tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137388532024-03-13T06:43:34.507-04:00αpokalupto(op-awk-all-oop'-toe) To uncover, lay open what has been veiled or covered up. Disclosing ideas about God, church, Scripture, politics, culture, and, in the end, myself.David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.comBlogger304125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-4469414758026206922023-10-21T10:32:00.002-04:002023-10-21T20:13:37.111-04:00The Modern State of Israel: An Adventist Interpretation<p>The modern, liberal-democratic Jewish nation-state of Israel does not resume the covenantal status God established with the ancient Davidic dynasty of the theocratic United Monarchy of Israel for three reasons:<br /><br />1. Israel’s post-exilic, geopolitical mission of bringing about the messianic age was accomplished in the events surrounding the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Israel’s Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/daniel/passage/?q=daniel+9:24-27">Daniel 9:24–27</a>).<br /><br />2. There is no inspired revelation of God renewing his covenant with any modern nation, including Israel, nor would God need to because<br /><br />3. Between the first and second comings of the Messiah, God’s kingdom is not geopolitical but spiritual-only (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/john/18-36.html">John 18:36</a>), and his temple is not earthly but heavenly (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/hebrews/passage/?q=hebrews+9:11-12">Hebrews 9:11–12</a>).<br /><br />Yet because God continues and will continue to have a particular love for the people of Israel (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/passage/?q=romans+11:2;romans+11:28-29">Romans 11:2, 28–29</a>), how much more has God providentially guided the subsequent history of the Jews given that he does so for every other nation (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/acts/17-26.html">Acts 17:26</a>)?<br /><br />In the providential interpretation of human history, we recognize that God has accomplished his goals through past or current events based on patterns in the prophetic record of his previous interactions with groups of humans, his enduring characteristics, and his revealed plans. While discerning divine action in history is necessarily speculative, it is, <a href="https://revistas.unasp.edu.br/kerygma/article/view/1225#author-1">I argue</a>, necessary for us to align our approach to changing circumstances with divine action in history. The study and experience of history is one way God pushes back on our wrongly cherished views of reality, reforming our character. In the wake of recent events, let us briefly consider the history of Jews after the ascension of Jesus with an eye toward discerning God’s purposes for the State of Israel today.<br /> <br />A series of Jewish revolts against Roman imperium based on messianic expectation of a restored geopolitical kingdom resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple (AD 70) and the eventual complete expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem (AD 135). These disasters caused the Jews to turn away from messianic expectation altogether and allowed the politically ascendent Christians in the Roman Empire to distinguish themselves from the Jews via antisemitism. God then allowed the Jews to suffer persecution in Europe under the rule of the established churches and divided kingdoms that oppressed Jewish and Christian Sabbath-keepers in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. (The Jews who remained in Judea, Galilee, and elsewhere in the Middle East suffered <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhimmitude#Associations_and_usage">dhimmitude</a> under Muslim rule during roughly the same period.) After Martin Luther’s religious antisemitism was secularized in the philosophy of the German Enlightenment, this antisemitic strain in Christendom culminated in the Shoah under the Nazis. Then, in his mercy, God raised up and protected the State of Israel where persecuted Jews may seek shelter on their ancestral lands.<br /><br />This does not imply that we ought to reflexively side with the Jewish State of Israel and in its conflicts any more than we ought to reflexively side with the United States just because we recognize that God raised it up to provide a bastion of religious liberty with separation of church and state for his church (more on that <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-different-kind-of-beast-evaluating.html">here</a>). The interests of God cannot be wholly identified with one side of a human conflict (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/joshua/passage/?q=joshua+5:13-14">Joshua 5:13–14</a>). For example, as <a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/116.1296#1297">Ellen White saw in a vision</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm">Abraham Lincoln later understood</a>, although the Union's war against the Confederacy was just, God was also judging the Union states for compromising too long with the sin of slavery. Thus, to seek a swift victory for the Union because it was on ‘God's side’ would have been to oppose another purpose of God in the US Civil War.<br /><br />The rise and fall of nations and the shifting of their borders are determined by God so that we might seek him and be saved (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/acts/passage/?q=acts+17:26-27">Acts 17:27</a>). It follows that according to God’s particular purpose of saving all Israel (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/romans/11-26.html">Romans 11:26</a>), God raised up the modern State of Israel. But Israel, like every other human polity, is on probation to determine what it will do with the blessings God has given it. Will it govern so that Jews, Muslims, and Christians can shelter in it together in peace (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/daniel/4-21.html">Daniel 4:21</a>)? Will it be a nation of which it is said that Jews love Arabs as much they love themselves (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/leviticus/19-34.html">Leviticus 19:34</a>)? Will it be a nation where the stranger, the widow, and the orphan can find justice, or will it be cursed for unnecessarily making more and more of the strangers who dwell in its land widows and orphans (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/deuteronomy/27-19.html">Deuteronomy 27:19</a>)? If the State of Israel, or any other nation, does what is just, its prosperity may be prolonged (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/daniel/4-27.html">Daniel 4:27</a>).<br /><br />Along with the other kingdoms of this world, the State of Israel will eventually be judged for its sins and destroyed, if not before, then at the Second Advent of Israel’s Messiah, who alone can rescue Israel from its enemies and sins. Jesus will then set up God’s everlasting kingdom (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/daniel/2-44.html">Daniel 2:44</a>), and, together with the saved and all creation, Israel will receive its ultimate geopolitical inheritance, its never-ending Promised Land and eternal dwelling place with God (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/acts/passage/?q=acts+13:32-39">Acts 13:32–39</a>; <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/romans/8-21.html">Romans 8:21</a>; <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/hebrews/passage/?q=hebrews+11:13-16">Hebrews 11:13–16</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/hebrews/passage/?q=hebrews+11:39-40">39–40</a>; <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/revelation/21-3.html">Revelation 21:3</a>). <br /></p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-28052692207231832142023-05-29T00:44:00.003-04:002023-05-29T00:49:26.429-04:00How to Use Digital Bibles<p>The Word of God has been recorded in a variety of media: tablets (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/exodus/passage/?q=exodus+32:15-16">Exodus 32:15–16</a>), scrolls (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/deuteronomy/passage/?q=deuteronomy+17:18-19">Deuteronomy 17:18</a>), papyrus sheets (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/2-john/1-12.html">2 John 12</a>), and, last but not least, human memory (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/psalms/passage/?q=psalms+119:11-16">Psalm 119:11</a>). The codex—pages made from sheets that have been bound together, in other words, the object we think of when we think of a book—was adopted soon after the last Bible books were written. More than a thousand years later, the printing press made it possible to mass-produce books, spurring the Protestant Reformation.<br /><br />Likewise, in our time five-hundred years after the Reformation, the electronic digital medium (through which you are reading these words) has changed the way we record, study, and distribute God's Word.<br /><br />By electronic, I mean Bibles that are recorded on a media device that requires a source of electric power to access. And by digital, I mean Bibles that are recorded in a numeric code that makes their words subject to computer manipulation, as opposed to, say, the popular <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf9jWonGL74">Gospel According to Matthew</a></i> film (though speech-to-text technology is changing that).<br /><br />One advantage of studying the Bible digitally is that the code allows easy access to the original languages. Similar to how I have linked the following text to a website, <a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/">Blue Letter Bible</a> and similar websites link the original Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek words of the biblical text to the English words that are used to translate them. No more lugging around heavy interlinear Bibles and concordances!<br /><br />This also means that there is no excuse for relying on English dictionaries for the meaning of Bible words when at the click of a mouse or tap of a finger we have free access to lexicons—dictionaries of the original languages of the Bible—along with all the occurrences of a given word in Scripture. My favorite website for this sort of study is the <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/interlinear-bible/">Bible Study Tools interlinear Bible search</a>.<br /><br />But beware: The meaning of a word is not determined by its dictionary definition but by the textual and historical settings in which it is used. Unless you have studied the grammar and syntax of the original languages and the historical backgrounds of the Bible, a list of lexical possibilities can take you only so far towards the meaning. So always consult translations and commentaries, which are only a click or tap away in many digital Bibles, to get a sense of which sector of a word's semantic range is being selected by the text in its context.<br /><br />Also, beware that certain free Bible apps and websites <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/apps-selling-your-prayers">are known to sell information</a> about your searches and other activity to internet advertisers. Even publishers of digital Bibles have to pay the bills. And on the internet, <a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/16/product/">as the saying goes</a>, if you're not a paying customer, you're likely the product being sold.<br /><br />There are many free Bible apps available for smartphones and tablets, but I prefer those that download the Bible to my device for offline use. Again, Blue Letter Bible has a quality app, and I have successfully used Olive Tree and e-Sword in the past, as well. Beware of apps that ask for unnecessary permissions like contacts or location (if you're not the customer, ...).<br /><br />These days I use only paid Bible study platforms. They are more or less expensive depending on the resources you want to get with them but are only worth it if you are prepared to use their extra features. Prices range from just over a hundred to thousands of dollars for a full library of resources. <a href="https://www.accordancebible.com/">Accordance</a> has the fastest and most powerful searches, but they charge you for the software in addition to the resource packages. <a href="https://www.logos.com/">Logos</a> is slower but free and has the most resources available. Both platforms have resources specifically for Seventh-day Adventists.<br /><br />The great, irreplaceable advantage of digital Bibles is that you can quickly find what you are looking for along with lots of other information about it. The inevitable disadvantage that goes along with that: Easy come; easy go. The human mind, which is where God's Word ultimately needs to be written (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/ceb/jeremiah/passage/?q=jeremiah+31:31-34">Jeremiah 31:33</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/hebrews/passage/?q=hebrews+8:7-12">Hebrews 8:10</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/hebrews/passage/?q=hebrews+10:15-17">10:16</a>), is best activated by sustained bodily contact with physical objects. We remember best what we have a sensory experience with.<br /><br />So how will we know what to search for in our digital Bibles in the first place? By regularly interacting with our good, old codex Bibles.</p><p><i>If you're wondering <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-read-whole-bible-for-first-time.html">How to Read the Whole Bible for the First Time</a>, click <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-read-whole-bible-for-first-time.html">here</a>.</i><i> </i></p><p><i>Wondering <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/what-bible-should-i-read.html">What Bible Should I Read?</a> See my recommendations <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/what-bible-should-i-read.html">here</a>.</i></p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-27343441613895325412023-05-18T17:12:00.010-04:002023-06-12T10:46:11.357-04:00What Bible Should I Read?<p><b>Short answer</b>: Any Bible that you read is the right Bible for you to read.</p><p>All Bibles—regardless of which translation or what supplementary notes—convey the written Word of God. The Gospel is a translated message from its inception (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/acts/passage/?q=acts+2:1-13">Acts 2:6</a>) and therefore always comes to us as an already interpreted message. This means that there is no one-and-only, given-for-all-time version of the Bible. To have a Bible that you regularly read is what matters most.</p><p>On the other hand, we are blessed with so wide a variety of English translations and study Bibles that many people don't know where to start or how to build a well-rounded collection for personal or family use.</p><p>The English Bible most first-time readers consider is the</p><p><b><a href="https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/King-James-Version-Bible-first-edition-title-page-1611.png/1280px-King-James-Version-Bible-first-edition-title-page-1611.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="512" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/King-James-Version-Bible-first-edition-title-page-1611.png/1280px-King-James-Version-Bible-first-edition-title-page-1611.png" width="128" /></a></b></div><b><a href="https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/">King James Version</a></b> (KJV or Authorized Version, AV): Authorized by King James in 1611, what set this Bible apart from previously published English translations was the fact that it did not come with interpretive notes in the margins. So, it was able to be used in churches of all doctrinal persuasions. The KJV is also an artistic achievement whose beautiful language, along with that of the works of Shakespeare, standardized Modern English.<p></p><p>A linguistic quirk of the KJV is its thee-s and thou-s. These second-person pronouns had already fallen out of ordinary use, but the translation committee brought them back from Middle English because they took a word-for-word approach to translation. Even if the point is lost on most readers, the KJV makes the same distinction between singular (thee/thou) and plural (ye/you) found in the original Hebrew and Aramaic of the Old Testament and New Testament Greek.</p><p>While the KJV's spelling has been revised many times, some words have changed in meaning over the last 400 years, which can result in misunderstandings. Over that time, our knowledge of the original languages has also significantly improved, so I do not recommend the KJV for in-depth Bible study.</p><p><a href="https://www.thomasnelsonbibles.com/nkjv-bible/"><b></b></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/4333777434_7903e7632a_o.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="551" height="200" src="https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/4333777434_7903e7632a_o.jpg" width="138" /></a></b></div><b><a href="https://www.thomasnelsonbibles.com/nkjv-bible/">New King James Version</a></b> (NKJV): It retains the KJV's commitment to word-for-word translation and elegance of language, but uses words according to their current meanings and incorporates discoveries about the original languages made up to the early 1980s. This results in a formal-sounding translation that, while understandable, has some difficult turns of phrase that do not always clearly convey the intent of the original.<p></p><p>Because the NKJV sounds the way many English speakers feel that a Bible should, I like to use it for preaching.</p><p><a href="https://universitypress.andrews.edu/store/Religion/Andrews-Study-Bible/1_32_-1_-1.action"><b><i></i></b></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61dwJszJy7L.