Download PDF - Adventist Review

www.adventistreview.org

June 27, 2013

Study Confirms Benefit of Vegetarian Diet Because Bubble Wrap Is Impractical Mission Impossible (With Spies)

MAKING SURE WE’RE NOT BEING TAKEN

8 26 29

“Behold, I come quickly . . .” Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ by presenting stories of His matchless love, news of His present workings, help for knowing Him better, and hope in His soon return.

18 COVER FEATURE 18 Lover or Seducer?

26 ARTICLES 14 Forgiveness

JOHN MARKOVIC

ROY E. GANE

It’s the difference between sincerity and sorrow.

How is it possible?

22 Why You Matter So Much TY GIBSON

We can do things nobody else can.

24 From Strength to Strength

ELLEN G. WHITE

Doing what has to be done

12 DEPARTMENTS 4 Letters 7 Page 7 8 World News & Perspectives

6 EDITORIALS 6 GERALD A. KLINGBEIL Offline

7

WILONA KARIMABADI

Strong Backs

13 Give & Take 17 Transformation Tips 29 Dateline Moscow 31 Reflections

26 Because Bubble Wrap Is Impractical

ASHELEY WOODRUFF

ON THE COVER With so many voices, how do we to know which ones to listen to?

We can go only so far in protecting our kids from bullying.

NEXT W EEK IN ADVENTIST WORLD Life Maps Often we can’t know where we’re going until we look back and see where we’ve been.

Publisher General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®, Executive Publisher Bill Knott, Associate Publisher Claude Richli, Publishing Board: Ted N. C. Wilson, chair; Benjamin D. Schoun, vice chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Lisa Beardsley-Hardy; Daniel R. Jackson; Robert Lemon; Geoffrey Mbwana; G. T. Ng; Daisy Orion; Juan Prestol; Michael Ryan; Ella Simmons; Mark Thomas; Karnik Doukmetzian, legal adviser. Editor Bill Knott, Associate Editors Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Coordinating Editor Stephen Chavez, Online Editor Carlos Medley, Features Editor Sandra Blackmer, Young Adult Editor Kimberly Luste Maran, KidsView Editor Wilona Karimabadi, News Editor Mark A. Kellner, Operations Manager Merle Poirier, Financial Manager Rachel Child, Editorial Assistant Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste, Assistant to the Editor Gina Wahlen, Quality Assurance/Social Media Coordinator Jean Boonstra, Marketing Director Claude Richli, Editor-at-Large Mark A. Finley, Senior Advisor E. Edward Zinke, Art Director Bryan Gray, Design Daniel Añez, Desktop Technician Fred Wuerstlin, Ad Sales Glen Gohlke, Subscriber Services Steve Hanson. To Writers: Writer’s guidelines are available at the Adventist Review Web site: www.adventistreview.org and click “About the Review.” For a printed copy, send a self-addressed envelope to: Writer’s Guidelines, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.adventistreview.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to Adventist Review, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740-7301. Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this issue are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are © Thinkstock 2013. The Adventist Review (ISSN 01611119), published since 1849, is the general paper of the Seventh-day Adventist® Church. It is published by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists® and is printed 36 times a year on the second, third, and fourth Thursdays of each month by the Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740. Periodical postage paid at Hagerstown, MD 21740. Copyright © 2013, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Vol. 190, No. 18 Subscriptions: Thirty-six issues of the weekly Adventist Review, US$36.95 plus US$28.50 postage outside North America. Single copy US$3.00. To order, send your name, address, and payment to Adventist Review subscription desk, Box 1119, Hagerstown, MD 21741-1119. Orders can also be placed at Adventist Book Centers. Prices subject to change. Address changes: [email protected]. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257. Subscription queries: [email protected]. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257.

www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013 | ( 5 6 3 )

3

LETTERS FROM OUR READERS 13 6, 20 M ay 1

Vol. 190, No.

www.ad

ventistr

eview.o rg

14

2013 May 16,

Freedom Religious Threatened n Cries

es a Christia

Sometim

The Truth

as It Is in

Jesus

8 24 28

SandS FoR Thou eTeS, oF aThl an The IRonm a IS TRIaThlon . big deal

Christ, or Kona?

Christ, or Kona?

»»Thank you for printing the

article “Christ, or Kona?” by Kimberly Luste Maran about Alicia Trott, her incredible training accomplishments, and her choice not to race in the Kona Ironman on Sabbath (May 16, 2013). My husband and I both train for and compete in marathons and ultra marathons and have also chosen not to race on Sabbath. This choice has been a difficult one at times, and I completely understand the struggle that Trott went through—not only the personal struggle, but also dealing with the opinions of other athletes in our church and training partners. Truly, a stand such as hers does have a far wider effect and is admirable. Thank you again for sharing and encouraging other athletes not to compromise. ALINA RICE

Enterprise, Oregon

Going in Circles

»»I’m writing regarding Stephen Chavez’s editorial “Going in Circles” (May 16). Amen and amen! To paraphrase the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Your actions

4

speak so loudly, I can’t hear a word you say.” Until we deal with the attitude that we alone have “the truth,” why would anyone be attracted to the message? May we show a loving, compassionate God who is so patient and willing to accept anyone who is crying out for His presence. Then, our message becomes appealing and people are attracted to the God we profess to serve. BETTIGENE D. REISWIG

Port Orford, Oregon

Slight Flaw

»»The Adventist Review is a weekly blessing to me. And when I am through reading, I pass it along to a relative who then passes it to another. I mentally say “Amen” to many articles, but this is my first written response. Being a “fan” of Clifford Goldstein since hearing him speak at the Soquel, California, camp meeting some 25 or 30 years ago, and being involved and educated in music (classical and otherwise) since the age of 5, I was chagrined at the second paragraph in Goldstein’s column “Brahms Symphony No. 2” (May 16). He redeemed himself somewhat in paragraph 4 by admitting that “whatever it meant to be made in the ‘image of God,’ it had to include creativity.” Hopefully his taste for classical will be expanded by listening to inspired works

( 5 6 4 ) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

Jacques’ words lived on to bless my heart this Mother’s Day weekend with “Eloquent Moments of Silence” (May 9, 2013). Tears ran down my cheeks as I read of precious memories of not only his grandson’s gift, but also his own gift to his mother many years ago. Now he sleeps, awaiting the return of our

DORALEE MURPHY

Healdsburg, California

Sometimes a Christian Cries

»»The May 16 Adventist Review

was very interesting. I especially liked Frank A. Campbell’s article “Sometimes a Christian Cries.” Campbell skillfully presents glimpses of the gospel’s ability to heal the pain resulting from loss, failure, and injustice. He does this by using examples from the life of Peter, the disciple of Jesus. While reading, I was reminded of scenes from a recent made-for-TV production of the Bible, in which the angels were delivering Lot and his family. The angels were physically injured while fighting with Sodom’s vicious and corrupt inhabitants. Although this was rather far-fetched, I was challenged with the thought that angels suffer emotionally and/or mentally while trying to deliver us from this world of sin. Sometimes even the angels must cry! Let’s help hasten the time when no one need ever cry. ERTIS L. JOHNSON

Canute, Oklahoma

Legacy of Written Words

»»Though he passed away in September 2012, Oliver

© TE RRY C RE WS

inbox

such as Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem,” Handel’s “Messiah,” Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” (and the list could go on). My thanks to Goldstein, for owning up to this slight flaw in his character.

Lord, leaving behind a beautiful word picture of emotions to be shared when “our heavenly Father opens His arms to receive His oncewayward children” home! LINDA WHICKER

Denver, North Carolina

A Tale of Two Travelers

»»As a longtime missionary

to India and the Far East, your Page 7 feature “A Tale of Two Travelers” (May 9), mentioning India’s Homer Russell Salisbury and Mahajan Jagajit Singh Bahadur, was of extreme interest to me. My wife and I had the privilege of living for eight years in Salisbury Park in Poona (now Pune), India, and heard the story of Salisbury many times over. Your beautiful account of his 1915 experience of going down with a torpedoed ship, however, leaves out perhaps the most wonderful deed Salisbury

ever reportedly did: he gave up his place in a lifeboat to another passenger. He would have otherwise been one of the many survivors of the disaster. But even before we took up residence in Salisbury Park, where the Southern Asia Division headquarters were then located, we lived for a five-year term in North India and had the privilege of frequently visiting our Adventist school in Mussoorie, India. Each trip took us up the hill right past the summer palace of the maharajah of Kapurthala. How delightful it would have been had we only known at that time that the then maharajah’s father was saved from the same disaster that took the life of our wonderful missionary leader. CHARLES H. TIDWELL, SR.

Collegedale, Tennessee

Scriptural Concept?

»»Regarding Mark A. Kell-

ner’s news article “No More Anniversaries” (May 9), I want to know what Bible texts support the following quote: “We should have been home by now. The Lord has wanted to come long before this. Why [should we] celebrate any more anniversaries when we could be in heaven?” I have heard this rhetoric since I was a boy. Usually it was used to motivate the church to do more. Do people have the ability to postpone the Advent? Where do we find such a concept in the Scriptures? LARRY YEAGLEY

Gentry, Arkansas

Three Great Articles

»»Although I always enjoy

reading the Review, the April 18, 2013, edition contained three articles that really resonated for me. Especially important was Tara Vin Cross’s “Many Hearts, One Love.” If everyone in our church would read it and take the message to heart, we would see great and positive changes in our churches. I believe the Lord’s coming would be hastened. I also found “Post Modernism in the Classroom,” by Michael Zwaagstra, compelling. And the cover story “Walking the Newsbeat,” chronicling how Debbie Michel found her way to the Lord, was very satisfying. DONALD E. CASEBOLT

College Place, Washington

A Faith of Don’ts?

»»Wilona Karimabadi’s editorial “A Faith of Don’ts?” (Mar. 21, 2013) brought to mind an experience from last summer. I was playing golf in Maine, walking the course, when a man playing alone caught up with my playing partner and me. Golf etiquette teaches that you allow the faster player to play through. My friend knew the man and introduced us as ministers, he a Baptist and I a Seventh-day Adventist. The Baptist minister turned to me and said, “Oh, you are the people who outlive everyone because of your healthful lifestyle.” He thanked us and hurried on his way. JOEL TOMPKINS

Greeneville, Tennessee

“

Let’s help hasten the time when

”

no one need ever cry.

—ERTIS L. JOHNSON, Canute, Oklahoma

“In the Wilderness: The Epidemic” (Mar. 21). It was a blessing in many ways, and I especially appreciated the most interesting journey that his wife’s grandparents undertook to come to Jesus Christ. I find it exciting to know how the truth travels to the hearts and lives of those who make up our heritages. JERRY LASTINE

Metcalf, Illinois

Where They’ve Been, Where They’re Going

»»I am a senior citizen and

have read the Review for most of my life. I appreciate and enjoy it. I recently read in the Review the listing of places the editors have visited (Page 7, Dec. 27, 2012). What I found interesting was that I have lived in six different states, yet only one of those was mentioned in the list and that was Maryland, where the Review editors work. I’m grateful that the editors do visit in different areas, as it is encouraging to those residents to meet them in person. Some, however, might feel left out, having lived in only one state or country that was not mentioned, while possibly several of those mentioned have been visited several times.

