–and your grandchildren–will be healthier in every way if you continue to read books from the “Women’s Issues” section rather than “Christian Inspiration” books. Unfortunately there are too few of the latter that address the real-life issues that I and my foremothers have had to deal with, and too few have the knowledge my children and grandchildren will need in order to survive and thrive in the times to come.
Karolyn Kasprzak Tacoma, Wash.

KATRINA                                                           
Please, somebody tell me where is the Adventist Church’s presence in this horrific tragedy? I don’t mean the local congregation of which I am a member; we have done and are still doing all we can. My question continues to be Where is the Seventhday Adventist Church’s presence? Oh I forgot, ADR A stopped by and gave us shirts, a $2,000 voucher, and took pictures. Thank you. But in terms of presence, the Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans— even the Scientologists stopped by. This is not to say we haven’t had some volunteers from Adventist congregations who have come down to spend a couple of days to help us, and we are appreciative of their help. But come on, where is the World Church’s response to Katrina? Still down in Mississippi
Via the Internet marme1957@aol.com

KEEPING IN PERSPECTIVE
I am renewing my subscription, hoping that this year I will receive every issue. And, would it be possible to send them on time instead of two months late? P.S. I do enjoy the magazine! It helps keep in perspective the things going on in our denomination!
John S. Lobo Chino, Calif.

Editorial Comment: High on the agenda of the Adventist Today editorial group in 2006 is to produce the magazine on schedule. Thank you for helping our resolve.

pp.4,5 adventist today | vol. 13 issue 5