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="525" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61dwJszJy7L.jpg" width="131" /></a></i></b></div><b><i><a href="https://universitypress.andrews.edu/store/Religion/Andrews-Study-Bible/1_32_-1_-1.action">Andrews Study Bible</a></i></b> (NKJV/New International Version, NIV): For notes to help you understand difficult passages in the NKJV and clarify many points of interpretation from a Seventh-day Adventist perspective, I recommend the <i>Andrews Study Bible</i>.<p></p><p>It is also available in the NIV, another popular translation that attempts to balance word-for-word translation with a thought-for-thought approach, which affords an easier and often clearer reading experience. But thought-for-thought translations make it harder to understand how they translated English expressions from the original languages, and sometimes clarify things wrongly.</p><p><b><i><a href="https://zondervanacademic.com/products/nrsv-cultural-backgrounds-study-bible-hardcover-comfort-print"></a></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://kbimages1-a.akamaihd.net/06faad6b-6bfe-4776-abc5-3bbb78c920cb/1200/1200/False/nrsv-cultural-backgrounds-study-bible-ebook.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="541" height="200" src="https://kbimages1-a.akamaihd.net/06faad6b-6bfe-4776-abc5-3bbb78c920cb/1200/1200/False/nrsv-cultural-backgrounds-study-bible-ebook.jpg" width="135" /></a></i></b></div><b><i><a href="https://zondervanacademic.com/products/nrsv-cultural-backgrounds-study-bible-hardcover-comfort-print">Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible</a></i></b>: (NIV/NKJV/New Revised Standard Version, NRSV): For a study Bible from a broader Christian perspective, I recommend the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. It has a wealth of notes and illustrations that will give you the latest scholarly understandings of the historical contexts of the biblical texts (not that I would endorse all of them). I recommend this Bible for in-depth study.<p></p><p>It is also available in the NRSV, which leans more toward a word-for-word approach than the NIV, but with less regard for harmonizing the texts of the Bible.</p><p><b><a href="https://netbible.com/"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.olivetree.com/store/images40/43689.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="200" src="https://www.olivetree.com/store/images40/43689.jpg" width="134" /></a></b></div><b><a href="https://netbible.com/">New English Translation</a></b>: (NET): As its acronym suggests, this translation was meant to be presented on the internet as well as in hard copy.<p></p><p>The NET has a full complement of translation and study notes that explain almost every interpretive decision in detail. These notes can be clicked and expanded when reading online, so they don't take up too much space on the page. But they are also available in the thick, hardcopy Full Notes Edition of the NET.</p><p>The notes lean toward Reformed Evangelical interpretation but typically give both sides of the various arguments. I recommend this Bible for in-depth study.</p><p><b><a href="https://www.crossway.org/bibles/esv-readers-bible-six-volume-set-cob/"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41rOUWEA3LL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="348" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41rOUWEA3LL.jpg" width="139" /></a></b></div><b><a href="https://www.crossway.org/bibles/esv-readers-bible-six-volume-set-cob/">ESV Reader's Bible</a></b> (English Standard Version): The visual opposite of study Bibles, reader's editions remove even the chapter and verse numbers, leaving only the biblical text on the page just as you would find it in any other book. It is a liberating way to read the Bible, and I recommend it to other experienced readers.<p></p><p>One affordable reader's edition uses the ESV, a good word-for-word translation, but one that is controversial for translating certain passages as excluding women from church leadership in a time when it was well understood that the original pronouns could have referred to both men and women.</p><p><b><a href="https://writpress.shop/"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1kNt4WqtkL._AC_UF350,350_QL50_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="274" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1kNt4WqtkL._AC_UF350,350_QL50_.jpg" width="157" /></a></b></div><b><a href="https://writpress.shop/">Bibliotheca</a></b> (American Literary Version): This is a more expensive, but, in my opinion, better reader's edition. It began as a solo, passion project that received so much support on the crowd-investment platform, Kickstarter, that the founder was able to form a committee of scholars to revise the American Standard Version, resulting in an elegant, word-for-word translation that incorporates current insights into the original languages.<p></p><p><b><a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393292497"><i></i></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://www.sdmorrison.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Snapseed.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="800" height="191" src="https://www.sdmorrison.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Snapseed.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></b></div><b><a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393292497"><i>The Hebrew Bible</i> by Robert Alter</a></b>: While translation committees guard against individual idiosyncrasies, they also tend to make the biblical books all sound the same. But the biblical authors wrote with distinct voices. Individual translators have proven more willing to take risks in translation that allow the style of the different books to come through.<p></p><p>I don't endorse everything he says in his notes, but Robert Alter's literary sensitivity is second to none, and his translation of the Old Testament highlights the strange beauty of ancient expression without being impenetrable.</p><p><b><a href="https://zondervanacademic.com/products/the-kingdom-new-testament-hardcover"><i></i></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://kbimages1-a.akamaihd.net/1d91a4e2-9413-4e66-af7c-3080a86f083f/1200/1200/False/the-kingdom-new-testament-paperback.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="534" height="200" src="https://kbimages1-a.akamaihd.net/1d91a4e2-9413-4e66-af7c-3080a86f083f/1200/1200/False/the-kingdom-new-testament-paperback.jpg" width="134" /></a></i></b></div><b><a href="https://zondervanacademic.com/products/the-kingdom-new-testament-hardcover"><i>The Kingdom New Testament</i> by N. T. Wright</a></b>: The New Testament books were not written in the elevated Greek of the Homeric epics but in the simplified Greek spoken on the streets by people who had often learned it as their second language.<p></p><p>In his translation, which does reflect his theological interpretations, N. T. Wright moves away from elegant, formal-sounding English and instead uses plain-spoken, simple English to better give a sense of how accessible the original language of the New Testament was.</p><p><b><a href="https://www.commonenglishbible.com/"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.olivetree.com/store/images40/17704.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://www.olivetree.com/store/images40/17704.jpg" width="133" /></a></b></div><p><b><a href="https://www.commonenglishbible.com/">Common English Bible</a></b> (CEB): For a translation that even young children can understand, I recommend the CEB. It will also challenge experienced readers to overcome clichés with its thought-for-thought translations of common biblical expressions (like "Human One" for "Son of Man"). Also, it is the only Bible I know of that had Seventh-day Adventist scholars working on its translation committee.</p><p><b>Final Thought</b>: The farther I have gone in biblical studies—especially of the original languages—the less opinionated I have become about translations. Translation is really hard. And even where I disagree with a translation decision, I have learned not to criticize until I understand the case that can be made for it. Translators have their reasons, and they usually illuminate something in the text.<br /><br /><i>If you're wondering <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-read-whole-bible-for-first-time.html">How to Read the Whole Bible for the First Time</a>, click <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-read-whole-bible-for-first-time.html">here</a>.</i></p><p><i>If you want to know <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-use-digital-bibles.html">How to Use Digital Bibles</a>, click <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-use-digital-bibles.html">here</a>.</i><br /></p><p></p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-88216998950942837052023-05-14T13:58:00.003-04:002023-05-29T00:50:53.609-04:00How to Read the Whole Bible for the First Time<p> </p><p>The Bible can be intimidating if you've never read something like it before. It's very long, and some of its texts are more easily understood—or misunderstood!—than others.</p><p>It's become a cliché that many who attempt to read the Bible straight through crash out around Leviticus.</p><p>I recommend the following sequence of biblical books for your first read-through:</p><ol><li><p><b>Mark</b>. The shortest account of the life of Jesus (New Testament).</p></li><li><p><b>Genesis</b>. The first book of instruction, which is the account of origins (Old Testament).</p></li><li><p><b>John</b> and <b>Matthew</b>. The last of account of the life of Jesus and then another that is more similar to Mark (NT).</p></li><li><p><b>Luke</b> and <b>Acts</b>. A two-part account, first of Jesus's life and then of how God founded his church (NT).</p></li><li><p><b>Exodus</b>, <b>Leviticus</b>, <b>Numbers</b>, and <b>Deuteronomy</b>. The other books of instruction, which are the account of how God founded his nation, Israel (OT).</p></li><li><p><b>Hebrews</b>. A letter to the church about how the instruction relates to Jesus (NT).</p></li><li><p><b>Joshua</b>, <b>Judges</b>, <b>Ruth</b>, <b>1 & 2 Samuel</b>, <b>1 & 2 Kings</b>, <b>1 & 2 Chronicles</b>, <b>Ezra</b>, <b>Nehemiah</b>, and <b>Esther</b>. The history God's nation, Israel, and stories of people who played a part in it (OT).</p></li><li><p><b>Romans</b>, <b>1 & 2 Corinthians</b>, <b>Galatians</b>, <b>Ephesians</b>, <b>Philippians</b>, and <b>Colossians</b>. Letters to the church about how Jesus helps us (NT).</p></li><li><p><b>Job</b>, <b>Psalms</b>, <b>Proverbs</b>, and <b>Ecclesiastes</b>. Wisdom about how to deal with evil and suffering (OT).</p></li><li><p><b>1 & 2 Thessalonians</b>, <b>1 & 2 Timothy</b>, <b>Titus</b>, and <b>Philemon</b>. Letters to the church about the end times and life together (NT).</p></li><li><p><b>Song of Songs</b>, <b>Isaiah</b>, <b>Jeremiah</b>, and <b>Lamentations</b>. A love poem and then longer writings warning and encouraging Israel along with some accounts of visions from God (OT).</p></li><li><p><b>James</b>, <b>1 & 2 Peter</b>, and <b>Jude</b>. Letters to the church about how to follow Jesus (NT).</p></li><li><p><b>Hosea</b>, <b>Joel</b>, <b>Amos</b>, <b>Obadiah</b>, <b>Jonah</b>, <b>Micah</b>, <b>Nahum</b>, <b>Habakkuk</b>, <b>Zephaniah</b>, <b>Haggai</b>, <b>Zechariah</b>, and <b>Malachi</b>. Shorter writings warning and encouraging Israel along with some accounts of visions from God (OT).</p></li><li><p><b>1, 2 & 3 John</b>. Letters to the church about God's love (NT).</p></li><li><p><b>Ezekiel</b> and <b>Daniel</b>. Accounts of visions about God's plans for history and the end times along with some stories about how to deal with powerful people (OT).</p></li><li><p><b>Revelation</b>. A letter warning and encouraging the church along with accounts of visions about God's plans for history and the end times (NT).</p></li></ol><p>Tips:</p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><p>Set a consistent time for reading the Bible every day and set up reminders for yourself.</p></li><li><p>Plan to read for a minimum of five to ten minutes at a time and increase it as your attention span grows.</p></li><li><p>Pray before you start; ask God's Spirit to help you find something that lets you know Jesus better.</p></li><li><p>The Bible rewards a lifetime of reading, so don't try to understand everything the first time.</p></li><li><p>When you feel like you don't understand all of what you're reading, keep reading until you find something you do understand.</p></li><li><p>If you get bored with what you are reading, you can either pray and try again, skim ahead until you find something more interesting, or stop and come back to it tomorrow.</p></li><li><p>If you feel like you understood less than half of what you read or didn't understand anything at all, ask someone more experienced to help you with its meaning.<i> <br /></i></p></li><p><i>Wondering <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/what-bible-should-i-read.html">What Bible Should I Read?</a> See my recommendations <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/what-bible-should-i-read.html">here</a>.</i></p><p><i>If you want to know <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-use-digital-bibles.html">How to Use Digital Bibles</a>, click <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-use-digital-bibles.html">here</a>.</i><i> </i> </p></ol>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-13483390507328255132022-07-09T22:20:00.003-04:002023-12-01T12:23:07.290-05:00Annual Observances for Seventh-day Adventists<p>In Seventh-day Adventism, some families and communities feel called to observe something like a festal or liturgical year to rehearse the story of salvation rather than enjoy merely secular holidays or take the extreme position of observing none at all. Ellen G. White also recognized that there are certain times of the year that, like Christmas Day, may be observed as a "sacred event" (<a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/821.10099#10108">Review and Herald, 17 Dec 1889</a>), yet one on which, unlike Sabbath, "there is no divine sanctity resting" (<a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/821.6072#6078">Review and Herald, 9 Dec 1884</a>). Therefore, we have the Christian liberty to observe them or not as is most meaningful to us. But Ellen White counseled us to not neglect the opportunity to make much of Christ on occasions when people, especially young people, expect a celebration (<a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/821.6072#6080">9 Dec 1884</a>).</p><p><b>Introduction</b> <br /></p><p>What follows is a framework within which Seventh-day Adventists can develop a rhythm of annual observances for individual, familial, or communal devotional practice. I do not present it as a program to which nothing may be added and from which nothing may be subtracted; the Sabbath is the only day we are to keep holy without exception.<br /><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">This annual cycle incorporates observances from Adventism's deep Jewish, broadly Christian, and specifically Protestant backgrounds</span>:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Three festivals that Gentiles can celebrate with Jews—the Feast of Lots (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/esther/9-27.html">Esth 9:27</a>), Passover (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/exodus/12-48.html">Exod 12:48</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/numbers/9-14.html">Num 9:14</a>), and the Festival of Tabernacles (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/deuteronomy/passage/?q=deuteronomy+16:13-14">Deut 16:13–14</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/zechariah/14-16.html">Zech 14:16</a>) <br /></li><li>The Five Evangelical Feasts recognized by Reformed Christian communions—Good Friday, Resurrection Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost, and Christmas—along with two Western Christian seasons included in <span data-offset-key="bfapo-0-0"><span data-text="true">the mainline Protestants'</span></span> Revised Common Lectionary—Advent and Christmastide</li><li>Reformation Day</li><li>Three holidays recommended by Ellen White—Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's</li></ul>These combine to present the story of Jesus Christ and his church:<p>The Five Spring Observances tell the story of Christ's death, burial, resurrection (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/1-corinthians/passage/?q=1+corinthians+15:3-4">1 Cor 15:3–4</a>), and ascension to Heaven (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/acts/passage/?q=acts+2:33-35">Acts 2:33–35</a>) and heavenly sanctuary ministry (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/ephesians/passage/?q=ephesians+4:7-8">Eph 4:7–8</a>) in the context of the great controversy.<br /><br />The Five Autumn Observances tell the story of the end-time events in <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/passage/?q=revelation+13;revelation+14">Revelation 13–14</a> in the context of Christ's Second Coming, concluding with the hope of Immanuel, God with us, at "the restoration of all things" (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/acts/3-21.html">Acts 3:21</a>) when the great controversy is resolved (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=revelation+21;revelation+22:1-5">Rev 21:1–22:5</a>).<br /><br /><b>Spring Observances</b> </p><p>1. <b>Feast of Lots</b><br />Old Testament feast day commemorating the victory of the Jews over Haman's plot<br /><i>Date</i>: (movable) February 26–March 26<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: the great controversy between Christ and Satan<br /><i>Suggested Activity and Scripture Reading</i>: Put on an Esther play while reading the <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=esther+1;esther+2;esther+3;esther+4;esther+5;esther+6;esther+7;esther+8;esther+9;esther+10">Book of Esther</a>.<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Reading</i>: <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/passage/?q=job+1;job+2">Job 1–2</a><br /><i>Suggested Psalms:</i> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAqPZQeDcFs">The Lord's My Shepherd</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4uEnayxRZ0">Send Out Your Light</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LR43Xh7VzM">Psalm 46</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXkiHAd0yvM">Psalm 121</a><br /><br />2. <b>Passover</b><br />Old Testament feast day commemorating Israel's exodus out of Egypt<br /><i>Date</i>: (movable) March 28–April 25<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: Christ's sacrificial death<br /><i>Suggested Activity</i>: Hold a Passover feast with traditions that Jesus followed.<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>: <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/passage/?q=exodus+11;exodus+12">Exodus 11–12</a>; <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/john/1-29.html">John 1:29</a>; <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/1-corinthians/passage/?q=1%20corinthians%205%3A6-8">1 Corinthians 5:6–8</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/1-corinthians/passage/?q=1%20corinthians%2010%3A1-13">10:1–13</a><br /><i>Suggested Psalms</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSoVRTV9pk0">God Be Merciful to Me</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px-eU1QjQiU">Psalm 51</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QCcwgb817s">Psalm 130</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTKQTgVHuuA">Psalm 136</a><br /><br />3. <b>Easter</b><br />Evangelical feast days, Good Friday and