More Bible Marking, Please!

»»I’ve enjoyed the “On Your

Mark” Bible marking topics printing on Page 7 of the Review several times in 2012. Please send me further topics so I can add them to my marking plan! PATRICIA B. MUTCH

Berrien Springs, Michigan

We’ve received quite a few requests for additional material on this Bible marking series. We now have the entire yearlong series available. Please write to Merle Poirier, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 209046600; e-mail poirierm@gc. adventist.org; or fax 301-6806638 to request this material. —Editors. We welcome your letters, noting, as always, that inclusion of a letter in this section does not imply that the ideas expressed are endorsed by either the editors of the Adventist Review or the General Conference. Short, specific, timely letters have the best chance at being published (please include your complete address and phone number—even with e-mail messages). Letters will be edited for space and clarity only. Send correspondence to Letters to the Editor, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600; Internet: letters@ adventistreview.org.

NORMA MCKELLIP

The Epidemic

»»Thank you for printing Gerald A. Klingbeil’s article

Macon, Georgia


5

Editorials

Offline I RECENTLY RECEIVED A FASCINATING E-MAIL REPLY TO A MESSAGE I

Gerald A.

Klingbeil

had sent to a friend teaching at Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen in Austria. It was one of those prewritten messages that the mail software sends off automatically once it receives a message during a specific time period. This is what it said: “Thank you for your e-mail. Our availability from May 13 to 17, 2013, is limited because of a project of Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen called ‘ECGO—[German abbreviation for] A Campus Goes Offline.’ By means of this project we want to motivate students and employees to reflect on responsible usage of modern instruments of communication.” For five days an entire school campus went offline—I was intrigued. Can you imagine five days without e-mails, text messages, tweets, Facebook updates, news from your favorite news outlet, or your preferred TV programs? Increasingly we live more online than in the real world. Need to buy some supplements, a computer, or running shoes? Go to the online store of your favorite e-tailer, and you’ll be able to find anything your heart may desire (and often even at better prices than in the brick-and-mortar stores). Have you noticed that people waiting for an appointment in the doctor’s office look at their hands—or better, the smartphones or tablets they’re holding in their hands? No eye contact, little (if any) conversation—just me and my smartphone. We keep track of hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of Facebook friends who tell us about an extraordinary café latte or the color of a sweater they are wearing today.* We have become news junkies who need to know right now what’s currently happening in China or Timbuktu or the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. I find myself pulling out my smartphone when it vibrates—even when I am in the middle of listening to a wonderful sermon. The vibration speaks of urgency and immediacy. “A Campus Goes Offline” is a wonderful idea that could be replicated individually or in our families and churches. How many hours a day do we spend connected or online? Can you imagine the time we would suddenly have if the computer stays off for a day or two or five? (I would not be able to do most of my work, which would mean that you wouldn’t receive your copy of the Adventist Review.) What would happen if we would turn off our phones for 24 hours (or longer)? Well, we would be able to visit a friend in person. We could write one of those old-fashioned paper letters without LOL, FYI, ASAP, or any other abbreviation, walk to the post office, and mail it to a friend who needs encouragement. In church we could truly listen to one another as we study Scripture together instead of looking at our devices and following our agendas. Instead of always saying “I am busy” to our children we could plan a day hike (or an evening stroll) with the family. The possibilities are unlimited (and no, I am not suggesting that modern communication tools are evil; I am busy writing on one right now!). I have decided to go offline more often. I need to walk away more frequently from the sounds and vibes of modern communication and entertainment so that I can discover again the still soft voice that God loves using when communicating with His children. I need to retrain my ears and my eyes to enjoy solitude or the immediacy of the people around me. So next time you send me an e-mail or a text message or a letter, you may have to wait a bit longer for a response. I may be busy listening. n * For truth’s sake I need to confess that I am not on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, or any other social network. We also do not have a TV or cable at home—but we do have a very fast fiber optics connection.

6

( 5 6 6) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

Strong Backs I HEARD A GREAT SERMON IN CHURCH A FEW WEEKS AGO. A SERMON just for me, about having a strong back. You’ve heard about my new life as a sufferer of back issues in this magazine before. At the time, I thought the episode was a “one and done” type of thing. I was wrong. Over the past seven months I have had two more flare-ups, resulting in an MRI that revealed I am now the proud owner of a herniated disc. I am much better, but I hesitate to say back to normal because I have learned and accepted that disc issues are akin to dormant volcanoes. You may feel that all is well for the most part until something (and I wish I knew for sure) happens and the flare-up is in full force, rendering a normally active person temporarily sidelined. Needless to say, I’m not terribly happy about this, but I do remind myself that things could be much worse. So it was in this frame of mind and body that I heard that great sermon. No, it never mentioned backs. It was about crosses we bear that are not of our choosing. The idea really hit home. In this life we are handed things that we would rather hand back—illness, divorce, financial problems, death, etc. But we must remember that God does not give us more than He knows we can handle and equips us to do exactly that—handle it. So (and forgive me for totally talking to myself here) instead of saying, “God, remove this burden from me completely,” which is not always a bad prayer to pray, perhaps we may ask something different of the One who knows better than we do. Maybe our prayer should then be “Lord, if You see fit not to remove my burdens completely, please just grant me a strong back to carry them.” Literally. n

Wilona

Karimabadi

When God Moves

Some scholars have suggested that Psalm 68 is the most difficult psalm to understand. There appears to be no regular pattern; it’s often thought of as possibly a series of titles or opening stanzas. However, if the psalm is studied carefully, one can hear described the movement of the ark (the presence of God) as it is transported by the priests. Read the story of David bringing the ark from Obed-Edom’s house to Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6. Then read Psalm 68 as outlined below. See if you can detect God “on the move.” (Special note: Ellen White describes portions of Psalm 68 sung often by Jesus while here on earth and also sung by the angel choir as Jesus ascended into heaven.) verses 1, 2: The ark is lifted up. verses 3-6: The assembly is encouraged to praise God. verses 7-10: The march in the wilderness is remembered. verses 11-14: The victories of war are celebrated. verses 15-19: Shouts increase as the ark is taken up the hill toward Zion. verses 20-23: The priests reach the summit; all enemies of God will be crushed. verses 24-27: The procession of the assembly is described. verses 28-31: Future conquests are anticipated. verses 32-35: Ultimate praise as the assembly bursts forth in song. james jacques joseph tissot

World News & Perspectives Major Study Affirms Adventists’ Vegetarian Diet More than 70,000 studied in U.S. By ANSEL OLIVER, Adventist News Network

BRAN DAN RO BERTS/AN N

■ ■NORTH AMERICA

EAT VEGGIES, LIVE LONGER: A vegetarian diet is said to increase longevity, according to a study of Seventh-day Adventists conducted by Loma Linda University researchers and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

PEOPLE WHO eat a vegetarian diet live

8

Linda University Medical Center, said the study was aided by studying subjects who have low rates of alcohol and tobacco use. Researchers pointed out that the health benefits were even more beneficial for men. It remained unclear why women were less affected by a vegetarian diet. Future research will examine gender-specific reactions to certain foods. Dr. Kathleen Kuntaraf, associate Health Ministries Department director

LLU PHOTO

longer than those who eat meat, according to a study of more than 70,000 Seventh-day Adventists. A study published June 3, 2013, in JAMA Internal Medicine, a journal of the American Medical Association, said vegetarians experienced 12 percent fewer deaths over a six-year period of research. Researchers at Loma Linda University, an Adventist institution in southern California, conducted the study, which was funded by the United States National Institutes of Health. Researchers tracked 73,308 Adventist Church members who follow the church’s dietary counsel of a plant-based diet to varying degrees. Of the study’s participants, researchers said 5,548 were vegans, 21,177 were lacto-ovo vegetarians (also eating dairy products and eggs), 7,194 were vegetarians who also ate fish, and 4,031 ate meat infrequently. The rest of the study participants ate meat. The findings confirm health benefits of eating a vegetarian diet, the lead study author Dr. Michael Orlich told Bloomberg News. “People should take these kinds of results into account as they’re considering dietary choices,” Orlich told Bloomberg. “Various types of vegetarian diets may be beneficial in reducing the risk of death compared to nonvegetarian diets.” Orlich, director of the preventive medicine residency program at Loma

HEALTH RESEARCHER: Dr. Orlich, director of the preventive medicine residency program at Loma Linda University Medical Center, was lead study researcher.


for the General Conference of Seventhday Adventists, affirmed that a vegetarian diet is part of living a wholistic, healthy life. “More and more people are recognizing that our principles from 150 years ago are truly scientific,” she said. Seventh-day Adventists have long advocated a vegetarian diet. The founder of Loma Linda’s School of Public Health overcame resistance in the health community in the 1940s to produce a landmark study on the benefits of a vegetarian diet, discovering that such a diet indeed contained sufficient protein, among other benefits. In recent years, Adventists have been noted as one of the longest living people groups ever studied. In 2008 Blue Zones author Dan Buettner wrote extensively about the health principles of Adventists and their longer, healthier lifespans. According to a JAMA Internal Medicine news release: “The possible relationship between diet and mortality is an important area of study. Vegetarian diets have been associated with reductions in risk for several chronic diseases, including hypertension, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, and ischemic heart disease (IHD), according to the study background.” n —with additional reporting by Adventist Review staff


