October, 2011
Vol. 7, No. 10
Adventist World is free online. For that reason, I only review or comment on articles and editorials that I believe to be of special interest.
THIS ISSUE discusses the need for effective evangelistic work in cities and Adventist standards of thought and behavior. As usual, I have supplied my recommended reading and a comment or two.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH from “The People’s Place”
“True mission
work is meeting people where they are and responding to their plight.”—Pastor Busi Khumalo, director for Youth and Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries in the Southern Africa Indian Ocean Division
RECOMMENDED READING
TOO MUCH TV? by Allan R. Handysides and Peter N. Landless
THE FEET MY SAVIOR WASHED by Carissa McSherry
REVIEWS
In BIG CITIES—BIGGER VISION Ted Wilson emphasizes the importance of evangelistic work in cities, even though he doesn’t recommend living in one. He recommends Ellen White’s idea of “’outpost centers’—including training schools, lifestyle health facilities, and missionary homes—would be established just on the edge of urban areas. A cycle of outreach moves the missionary into the city to engage with people on the level of their need, inviting responsive persons out to the outpost center for rehabilitation and recovery, and then returning with them to continue the cycle of witness. This in-out movement is essential for this special work, because God never intended believers to spend all of their lives in dense, overstimulated urban areas of the modern world.”
--I wonder if Ellen White would have considered Silver Spring a “big city”.
On his GERMAN TRIP Wilson discussed the danger in “friendly relationships with other faiths...These must not substitute for the core of Christian activity, that of sharing the gospel and three angels’ messages with those who need to hear. During our trip in Germany, emphasis was placed on the need to focus on the distinctive biblical truths of Seventh-day Adventists and not to focus on ecumenical activities”. He also condemned the “intellectual attacks on the veracity of Scripture…even as pressure builds from the academic world of higher criticism to recommend new and more subjective methods of interpretation that conflict with the accepted Seventh-day Adventist approach to biblical interpretation. Seventh-day Adventists endorse the historical-biblical or historical-grammatical approach, which allows the Bible to interpret itself.”
--For Ted, Matthew 7:11-13 just isn’t enough.
FUNDAMENTAL BELIEF NUMBER 14 is thoughtfully illuminated by Cheryl Doss. –However, I prefer the wording of the belief itself. As far as I am concerned, the other 27 are superfluous or off-putting.
“The church is one body with many members, called from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. In Christ we are a new creation; distinctions of race, culture, learning, and nationality, and differences between high and low, rich and poor, male and female, must not be divisive among us. We are all equal in Christ, who by one Spirit has bonded us into one fellowship with Him and with one another; we are to serve and be served without partiality or reservation. Through the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures we share the same faith and hope, and reach out in one witness to all. This unity has its source in the oneness of the triune God, who has adopted us as His children. (Rom. 12:4, 5; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; Matt. 28:19, 20; Ps. 133:1; 2 Cor. 5:16, 17; Acts 17:26, 27; Gal. 3:27, 29; Col. 3:10-15; Eph. 4:14-16; 4:1-6; John 17:20-23.”
In FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, Angel Manuel RodrÃguez uncharacteristically attempts a response to the important question: “What is the purpose of church standards?” Characteristically he bungles his answer and leaves nonAdventist readers under the impression that all drugs are forbidden!
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