Resurrection Sunday, commemorating Christ's death and resurrection<br /><i>Date</i> of Good Friday: (movable) March 25–April 25<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: Christ's burial and resurrection<br /><i>Suggested Activities</i>: Have a sundown worship service (Good Friday); have a sunrise worship service (Resurrection Day).<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>:<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=john+18;john+19"></a> (Good Friday) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=matthew+26;matthew+27">Matthew 26–27</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=mark+14;mark+15">Mark 14–15</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=luke+22;luke+23">Luke 22-23</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=john+18;john+19">John 18–19</a>; (Resurrection Day) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/matthew/28.html">Matthew 28</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/24.html">Luke 24</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/20.html">John 20</a><br /><i>Suggested Hymns</i>: (Good Friday) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFvoUmy6wXM">He Never Said a Mumblin' Word</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW7IQIysHc8">Lead Me to Calvary</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpe110ZiUik">In Christ Alone</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a34ABuJh9jA">God Rested</a>; (Resurrection Day) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15dmjnB8FZU">Christ the Lord Is Risen Today</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVduV0ustWw">Now the Green Blade Rises</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La9Zy917JcQ">Because He Lives</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG8Tko3BzHk">Easter Song</a> <br /><br />4. <b>Ascension Day</b><br />Evangelical feast day commemorating Christ's ascension<br /><i>Date</i>: (movable) May 3–June 3<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: Christ's ascension to the right hand of the Father and the inauguration of the heavenly sanctuary<br /><i>Suggested Activity</i>: Feast on food that rises like fluffy pastries or (plant-based) poultry.<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>: <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/acts/1.html">Acts 1</a>; <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/ephesians/passage/?q=ephesians%201%3A20-21">Ephesians 1:20–21</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/ephesians/passage/?q=ephesians%204%3A7-8">4:7–8</a>; <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=revelation+4;revelation+5">Revelation 4–5</a><br /><i>Suggested Hymns</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7C5U24E9Y">A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2l2-tyOQg8">Alleluia! Sing to Jesus</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuJ7-s3gN4k">Arise, My Soul, Arise</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMWrAqMWhWs">Is He Worthy?</a><br /><br />5. <b>Pentecost</b><br />Evangelical feast day commemorating the beginning of the church<br /><i>Date</i>: (movable) May 13–June 9<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: Christ's heavenly sanctuary ministry and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit<br /><i>Suggested Activity</i>: Feast on first fruits and/or food that looks like or is cooked with fire.<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>: <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/joel/passage/?q=joel+2:28-29">Joel 2:28–29</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/passage/?q=john+14:15-31">John 14:15–31</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/acts/2.html">Acts 2</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/galatians/passage/?q=galatians+5:13-26">Galatians 5:13–26</a><br /><i>Suggested Hymns</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip16Q0xh2Rg">O for That Flame of Living Fire</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n7VhcoHqgY">Baptize Us Anew</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtwNOZ92lCU">Come Holy Spirit</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbdJXKqVgtg">Build Your Kingdom Here</a><br /><b><br />Autumn Observances </b><br /></p><p>6. <b>Festival of Tabernacles</b><br />Old Testament seven-day harvest festival<br /><i>Date</i> of the first day: (movable) September 21–October 19<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: Christ's Second Coming as the ingathering of God's harvest<br /><i>Suggested Activity</i>: Sleep in an outdoor shelter or as if you were in one.<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>: <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/matthew/13.html">Matthew 13</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/passage/?q=matthew+24;matthew+25">Matthew 24–25</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/revelation/14.html">Revelation 14</a>.<br /><i>Suggested Psalms</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfW2mkkMTAg">Psalm 34</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/i9jwyL4K88A?t=103">All People That on Earth Do Dwell</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZtRhz4jE78">Flourishing</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqnQ0bwdN4g">Psalm 126</a><br /><br />7. <b>Reformation Day</b><br />Protestant commemoration celebrating Reformation
heritage (Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on All Saints' Eve) and
memorializing martyrs on All Saints' Eve and/or All Saints'
Day<br /><i>Date</i> of All Saints' Eve: (fixed) October 31<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: the beast from the sea and the Protestant Reformation<br /><i>Suggested Activities</i>: Dress up like reformers; post the 95 Theses on a door; read the testimonies of martyrs.<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>: <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/daniel/7.html">Daniel 7</a>; <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/revelation/passage/?q=revelation%206%3A9-11">Revelation 6:9–11</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/passage/?q=revelation+12;revelation+13">chs. 12–13</a><br /><i>Suggested Hymns</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSHzrlGoelQ">Faith of Our Fathers</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvXDY4HHC1o">For All the Saints</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL7Cg1VRzxc">When the Saints Go Marchin' In</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNIx__JGLGs">By Faith</a><br /><br />8. <b>Thanksgiving Day</b><br />American holiday instituted during the US Civil War and recommended by Ellen White<br /><i>Date</i>: (movable) third Thursday in November (USA) or second Monday in October (Canada)<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: the beast from the land and religious liberty<br /><i>Suggested Activities</i>: Share testimonies of gratitude and feast on locally harvested food.<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>: <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/psalms/95.html">Psalm 95</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/psalms/100.html">Psalm 100</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/john/18-36.html">John 18:36</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/revelation/passage/?q=revelation%2013%3A11-15">Revelation 13:11–15<br /></a><i>Suggested Hymns</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7DxhxSR7T4">Now Thank We All Our God</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTKIqmdfHSk">Great Is Thy Faithfulness</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ZV8M2wUZ0">Thank You Lord</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtwIT8JjddM">10,000 Reasons</a><br /><br />9. <b>Advent</b><br />Christian season that anticipates the coming of Christ<br /><i>Dates</i>: (movable) November 27–December 3 to (fixed) December 24<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: preparation for the Second Coming and the Three Angels' Messages<br /><i>Suggested Activities</i>: Give Advent calendar treats; have an Advent theme for family or group worship every week: (week 1) the second coming, (week 2) the messianic prophecies, (week 3) John the Baptist, (week 4) Mary and Joseph.<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>: (week 1) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/14.html">John 14:1–14</a>, (week 2) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/isaiah/passage/?q=isaiah+52:13-15;isaiah+53:1-12">Isaiah 52:13–53:12</a>, (week 3) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/passage/?q=luke%203%3A1-20">Luke 3:1–20</a>, and (week 4) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/1.html">Luke 1</a><br /><i>Suggested Hymns</i>: (week 1) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKEUlJRQVbA">O Come, O Come Emmanuel</a>, (week 2) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kktxNAM5V8o">Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming</a>, (week 3) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-n_iUv9NII">On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry</a>, (week 4) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK_ufB34pvQ">Magnificat</a><br /><br />10. <b>Christmastide</b><br />Christian season that includes (1) Christmas Day, an evangelical feast day commemorating the birth of Christ, which Ellen White
recommended, and (2a) New Years Day, another holiday that Ellen White recommended as a time of reflection and re-commitment, and which coincides with (2b) the commemoration of
Christ's circumcision eight days after his birth; and concludes at (3) the
commemoration of the visit of the Magi (Epiphany)<br /><i>Dates</i>: (fixed) December 25 to January 6<br /><i>Salvation Story Theme</i>: God dwelling with us and the great controversy ended<br /><i>Suggested Activities</i>: Give gifts to those in need (Christmas); renew your covenant with God (New Year's); sing Christmas carols during the twelve days of Christmastide (December 25 to January 5); and give gifts to the needy (Epiphany).<br /><i>Suggested Scripture Readings</i>: (Christmas) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/passage/?q=luke+2:1-21">Luke 2:1–21</a>; (New Year's) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/psalms/139.html">Psalm 139</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/luke/passage/?q=luke+2:22-40">Luke 2:22–40</a>; (Epiphany) <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/isaiah/60.html">Isaiah 60</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/matthew/2.html">Matthew 2</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/romans/passage/?q=romans+9:30-33;romans+10;romans+11">Romans 9:30–11:36</a>, <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/passage/?q=revelation+21;revelation+22">Revelation 21–22</a><br /><i>Suggested Hymns</i>: (Christmas) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT3cfXd3Shk">Once in Royal David's City</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1RpUV2AQ24">Go Tell It on the Mountain</a>; (New Year's) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JTHgIDgwus">Lord God, Now Let Your Servant Depart in Peace</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pxVXrlEDJ4">Wake the Song</a>; (Epiphany) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJAKEKaadwY">We Three Kings</a><br /><br /><b>Application</b><br /><br />Traditional elements for this cycle of annual observances may be found in the Scriptures
and the other foundational texts of the background traditions, or in their
popular interpreters. If unfamiliar, Google, Wikipedia, and your local library can resolve
that.</p><p></p><p>"Tradition is an argument extended through time" (Alasdair MacIntyre),
but enter into these arguments with due regard for the faith in God
expressed by the contemporary practitioners of Adventism's background
traditions. Jewish-Christian relations are fraught with a history of
persecution by Christians aimed at erasing Jewish identity. Thus, many
Jews take offense at Christians observing their traditions, including
Shabbat rituals for keeping the seventh day.<br /><br />Because we should use
our Christian liberty to serve others (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/galatians/5-13.html">Gal 5:13</a>) and not to cause them
offense (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/1-corinthians/8-9.html">1 Cor 8:9</a>), I recommend the following limits for non-Jewish Adventists who
choose to observe Old Testament festivals: Don't hold public-facing
meetings involving extra-biblical Jewish traditions and make it clear
to participants that you are observing such events only insofar as they build up faith in Jesus and not attempting to keep them for the sake of the
covenant God made with Israel. People who convert to Christianity offer certain of their traditions to other Christians so that all believers can better
express faith in Jesus, and so, out of respect for the integrity of Christian