Royce Williams, Longtime Evangelist, Passes to His Rest Served It Is Written ministry for 31 years By MICHELE STOTZ, It Is Written

meetings energized—glowing Seventh-day Adventist pastor and with the joy he had received evangelist who served It Is Writfrom preaching the Word of God ten television for 31 years as a and seeing people respond to manager, global evangelism coorthe call of Jesus.” dinator, director of field services, Royce Carlton Williams was and special projects coordinator, born on a farm northeast of died unexpectedly May 28, 2013, Greeley, Colorado, on February from complications of pneumo15, 1928, the youngest of four nia. He was 85. brothers—all delivered in the Williams worked for It Is Writsame farmhouse by a country ten full-time from 1976 to 2007, doctor. His father had traveled which marked his fifty-sixth year from Missouri to Colorado at of denominational service. the age of 2 in a covered wagon Although he retired December pulled by mules. When Williams 31, 2007, he continued working was 4, his family moved to on a nearly full-time basis until Nebraska, where he grew up on shortly before he entered the a cattle ranch. hospital in early May. In 1946 Williams was drafted While at It Is Written, he into the Navy, and was disassisted speakers George Vandecharged a little more than six man, Mark Finley, Shawn Boonmonths later. But that was stra, and John Bradshaw. He enough for him to qualify for traveled extensively around the the GI Bill, enabling him to LONGTIME EVANGELIST: Royce Williams, a Seventhworld—coordinating evangelisattend college. In 1947, after a day Adventist pastor and evangelist who served It Is tic meetings and special projects, Written for 31 years and continued in retirement, few months at Union College, and holding evangelistic series of passed to his rest at age 85 on May 28, 2013. and after falling in love with his his own. soon-to-be wife, Frances, WilWilliams had crossed the Atlantic 106 times and the liams decided to become a minister. Pacific 84 times, had flown on 91 different airlines and had After graduating from Union College in 1951, Williams visited 64 countries. He traveled with Finley on at least 22 served as a pastor in Missouri for two years before acceptoverseas evangelistic trips, and held training seminars in ing a call to the Philippines. During the next 23 years, he every nonregional conference in the United States and most served as a mission director, union evangelist, and Far Eastof Canada. ern Division ministerial secretary, before returning to the In 2006 Williams traveled to Africa to deliver solarUnited States to work with It Is Written. powered “Godpod” Bibles to people living in the Kalahari Williams said that the most thrilling moment of his minDesert. One year later he accompanied Boonstra on It Is istry was the night in 1953 when he sat in the home of Mr. Written’s trip to the Arctic, where—partly by dogsled—they and Mrs. Roy McKee as they responded to his appeal for delivered Inuktitut-language Bibles to Inuit people living in baptism. They were the first people who came to Christ as a remote areas. result of his ministry. Earlier this year he joined Bradshaw for a major evangeWillams is survived by his wife of 66 years, Frances; chillistic series in Central America. Said Bradshaw, “It was truly dren Marlin, Sheryl, Terry, and Darlene; 10 grandchildren; inspirational to see him each night as he returned from his and two great-grandchildren. n I T I S W RI TTE N

ROYCE WILLIAMS, a longtime

www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013 | ( 5 6 9)

9

World News & Perspectives


Adventist Pastor to Lead Churchspecific Focus for Digital Publisher Martin Weber heads new product department for Logos Bible Software By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor

Bible software and digital media for churches has hired a Seventh-day Adventist pastor to spearhead a new effort aimed at the Adventist market. Martin Weber, a pastor and editor who served the Seventh-day Adventist Church for 41 years, most recently as communication director for the MidAmerica Union, recently retired from denominational service and accepted the invitation of Logos Bible Software to become the firm’s Seventh-day Adventist product manager. Based in Bellingham, Washington, Logos has more than 2 million customers of its Bible software worldwide, with users in more than 210 countries, and publishes in more than 30 languages. It is the only electronic publisher to offer The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary and the Ellen G. White writings as part of an integrated Bible study software system. Logos is believed to be the first non-Adventist publisher to create a position specifically aimed at serving the Adventist market. Weber, in a telephone interview, said his task will be to expand the list of Adventist-related publications—which now stands at 18, including the recent addition of the Andrews Study Bible notes—to cover a broad range of the movement’s writers and thinkers. “I’m hoping to take leading Adventist writers and speakers, contemporary and historical, and have them available in an Adventist-specific package,” he said. Logos has a proprietary database system in which thousands of documents can be searched at once for highly specific results. For example, it will be possible to type “Rev. 14:6” and see where every Adventist author in the 10

M I D -A M E RI CA UNI ON

THE LEADING domestic publisher of

PRODUCT MANAGER: Martin Weber, who recently retired from denominational service as Mid-America Union communication director, is the new Seventh-day Adventist product manager for Logos Bible Software in Bellingham, Washington.

database has ever quoted the first angel’s message. Logos can also transcribe into print format various Adventist audio and video archives and make them searchable with a keystroke by users. Potentially, one could instantly discover every time Voice of Prophecy founder H.M.S. Richards was recorded speaking the word “Gethsemane” in his nearly five decades of radio broadcasting or whenever George Vandeman used the word “Armageddon” in his 35 years of telecasting. Logos hopes to package the written transcripts of their messages, and those of more than a dozen other beloved Adventist teachers past and present—with their original audio or video—thus opening up a multimedia trove of teaching

( 57 0) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

treasure for today’s Adventists. Weber is working with Logos leaders to provide Adventists materials in languages other than English, giving priority to Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German. Ultimately, he said, thousands of articles in the archives of numerous Adventist publications can be bundled into general categories such as spirituality, outreach, Adventist history, prophecy, etc. The whole mass of documents can then be searched specifically, so that any Adventist document included in the database that used the word “Millerite” will be instantly discoverable. Participating Adventist publishers and authors would receive royalties from Logos sales of their documents. Weber said he wants to “work in collaboration with existing Adventist publishers, seeking ‘win-win’ partnerships for the sake of benefiting church members globally.” Another advantage for Seventh-day Adventists, Weber said, is that evangelists and pastors may publish digitized versions of their own outreach books and study guides through Logos, thus avoiding denominational prejudice by bearing the imprint of a nonsectarian publisher. Such resources would also be available to the wider Logos user base of Christians across denominational lines. Weber’s four decades of denominational service on five continents have uniquely equipped him to service the Adventist market through Logos. Along with his work at the Mid-America Union, Weber served at the Voice of Prophecy in 1983 and two years later became assistant to the director/ speaker for It Is Written. He wrote 100 telecast scripts and answered more

than 8,000 letters from viewers seeking biblical information. During the early 1990s Weber served as associate editor for Ministry magazine and as a member of the General Conference Executive Committee and the Ministerial Association. He also authored several books on Adventism, served as an adjunct professor at Adventist colleges, was a member of the International Police and Fire Chaplain’s Association, and was volunteer chair for

The Hope of Survivors, an international, ASI-affiliated organization supporting victims of clergy sexual abuse. Tom Lemon, Mid-America Union president, said, “I have experienced [Martin] Weber as a deeply sincere and highly committed church leader. I appreciate his commitment to the church, even as he has fearlessly pointed out opportunities for the church to be more like her master, Jesus Christ.”

Logos Bible Software describes itself as the leading provider of multilingual tools and resources for Bible study on Macs, PCs, and mobile devices. Logos has served pastors, scholars, and everyone who wants to study the Bible since 1992, partnering with 150 publishers to offer nearly 35,000 Christian e-books to users in 210 countries. n —with information from the Mid-America Union and Logos Bible Software


One-volume Adventist Bible Commentary Due in 2015 Andrews Bible Commentary, at 1,800 pages, to be a ready reference By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS and oth-

ers interested in the Adventist perspective on Scripture will soon have a new, one-volume resource on the Bible. The Andrews Bible Commentary, due for release at the 2015 General Conference session in San Antonio, Texas, is the church’s first concise, one-volume commentary, and is intended as a coordinated resource with the Andrews Study Bible, released by Andrews University Press in June 2010. Andrews University president NielsErik Andreasen announced the new commentary on Monday, April 15, at the Spring Meeting of the General Conference Executive Committee, in Battle Creek, Michigan. The commentary project is coordinated by Andrews University Press, the world church’s only regularly established academic publishing house, with funding from Andrews University and the General Conference, and oversight by a project committee of General Conference and Andrews personnel. As with the Andrews Study Bible, the Andrews Bible Commentary is intended specifically for the general reader, as

well as pastors and church elders, providing basic Bible teaching in the congregation, Andreasen said. In making his announcement, Andreasen referred the delegates to a purpose statement for the commentary that had been approved by the project committee. It states that the Andrews Bible Commentary “is a concise, one-volume exposition of Scripture written by faithful scholars of the church as a companion to the Andrews Study Bible for lay readers, pastors, students, and teachers living in expectation of the Advent hope.” “This commentary is aimed to help the person in the pew. It is written in plain language,” Andreasen said. He told the delegates that the writers had been instructed to write at the same reading level that they would write an article for the Adventist Review, the general church paper of the Adventist Church. When it is published and released in 2015, the Andrews Bible Commentary will have about 1,800 pages of commentary and helpful articles, or about three times the original content of the Andrews Study Bible, according to

Andrews University Press staff. Andreasen said 60 writers, all Bible scholars from church institutions and organizations around the world, have been contracted to work on the commentary under the direction of a small editorial team. The general editor is Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, retired director of the General Conference’s Biblical Research Institute. Associate editors are Greg King (Old Testament), dean of the School of Religion, Southern Adventist University; Gerald Klingbeil (Old Testament), associate editor, Adventist Review/ Adventist World; and John McVay (New Testament), president of Walla Walla University. Andreasen said some of the writers have already completed their assignments. He assured General Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson that a small printed sample of selected portions of the commentary will be available for the next full meeting of the General Conference Executive Committee at Annual Council in October 2013. n —with information from Andrews University Press

www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013 | ( 57 1 )

11

World News & Perspectives

■ ■WORLD CHURCH

Global Religious Freedom Remains a Concern Church experts express concern over increased intolerance worldwide By ELIZABETH LECHLEITNER, Adventist News Network

Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has Seventh-day Adventist human rights experts concerned over growing state-sponsored or condoned intolerance toward minority faith groups worldwide. “We are again reminded that for religious minorities, of which Seventh-day Adventists are in many regions, things can actually be very difficult and, in many places, are getting worse,” said Dwayne Leslie, director of legislative affairs for the Seventh-day Adventist world church. The report from the independent commission categorizes offenders as tier 1, tier 2 or “watch list” countries. Tier 1 nations are designated as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs), where religious liberty violations are defined as “systemic, ongoing, and egregious,” and include torture, prolonged detention without charges, disappearances, and “other flagrant [denials] of life, liberty or the security of persons.” Countries redesignated as CPCs this year are Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. Newly categorized this year as tier 1 nations are Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. While not yet officially CPCs, these countries do “meet the threshold” for tier 1 designation, the report states. Countries designated as tier 2 by the report are so listed for displaying “negative trends that could develop into severe violations of religious freedom.” These countries are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, and Russia. A small third group of nations com-

12

prise a watch list, and the commission is “monitoring” them for violations. Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Ethiopia, Turkey, and Venezuela are on this list. Western Europe has drawn criticism in recent years for curbing religious expression among minority faiths. Laws in

A ND RE W K I NG/A NN

THE MOST recent report by the U.S.

EYE ON LIBERTY: Dwayne Leslie, director of legislative affairs for the Seventh-day Adventist world church, speaks at a recent religious liberty event at the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C. Leslie is among religious freedom advocates troubled by this year’s report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

France and Belgium now ban the burqa and other full-face veils. Switzerland has barred the construction of new minarets, or prayer towers atop Muslim mosques. And so-called defamation of religion laws—which religious freedom experts say could restrict religious speech worldwide—continue to emerge in the region.

( 57 2 ) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

In Iran, Leslie said, the government continues its oppression, arrest, and, in some cases, torture of Christians, most recently American pastor Saeed Abedini, who was imprisoned in Iran in September ostensibly for his religious beliefs. Pakistan, too, has made headlines in recent months for violence against Christians. In March a mob torched the homes and businesses of a Christian community in response to alleged insults against Muhammad. Nigeria is another increasingly troubling area, Leslie said. The extremist group Boko Haram has unleashed sectarian violence on Christian communities in recent years, regularly bombing churches and leaving hundreds of worshippers dead. Since January, Adventists in the country have reported declining church attendance and some church closures amid the country’s worsening religious conflict. Countries such as Iran, Pakistan, and Nigeria, Leslie said, are deeply entrenched in intolerance, and the report is unlikely to change their behavior. But for newly watch-listed countries, “dialogue can hopefully lead to greater freedom of belief,” he said. After reviewing religious freedom violations, USCIRF makes policy recommendations to the U.S. president, secretary of state, and Congress. These recommendations can include arms embargos, restrictions on exports, and, Leslie added, further talks with some offending nations. Beyond that, Leslie said, the report “constantly keeps religious liberty in the public eye, reminding people why it’s important for us to continue to fight for freedom for all people of faith.” n

© T ER RY CR EWS

CA M P MEET ING ME MO RIES

For some years in the 1940s the Iowa Conference camp meetings were held in a church camp near Cedar Falls, Iowa. Since it was quite a distance from the town, we stocked a small store with some basic foodstuffs. Being the youngest “worker,” I was given the responsibility of operating the store. I soon found that, with getting the food from the town and keeping the store open at certain hours for the convenience of the campers, I was not getting much from the camp meeting. I went home that year feeling rather empty. When time for the next camp meeting approached, I began to pray that I would receive some spiritual benefit along with the other campers. God answered my prayer the first night. The speaker’s theme was from the story of blind Bartimaeus. When Bartimaeus reached Jesus, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51). The message to everyone was “What are you expecting, what are you here for?” When I answered the question in accordance with my prayers, that camp meeting experience was spiritually fulfilling—store and all.

A DVE N TI ST L I F E

When our son Jonathan was small, my husband, Dick, was taking him for a walk in the park. Jonathan saw two teens up in a large tree and knew just what to say: “Zacchaeus, you come down!” —CAROLYN MILLARD, LOLO, MONTANA

When Harvey Byram, then principal at Dallas Junior Academy in Texas in 1976, poked his head into the seventh and eighth-grade classroom one morning, we all interrupted our activities to hear what he had to say. “I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that we will have only a half day of school this morning!” Our soaring spirits were quickly dashed as he continued, “The bad news is the other half of the day will be after lunch!” —ED FRY, PINEHURST, TEXAS

—HAMPTON WHITE, REED CITY, MICHIGAN

P H OTO

SPLASH FOR CASH: When approached by the Associated Student Body of Union College, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to help raise money for an organization that works to prevent human trafficking on three continents, John Wagner, Union’s president, jumped—that is, dove—at the opportunity. He and four other faculty members

challenged the student body to raise money. The faculty member who raised the most promised to do something, uh, memorable. Wagner raised the most money, and fulfilled his pledge by diving off the high dive in a suit. The money not only went to a great cause, but Wagner saved $12 on dry cleaning. www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013 | ( 57 3 )

13

W Heart and Soul: Theology

BY ROY E. GANE

W

e know from personal experience that forgiveness is a process involving two parties and two stages. First, it must be offered by the wronged party as an act of mercy. This stage completes forgiveness by the wronged party and makes it available for the party that committed the offense. Second, the party that committed the offense must accept forgiveness. Acceptance of forgiveness involves acknowledgment that the offense was wrong, trust in the goodwill of the forgiver, restoration of goodwill toward that party, and commitment to refrain from further offenses in the future. With completion of this stage, the offending party enjoys the benefits of forgiveness. A community context complicates forgiveness because other parties can ask: On what basis is it fair for the wronged party to offer forgiveness to one offender but not another? Will mercy harm the community by allowing or even encouraging further offenses in the future? This is especially serious when the offender has not only wronged another party, but has violated a rule or law that has been established to protect the community by establishing known boundaries of conduct and equal penalties for viola-

the great controversy. But the magnitude of the problem and the stakes involved are vastly greater than any other situation involving a need for forgiveness. All human inhabitants of Planet Earth have been in rebellion against God. All have sinned against Him and His eternal law of love that governs and safeguards the universe (Rom. 3:23; cf. Matt. 22:37-40). The penalty for that sin is eternal

FOR

death (Rom. 6:23) because intelligent beings with free choice whose lives are not controlled by love are destructive and follow Satan in challenging the sovereignty of the benevolent Creator, who alone gives and sustains life. To make matters worse, fallen humans are incapable of adequately keeping God’s law even if they want to (Rom. 7). Because God’s eternal moral character is love

BY BEARING THE PENALTY OF ALL HUMAN SIN, CHRIST HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT GOD JUSTLY GIVES MERCY TO ALL HUMANS. tion of those boundaries. Adequately addressing these questions so that a forgiven offender can be accepted within the community requires that forgiveness be mercifully extended in such a way that justice is maintained. The offender not only needs to be forgiven; this party also needs to be justified. Further complicating forgiveness is a situation in which the offending party is a group of people. What if individuals within the group accept forgiveness offered to it, but others do not? To accomplish lasting peace between the wronged party and the group, those who do not accept forgiveness must be identified and removed from the group. For example, when a rebel group or offending nation is defeated in war, terms of peace can include corporate amnesty. But for individuals to enjoy the benefits of the amnesty, they must accept it and lay down their weapons. Otherwise their threat must be eliminated. All of the dynamics just described apply to God’s efforts to save human beings within the context of

14

( 574 ) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

(1 John 4:8), and because love includes both justice and mercy, He must maintain full justice when He forgives. To do otherwise would violate His nature, which sustains all life, and jeopardize the safety of the universe. It is the death of Christ, who is Himself God (Col. 1:19; 2:9), which makes it possible for God to justly justify sinners (Rom. 3:26). As God, Christ is the Creator (John 1:3; Heb. 1:2) and therefore can represent everyone on Planet Earth. As the originator of human life, He is our ultimate Father (Isa. 9:6; compare Luke 3:38). Just as Abraham could represent any of his descendants (Heb. 7:9, 10), Christ has represented all humans in order to bear the penalty of our sin as our substitute so that we might escape death and enjoy eternal life (John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:14, 21). Thus Christ’s sacrifice is both representative and substitutionary. Now we can understand how Christ’s sacrifice solves relational aspects of evil on earth by accomplishing seven things:

SEVEN ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF CHRIST’S SACRIFICE

be confused with legal-only justification of individuals) to human beings who rebelled against Him, and, in this sense, are forgiven as a group (Col. 2:13-15; Rom. 5:18). Remember the way God corporately forgave the Israelite nation after the rebellion at Kadesh. Instead of wholesale destruction, God gave them a new opportunity (Num. 14:20). This corporate legal amnesty does not mean that everyone will be saved. Rather, it is conditional in the sense that God

GIVENESS 1

Restoration of Human Rule Over Planet Earth Jesus described the effect of His death: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out” (John 12:31; NRSV).1 Satan has been “the ruler of this world” because he usurped humanity’s dominion over earth (Gen. 1:26, 28) through deception resulting in human choice of him (Gen. 3). But when the God-man Christ died, bearing the full effects of human sin as the representative of all humanity, He annulled Satan’s right and reclaimed the lost dominion for the human race. In other words, since the cross event, the whole world belongs to Christ not only as the Creator-God who was always over the world, whether its master was human or Satan (compare Matt. 4:8-10), but now also as the representative Human subregent who has succeeded where Adam failed (compare Rom. 5:12-17). Therefore, He has the right to share the dominion with His faithful people as a gift to them (Dan. 7:22, 27). The world, and eternal life on it, belong to them, just as Canaan already belonged to the Israelites when they reached its borders (Num. 32:7; Deut. 3:18), and they need only to appropriate what is already theirs in order to enter into their rest (Heb. 4) in dwellings that God has already provided for them (John 14:2, 3).

2

Corporate Amnesty By winning back the dominion of Planet Earth for humans through Christ’s sacrifice, God “was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19, NRSV). That is, having decapitated the rebellion by destroying the right of the devil and his angels to exercise subregency over earth, God has granted corporate legal amnesty (not to

offers to a group terms that individuals must accept and keep on accepting in order to enjoy the benefits.

3

Mercy With Justice By bearing the penalty of all human sin, Christ has demonstrated that God justly gives mercy to all humans (Rom. 3:24-26; 5:15-18; compare Ps. 85:10). So the “gold” of Christ’s justifying sacrifice is behind the “currency” of His merciful corporate forgiveness. In this sense Christ’s sacrifice legally justified the human race as a group, showing the universe that God is justified in allowing the race to continue. This gift of corporate justification is the first step in a process. Individual salvation depends upon a second step at which people personally accept the justification that is already available for them. The two steps of justification were symbolized at the Israelite sanctuary. Regular public sacrifices (Num. 28; 29) accomplished corporate justification that maintained God’s life-giving Presence with them, but individuals also needed to offer their atoning sacrifices in order to receive the benefits of belonging to the covenant community (Lev. 4; 5; etc.; Num. 15:22-29; contrast verses 30, 31). At a further stage, represented at the sanctuary by the Day of Atonement service, God vindicates His own decisions to forgive or not forgive individuals, depending on whether they have loyally accepted and continued to accept His gift of forgiveness (Lev. 16; 23:26-32; Dan. 7:9-14; 8:14). Through God’s vindication, the loyal are morally “clean” (Lev. 16:30) in the sense that their sins are now eternally irrelevant (Jer. 31:34).


15

BY GIVING HIS SON TO BE BORN, LIVE, AND DIE TO SAVE US, GOD HAS SUPREMELY DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE AND GOODWILL TOWARD ALL HUMANITY. Continuation of the Human Race The effect of Christ’s provision for the human race to continue began at the Fall into sin (Gen. 3), long before the cross. The penalty for rebelling against God was immediate death (Gen. 2:17; compare Rom. 6:23), which He justly could have administered the same day to make humans extinct. Adam and Eve could live on only because God provided for their redemption through the future sacrifice of Christ (Gen. 3:15; 1 Peter 1:1820; Rev. 13:8; 17:8). By continuing to live on probation, humans have the opportunity to see through Satan’s deception and make a fair choice between him and God.

4

Appeal to Individually Accept Mercy By giving His Son to be born, live, and die to save us, God has supremely demonstrated His love and goodwill toward all humanity (Luke 2:14; John 3:16; Rom. 2:4; 5:6-8). So we can trust that the amnesty He offers is genuine and not a trick. By being lifted up on the cross, Christ draws all people to Himself (John 12:32) so that they can individually experience peace with God through justification that they receive by accepting His gift of amnesty (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8; compare John 3:16). Christians who point to the Savior “are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20; NRSV). The appeal is to accept the corporate amnesty described in the previous verse: God “was reconciling the world to himself” (verse 19). The message of these verses is: Because you are alive by virtue of corporate reconciliation to God, live accordingly (as individuals).

5

Moral Restoration The divine Christ made Himself vulnerable to the temptations that assail all humanity. He did this by becoming a descendant of many generations of sinners (Matt. 1), taking weakened human nature on His sinless divine nature (Luke 1:30, 31, 35). But He remained morally unblemished (Heb. 4:15) and therefore qualified to be our representative sacrifice (compare Lev. 22).