and Jewish identity, seek out resources that are offered by<span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa ht8s03o8 a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"> Jewish Christians </span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa ht8s03o8 a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en">to other Christians for the purpose of building up Christian faith. Just because it is something most Jews do does not necessarily mean it is beneficial for a Seventh-day Adventist to do it.<br /><br /></span> Regardless of the background tradition involved, these observances require Adventists to interpret or modify these elements of the contemporary expressions of the background traditions in ways that accord with our faith. Where expedient, we can also create new elements that make them more meaningful for our families or communities. This may include moving the dates of observances to coincide with Sabbath, achieve the desired order in the cycle, or align with a minority calendar, like that of the Karaite Jews or Eastern Orthodox Christians.<br /><br />Even for those who had to keep feasts and festivals, God clarified making adjustments based on circumstances and limitations was preferable to not receiving the benefit of them at all (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/numbers/passage/?q=numbers%209%3A10-11">Num 9:10–11</a>). These observances have benefited me spiritually whether I, my family, or my small group did a lot or a little. Do not let others judge which, if any, annual observances are beneficial to you, nor how maximally or minimally you observe them (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/colossians/2-16.html">Col 2:16</a>).<br /></p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-53837430546808886132021-11-08T11:28:00.002-05:002021-11-08T11:28:45.396-05:00My Associationalist Manifesto<p>People sometimes ask me how I identify politically. In recent years I haven't had a ready answer, but I think that now I am prepared to take on at least one political label. I am an associationalist.<br /><br />What I mean by that is I think would be better off if Americans were to take the energy we expend on winning the culture wars and invest it in revitalizing civil society and empowering it to do in a pluralistic way what we currently rely on big business, big government, and big charity to do for us in a one-size-fits-all way. The latter approach is making it impossible to live and let live together with others who aspire to different visions of the good life.</p><p>Relying more on smaller free associations would get us something else we need to get along with material benefits but can't get from organizations to which we are numbers, not people: affirmation of our way of life from those we respect. The generation of wealth for a common pursuit of the good life makes people feel they are free to flourish; the provision of wealth for its own sake is meaningless to most people. So to attain that sense of meaning as things currently stand, we are offering empower and expand those governments, businesses, and charities that are supposed to benefit all kinds of people, on the condition that they embrace our discrete values and exclude those who don't share them.</p><p>Trying to sweep into the dustbin of history those whose ways of life we can't support yet ought to be able to tolerate, and who likewise can tolerate but can't support us, will result in insincere recognition for the victors at best (see Hegel's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master%E2%80%93slave_dialectic">master-slave dialectic</a> and Havel's <a href="https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/the-power-of-the-powerless-vaclav-havel-2011-12-23">greengrocer illustration</a>) or the destruction of the nation at worst. The challenge of liberty for twentieth-century America was making the material benefits of the industrial revolution through big business, big charity, and big government available to all and not just the wealthy, white men who control them. The challenge of liberty for twenty-first-century America will be providing those same material benefits in ways that are meaningful to all and not just whichever group of populists or elites win the culture war for a given slice of the American pie.</p><p>Evade, resist, and escape zero-sum competitions that aren't games; in real life, seek the win-win.</p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-6909777721725408052021-09-12T09:44:00.002-04:002023-10-20T12:58:48.297-04:00A Different Kind of Beast: Evaluating America in View of the Kingdom of God<p>September 11 happened for me on September 12, 2001. I had taken a year off from college to serve as a volunteer youth pastor in Melbourne, Australia, so, in my time zone, the attacks occurred during the late-night hours of Tuesday, the 11th, and the early morning of Wednesday, the 12th. Instead of letting me sleep in (as youth pastors are wont to do), the father of my host family knocked on my door sometime before 6:00 a.m. As I opened my bedroom door, he told me, “They brought down the Twin Towers!”<br /><br />All my sleep-deprived brain could muster was: “They finally did it.”<br /><br />I was a relatively well-informed young adult, and my mind immediately went to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing">previous attempt</a> on the Twin Towers and the ambitions of al-Qaeda. Nevertheless, the event shook me emotionally. I spent the day watching the replays of events resembling the fantastic climax to Tom Clancy’s thriller, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_of_Honor#Legacy"><i>Debt of Honor</i></a>, which I had read as a teenager. I have never been so grateful to turn off the TV and go to a Wednesday evening prayer meeting.<br /><br /><b>A Mixed Record</b><br /><br />Many of the youth I served were the children of Central and South Americans who were forced to relocate to Australia due to the political instability and human rights abuses of the Cold War. Some apparently had socialist associations and had to flee right-wing governments that would ‘disappear’ such people. Others may have had connections to rural land ownership that made them a target of communist guerillas.<br /><br />As it became clear the United States would invade Afghanistan, the reactions of my Latin American co-religionists to me as a young Anglo-American abroad who shared their passion for discussing current events shifted from sympathy to concern bordering on outrage. To them, the United States was not the country I grew up in that had brought religious freedom to Eastern Europe without firing a shot and ousted Saddam Hussein’s Iraq from Kuwait. It was the United States that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/28/opinion/school-of-the-dictators.html">trained the death squads</a> of right-wing dictators but nevertheless was unable to end the communist insurgencies that terrorized the countryside.<br /><br />It would be easy to attribute their skepticism of the ability of American power to remake Afghanistan to having observed failures of the same in its own hemisphere. The US military’s botched withdrawal from Kabul weeks before the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 can be taken as a vindication of those predictions that my country’s valor was about to exceed its discretion. But that was not the only perspective informing their reluctance to welcome, in the words of President George W. Bush, “this crusade, this war on terrorism.”<br /><br /><b>A Prophetic Perspective</b><br /><br />I remember one older gentleman, who had likely come to Australia when his country was ruled by a ruthless, <a href="https://irp.fas.org/cia/product/chile/index.html">CIA-installed dictator</a>. He asked me how American Adventists could justify serving their country’s armed forces, given the Seventh-day Adventist historic teaching that the United States would become an eschatological enemy of God’s people. I told him about the conscientious cooperation of men like my <a href="https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Dirk_Hamstra_(1)">grandfather</a> and Desmond Doss. I explained that American Adventists had come to see that the US military could do some good in the world and had left the matter of killing in war to conscience. But he wasn’t convinced. To him, the United States was still the land beast of <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/revelation/passage/?q=revelation+13:11-18">Revelation 13</a>. “What communion has light with darkness?” (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/2-corinthians/6-14.html">2 Cor 6:14</a>).<br /><br />Despite the rise of China, the United States of America remains the pre-eminent geopolitical power on earth. Like the Roman Empire (Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων; lit., “Kingdom of the Romans”) in the time of Christ, it competes for our affections and threatens to eclipse our quest for the kingdom of God (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/interlinear-bible/passage/?q=Matt+6%3A33&t=nas">Matt 6:33</a>; Greek: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ; also, “empire of God”). And like the Roman Empire, it can distract us by seeming to be a powerful enemy we must overthrow to prepare the way for the kingdom of God (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/6-15.html">John 6:15</a>, compare with <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/18-36.html">18:36</a> and <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/19-15.html">19:15</a>).<br /><br />I submit that the identification of the United States of America as the beast of <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/revelation/13-11.html">Revelation 13:11</a> that “had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon” can give us a prophetic perspective that we need to arrive at an evaluation of America in the twenty-first century that is consistent with full commitment to the kingdom of God. I will do so by explaining how that interpretation allowed Ellen G. White, the spiritual founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to arrive at such an evaluation in the nineteenth century. (I will not address the exegetical and historical basis for this interpretation.) For the political challenges of that time were not qualitatively different than those we face today.<br /><br /><b>Ellen G. White’s Evaluation of America</b><br /><br />Ellen White believed that the United States is a <a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/132.1321#1339">blessed nation</a> because God had raised it up to provide and protect religious liberty as expressed in the democratic-republican and dissenting Protestant ideals written into the US Constitution. The freedom of the believer’s conscience before God taught by (1) Protestantism and the protection of civil liberties afforded by the limited government of (2) republicanism were the <a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/132.1960#1994">two horns</a> that constituted the lamb-like nature of the United States: the political upshot of the self-sacrificing lamb of God, whose kingdom is not of this world, who draws with love rather than coercing by force (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/18-36.html">John 18:36</a>). Ellen White believed that God had granted the US its material advantages because it had realized more religious freedom than any other nation.<br /><br />She also believed that the US had not been faithful to God's purposes from its inception when the Puritans, who came to America seeking religious freedom, enforced worship and doctrinal conformity in Plymouth colony. She believed that the Civil War was <a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/116.1296#1297">God's judgment on America</a> for denying liberty to African-Americans. These are the dragon-speech: the legislative expressions that “give the lie to those liberal and peaceful principles which it has put forth as the foundation of its policy” (<a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/132.1960#1998"><i>Great Controversy</i>, 442</a>)<br /><br />This seems to me to be a clear-eyed view of the character of the United States that holds up in broad-strokes and even seems prescient today. America is a different kind of beast. No other power represented in Revelation combines the character of the lamb, Christ, with that of the dragon, Satan. As the largest of the world's wealthy, free nations and the guarantor of their security, it is a nation of extremes: at once extremely good and extremely bad. Its boosters and its critics are both generally correct, and many of the best and the worst things that people believe about the United States are true at the same time. But it takes a theological perspective that regards America in light of a broader divine purpose to see that one doesn't have to take a side on the question of American greatness to evaluate its contradictory character.<br /><br /><br /><b>Evaluating America on September 12, 2021</b><br /><br />On September 12, 2001, members of the US Congress stood on the Capitol steps and sang “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-09-09/us-politicians-reflect-on-how-911-affected-their-lives">God Bless America</a>.” The following Sunday, the future President Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4719157&page=1">recited</a> a litany of American atrocities and declared that “America's chickens are coming home to roost. On April 13, 2003, he preached a sermon with a similar point in which he proclaimed, “Not God Bless America. God damn America.”<br /><br />Ellen White's evaluation of the United States can be appealed to in half by both ‘God-bless-‘ and ‘God-damn-America’ Christians to support their views on how to maintain/attain God's blessing on the nation. This divide has been exacerbated by the first US president to practice the politics of demagoguery that the founders and framers feared would come and past presidents have sought to avoid because of what they read in the histories of the classical and medieval European republics. I have observed that this kind of politics drives Christians to seek shelter in their cultural identity group by sending increasingly extreme signals of ideological loyalty. For the God-bless-America Christians, this escalating loyalty signaling fosters hyper-patriotism—American traditions, in general, are necessary to achieve the highest human goods—and Christian nationalism—what is good for America brings about God's good purposes for the world. And among the God-damn-America Christians there are corresponding extremes of anti-Americanism—American traditions, in general, must be overturned to achieve the highest human goods—and cosmopolitan internationalism—an open-border federation of the nations is necessary to bring about economic justice.<br /><br />Apart from more specific critiques, what Ellen White might have to teach both groups is that their contest over the meaning of America is not the quest for the kingdom of God. Contrary to prevailing opinion in nineteenth-century American Protestantism, Ellen White believed that the United States was not God's agent to usher in the millennium of worldwide peace and prosperity, according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmillennialism">their interpretation of Revelation</a>. Rather, America would finally succumb to its hypocritical nature, revoke religious liberty in favor of an explicitly Christian national identity, and provoke an end-time crisis over the Sabbath that would result in a thousand years of worldwide desolation before the re-creation of the New Earth. In Ellen White's telling, America's continued probation as a recipient of God's blessings was dependent on a national willingness to humbly bracket questions of ultimate human destiny relative to human governance in favor of working for social reforms (<a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/116.1707#1722">abolition</a> and <a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/135.1740#1753">later temperance</a>) that would allow individuals and groups freedom to pursue those questions for themselves without being burdened by various forms of coercion, exploitation, sickness, and death.<br /><br />Again, it seems to me that this is a prudent interpretation of prophecy and politics. The American experiment with liberty is not so exceptional that it will not fail, like all human attempts at government before it. Therefore, in the way we evaluate the United States, Christians should seek to center the meaning of the Kingdom of God as something qualitatively beyond what we achieve in this age.<br /><br />God is not waiting for us to bring about the reign of America over the earth or the reformation America from all its sins before he can usher in everlasting righteousness. The United States is a different kind of beast, but it is still a beast, a man-made geopolitical power. It is <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/romans/passage/?q=romans+13:1-4">a steward</a> that will turn usurper and be <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/revelation/19-20.html">put to death</a> at the return of the King. In the meantime, we can be grateful for the blessings we receive through it while working to reform it where we can, for both point us and others to the realities that will be fully manifest in the eternal kingdom of God.<br /> </p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-13889303574279487382021-08-30T14:46:00.006-04:002022-06-20T11:04:46.626-04:00Objection and Cooperation: An Adventist Ethic for Responsible Religious Liberty<p>In his opening remarks of an <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/quick-to-listen/covid-conscience-paul-vaccines-masks-podcast.html">episode on conscience and COVID-19 vaccination</a>, one of the Quick to Listen podcast hosts talked about how during World War II "there were still obligations put on people who cited their conscience." While exempt from taking life in war, American conscientious objectors were expected to perform non-violent public service. He then went on to suggest, by comparison, that an obligation to do something like wearing a mask rests on those who claim a conscientious objection to COVID-19 vaccination (or, by the same reasoning, on those who don't want to wear a mask to get vaccinated). Claiming a problem isn't so bad or that we should do nothing about it because we object to all the proposed solutions is a kind of irresponsibility that makes freedom of conscience unworkable.<br /></p><p>I agreed with that stance not only as a Christian but as a Seventh-day Adventist. During the world wars, instead of conscientious objection, Adventists taught their young men <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=ChUtplNzZiUC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=carlyle+b+haynes+conscientious+cooperation&source=bl&ots=NohILHFMek&sig=ACfU3U31uqxUWK3gwlF8jv-scz-aOv7U8w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRzbL3pbz4AhWSD0QIHYF-BnAQ6AF6BAgZEAM#v=onepage&q=carlyle%20b%20haynes%20conscientious%20cooperation&f=false">conscientious <i>cooperation</i></a>: Don't just have the courage to stand up for your convictions; also have the courage to heal in harshest conditions of war. As the story of <a href="https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php">Desmond Doss</a> demonstrates, conscience is compelling when certified by service.<br /><br />It seems to me that an ethic of conscientious cooperation would serve us well if applied to the full range of social issues where our convictions do not allow us to participate in something that our societies maintain as good and necessary. Speaking now for Adventists,<br /><br />1. When we must object to working on Sabbath, we should also cooperate with employers to minimize inconvenience and not seek positions that require Sabbath work to sustain the enterprise.<br /><br />2. When we must object to profiting from addictive substances and
behaviors, we should also cooperate with ministries that treat addicts