6

16

( 576) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

Having overcome where we have failed, Christ enables our inadequate will (Rom. 7) to choose God and His way of love. He does this by serving as our example (Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Peter 2:21), uniting our lives with His (Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27), and empowering our moral transformation through the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 3; 16:8; Rom. 5:5; 8:1-4; Titus 3:5-7). This transformation is a journey, not a single stop. It is not enough for us to accept amnesty/justification on one occasion (compare 1 Kings 1, 2); we need an ongoing relationship with Christ that continues to loyally accept His gift by faith (John 8:11; Col. 1:21-23; 1 John 5:12) and extends it to others (compare Matt. 10:8; 18:23-35). Accountability By making amazingly graceful provision for our eternal salvation, Christ’s sacrifice removes any excuse to continue rebelling against God. Therefore God is fully justified in letting those who reject Him suffer eternal extinction (Rev. 20) that would have been the fate of all humanity if Christ had not died. If people reject His corporate amnesty as applying to them, they are on their own and must bear their own penalty for rebellion. Amnesty for all has the goal of making peace, so it can benefit only those who accept peace on the victor’s terms.

7

Behold the Lamb It was normal for a Roman execution to be nauseatingly brutal and gory, a far cry from the tame and sanitized scenes in our passion plays. But it wasn’t business as usual on the hill of death that day. When the tortured Jewish carpenter breathed His last, “then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened. . . . So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’ ” (Matt. 27:51-54, NKJV).2 Roman soldiers recognized that in doing their job, they had unwittingly committed a crime of cosmic significance. But the full, vast scope of what was accomplished that day would have stunned them much more: The world had just changed hands forever, and the Son of God would rise to call for their allegiance. n 1 Bible texts credited to NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. 2 Texts credited to NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ROY E. GANE IS PROFESSOR OF HEBREW BIBLE AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT ANDREWS UNIVERSITY.

Transformation Tips

Geography of Happiness EVERYONE SEARCHES FOR HAPPINESS, BUT FEW FIND IT. ERIC WEINER, former National Public Radio journalist, traveled to places in which people were known to be happy. In a world of problems, calamities, and atrocities Weiner visited countries that research documented that the people living there were happy. In his book The Geography of Bliss (2008), Weiner describes visiting nine countries that rated high on happiness surveys: The Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Thailand, Great Britain, India, and the United States. He concluded that while so-called happier countries had some elements in common, they also had significant differences. Weiner is quick to admit that he didn’t come up with much that was revolutionary or particularly spiritual. He came away with a few broad, anecdotal conclusions, such as: money matters, but less than we think. Family is important; so are friends. Envy is toxic; so is excessive thinking. Trust, as well as gratitude, is essential. Further, Weiner posits that extroverts are happier than introverts; optimists are happier than pessimists; married people are happier than singles, though people with children are no happier than childless couples; people who attend religious services are happier than those who do not; people with college degrees are happier than those without; people with an active sex life are happier than those without; women and men are equally happy, though women have a wider emotional range. Happiness research bears out that people can do several things to increase feelings of happiness and well-being. Acts such as smiling, making eye contact, saying hello, sending an appreciative e-mail, doing kind deeds, thinking of things you are grateful for before sleep, singing songs, working in nature, having fun, and meditating are a few ways to increase your feeling of well-being.

Location Is Not Everything So does a person have to live in a certain place to be happy? Fortunately no. The Bible demonstrates that a Christian can experience a sense of well-being or happiness wherever they are—in the midst of problems and trials and calamities—anyplace in the world. Christians are happy not because of where they live but because of what they believe. In fact, a believer in Christ is more interested in pleasing God than in seeking happiness. Christians know that lasting happiness will be realized only in the new earth (Rev. 21). Case in point: Paul and Silas sang joyfully while in prison (Acts 16:16-34), not your typical happy locale. In a dark, dank prison Paul and Silas belted out songs of praise. While there are things we can do to be happy, lasting happiness that allows you to sing in prison and in the martyr’s flames comes from something much more substantive. Paul and Silas had a connection and a sure foundation that gave them a song in the midst of trouble. They had a sense of heavenly happiness, that attitude Jesus spoke about in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-12). Paul and Silas knew their lives were under the umbrella of providence. Like the Hebrews in the fiery furnace, they had a conviction that God could deliver them, but they would not worry if He chose not to (Dan. 3:16-18). They believed, as did Joseph, that people can do evil things, but that in partnership with God the evil that people intend works out for good. They knew that all things work for the good of those who love God (Rom. 8:28). Their peace, their happiness if you will, transcends location and situation (Phil. 4:7). John Wilhelm Rowntree (1868-1905) began to lose his sight in his mid-20s. After an examination a doctor told Rowntree that nothing could be done, and that Rowntree would soon go completely blind. Outside the office, Rowntree stood holding on to a railing to collect himself. Suddenly he felt the love of God embrace him, and he was filled with a joy that he had never known before. Under circumstances that were hardly ideal he experienced the presence of God and a sense of joy and peace that made him truly happy. True happiness is a choice. That choice brings with it true peace and joy. Well-being is found in a relationship with a Person, not a place. n

Delbert W. Baker

DELBERT W. BAKER IS A GENERAL VICE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.


17

Cover The Dilemma

Lover

Marriage may be God’s most powerful metaphor for helping us grasp the intensity and complexity of His relationship with us—Christ gave Himself up for the church He loved (Eph. 5:25). But His passion for us is under constant threat— from seduction. When seduction works, devastated parents stand impotently by as some smooth-talking deceiver exploits their child because no talking, no persuasion, no hard evidence seems

DOES “SPIRITUALITY” MEAN MORE

or

capable of making a child change course. Passion and hunger for emotional attachment produce persistent refusal to accept sound advice. Parent and friend must let disaster have its course. Young life is wasted for lack of discernment. “How would I know the difference?” asked a student in one of my classes. The question is urgent, for marriage is one of life’s greatest decisions: How do we distinguish the true lover from the seducer? Spiritually, our surest safeguard against seductive infatuation is knowing the True Lover well. An intimate and informed relationship with Jesus Christ is the best protection from seduction’s falsehood.

Seduction

A

BY JOHN MARKOVIC

18

horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” (Jer. 5:30, 31).

( 57 8 ) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

Jesus, the Suitor, wants to be chosen. Opposite Him is Satan, the master seducer, using the same words and phrases. There is plenty of duplicity in language use. And the more similar the language, the more difficult to detect deception. The seducer makes promises, lies wrapped in truth. So it was at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And so with Jesus in the desert. Flattery, flirtation, evoking self-pity, all are his tools. Those who doubt, who are hurting, who are marginalized, ostracized, who are unchurched, nonchurched, dechurched, as the “emergents” like to say, are especially in danger, for his dishonesty thrives on our vulnerability. And if we are unsure of the Word of the True Lover, we will the more easily fall for the

seducer’s fake spirituality and falsehood. The seducer wants to be taken for the real thing. Mental confusion works in his favor. While the sincere Suitor offers His life to His beloved, the seducer wants to use her for a night.

Contemporary Spirituality Today’s seduction seems much more potent than decades ago. Changes in our academic and cultural settings within the past six decades have made it

are spiritual!” Spirituality is in, and being religious is out! No more talk about do’s and don’ts. Now we’re asked to reject the old ways of religiosity and adopt new ways of spirituality. At the same time contemporary spirituality literature overflows with admiration for the medieval Patristic tradition. Mysticism and the monastic way of life enjoy new esteem. Richard J. Foster and Gayle D. Beebe offer the tradition of mysticism as the seven paths of Christian spiritual-

THAN ONE THING?

Seducer?

easier for the seducer. For example, the Bible’s role in one’s life was much easier to discuss with yesterday’s atheists than with today’s postmodernists. It was easier for Christian youth to hold their ground on Genesis 1 against regnant secularism, naturalism, and atheism than for young Christians today against an evolution that has been christened as theistic. In my years in the Communist educational system of the former Yugoslavia, I had an easier time resisting Marxist teachers than my children in a Christian educational system today riddled with theistic evolutionist sentiment and postmodern philosophizing. Religious leaders claiming Jesus today rank among the greatest perpetrators of the confusion of our age. Brian McLaren’s book A Generous Orthodoxy1 powerfully examples this confusion. McLaren has been called “the Moses leading us out of the land of Modernity,” and “recognized as the Martin Luther of Emergence internationally.”2 With his world-embracing title (see note 1), one wonders what he teaches that everyone of all stripes does not already believe. McLaren and many other contemporary Christians work hard to confuse by their distinctions—“We are not religious, we

ity.3 New heroes of spirituality include Martin Luther and John Calvin, together with Ignatius of Loyola. We are expected to model not only Augustine and Francis of Assisi, but Pseudo-Dionysius and the Cloud of Unknowing. The Protestant tradition is even blamed for society’s evil by contrast with the spiritual model of the medieval Catholic mystical tradition.

Tired of Religion People are said to be tired of religion. While this may indeed be so, much more mischief may be accomplished by continually repeating that claim. Moreover, while many are indeed thirsty for meaningful spirituality, the term also legitimizes personal lifestyles that will not tolerate doctrine’s divisiveness, and the “judgmental” criticisms of “sinful behavior.” Opposing religiosity to spirituality well pleases the seducer. For Christ’s true disciples are both devotedly religious and deeply spiritual, with spiritual signifying being under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For more than one spirit is abroad (1 John 4:1).

The Mystics and Mysticism Mystics love to stress that materialism, atheism, consumerism, and other forces www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013 | ( 57 9)

19

ality immediately elevates the status of Christian mysticism. But assurances that Christian mysticism is different from that practiced in the Far East are complicated by dismissive opinion that the differences are of cosmetic and not essential nature.

BIBLICAL MEDITATION IS FREQUENTLY A MATTER OF THOUGHT ABOUT GOD’S LAW. of modernity—including the influence of the Protestant Reformation—have deanimated nature. We need to reanimate nature. We have forgotten, they claim, that God’s Spirit is present everywhere in nature. The rhetoric, unsupported by serious study of the Scriptures, satisfies many a whimsical lifestyle. For many, it is far easier to live according to the book of nature, than according to the Bible. In this they may overlook that (nature’s beauty, design, and complexity notwithstanding) it is the God of Creation, rather than any object or force of nature, the inner self included, that we are required to worship. Bible study, some say, leads to argument, but when we pray we stop arguing. Thus prayer, along with contemplation and meditation, opposes biblical investigation. None of these is wrong per se. But chosen instead of Bible study they may facilitate every manner of diabolical deception. The Bible’s prayers disclose a manner, language, content, and intent far different from those taught by many modern mystics and spiritual gurus. Biblical meditation is frequently a matter of thought about God’s law (Joshua 1:8; Ps. 1:2; 119:48). Mysticism’s past 50-plus years have shown great dynamism across the western world. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, National Public Radio’s award-winning religion correspondent, reports that fully half of all Americans have had a life-altering spiritual or mystical experience.4 Accepting mysticism as just another form of spiritu20

Problems With Definition Mystics themselves may be rather mystical about the true nature of mysticism. Definition of the mystic as one who seeks companionship with Christ, one whose religious life is centered around experiences with or of God rather than around traditionally accepted beliefs and doctrine, may not say much, though it purports to be informative on the subject matter. Christians in general seek companionship with Christ. But all Christians are not therefore, whether in their own minds or in popular understanding, mystics. Most self-identified mystics would reject the premise that they are the same as Christians in general. Furthermore, all truly converted Christians center their lives around experiences with God, rather than around doctrines and dogmas. Yet they do not, for such reason, deem themselves mystics. To define mystics in these terms may equate with arguing that because the seducer is loving, attentive, caring, gentle, nice, quotes the Scriptures, and so forth, he is the true lover. Opposing economic exploitation of workers does not make me a Marxist. Supporting equal treatment of women and men does not make me a feminist. That Paul was caught up in a vision, and a mystic one at that (2 Cor. 12:1-4), does not make him a mystic. And claiming Ellen G. White to be a mystic denies

( 5 8 0) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

understanding of both the true nature of mysticism and of White’s message. White herself has recorded rather stern warnings against mysticism. “The study of God’s Word should take the place of the study of those books that have led minds into mysticism and away from truth.”5 In referring to the John Harvey Kellogg’s The Living Temple, she cautions, “We do not need the mysticism that is in this book. Those who entertain these sophistries will soon find themselves in a position where the enemy can talk with them, and lead them away from God.”6 Here is a fair enough definition of mysticism—a spiritual-intellectual notion that truth proceeds “from certain inner lights.” By contrast, Bernard McGinn, scholar of Western mysticism, simply defines it as a utopian dream. But he does believe proper research of the written records left behind by and about the Christian mystics can help our understanding.7 McGinn’s three headings of analysis on mysticism are (1) as an element of religion; (2) as a way of life; and (3) “as an attempt to express a direct consciousness of the presence of God.”8 We may add a fourth: mysticism as the end result of certain (mystical) practices.

Analyzing a Phenomenon Mysticism, a term evoking secrecy, whose lexical basis means “to close” (the eyes or lips—Greek, muein),9 is an ancient phenomenon familiar to Egyptian, Babylonian, Hindu, Greek, and medieval peoples. Like ancient Gnostics claiming unique esoteric knowledge of spirituality (gnosis) that liberates from this material and evil world, mystics claim to possess knowledge of how to reach a higher and unique level of contemplative consciousness that is essential to attain union with the divine within, or the divine outside oneself. Mystics are able to perforate “the veil of physical reality” and glimpse the world beyond, reports Hagerty.10 She also reports a finding of American philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910) that mystics know “firsthand ‘the [realities] of the unseen.’ ” According to her summary of

James, all mystical experiences share: (1) ineffability (human language cannot describe them); (2) a noetic quality (“a deep insight that is truer to the person than the material world itself”); (3) transience (they quickly ebb); and (4) surprise (they “pounce”: external power “takes control, pushing the mystic into the passenger’s seat”).11 She quotes James: “the mystic feels as if his own will were in abeyance, and indeed sometimes as if he were grasped and held by a superior power.”12 Answering my query on the ultimate objective of his meditation and spirituality, a Hindu priest responded, “To become one with Brahman.” I asked again, “Does that mean, when

I become one with Brahman, I cease to exist as an individual, distinct person?” “Yes,” he said. To that, I could say nothing but “Thank you.” And according to Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, a mystic whose lectures I have attended, critical, analytical, dualistic thinking (good versus evil, right versus wrong) is a primitive and immature way of thinking, even predatory, and certainly inadequate to the experience of spiritual truths, divine love, divine forgiveness, or the divine presence. For these it is essential that we learn the nondualistic state of mind, actually, a superior level of contemplative consciousness, a “third-eye” seeing reality. Journey to this contemplative consciousness involves a mixture of light and darkness and more or less requires cessation of thought.

In Conclusion Ron, a friend of mine, studied the Bible with Bob.13 Bob could not accept the Sabbath truth. He wanted a different answer. He would pray to God, he told Ron. Bob prayed and prayed until one night he was visited by a being he believed was Jesus, who told him to remain faithful to his Orthodox tradition. He promptly stopped further Bible study with Ron. Evidently, it’s possible to have your prayers answered contrary to the Bible. Years passed by, and Ron forgot about Bob. One day Bob knocked on Ron’s door, and confessed that for all of this time he had had no peace, and that life was not good for him. Prayer had sent him back to what the Bible says. He eventually got baptized and became a leading elder in the local church. God’s Word created everything that is (Ps. 33:6, 9). His original gift of humanity involved the power to think and to do14—thoughts and actions that should be guided by obedience to that very lifegiving Word that makes us wise unto salvation through its reproof, correction, and righteous instruction (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4; 2 Tim. 3:15, 16). Our experience of and with God engages rather than sets aside our intelligence, and is subject to the entrance of that Word that brightens the path our feet must

follow (Ps. 119:105). God’s promise of Edenic restoration guarantees to saved humanity an eternal, distinct, and intelligent individuality—we shall know as we are known (1 Cor. 13:12). Becoming one with Brahman, or as Christian mystics say, achieving oneness with the divine, where personal individuality is lost, is the sale of mindlessness and nonpersonhood, in effect, the sale of death and nonexistence, as something desirable. It is rearticulation of the ancient lie, “You will not certainly die, . . . you will be like God” (Gen. 3:4, 5). The choice between the options of mysticism thus exposed, and the plain teachings of Scripture, is the choice between the deceptions of the seducer, and the affections of the True Lover. n 1 Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004). 2 See Phyllis Tickle, Emergence Christianity: What It Is, Where It Is Going, and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012), p. 99. The “Moses” nickname derives from popular conversation. 3 Richard J. Foster and Gayle D. Beebe, Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2009). 4 Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality (New York: Penguin Group, 2009), p. 33, and endnote 23. 5 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 6, p. 132. 6 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1958, 1980), book 1, p. 202. 7 Bernard McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism (New York: The Crossroad Pub. Co., 1991), vol. 1, pp. xiixv. McGinn’s monumental commitment to his own conviction has so far produced five volumes totaling more than 3,000 pages of text and footnotes. 8 McGinn, pp. xv, xvi. 9 James A. Wiseman, Spirituality and Mysticism: A Global View (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2006), p. 7. 10 Hagerty, p. 16. 11 Ibid., p. 25. 12 Ibid. Also William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1902, 1985), p. 3. 13 Not their real names. 14 Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903), p. 17.

JOHN MARKOVIC IS A PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT ANDREWS UNIVERSITY, WHO HAS ALSO STUDIED THE PHENOMENON OF THE EMERGENT CHURCH.


21

Devotional moral action is borne by God because of His infinitely empathetic love for every ne day in a little Australian person (Matt. 25:40-45). Divinity itself is town called Byron Bay I injured by our wrongs and blessed by noticed a sign that read “I our right doing. The loss of one soul will saw the universe change leave God forever bereft of the compantoday.” Whoever wrote ionship that might have been His if that those words was paying attention. soul had been saved, and the rescue of The Difference You Make one soul will bestow immeasurable, God’s Three Options In the wake of each person’s decieternal joy upon God’s heart. According to “chaos theory,” the single sions, strands of history are set in There are men and women and chilmovement of a butterfly’s wing may be motion that otherwise would never dren who await your impact, who crave the determining factor in the formation unfold. The shape of reality itself has your love, who may be morally elevated of a hurricane. According to the by your example, made alive Bible, the movements of each by your kind words, forever EACH DEED YOU EXECUTE individual life exert determinasaved by your revelation of tive effects on the quality of other the Savior’s heart. It lies TRIGGERS A SERIES OF lives, even to the point of impactmy power as a human OUTCOMES FOR WHICH YOU within ing eternal destinies. being, made in God’s image, Each deed you execute triggers ARE THE SOLITARY SOURCE. to actualize events and relaa series of outcomes for which tionships of everlasting you are the solitary source. been and is being incrementally configbeauty that cannot come to pass apart As God went forward with the work ured by the wondrous outworking of from my choices. Every act of love I perof creation, only three conceivable posyour will, my will, every other will, and form constitutes an infinite moral good sibilities lay before Him. He could crethe interplay between them all. What that makes a difference to the course of ate (1) machines, (2) slaves, or (3) free you do matters immensely because history and, therefore, in the eternal moral agents. Only the third option what you do brings into existence one scheme of reality itself. If I speak a word would be consistent with the aspirarelational dynamic after another, either of encouragement to a heavy heart, it tions of love, which is the essence of positive or negative, that otherwise matters on a grand and eternal scale. If I who God is. So here we are, beings of would not exist. Each deed huge and magnificent significance, you execute triggers a beings who matter so much that our series of outcomes for actions run adjacent to God’s actions as which you are the solitary genuinely free, beings who possess the source. power to create effects for which we There are people—real people with visit a sick person and envelop their alone are the cause, and which ripple names and faces—who are what they heart in compassion, that deed means into eternity with never-ending impact. are, who know what they know, who feel something of staggering worth. If I feed God created humanity “in his own what they feel, fear what they fear, and a hungry child, doing so constitutes a image” (Gen. 1:27), which means, among love what they love because of you. crucial experience of generosity in that other things, that every human being is There is pain in the world right now child’s existence, as well as in God’s “endowed with a power akin to that of that would not exist if I had not done existence as the Omni-benevolent One the Creator—individuality, power to some particular deeds that imposed it. who loves that child as Himself. think and to do.”1 And, no doubt, there is joy in some heart Each human being’s life carries an The human being is a mind-boggling right now that would not be there if I “eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17), a wonder. Standing in blown-away awe of had not given it. More amazing still, weight of moral and relational dignity what it means to be human, King David your “fingerprints,” and mine, are upon that only eternity itself can measure. sang to the Creator, “What is man that the very heart of God. Your life, and my Which means that the measurement of You take thought of him, and the son of life, have impacted the Almighty Creator my life’s influence will never reach its man that You care for him? Yet You have of the universe. He has known grief and final calculation. Each deed will ripple made him a little lower than God, and pain, as well as elation and joy, because forever in its effect. You crown him with glory and majesty!” of you and because of me. Jesus Take it in: the overall content of real(Ps. 8:4, 5).2 Daniel the prophet realized explained that anything I do for or ity for other created beings and for God the weightiness of our moral influence against any human being registers in Himself will forever bear the mark of His heart as if done to Him. At the very your individual existence, and mine. least, this means that the effect of every Every deed you perform stands com-

O

BY TY GIBSON

when he said that those “who lead . . . many to righteousness” will “shine . . . like the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3), while others, he said, will go down in history with “disgrace and everlasting contempt” (verse 2). Said another way, human actions carry eternal effects.

Why You

22


pletely alone as a new piece of reality that could not have occurred if you had not made it happen. Our lives are so astoundingly fraught with materializing significance!