as victims instead of getting them incarcerated as criminals.<br /><br />3. When we must object to policing that is disproportionate and discriminatory, we should also cooperate with the police to keep the peace.<br /><br />4. When we must object to providing abortion as a form of birth control, we should also cooperate with programs to reduce unwanted pregnancies and place babies with adoptive parents.<br /><br />5. When we must object to performing same-sex marriages, we should also cooperate with
efforts to improve the health and well-being of gay people.<br /><br />That list could be revised, expanded, and contextualized. But it should be sufficient to exemplify the rule of thumb that conscientious objections go along with opportunities to cooperate with unobjectionable attempts to address the common concern that made sense of the objectionable practice in the first place. Thus, conscientious cooperation is a way of obeying Jesus's command to "<span>render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/search/?s=bibles&q=render+unto+caesar&t=kjv&c=all">Mark 12:17</a>).</span><br /><br />Under post-war, American individualism (now running on the new and improved self-validation systems called social media), we have tended to focus on identity-based objections to either the status quo or social change (claims of conscience now being another source of group identity). Religious liberty, with its conscience protections, is perceived as an all-or-nothing legal shield or sword, depending on one's perspective on a given issue. Instead of a broadly attractive social witness to the good news of God's kingdom, we find ourselves either paralyzed by or leaning into mutual distrust between various groups asserting their rights in competition with others.</p><p>We have something to learn from the example set by our grandparents and great-grandparents. They understood that religious liberty is a source not merely of distinct protections for minority groups but also distinct responsibilities that such groups have because of their protected status. Our situation may be more complicated than theirs, but if God could give them the courage they needed, he can also give us the wisdom. When our conscience compels us to object, may it also compel us to cooperate.<br /></p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-45803536481340477372021-08-23T13:12:00.005-04:002021-08-25T11:22:43.723-04:00Know Their Lane<p>Here's a fact most pastors won't tell you: We can be doing amazing things for God in one area of our ministry and wandering in the wilderness when it comes to another. That is true for all church leaders, including myself.<br /><br />It was true of Peter when in one breath he made the first confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and with the next said that which was rebuked by Jesus as satanic (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/matthew/passage/?q=matthew+16:13-23">Matthew 16:16, 23</a>). And if you study church history, you will see that pattern happening over and over again.<br /><br />No church leader is the savior of the world; that is Jesus Christ alone. And by his Spirit, he has given the rest of us lanes that we need to stay in (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/1-corinthians/12.html">1 Corinthians 12</a>).<br /><br />While that doesn't excuse defects of character and abusive systems, it does mean that a pastor can have profound insights about evangelism and also be out of their depth when it comes to conflict ministry, for example. <br /><br />Pastors and church members alike need to learn to recognize when we, or someone else, has drifted out of their lane. Spiritual giftedness, expertise, and track records do not confer infallibility, but they indicate a divine calling to leadership in that area of ministry.<br /><br />I suspect many Christians who have been in church for a while have figured out how to recognize leaders who think they are better at something than they actually are. But I am writing about this now because I need to say this: Choosing whom to listen to is also vital when it comes to hot-button issues like the ethics of vaccination. We all have limited time to study these issues, and socio-political controversy introduces identity-driven biases that distort our judgment.<br /><br />If you respect and are inclined to agree with a Christian leader who is going to present on a contested question, first consider whether their life evidences a divine calling in that area. Then see if they have done the preparation necessary to understand the subject from all sides instead of selectively using the sources to bolster their preconceived opinions. Are they accountable to anyone for what they teach, and do they receive feedback from peers? Finally, consider whether their calling and preparation are commensurate with the size of the audience they reach, or if they have attracted a following by scratching itching ears (<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/2-timothy/4-3.html">2 Timothy 4:3</a>). If these criteria are not met, either proceed with caution or, better yet, find another teacher.</p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-36942234346212031092021-02-21T16:44:00.039-05:002021-05-10T17:37:23.411-04:00Pandemic Worship and Religious Liberty<p>The question of pandemic worship and religious liberty has arrived in my city—its exurbs, to be precise. GraceLife Church of Edmonton in Parkland County has been practising civil disobedience of Alberta's 15%-of-fire-code-occupancy cap on indoor public gatherings ever since the government announced stronger pandemic-related restrictions in December.</p><p>Public health officials quietly monitored the situation and attempted to bring the church into compliance over the intervening month. But the situation was brought into the open when police <a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/pastor-of-church-west-of-edmonton-charged-after-failing-to-heed-closure-order-1.5300707">charged</a> the pastor-teacher of the church with failure to abide by a closure order. James Coates turned himself into the police and, starting this week, is being <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7646546/alberta-pastor-covid-19-bail-rcmp-custody/">held</a> in remand custody for refusing to abide by conditions of bail, which apparently forbade him from doing certain activities that he deemed necessary for his calling.<br /><br /><b>Purpose</b><br /><br />My goal in this essay is not to comment on the manner in which the authorities have enforced Alberta's regulations. That situation is developing, and, as of this writing, the church is holding another gathering from which they were <a href="https://twitter.com/CarlyDRobinson/status/1363543940708802560">apparently</a> turning people away because they would have exceeded their fire code occupancy limit.</p><p>Rather, I will briefly evaluate the theological and philosophical arguments that the church and its pastor-teacher have given for their position and argue that they are unsound from a Seventh-day Adventist and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_democracy">liberal-democratic</a> perspective. I will show how certain of their<span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"> errors may originate
in the distinctives of Calvinist Reformed theology. Pastor Coates is a graduate
of John McArthur's <a href="https://thecripplegate.com/masters-seminary-pastor-jailed/">Master's Seminary</a>,
which is a culturally and theologically conservative expression of the Reformed tradition. (For context, note that Pastor McArthur's megachurch has also been
involved in longstanding legal disputes around its refusals to follow
California's pandemic rules, some of which the US Supreme Court found to have <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/supreme-court-lets-some-california-churches-hold-indoor-services">unfairly singled-out churches</a>.</span>) <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">However, I will also show why not everyone who holds to some kind
of reformed political theology would subscribe to any or all of Pastor
Coates's or GraceLife Church's views.</span></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">Also note that while it has become a trope among certain Adventists, who are interested in
recovering our <a href="https://www.adventistreview.org/2010-1533-16">Arminian</a><a href="https://www.adventistreview.org/2010-1533-16"> theological heritage</a> on the doctrine of salvation, to rhetorically position
themselves against anything Calvinist, that is not my intent here.
Adventists also have theological roots in John Calvin and the Reformed
traditions, including the roots of our seventh-day Sabbatarianism! But Adventist political theology, which remains to be systematically articulated, stands among the <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199858361.001.0001/acprof-9780199858361">Dissenting</a> traditions, some of which split from the <a href="https://jbtsonline.org/review-of-five-views-on-the-church-and-politics-eds-gundry-and-black/">Reformed</a> traditions. That difference is what I am primarily addressing in what follows.<b><br /><br />Sermon Evaluation</b></span><br /><br />In a <a href="https://gracelife.ca/mediaPlayer.php?id=5847">sermon</a> preached last Sunday, Pastor Coates made a theological case for why churches should continue to operate at full capacity. It rested on the following propositions, which I summarize as theses and evaluate below.<br /><br /><i>1. The government has no jurisdiction over how the church conducts its worship.</i> <br /><br />Pastor Coates asserted, without biblical reference, that God has not given the government authority to set "terms of worship" for the church. I suspect that the roots of this claim lie in Augustinian two-cities theology, which informed the
Medieval system of separate church and civil legal systems that was overturned by the Reformation and Enlightenment. Contrast this with another Reformed view of church-state relations, Kuyperian "sphere sovereignty," in with the state directs churches away from actions that are destructive to public interests (see <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1580521">p. 12</a>).</p><p>Seventh-day Adventists, following the Calvinist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Dissenters">Dissenter</a>, <a href="https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/the-two-tables-of-the-law">Roger Williams</a>, build their church-state view, in part, on the biblical distinction between the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022%3A36-40&version=ESV">two great commandments</a>: the law of love for God and the law of love for neighbour. We hold that governments may legislate in the areas covered by
the second table of the law (last six commandments) when such actions harm others in this life. But governments should not legislate in the areas covered by the first table of
the law (first four commandments), which are strictly matters of individual conscience to be guided by the
church. A.T. Jones's made this argument in his testimony before a US Senate committee against the <a href="https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/the-question-of-the-common-good">Blair Sunday observance bill</a> (<a href="https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Tracts/RLT/RLT1892-102.pdf"><i>National Sunday Law</i></a>, p. 18). According to the two-tables principle, governments cannot tell us what songs to sing in worship, but they can, as long as they aren't singling out faith communities, tell us to wear masks while singing them so as not to endanger public safety. They can tell us not to sing songs the incite violence, but they cannot tell us which god(s) to sing about.<i><br /><br />2. The church should show the government how to conduct "its God-ordained duty."</i><br /><br />This
is true as far as the temporal, second-table goals of human governance go, with the provision that a single church or civil society organization does not have a privileged
role in this regard. Otherwise, we get a soft-theocracy, which is
characteristic of certain Calvinist approaches to political theology that try in some way to direct governments toward eternal, first-table ends. As I argue in <a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2017/01/polarization-in-american-politics.html">this essay</a>, the problem with privileging one church's voice to the state is that it can just as easily be turned against that church when it falls out of favour and is replaced by some other church or secularized version thereof. Regardless, I suspect that Pastor Coates and I are not in disagreement on this point.<br /><i><br />3.
The dominion God gave humanity in the Garden of Eden confers "unalienable" rights, such as a right to work and to be with your family when they are dying.</i><br /><br />The
"unalienable" rights enumerated in the US Declaration of Independence are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That succinct and general expression of a philosophical orientation toward the basis of American common life required specific expression in the US Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments to the US Constitution to be realized. The same is true of the dominion God gave humanity at creation. The general mandate given to humanity in a nutshell in the creation account is elaborated in the books of the law and the other canonical scriptures. Identifying unalienable rights to work or be with family at death in Genesis 1 is an exercise in reading a specific interpretation of contemporary liberal-democratic norms into the biblical text.</p><p>Furthermore, specific human rights, like the
right to work or be with family at death, are not unalienable but are limited by the rights of others—in this case, their right to not be exposed to diseases. In light of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+13-14&version=ESV">Leviticus 13–14</a>,
the Edenic dominion decree plausibly implies a mandate to figure out
what causes the spread of infectious diseases and stop it. The biblical quarantine laws accomplish this, as do economic shutdowns, by limiting the right to be with family in some cases.<br /></p><p>As the <a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/15/liberty-fist-nose/">aphorism</a> goes: Your rights end where my nose begins. That metaphor, originally used to make the case for prohibition, became literal during the COVID-19 pandemic. A
more sophisticated way of putting it is that when the <a href="https://personalmba.com/second-order-effects/">second-order effects</a> of the free actions of individuals have the cumulative effect of
threatening the bodies or property of others, the government has a reason to restrict their liberty via the least restrictive means. (For an entertaining, if somewhat lengthy, illustration of why that is the case, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project">read this</a>.)</p><p>Understanding the <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">second-order, rights-end-at-nose principle applied to the second table of the law, along with the freedom of conscience principle with regard to the first,</span> is how American Adventists in the late nineteenth century could be intellectually consistent while publicly advocating against
Sunday-closing laws and for prohibition.<br /><i><br />4.
"God is sovereign over the virus." The government didn't cause it, so
they aren't responsible if someone dies from it. But if someone dies
from pandemic restrictions, the government is responsible for that. So
the government should not restrict liberties to deal with the virus.</i><br /><br />God intended for the principles of Israel's law to be an example to the nations (see, for example, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%204%3A5-6&version=ESV">Deuteronomy 4:5–6</a>) and held the nations surrounding Israel to account when they violated certain principles found in Israel's law (see the Old Testament prophets' oracles against the nations). This example extends down to our time through the influence of Judaism
and Christianity on the liberal-democratic political tradition, which
has recognized a principle of quarantine that <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">justifies limited governmental restrictions on individual liberty to prevent the spread of infectious disease</span>. <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">By interpreting Old Testament quarantine laws as a source of "<a href="https://www.booksataglance.com/book-reviews/old-testament-law-for-christians-original-context-and-enduring-application-by-roy-e-gane/">Progressive Moral Wisdom</a><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A17-19&version=ESV">Matthew 5:17–19</a>)</span>, Christians should be predisposed to support quarantines and </span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><a href="https://apokalupto.blogspot.com/2020/11/from-fear-to-love.html"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">adopt new customs</span></a> when they judge they will preserve life.</span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><br /><b><br />Statement Evaluation</b></span></span><br /><br />The thesis expressed in Pastor Coates's sermon, that the government should not restrict liberties to restrain viruses, is expanded in the following paragraph of the <a href="https://gracelife.ca/feb-7-statement/">statement</a> on the church's website. I will evaluate it in this section.<br /></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="ecm0bbzt e5nlhep0 a8c37x1j"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><blockquote>That
said, living life comes with risks. Every time we get behind the wheel
of a car, we are assuming a degree of risk. We accept that risk due to
the benefits of driving. Yes, though vastly overblown, there are
associated risks with COVID-19, as there are with other infections.
Human life, though precious, is fragile. As such, death looms over all
of us. That is why we need a message of hope. One that addresses our
greatest need. That message is found in Jesus Christ. It is found in Him
because all of us have sinned and have fallen short of God’s perfect
standard of righteousness (Rom 3:23). To sin is to violate the holiness
and righteousness of God. As our Creator, He is the one who will judge
us according to our deeds and no one will stand on their own merit in
that judgment. Therefore, we need a substitute. One who has both lived
the life we could not and died the death we deserve.</blockquote><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><b><br /></b></span>This let's-take-our-chances philosophy is likely the political upshot of the<span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"> view of providence behind Pastor Coates's reference to God's sovereignty</span></span></span></span>. Calvinist views of free will (specifically, either our lack thereof or its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theological_determinism#Free_will_and_theological_determinism">compatibility</a> with divine determinism) and predestination (those whom God chose choose him)<span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"> can form the intuition that when a deadly disease surprises us with a novel form of risk, God in some sense sent it upon us to drive us to him for our eternal
security. And if some people die from it, that should also be accepted as God's will.</span></span> This can result in a quasi-fatalist quietism in the face of major social problems, like that which Cotton Mather confronted in eighteenth-century Boston when his Calvinist Puritan brothers declared that he was interfering with a <a href="https://www.americanheritage.com/when-cotton-mather-fought-smallpox#2">divine judgment</a> by experimenting with smallpox inoculation: We shouldn't try anything too novel in response to novel risks, because that would put us in rebellion against God's sovereignty.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Adventists
differ from this political view because we believe that humans have been given
free will. We believe that God acts in history in ways that we cannot
stop, sometimes even executing, as I argue, <a href="https://thecompassmagazine.com/blog/judgments-of-god-revisited-the-2016-us-presidential-election-four-years-later">judgment on contemporary nations</a>. But Adventists also believe that Satan is ultimately the cause of
sickness and death and that humans can and should choose to cooperate
with God's laws of health to reduce our risk of sickness and
death. And we believe that fighting sickness and death via health reform
is the "right-arm" of our gospel proclamation because it is a token of
eternal life.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">To spread the benefits of health, Adventists have a tradition of fighting sickness and death through
social reform—not just individual, family, or church reform, but
legislation and social organization that restricts our liberties to the least extent necessary to prevent deadly second-order effects of individual actions. We find this tradition in the chapter on "Liquor Traffic and Prohibition" in <i><a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/135.1701">The Ministry of Healing</a></i> and in our denominational leadership organizing <a href="https://www.adventistreview.org/adventists-and-the-1918-influenza-pandemic">preventative quarantines</a> during the 1918 Flu. (For the record, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/06/forgotten-black-history-prohibition-temperance-movement-461215">American prohibition</a> was <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470475/">not the disaster</a> that the popular historical narrative makes it out to be.) In liberal-democratic countries like Canada, where citizens have been given a say in how their society governs itself, Christians should continue to use that influence to support quarantines, including economic shutdowns, as means to fight sickness and death.<br /><br /><b>Cost-Benefit of the Shutdowns<br /><br /></b>Finally, the GraceLife Church's statement makes an extended case that the pandemic is not that bad and that the shutdowns intended to stop COVID-19 transmission have potentially done more harm than good. I
don't believe that case holds up in view of the big
numbers: year-over-year death certificates and confirmed COVID-19 deaths.<br /><br /><div data-block="true" data-editor="1epg4" data-offset-key="efnue-0-0"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span data-offset-key="efnue-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">For example, the US, Canada, and Australia have similar cultures and share a common political tradition derived from English representative democracy and Common Law. They also have had stable death rates in the years leading up to 2020. </span></span></span>In the US, where shutdowns were inconsistently applied, confirmed COVID-19 deaths account for about two-thirds of the high rate of excess mortality in the 2020 reporting period (</span></span><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6942e2.htm">source</a><span data-offset-key="d06af-0-0"><span data-text="true">). In Canada, where shutdowns were more strictly applied than in the US, including some lockdown-type measures, confirmed COVID-19 deaths account for nearly all of the moderate rate of excess mortality in the 2020 reporting period (<a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/201224/dq201224b-eng.htm">source 1</a>, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/canada?country=~CAN#what-is-the-cumulative-number-of-confirmed-deaths">source 2</a></span></span><span data-offset-key="cr2i7-0-0"><span data-text="true">). And in Australia, which applied strict, lockdown-style shutdowns, there was no excess mortality in the 2020 reporting period (</span></span><a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/measuring-excess-mortality-australia-during-covid-19-pandemic">source</a><span data-offset-key="cr2i7-2-0"><span data-text="true">). Anyone who wants to persuade me that shutdowns don't save lives overall, or that they cause more people to die from other causes than would have died from COVID-19, etc. is going to have to get around those big, hard-to-distort numbers without appealing to some kind of <a href="https://youtu.be/VWCB1IqTetQ">conspiracy theory</a></span></span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span data-offset-key="cr2i7-0-0"><span data-text="true">.</span></span></span></span><br /><br />This
is not to say that shutdowns don't have negative effects that lead to
higher deaths for certain populations. So do other public health restrictions on individual liberty (such as narcotics laws). Nor is it to say that we should not attempt to ameliorate those negative second-order effects. Nor do I imply that governments should enact the strictest possible lockdowns as if extending life were the only earthly human good that matters. My point is simply
that the big numbers bear out the view that <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">a broadly pro-life response to the novel coronavirus requires</span> of us some form of shutdown in the absence of<span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"> widespread vaccination</span></span>.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion<br /><br /></b><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">But
the bigger point is that this
argument about the cost-benefit of Alberta's shutdown is a matter of political judgment
that is only tangential to a principled religious liberty argument. </span>It
seems to me that, in their statement, GraceLife Church is leveraging religious liberty to make a
political point: Contrary to the <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/majority-of-albertans-support-mask-mandate-circuit-breaker-lockdown-to-tackle-covid-19-poll">majority of their neighbours</a> and their elected officials, they believe that the shutdowns are doing more harm
than good. But because they are a church, they want their beliefs about
God to shield their political dissent.<br /><br />In Pastor Coates's sermon, he argues for a view of religious liberty that I can't support either as an Adventist, because he doesn't understand the structure of God's law as it applies to government enforcement, or as a liberal-democrat, because he doesn't understand that our liberties can be limited when they are used in ways that have harmful second-order effects on other's bodies and/or property.<br /><br />I believe Pastor Coates should have the opportunity to promote these views, practice civil-disobedience, attain good legal representation, and argue his case in court. But I also believe the government may to enforce its rules in the case of him and his church, including</span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa fgxwclzu a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">, if necessary, </span></span>using incarceration. I further hope and anticipate that the courts will reject the view of religious liberty for which he has become a symbol.<br /></span></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></div><p></p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-2859543925396782262020-11-14T01:11:00.001-05:002020-11-14T01:11:53.508-05:00From Fear to Love<b>1.<br />
</b>Fear is a powerful but short-term motivator that responds to
urgent stimuli. Love (in distinction to infatuation) is a long-term <i>motivator</i>
that is developed by choices to acquire habits.<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>2.</b><br />
Seventh-day Adventists see in Scripture a cosmic conflict over the character of
God: Satan claims that God ultimately wants compliance based on fear, but God
really wants <i>sacrifices</i> <i>motivated</i> by love. Our view of God's
character is bound up in our response to his call to love and serve him: Christians
demonstrate our loyalty to God by imitating his self-giving love, thereby
proclaiming our view of who God is.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>3.</b><br />
When the <i>shutdowns</i> happened in spring, I <a href="https://edmontoncentraladventist.org/?mailpoet_router=&endpoint=track&action=click&data=WyIyMTgiLCI1N21hbHRiY3lhbzBvc2swa2t3MDBnNDQ4YzAwODBjOCIsIjc0IiwiMzM3MTVlNGQ0ZGVkIixmYWxzZV0" target="_blank">wrote</a> that it started a clock in people's minds that runs
on fear. Eventually the fear would run out, and so would most people's desire
to make <i>sacrifices</i> that keep our most vulnerable safe.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
That prediction came to pass. The death toll is rising. We find ourselves caught
in the “second wave.”<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>4.</b><br />
The coronavirus doesn't kill enough of us to make us afraid of it anymore. But
it can put enough of us in hospital to threaten everyone's access to medical
care. And if that happens, even more people are going to die from COVID-19. The
<a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/watch-live-kenney-to-give-covid-19-update-with-hinshaw-thursday-afternoon">premier
of my province</a> has said that if we don't stop doing two things that we are
in the <i>habit</i> of doing—hanging out in each other's homes and going to
work sick—we are headed for another <i>shutdown</i> in two weeks. The <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/alberta-doctors-say-new-covid-19-rules-may-not-be-enough-to-avoid-further-restrictions">public
health experts</a> say by then it may be too late.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>5.</b><br />
We now see how unreliable our natural fear-based response is during a
protracted pandemic. Now that we have grown accustomed to the threat, we will
find out whether we are a people driven by love or fear, that is, whether we
can develop new <i>habits</i> that will allow us to carry on with work, school,
church, and play and at the same time prevent us from doing the things that contribute
most to the economic and physical destructiveness of the <i>plague</i>.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>6.</b><br /><blockquote>
Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—<br /> the Most High, who is my refuge—<br />no evil shall be allowed to befall you,<br /> no <i>plague</i> come near your tent.<br />For he will command his angels concerning you<br /> to guard you in all your ways.<br />On their hands they will bear you up,<br /> lest you strike your foot against a stone<br />(Psalm 91:10–11, ESV, emphasis mine).</blockquote></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,<br /> “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ <br /><br /> and<br /> “‘On their hands they will bear you up,<br /> lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”<br /><br />Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Matthew 4:5–7, ESV).</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-25204143227786746182020-09-18T13:04:00.003-04:002020-11-16T13:43:07.114-05:00Drummed out of Church? Evaluating Music for Adventist Worship<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Drums are acceptable in worship as long as they don’t play certain rhythms.</li><li>Drums may not be seen in worship but may be played as part of a pre-recorded accompaniment track.</li><li>Drums arranged as a drum kit may not be played in church, but traditional African drums like bongos and djembes may be played in church</li><li>Drums arranged as a drum kit may not be played in church, but a wooden box rigged to sound like a drum kit (a cajón) may be played at church.</li><li>Drums are not to be played at all in church, but at youth events, they may be played however the youth like it.</li><li>Drums at church should either be contained behind a sound barrier or electronically mixed so that they don’t disturb sensitive ears. </li></ul>That’s a sample of various stated and unstated customs restricting the use of drums in worship I have encountered in various Adventist churches. Given the diversity of approaches, it seems that there is no agreement on what principle or set of principles guide the use of drums in Adventist churches. In this essay, I will propose that (1) we have been looking for such principles in the wrong place and that (2) our practice is better than our theory.<br /> <br /><b> Philosophical Framework: Time and Reason </b><br /><br />To explain what I mean by that I will need to introduce two different ways of reasoning about things relative to time.<br /> <br /> The following philosophical and theological overview is based on my careful reading of <a href="https://www.andrews.edu/sem/contact/emeriti/fernando-canale.html">Fernando Canale</a>’s PhD dissertation: “<a href="https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/22">Toward a Criticism of Theological Reason: Time and Timelessness as Primordial Presuppositions</a>.” It is also informed by Canale’s later work on the sanctuary, most succinctly captured in his article, “<a href="https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/auss/vol36/iss2/2">Philosophical Foundations and the Biblical Sanctuary</a>.” For an accessible summary of Canale’s dissertation see Sven Fockner’s “An Introduction to Canale’s <i>Criticism of Theological Reason</i>,” part of a <a href="https://www.atsjats.org/store/product/5">collection of scholarly essays</a> in honor of Canale’s work.