Are You Paying Attention? Which, of course, urges the question: What will I do with my life, my weighty, grave, massively impactful life? And what will you do with yours? Really, there is but one course to pursue: Go for broke living for God and for others. Spend and be spent for the advancement of God’s self-giving kingdom. Get, now, the awesome import of that ancient word, foundational to three world religions, spoken for Israel and you from God by His mouthpiece Moses, and reiterated by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37, 39; see Deut. 6:6; Lev. 19:18). So what will you do with your life today, this very hour? Look around you. There are men and women and children who await your impact, who crave your

Matter So Much love, who may be morally elevated by your example, made alive by your kind words, forever saved by your revelation of the Savior’s heart. “I saw the universe change today,” and it was by my choices and yours that it happened. Did you see it change too? n

HOW YOU SHAPE THE UNIVERSE

1 Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903), p. 17. 2 Scripture quotations in this article are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

TY GIBSON, AUTHOR OF EIGHT BOOKS, CODIRECTS LIGHT BEARERS, AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING, TEACHING, AND MEDIA MINISTRY. SUSAN, HIS WIFE, IS THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE. THEY HAVE THREE CHILDREN.

23

Spirit of Prophecy

From

Stren th

to

Stren th

BY ELLEN G. WHITE

L

ife is a mysterious and sacred trust. Precious are its opportunities, and faithfully should they be improved.

Youth Who Shine God desires the youth to stand in that position where they can honor Him all the time. They cannot afford to go on to Satan’s ground every now and then, but must press steadily forward to the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Only as they place themselves under the broad shield of Omnipotence, can safety be assured to them in the hour of temptation. Only there as they work out their salvation with fear and trembling, can God work through them to will and to do of His good pleasure. Our youth need to have a clearer understanding of what it means to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. They need to learn, as they follow on to know the Lord, that His going forth is prepared as the morning. You have watched the rising sun, and the gradual breaking of day over the earth. Little by little the light 24

increases until the world is flooded with the full light of day. This is a beautiful illustration of what God desires to do for His children in the perfection of Christian character. Only by making constant advancement can the youth fulfill God’s purpose for them. As opportunities multiply and are improved, the experience will enlarge, and knowledge increase. The youth will become strong to bear responsibility, because they are constantly growing in happiness, in holiness, in usefulness.

Hostile Tactics The enemy well knows that no other class can do so much good as young men and young women who are consecrated to God’s service. Therefore he makes every effort to lead them to find their happiness in worldly amusements, and to justify themselves by endeavoring to show these amusements are harmless, innocent, and even necessary to physical well-being. He presents the path of holiness as hard and thorny, while declaring that the paths of worldly pleasure are strewn with flow-


ers. In false and flattering colors, he arrays the world with its pleasure before the youth, and many are led to destruction by his deceptions. Those who learn to love amusement for its own sake open the door to a flood of temptations. They are led on from one form of dissipation to another until they lose the desire for a life of usefulness in God’s cause. Their higher aspirations are chilled; their spiritual life is darkened. Finding their pleasures in the world, and the things of the world, they become strangers to the Father and to the graces of His Spirit. There are others whom Satan is binding to the world by love of gain. He is employ-

h

h

ing all his ingenuity to lead the youth to become so absorbed in the pursuit of worldly power and wealth that they can give no heed to a “Thus saith the Lord.” Thus he leads them to give their lives to self-serving, and they develop, not the attributes of good, but the attributes of evil. If our characters are to meet the approval of God, we must fashion the life according to the perfect pattern. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; . . . full of grace and truth.” The followers of Christ are to represent Him in all that they do and say. They are to live His life. The principles by which He was guided are to shape their lives and mold their characters.

Modeling Jesus The youth should keep ever before them the course that Christ followed. It was a course of constant overcoming. He wrestled with temptations greater than any you will be called to meet; and He stood the test. He refused to yield to temptation. Though physical strength failed, His faith did not fail. It was not only on the cross that Christ

gave Himself for humanity, not only in the wilderness of temptation and in Gethsemane that He overcame in our behalf. Every day’s experience was an outpouring of His life; every day he learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And because the life of Jesus was a life of perfect trust His service for heaven and earth was without failure or faltering. He met and resisted all the temptations that man must meet because in His humanity He relied upon divine power. The life of Christ reveals what every youth may accomplish through His grace. As the enemy worked to overcome the Savior, so he works against God’s children today. There will come to you, as there came to Christ times of special difficulty and need. But in every trial and difficulty know that Christ has passed this way before you. And He who came forth from the most severe test without one stain of sin, stands ready to strengthen all who struggle with Him against the powers of evil. He understands every difficulty. He waits to hear and answer prayer. Satan is striving to mold us into his likeness. Christ waits to give us power

Impacting the World Every day you are to prepare for the coming of Christ by every day having an increased faith, a fuller and deeper experience in the things of God. Put away foolishness from the life. This is not a time for trifling. Believers and unbelievers need the help of your influence. All around you are those who need to know the transforming power of truth; and they will know it only as it is revealed to them in Christlike lives. Will you not help these to obtain joy and peace in Christ? If you will put self out of sight, and come into right relation to God, you will learn to manifest a spirit that will make you a blessing to all with whom you associate. The Lord wants you to help another. You should lay hold of every possible advantage, that you may be trained for efficient service. Every capability and power you possess should be regarded as a sacred trust, to be used in making known the saving power of grace. This is your business—your chief business. The Savior revealed a wonderful love, a wonderful earnestness when He gave His life that we might be cleansed from

GUARD YOUR SPIRIT, GUARD YOUR WORDS, GUARD YOUR ACTIONS. to resist the enemy’s temptations. With deepest interest the universe of heaven watches the conflict between Christ, in the person of His saints, and the great deceiver. Dear youth, you cannot afford to make mistakes in this conflict. Guard your spirit, guard your words, guard your actions. Open heart and mind to the impressions of the Holy Spirit, and be determined to stand for truth and righteousness. He who knows your weakness will impart to you strength; angels will work in your behalf, enabling you to stand firm for God.

iniquity. He is the pattern to be followed by all who have named His name. The shortness of time, and the responsibilities resting upon us as sons and daughters of God should lead us to ask ourselves at every step if we are following His example. n THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN COLUMBIA UNION VISITOR, OCTOBER 2, 1912. ELLEN G. WHITE, ITS AUTHOR, WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH. HER LIFE AND WORK TESTIFIED TO THE SPECIAL GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.


25

Adventist Life

BECAUSE BUBBLE WRAP IS IMPRACTICAL 26


Imagine this true-to-life story. Can you relate?

C

BY ASHELEY WOODRUFF

aleb had been legally blind as far back as he could remember. Born with a genetic disorder affecting his eyes, Caleb had poor depth perception and was unable to focus his vision on specific objects. Even with corrective lenses, his eyesight was 20/70 at best. Despite the visual challenges he faced, Caleb’s parents were determined to help him live as independently as possible. When Caleb was 5, his parents enrolled him in kindergarten at their local elementary school. Caleb was placed in special education classes where he was guaranteed to receive additional help from a trained worker. He learned to read and write using braille tablets, and quickly showed an aptitude for math. Caleb was so skilled in math that when he reached the sixth grade, he was allowed to take advanced math classes with the rest of the student body. Unfortunately, some of the other students in Caleb’s advanced math class were not accepting of his visual impairment. Whether they were intimidated by his ability to do the problems in his head, or because they just didn’t like him, two of the boys in the class began to bully Caleb. Sometimes it was something small and irritating, such as moving his backpack. Other times it was more intrusive, such as hiding his braille tablet or talking calculator. Every day the two boys would find some way to make Caleb feel as if he truly was handicapped.

Frustrated and angry, Caleb withdrew socially. He brought home poor report cards and finally asked his parents if he could drop the advanced math class. Concerned about his welfare, Caleb’s parents questioned him about school. Caleb admitted that he was unhappy because he was being bullied. Caleb’s parents immediately called the school to request a meeting with administrators to discuss the bullying that was taking place. After an action plan had been implemented, the school counselor recommended that Caleb attend a week of blind camp at Leoni Meadows, one of the National Camps for Blind Children. The counselor felt that Caleb would benefit from being around other children who were also visually impaired and that it would provide opportunities to boost his self-esteem. Caleb was enrolled and quickly made friends with other kids at the camp. He participated in archery, canoeing, horseback riding, and even climbed the high ropes course. His camp counselor taught him that if he could ride a horse, then he could “do just about anything” he wanted to.

Are We Surrounded by Bullies? It seems almost monthly now that we hear reports of severe bullying in the news. It comes in many forms: children bullying teachers, teachers bullying children, and children bullying each other. We learn about these events because someone recorded them on their phone and then posted them to YouTube or Facebook. There are dozens of cases of bullying, however, that go unreported every day across the nation. As a parent I wonder what more can be done to help protect our children. Childhood is supposed to be a time of learning how to socialize, and developing creativity. It’s when we, as parents, take a few steps back and give our children the freedom to discover the world around them. As a mother I want my children to be safe, but I also want them

to be curious and independent. When I see reports of bullying occurring in our schools, it makes me wonder what steps can be taken to ensure my children will be both empowered and protected. It’s estimated that thousands of kids experience some form of bullying every day in schools across the nation, whether it’s physical, verbal, or social. According to the National Bullying Prevention Center1 and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,2 about one quarter to one half of all children are bullied. If the child has a disability, particularly one that is easily noticed, then the child is two to three times more likely to be bullied regularly. Consider the case of Caleb, a child like any other except that he is legally blind. His visual impairment made him a target for the bullies in his school. Caleb did not know how to cope with the bullying he received, and as a result he suffered emotionally and academically. Caleb’s parents were not aware he was being bullied until his grades began to suffer. Because bullying can occur in many nonphysical forms, it may be hard for adults to recognize when a child is being bullied. In the case of children with special needs, the removal of helping aids, social exclusion, and verbal teasing are typical. Usually the type of bullying depends on the child’s gender. Boys tend to favor physical forms of coercion or intimidation, while girls tend to use social tactics such as verbal abuse or social exclusion. Both types of bullying can be extremely hurtful to the victim on the emotional level. As if this wasn’t enough, cyberbullying is on the rise. The Journal of Adventist Education points out that cyberbullying allows bullies to harass their victims beyond the boundaries of the school building and school hours. Cyberbullying allows the perpetrators to use an “invisible” attack that parents and teachers may not know about because it takes place via texting or on social net-

POSITIVE WAYS TO BULLYPROOF YOUR BLIND CHILD www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013 | ( 5 8 7 )

27

working sites. “It is possible that the damage caused by cyberbullying may be greater than the harm caused by traditional bullying. Online communication can be extremely vicious” and allows for others to pile on their comments, without having to face the victim. “Once it is distributed worldwide, it is often irretrievable.”3 Furthermore, cyberbullying diminishes the child’s ability to escape the harassment. The message the child receives is: “there are no safe places.” Children who do not know how to cope with the bullying may develop mental health problems such as depression or anxiety, which can affect the child’s ability to do well in school. In Caleb’s case, he withdrew from his favorite school activities, and his grades began to drop. Since his grades were dropping, a meeting between school officials and Caleb’s parents was the best first step to help end the bullying behavior. Caleb’s parents also chose to send him to a week of blind camp with National Camps for Blind Children to help restore Caleb’s self-esteem and confidence. Since 1967 National Camps for Blind Children (NCBC) has offered free-ofcharge esteem-building summer and winter camp weeks for children and adults who are visually impaired. NCBC, a program of Christian Record Services for the Blind (CRSB), gives campers access to outdoor physical activities, spiritual enrichment through worship with Adventist pastors, and the camaraderie of friends and staff members. At camp Caleb was able to participate in activities such as waterskiing and horseback riding with others who were visually impaired. During campfire time he was able to sing and talk with other kids who understood the challenges he faced at school. His new friends provided Caleb with the emotional foundation he needed, and the camp counselors were there to help him when he became discouraged.