<br /><br />The first mode of reasoning in time comes from an assumption baked into the grand tradition Western philosophy since Parmenides that what is really real is what doesn’t change. Consequently, to make reliable inferences we need to find ways to think about what is in time and changes by relating it to what is outside of time and cannot change. Much of science, for example, operates on this assumption by explaining changes we observe in the world as the operation of unchanging laws of nature. I will call this the analytical mode of reasoning because analysis often means defining unchanging structures of reality in terms of their constituent parts. (<i>Caveat lector</i>: My definitions of <i>analytical</i> and <i>phenomenological</i> are limited to the purposes of this essay. They are not intended to describe those philosophical traditions or the other ways those terms are used in scholarly discourse.) <br /><br />But what if what’s really real really does undergo change? <br /><br />As a Christian, I understand God as the creator and sustainer of all that is: God is the being in whom everything else that exists holds together (Acts 17:28). While God has revealed properties of his being that are consistent through all time—for example, his character (Malachi 3:6)—he has also shown us in his sanctuary that his experience, and thus ultimate reality, is subject to change. Though the bisection of the space where God dwells—a division that demarcates a two-phase heavenly ministry of the Son before the Father—the architecture of Heaven shows us that ultimate reality involves change and time. <br /><br />The biblical sanctuary further demonstrates that what’s real about where God dwells is not completely disconnected from human reality, so that we do not need to escape from our changing world into a changeless, divine reality to connect with God. Rather, we connect with God by joining our stories to God’s story, especially as told in the sanctuary and its services. This has profound and far-reaching implications for how we are to reason about the human relationship to God, but in this article, I will focus on those that relate to the evaluation of music for worship. <br /><br />Joining our story to God’s story requires a mode of reasoning that makes inferences by relating past, present, and future. Such inferences seem arbitrary to those who intuitively reason analytically because no one narrates their experiences in exactly the same way. But if what’s really real is changeable, we need to have a way of reasoning about our experience, which is, after all, organized by time. <br /><br />I will call this the phenomenological mode of reasoning because phenomena are aspects of reality as we experience them (as opposed to reality as we analyze it). How we experience reality is determined by (1) our habits, customs, and overall background that has been shaped by our past; (2) by our states of consciousness, bodily states, and all else that directs our attention to the present moment; and (3) by our goals, commitments, and other exercises of the will that open up new possibilities for the future. These are always changing and particular, yet not so unique that we do not share commonalities of experience connected by shared physiology, culture, and/or conviction. (In this description of the constitution of persons, I am drawing on Thomas Pfau’s <i><a href="https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268038403/minding-the-modern/">Minding the Modern</a></i>, which critiques modernity as an attempt to escape the historical nature of reasoning about human experience.) <br /><br />Thus, phenomenological reasoning doesn’t have to describe what is true for everyone in order to arrive at truth. Rather, it aims at conclusions that are true as far as they go or to explain why different kinds of people experience things differently. For example, biblical typology reasons from past to present and future in order to show, among other things, what changed in the experience of God’s people so that where people connected to God’s story in the past had to offer animal sacrifices, in the present they do not.<br /> <br /> <b>The Failure of Analytical Evaluations of Worship Music</b> <br /><br />Because music and worship are embodied in human cultural practices that change over time and have different effects on different kinds of people, I propose that phenomenological reason is the correct mode of reason for evaluating the role of drums in Adventist worship. We cannot resolve a phenomenological problem by asking an analytical question. <br /><br />The failure of this analytical approach is laid bare not only by the plurality of practice in Adventism, but also by the General Conference’s disregard for what it has plainly stated in its <i>Church Manual</i>: “Any melody partaking of the nature of jazz, rock, or related hybrid forms … will be shunned” (p. 150). This statement is adapted from page 10 of the outdated 1972 “<a href="http://www.lrhartley.com/music/sdaphilo.pdf">Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy of Music</a>” guidelines voted by the General Conference Executive Committee, which also counseled against the extensive use of jazz chords (specifically, “the seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords,” p. 10). Yet when I heard the Breath of Life Quartet sing at the 2015 General Conference Session in San Antonio, they “saturated” their music with beautiful jazz chords that made it past a rigorous vetting process. <br /><br />Examples could be multiplied to illustrate my point: Attempts to define the right and wrong forms of music using the analytical tools of music theory have proven unworkable in the Adventist experience. They also tend to elevate forms of music associated with white culture and denigrate forms of music associated with black culture. Yet there is a cottage industry in Adventism claiming to have discovered the timeless properties of music that are suited or unsuited to worship. <br /><br />Drums are often a focus of these attempts at analysis. Such teachers may claim that because percussion instruments are not in the lists of instruments played in the sanctuary, they are not suited to Adventist worship. Or they may claim that certain rhythms always produce certain effects on human consciousness. Whatever their reasons, what these self-appointed guardians of Adventist worship have in common is a mode of reasoning that, while intuitive for many, cannot adequately account for change through time and thus also experience. <br /><br /><b> Evaluating Worship Music as Phenomena </b><br /><br />The structure of music can be explained analytically, but its suitability for worship can only be evaluated by its effect on human consciousness (which is not to say that the technical proficiency of worship music cannot be evaluated analytically). This is similar to the biblical criteria of fruits (Matthew 7:20) or to the test of God's blessing proposed by wise Gamaliel (Acts 5:38–39). It is the reasoning “from cause to effect” that Ellen G. White counseled in a variety of situations, but is perhaps best illustrated by this counsel regarding diet in a sermon she preached in 1908: <br /><blockquote>There is no door in our stomach by which we can look in and see what is going on, so we must use our mind, and reason from cause to effect. If you feel all wrought up and everything seems to go wrong, perhaps it is because you are suffering the consequences of eating a great variety of food (<a href="https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/14073.9009001#9009013"><i>Letters and Manuscripts</i>, vol. 23, Ms. 41</a>). </blockquote><p>Like food, the effects of different kinds of music can vary from setting to setting and individual to individual across time and place for reasons that are hidden from us (“there is no door”). But we can aim at evaluations of worship music that are generally true for particular Adventist communities. We make those evaluations by observing the results of steps taken to improve the quality of our worship music relative to our common background and the goals of Adventist worship (“perhaps it is because …”). By repeating this process, we can tell a story about the community’s relationship with God in music and worship, a story that we can evaluate by synchronizing it with God’s story. <br /><br />It turns out that this is what many Adventist communities have already done with the question of drums in worship, even if they haven’t been aware of why it works or how best to accomplish it. What appears to analytical intuitions as confusion about timeless principles turns out to have prompted the first steps toward phenomenological clarity. In 2004 the General Conference replaced its proscriptions of genres and chords with <a href="https://www.adventist.org/articles/a-seventh-day-adventist-philosophy-of-music">guidelines that take a phenomenological approach</a>: laying out the goals of Adventist worship and leaving it up to individual Adventist communities how to best meet them. <br /><br />For guidance on how to do that, I recommend the 2010 book, <i><a href="https://adventistbookcenter.com/in-tune-with-god.html">In Tune with God</a></i> by Lilianne Doukhan, professor of music, emarita, at Andrews University. She is a musicologist trained to observe music as a phenomenon. Her book helpfully walks readers through the ways music affects our experience and how our experiences affect the way we individually and collectively interpret music. Based on these understandings, she gives practical guidelines for how music in worship, including the use of drums, can be evaluated.<br /> <br /> <i><a href="https://issuu.com/abadventist/docs/aan-september-2020-final-issu/s/11140629">A version of this essay </a>was published in the <a href="https://issuu.com/abadventist/docs/aan-september-2020-final-issu/16">September, 2020 issue</a> of the <a href="https://www.albertaadventist.ca/news/aan">Alberta Adventist News</a>.</i><br /></p>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-77575213867509852732020-03-22T12:36:00.003-04:002020-03-24T19:13:24.782-04:00Beliefs and Reality<div data-contents="true">
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="feteb-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="feteb-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="feteb-0-0"><span data-text="true">This coronavirus is a destroyer of American ideological worlds.</span></span></div>
</div>
<ul class="_1bv0" data-offset-key="5j3fu-0-0">
<li class="_2cuy _509q _3kpz _3kq0 _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="5j3fu-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5j3fu-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="5j3fu-0-0"><span data-text="true">Single-payer promoter? Europe is doing as bad, if not worse than, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_China" target="_blank">China</a>.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509q _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="6kprk-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6kprk-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="6kprk-0-0"><span data-text="true">Civil libertarian? Here's a existential threat that is (1) not a war but (2) can't be confronted without restraining individual freedom.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509q _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="bkn55-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bkn55-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="bkn55-0-0"><span data-text="true">Globalist? Saying Trump was dumb for closing the borders sure seems dumb now.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509q _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="a8oq8-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a8oq8-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="a8oq8-0-0"><span data-text="true">Trumpist? The cost of his power of positive thinking shtick will surely be counted in the lives of his political base.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509q _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="efid6-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="efid6-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="efid6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Technocrat? The best and brightest at the CDC and FDA <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-many-americans-are-sick-lost-february/608521/" target="_blank">utterly failed</a> due to over-regulation and bureaucratic backside blanketing.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509q _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="5jcsf-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5jcsf-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="5jcsf-0-0"><span data-text="true">Capitalist? It turns out there some things people won't trade for GDP/stock market growth.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509q _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="bfioj-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bfioj-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="bfioj-0-0"><span data-text="true">Conspiracy theorist? Nobody cares about your speculations if you can't help them get through this alive. And colloidal silver isn't going to cut it.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="3i3au-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3i3au-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="3i3au-0-0"><span data-text="true">
I could go on, but I think I've made my point. We are finding out that our beliefs aren't tethered to reality as tightly as we thought.</span></span></div>
</div>
<blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One day a college student in Canada asked me to define reality for her, for a paper she was writing for her philosophy class. She wanted a one-sentence answer. I thought about it and finally said, "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." That's all I could come up with. That was back in 1972. Since then I haven't been able to define reality any more lucidly (Phillip K. Dick, "<a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=5Kg_DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=how%20to%20build%20a%20universe%20that%20doesn%27t%20fall%20apart%20philip%20k%20dick&pg=PA263#v=onepage&q=%22Reality%20is%20that%20which,%20when%20you%20stop%20believing%20in%20it,%20doesn't%20go%20away.%22&f=false" target="_blank">How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart in Two Days</a>, 1978, 1985).</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="8s5dn-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8s5dn-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="8s5dn-0-0"><span data-text="true">When you encounter a reality that doesn't conform to your beliefs and doesn't go away, that's usually a sign that something bad is about to happen to you and yours. And the longer it takes you to adjust your beliefs about it, the worse that bad thing is probably going to be.
The rub is that when you are reforming your beliefs about reality, you need an anchor for your identities so that you don't lose your integrity as a person.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-offset-key="8s5dn-0-0"><span data-text="true">A weak integrating anchor—one that does not give you the consistency necessary to sustain your self conception as you change your deeply-held beliefs—is why so many people cling to false beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. What I am describing is not a political crisis among competing ideologies or an epistemic crisis, like the one Philip K. Dick grappled with his whole life, but a spiritual crisis.</span></span></div>
</div>
<blockquote>
<blockquote class="_2cuy _509u tr_bq" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="5t8nj-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5t8nj-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="5t8nj-0-0"><span data-text="true">"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." ... "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you really will be free."</span></span> </div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<blockquote class="_2cuy _509u tr_bq" data-block="true" data-editor="nflv" data-offset-key="5t8nj-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5t8nj-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="5t8nj-0-0"><span data-text="true">-Jesus of Nazareth, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+8%3A31-38&version=CEB" target="_blank">John 8:32, 36</a></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-3583366521028796342020-02-29T16:31:00.000-05:002020-03-09T18:13:31.077-04:00Quick and Dirty Guide to Independent Adventist Journalism<h2>
</h2>
It can be wild online-world in independent, Adventist journalism. If a fellow Adventist forwards you an article, you may not be sure whether you can trust the source.<br />
<br />
<b>Introduction</b><br />
<br />
While this guide will not tell you who to trust, it will tell you where those behind the most commonly forwarded articles are coming from.<br />
<br />
In my decade-plus experience of following and writing in this space, I can assure you not everything you read in independent, Adventist journalism that you want to be true is, in fact, true. And not everything you read in it that you suspect is fake-news is, in fact, false.<br />
<br />
Not all of the outlets in this guide follow best journalistic practices. Some do not attempt
to. Not all of them will help you build a balanced faith.