Proactive Measures for Parents There are many things we as parents can do to help our children learn to cope and hopefully avoid bullying. One proac28

tive measure is to make yourself known to your child’s school. By learning how the school implements their policies, what the current practices are, and whether those practices are known to work, will help parents know how to address the school administration if necessary. In her blog “Bullying: A Parent’s Perspective,” Mary McDonach states that initiating a positive relationship with school administrators increases the likelihood that problems of bullying will be dealt with immediately. Also, by being proactive as parents, the child’s school is held accountable for following through immediately. Teaching a child to have good selfesteem is always important, and it’s also one of the best ways to help combat bullying. Children need to feel valued and important when they are part of a group. Additionally, participating in fun activities helps the child develop a sense of confidence that will combat any negative interactions they might have at school. Finally, teaching the child not to react to the bully is another proactive step parents and teachers can take. Bullies look for a reaction from their victims; therefore, teaching the child not to give a reaction makes the child a less-interesting target. Even the best proactive measures, however, may not prevent bullying. Some kids will continue to be bullies regardless of how a child acts. Therefore, it’s important that we parents be aware of signs that would indicate our child is being bullied. They include: becoming withdrawn fear of going to school increasing signs of depression (lethargy, loss of appetite or interest in normal activities) a noticeable decline in school performance (grades or class participation) speaking of another child in fear noticeable decline in the child’s self-esteem or self-image indications of physical violence, such as bruises, scrapes, or other marks

• • • • • • •

ing our children if we suspect something is wrong. Children may be embarrassed to talk to adults because they feel they should be able to handle a bullying situation. They may think there’s nothing that can be done to stop someone from harassing them. By approaching the child first, we can remove some of the emotional stress for the child and also show our kids we notice when things aren’t right in their world. After talking with the child, parents should then arrange to meet with the school’s administration to develop an action plan. Action plans can include mediation between the students and increased attention paid to the situation while the child is on school grounds. If age-appropriate, it may also help to involve our children in these meetings. By being present during the meeting, the child will see that their problem is being taken seriously. It will also show the child that their parents are interested in finding a solution and that the child’s input matters. Children can also be taught how to be assertive with bullies. Assertive does not mean aggressive. Assertive means that the child stands their ground and forcefully informs the bully to leave them alone. This may not come naturally to everyone, so practicing forceful statements such as “Please leave me alone” or “Please do not move my stuff” in a loud enough manner to get the teacher’s attention is helpful. The child should also be encouraged to seek the help of the teacher, if avoiding the bullies is not an option, and to report each incidence of bullying when it happens. n 1 National Bullying Prevention Center, 2012, Bullying and Harassment of Students With Disabilities, www.pacer. org/bullying/resources/students-with-disabilities/. 2 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, “Bullying,” March 2011, www.aacap.org/cs/ root/facts_for_families/bullying. 3 Susan M. Taylor, “Cyber Bullying Penetrates the Walls of the Traditional Classroom,” Journal of Adventist Education, December 2010-January 2011, pp. 37-41.

ASHELEY WOODRUFF IS A LICENSED COUNSELOR, MOM, AND WIFE WHO LIVES IN NAMPA, IDAHO.

Immediate Action Needed If there is any suspicion that a child is being bullied, immediate action is best. There is nothing wrong with confront-


SHE SPLITS HER TIME BETWEEN HER COUNSELING PRACTICE IN BOISE AND TEACHING PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE COLLEGE OF WESTERN IDAHO.

Dateline Moscow

My Real-Life “Mission Impossible” (With Spies) RYAN FOGLE MAY BE KNOWN TO THE WORLD AS THE ACCUSED CIA SPY WHO was expelled from Russia. But to me he will always be an answer to prayer. Fogle made international headlines in May when the Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the Soviet KGB, detained him for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian agent. State television aired footage portraying him as a bumbling spy, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared him persona non grata, and he left the country five days later. But the Ryan Fogle whom I met showed little resemblance to the inept spy depicted by Russian authorities. Fogle was standing near the United States ambassador when I arrived at Spaso House, the ambassador’s residence, for a reception to celebrate U.S. Independence Day in 2011. Youthful and clean-cut, he greeted me with a warm smile and a handshake. He told me that he had recently arrived in Moscow to serve as third secretary in the embassy’s political section. We spoke for about five minutes and swapped contact information. The next day I sent Fogle a “nice to have met you, let’s keep in touch” e-mail, the same e-mail I try to write to everyone I meet for the first time. He replied with a similarly polite message. About a month later a Russian friend from church called me with an urgent problem. A teenage relative had been camping out at his apartment for two weeks, unsure whether the U.S. embassy had approved his visa application to study at an Adventist university. The teen had received a full scholarship, and had traveled to Moscow from his hometown in southern Russia for the required interview at the U.S. embassy. But now the school year was about to begin, and he had no idea whether or not he would be allowed to travel to the U.S. “Should he call the embassy and ask, or would that ruin his chances?” my friend asked. “The embassy says very clearly, ‘Don’t contact us; we’ll contact you.’ “We’ve been praying for the past two weeks,” he continued, “but there hasn’t been any news. Do you know someone at the embassy who could help?” For me, the request amounted to a “mission impossible.” I was powerless and saw no way out. Then I remembered Ryan Fogle. He didn’t work in the consular section, which handles visas, but perhaps he could offer some advice. With a prayer, I sent an e-mail to Fogle, explaining the situation. He promptly wrote back. “I’ll ask,” he said. I prayed for God’s will to be done. This teen had put everything on the line to pursue his studies. He was leaving home, family, friends, and everything else dear because he wanted an Adventist education. He had pledged to use his newfound knowledge to serve God. But what were God’s plans? Just hours later I received a phone call from my church friend. “You won’t believe what happened!” he exclaimed. “The U.S. embassy just called to say the visa has been approved and will be delivered by courier tomorrow.” I never heard from Ryan Fogle again. But one thing I know: God can use anyone to fulfill His purposes. When Sarah laughed at the news that she would give birth to a son, Isaac, in her old age, the Lord asked, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14). When an angel announced that Elizabeth would give birth to John the Baptist in her old age, he explained to his surprised listener, “For no word from God will ever fail” (Luke 1:37). When the mouths of Jesus’ disciples dropped open at the news that it would be easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, Jesus assured them that even rich people could be saved: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). God is all-powerful. He can work with absolutely anyone: a barren woman, a rich man, and an alleged CIA spy. n

Andrew McChesney

ANDREW MCCHESNEY IS A JOURNALIST LIVING IN RUSSIA.

www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013 | ( 5 8 9)

29

Reflections

What’s on Your Headstone? THE APRIL 19, 2013, PASSING OF AL NEUHARTH, JOURNALIST, PUBLISHING

CA LV I N M E N/A BE RD E E N NE WS

executive, and founder of USA Today, the first truly successful general-interest American national daily newspaper, brought back memories of an interview I’d had with him about 30 years earlier. Sitting in his suite/apartment at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Mr. Neuharth, attired, I’m sure, in shirt and tie, sat at a desk behind which was a table with an old, manual-style typewriter, which he used to write his weekly column for the newspaper. USA Today might have been born at the start of the computer revolution, but its founder was old school, probably up until his passing at age 89. What strikes me now, however, is not Mr. Neuharth’s eye for detail—he chose the glass-front vending boxes for the new newspaper, and made them resemble TV sets—or his positive attitude. The fledgling publication was going to “make it,” he said, and, indeed, for many years it was a profitable and important part of American journalism. Instead, it was a photo in the Aberdeen News, the South Dakota daily newspaper closest to Eureka, the 1,200-person town in which Mr. Neuharth was born—and known as “Allen” until he shortened his first name—and is to be buried. The photo, by reporter Calvin Men, shows the tombstone Mr. Neuharth had engraved and installed in the family plot at the Eureka Cemetery. On the reverse is inscribed “ALLEN NEUHARTH, FOUNDER” and bears the logos—the symbols—of the institutions he founded, not all of which were great successes. First was SoDak Sports, a weekly newspaper offering exhaustive coverage of sports news in, well, South Dakota. It went out of business two years after its founding, which is why beneath that image is inscribed “1952 (Failed 1954).” There are logos and launch dates for Florida Today, a daily newspaper, the aforementioned USA Today, and two charitable endeavors: the Freedom Forum, a foundation that supports First Amendment issues and the Newseum, a Washington, D.C., museum of the news business. Mr. Men’s photo got a fair amount of attention in journalistic circles, and perhaps a bit of cynicism from the hard-boiled reporters and editors who thought that was all Mr. Neuharth intended as his memorial. But a closer reading of the newspaper photo’s caption shows this was what was on the rear of the tombstone, not the front, on which, I’d imagine, are the more traditional notations of dates of birth, death, and perhaps his wife’s name. Still, it’s clear what Al Neuharth believed were his important accomplishments: starting newspapers and media organizations. Fair enough, I suppose, and, not having spoken about spiritual matters, I can’t say where his heart was, or wasn’t. The headstone photo, however, got me thinking: what would I want to have engraved on my headstone? (I’m hoping for translation, but “no one knows when their hour will come,” as we read in Ecclesiastes 9:12.) I’m a stamp collector, and I enjoy my hobby, but, no, that’s not granite-worthy, I think. Neither is my fondness for animals, having been privileged to provide a home for one dog and several cats over the years. A husband? Yes, that should be noted, and I’m grateful for the privilege of being married to Jean, whom I love. But many people have collected things, or had animal companions, or even been married. Lots of us have had what we considered significant careers, but do not feel compelled to take the corporate symbol of our employers literally to the grave with us. I’d rather have a simple cross—to show my dedication to Jesus and His church—and perhaps a reference to Jeremiah 29:11 carved in stone, a reminder, perhaps, that God saved a sinner (me), and has a future and a hope promised for those who trust Him. n MARK A. KELLNER SERVES AS NEWS EDITOR FOR ADVENTIST REVIEW AND ADVENTIST WORLD MAGAZINES.


31