Some do not attempt to.<br />
<br />
The purpose of this guide is to make you conversant about the sources, so that you can research, seek advice, and make informed judgments about their claims. You will have to decide which (if any) of these outlets you will patronize and which (if any) conversations on them are worth following.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<span class="st">Remember, "Knowledge' puffs up, but love builds up" (1 Corinthians 8:1).</span><i><span class="st"><br /></span><br />Caveat lector</i>: Much of this is based on my personal impressions, informed by feed-back from select individuals. Acknowledgement is not endorsement. This is not a fact-checking service.<br />
<br />
<b>Criteria for Inclusion in the Guide</b><br />
<ol>
<li>Operated by Seventh-day Adventists (no offshoots)</li>
<li>Offer news and opinion about Seventh-day Adventist issues</li>
<li>Publish text-based journalism in English</li>
<li>Offer open, online content (no paywall)</li>
<li>Ranked on Alexa at the time of this writing</li>
</ol>
<br />
<b>The Guide to the Guide</b><br />
<i>(Warning: Failure to read this section may result in misunderstandings.)</i><br />
<ul>
<li>Reporting voice: modes and styles of expression that distinguish its news pieces</li>
<li>Editorial voice: modes and styles of expression that distinguish its opinion pieces</li>
<li>News topics covered: subjects that are likely to be reported</li>
<li>Opinion topics covered: theological/political opinions that set it apart</li>
<li>Publishes views contrary to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs: yes or no</li>
<li>Hill to die on: an issue-stance that epitomizes its moral core</li>
<li>Publishes contrary opinions: yes or no</li>
<li>Publishes corrections: yes or no</li>
<li>Alexa traffic/engagement rank: website ranking as of time of this writing (For comparison, adventistreview.org ranks at #<a href="https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/adventistreview.org" target="_blank">382,661</a>; #1 being the most visited and engaged website on the internet.)</li>
<li>Other media: print, video, podcast, livestream, etc.</li>
</ul>
<br />
The following independent Adventist journalism outlets appear in order of their Alexa ranking:<br />
<br />
<b>Spectrum (spectrummagazine.org)</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Reporting voice: neutral, investigative</li>
<li>Editorial voice: scholarly essay, personal essay, jeremiad</li>
<li>News topics covered: church politics, progressive Adventist conferences and academic symposia, church medical and development work, Adventists in the media, Adventists who hold views or make accomplishments outside of the mainstream of the church, in-depth investigation</li>
<li>Opinion topics covered: the Sabbath School lesson, inequality and injustice, peace issues, critical takes on traditional Adventist theology and practice, contemporary spiritual practice</li>
<li>Publishes views contrary to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs: yes</li>
<li>Hill to die on: same-sex marriage</li>
<li>Publishes contrary opinions: yes</li>
<li>Publishes corrections: yes</li>
<li>Alexa traffic/engagement rank: #<a href="https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/spectrummagazine.org" target="_blank">258,636</a></li>
<li>Other media: print journal, podcast</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Adventist Today (atoday.org)</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Reporting voice: neutral, exposé</li>
<li>Editorial voice: scholarly essay, personal essay, satirical</li>
<li>News topics covered: church politics, church corruption, Adventists in the media, progressive Adventist conferences</li>
<li>Opinion topics covered: critical takes on traditional Adventist theology and practice, Adventist angles on the news-cycle, lifestyle advice with a progressive slant</li>
<li>Publishes views contrary to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs: yes</li>
<li>Hill to die on: theistic evolution</li>
<li>Publishes contrary opinions: yes</li>
<li>Publishes corrections: no</li>
<li>Alexa traffic/engagement rank: #<a href="https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/atoday.org" target="_blank">614,137</a></li>
<li>Other media: print magazine, books</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Advent Messenger (adventmessenger.org)</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Reporting voice: muckraking, sensationalistic</li>
<li>Editorial voice: sectarian diatribe</li>
<li>News topics covered: heresy and apostasy</li>
<li>Opinion topics covered: conspiracies about ecumenism, abortion, pluralism, etc.</li>
<li>Publishes views contrary to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs: no</li>
<li>Hill to die on: denominational leadership compromised by Roman Catholic influence</li>
<li>Publishes contrary opinions: no</li>
<li>Publishes corrections: no</li>
<li>Alexa traffic/engagement rank: #<a href="https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/adventmessenger.org" target="_blank">977,274</a></li>
<li>Other media: sermon audio</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>ADvindicate (advindicate.com)</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Reporting voice: promotional</li>
<li>Editorial voice: personal essay, haranguing</li>
<li>News topics covered: mostly promoting books and conferences</li>
<li>Opinion topics covered: salvation and end-time events, lifestyle standards, social justice, religious liberty</li>
<li>Publishes views contrary to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs: no</li>
<li>Hill to die on: last-generation theology</li>
<li>Publishes contrary opinions: no</li>
<li>Publishes corrections: yes</li>
<li>Alexa traffic/engagement rank: #<a href="https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/advindicate.com" target="_blank">1,209,410</a></li>
<li>Other media: podcast</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Fulcrum7 (fulcrum7.com)</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Reporting voice: muckraking</li>
<li>Editorial voice: personal essay, snarky</li>
<li>News topics covered: church politics, heresy and apostasy</li>
<li>Opinion topics covered: critical takes on progressive Adventist theology and practice, right-wing and alt-right politics and cultural critique</li>
<li>Publishes views contrary to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs: no</li>
<li>Hill to die on: male-only ordination</li>
<li>Publishes contrary opinions: no</li>
<li>Publishes corrections: no</li>
<li>Alexa traffic/engagement rank: #<a href="https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/fulcrum7.com" target="_blank">1,467,277</a></li>
<li>Other media: none</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>The Compass Magazine (thecompassmagazine.com)</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Reporting voice: neutral, unfiltered</li>
<li>Editorial voice: scholarly essay, personal essay, disquisitive</li>
<li>News topics covered: conservative Adventist academic symposia, world church politics</li>
<li>Opinion topics covered: graduate research, devotionals, defenses of traditional Adventist theology, Ellen White pieces</li>
<li>Publishes views contrary to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs: no</li>
<li>Hill to die on: the 28 Fundamental Beliefs</li>
<li>Publishes contrary opinions: yes</li>
<li>Publishes corrections: no</li>
<li>Alexa traffic/engagement rank: #<a href="https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/thecompassmagazine.com" target="_blank">4,702,004</a></li>
<li>Other media: videos</li>
</ul>
<br />
This guide may be updated from time to time.<br />
<br />
Comments are turned off. Contact me on social media with any questions, comments, or concerns. Feedback is welcome.David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-77063107707002082492018-03-13T21:24:00.001-04:002020-06-12T18:04:13.143-04:00Being White<blockquote class="tr_bq">
After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. They were shouting out in a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God,
to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Revelation 7:9–10, NET)</blockquote>
I'm going to try to do something here that white people try to avoid: think, and think out loud, about what it means to be white. I'll get at why that can uncomfortable for us later on, but first, Why am I doing this?<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0CoX6y_qjj0/Wr5YX7ihgYI/AAAAAAAABsM/UwpnVJND9ksR5-lWYFh5vUOgOD_fDimUACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-03-30%2Bat%2B11.27.08%2BAM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="942" data-original-width="942" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0CoX6y_qjj0/Wr5YX7ihgYI/AAAAAAAABsM/UwpnVJND9ksR5-lWYFh5vUOgOD_fDimUACLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-03-30%2Bat%2B11.27.08%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Emoji Modifier Fitzpatrick Type-1-2," Apple</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm writing this because I've come to the conclusion, based on how John identifies the Great Multitude of the redeemed, that I'm going to be <a href="https://thecompassmagazine.com/blog/will-we-all-be-white-in-heaven-dissecting-a-strange-statement-from-ellen-white" target="_blank">white in Heaven</a>. Not that I'll have the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotype" target="_blank">phenotypical</a> features of a Northern European in the sweet by and by; I don't know what kind(s) of skin, eyes, hair, etc. I, or anyone else, am going to have in Heaven. No, I mean that in Heaven the redeemed are able to be identified as being "from" the groups formed by their world-historical circumstances. And one of those categories—at least, for many of us living in the modern world, as I'll explain—is race.<br />
<br />
In other words, what I've heard God saying to me here is that if, in Heaven, he were to take away the white, he'd be taking away part of what it means for me to be David Hamstra. Just as much as if he took away the German, Luther wouldn't be Luther; or if he took away the Aramean, Jacob wouldn't be Jacob (Deuteronomy 26:5); or if he took away the Jewish, the man from Galilee wouldn't be Jesus.<br />
<br />
So if being white here means I'm going to be white in Heaven, the question isn't whether or not I should be thinking of myself as a white person. The real question is What does it mean for me to be white? And, especially, How I am to be white together with those who are not? <br />
<br />
<b>Conversation Partners</b><br />
<br />
To get at the answers to those questions, I'm going to bring in two authors and their two books as conversation partners. Let me introduce Linda and Tim.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/Philosophy/Faculty-Bios/Linda-Martin-Alcoff" target="_blank">Linda Martín Alcoff</a> is a philosopher. She's of Panamanian and white American descent. Raised partly in rural Panama and with poor whites in Florida, she joined campus radicals during the American Civil Rights struggle, which involved exposing herself to life-threatening danger. Her book is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Future-Whiteness-Linda-Mart%C3%ADn-Alcoff/dp/0745685455" target="_blank"><i>The Future of Whiteness</i></a>. I'll be drawing on Linda to talk about how identity works in general and how it has played out in the history of white people in particular.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ci/people/lensmire.html" target="_blank">Timothy J. Lensmire</a>, for our purposes, is an ethnographer. He conducted a series of interviews with his white friends and associates in his home town in the rural northern Midwest about how they view racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. His book is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/White-Folks-Identity-Ethnographic-Narratives/dp/1138747033" target="_blank"><i>White Folks: Race and Identity in Rural America</i></a>. By critically reflecting on his own past, and that of his interviewees, Tim weaves a story about how coming into contact with other peoples changed his own and his subjects' whiteness in both conventional and unexpected ways.<br />
<br />
(Note: This isn't a book review. I'm using these them as sources, not critiquing the
authors views where I disagree with them. I'm also not attempting to
summarize the books by touching on their major themes or arguments.
They are worth reading in their own right for other valuable insights the
authors have on this topic.) <br />
<br />
<b>Identity</b><br />
<br />
But before going into what it means to be white, let's figure out what it means to "be" anything in this way. Linda offers some philosophical guidance on what it is to have this kind of un-chosen group identity.<br />
<br />
First, identities are not the material stuff of human existence. This can be illustrated by the difference between being a male and being a man. One could say that any male with functional genitalia can procreate, but it takes a man to raise his children to be responsible adults.<br />
<br />
Second, identities are socially constructed. They vary across cultures. They have a story; they change over time. The habits and attitudes that make a man in America are similar to but different than those of Angola. And what we consider manly in America of 2018 is similar to, but different than, what was considered manly in 1958, or 1758. (Powdered wigs, anyone?)<br />
<br />
Third, the fact that identities are not material and are socially constructed does not mean they are arbitrary or infinitely malleable. They are governed by cultural rules about attitudes and habits that developed as ways to help people make sense of their material circumstances by being or becoming a certain kind of person. To the degree that those rules continue to provide an explanation for what it means to be that kind of person in those circumstances, the identity expressed by those rules will be stable. So returning to our example, whatever else masculine identity might come to involve, as long as humans sexually reproduce, attitudes and habits on the part of those males that have reproduced that support family life are likely to continue to be a part of what it means to be a man, because they offer a powerful explanation for how we are to bring in the next generation.<br />
<br />
That's all to say that being white is not fundamentally about possessing a certain set of physical characteristics. It means
having inherited or been adopted into a partial but satisfactory explanation for how you arrived at your place in the world and a set of
cultural rules about the habits and attitudes that make sense of how to
live in light of that explanation. <br />
<br />
Finally, Tim's interviews suggest that identity requires some kind of Other(s) or counterpart(s), a variation (or variations) on the same kind of being as we are without whom there would be not reason to be identified as part of a group in the first place. There could be no such thing as a landlubber until the first sailor put out to sea. Whatever men are, they are not boys, or women. And whatever white people are, we are not—and we lack an elegant vocabulary for this—black, colored, something else?<br />
<br />
<b>The Story of White Identity</b><br />
<br />
Time was when nobody thought of themselves as white. As recently as just over 100 years ago, when my great-great grandparents arrived in North Dakota, they thought of themselves primarily as Germans and Ukrainians. And, the story goes, my German great-grandparents were not to impressed that a Ukrainian boy (my grandfather) had taken a special interest in their daughter (my grandmother). But by the time I was old enough to learn about such things, those ethnic prejudices were long in the past. My grandfather was then an American, the kind who loved Western wear and proudly flew the US flag over his farm (typically, but not exclusively, white habits).<br />
<br />
So in my family's history, white identity is something that was learned within living memory. Whiteness explained what you were in the New World, a place where the ethno-national rivalries of the Old didn't have to matter any more. And, as Linda points out, many European immigrants to these shores were forced out of their societies or otherwise had to leave under less than ideal circumstances. For these immigrants-of-necessity, whiteness afforded way of quickly shedding identities tied to shameful events of the past while simultaneously identifying with the American promise of a new start in life.<br />
<br />
As the category of "white" in America expanded to include more and more ethnic groups (from Irish, to Italians, to Jews, to "white-Hispanics," etc.), it's power to explain trans-ethnic, and even trans-national affiliation not only increased, but was exported around the modern world. That's because the set of physical features racial categories map onto can be more or less fuzzy at the margins, changing as populations intersect or diverge across history. But the ability of whiteness to assimilate has, from the beginning, bumped up against its limit, its Other: the so-called "person of color", whose phenotypical features cannot be plausibly associated with European ancestry so as to be physically indexed to white identity.<br />
<br />
That is because the idea of a white person was invented by European elites who, following the Age of Discovery, realized that the divided, warring ethnicities crammed onto the lands north and west of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Caucasus#Europe%E2%80%94Asia_boundary" target="_blank">Caucasus mountains</a> had more in common than they themselves understood. But, as Linda reminds us, the idea that these groups were all white people was part of more than just an Enlightenment quest for a rational, pan-national, European brotherhood. It also positioned these newly christened "white" people at the vanguard of history, on a disciplining mission to civilize the world according to the dictates of reason.<br />
<br />
It doesn't take a cynical view of the intentions of those who formulated this vision of white supremacy to see how supremely susceptible it was to the depravity of the selfish human heart. Helping the locals put their resources to their best use (as if white people had the best understanding what "best" means) easily became colonial wealth extraction. Enslaving non-Christian blacks until such time as they should convert (as if that were a biblical way to evangelize) became keeping both them and their children as chattel slaves in perpetuity, because of the "curse of Ham," once too many had converted.<br />
<br />
<b>White Vulnerability</b><br />
<br />
And that's where being white is complicated. On the one hand, the vanguard vision retains its ability to elicit pride among white people for their affiliation with a group that ushered in an era of unprecedented prosperity, integration, and liberty for the peoples of the world—a project over which white people continue to preside to some extent. On the other, whiteness can equally be a source of deep shame for the abuse, exploitation, and degradation to which white people have subjected and continue to subject peoples of color—much of which was and continues to be justified as necessary to live in a modern world.<br />
<br />
So we don't like to think or talk about ourselves as being white, because a deep part of what it explains about us is morally conflicted. When it comes to the role of whiteness in the modern world, we don't know whether to respond to our white identity with pride or shame. Not that being white is like being a Nazi, because, as Linda reminds us, being white explains a lot about me that isn't inextricably linked to attitudes and habits of oppression. If it were otherwise, white people could end the inner conflict by simply renouncing our whiteness or sublimating it into a newly constructed identity.<br />
<br />
But neither is it exactly like being a Rotarian, because being white explains how we came to enjoy certain advantages in the modern world as direct or indirect results of white consensus decisions to exploit of people of color because they were non-white. So we cannot speak to issues of race as white people without exposing ourselves to moral vulnerability according to our own standards of right and wrong (derived from Christian religiosity and Enlightenment rationality). And so, returning now to Tim's ethnography, we white Americans have responded to that sense of vulnerability in what I think of as a typically white way: by creating a new set of civilizing rules that manage the moral conflict of our identity so that we can get on with the rest of our lives.<br />
<br />
The biggest rule is, Don't mention race except to denounce racism. Because, if you don't bring up race, you cannot be accused of being a racist. And being a racist means you are uncivilized and should therefore be denied the benefits of the modern world. These rules have locked white people into a competition in which status is earned by appearing to be anti-racist. Failure to do so gives society reason to deprive you of employment and business opportunities, political office, friendships, and other venues of power and influence.<br />
<br />
Of course, this does not mean race goes unmentioned. Where white people are willing to be vulnerable with each other (such as during the weekly men's poker game hosted by the interviewee who lays out this dynamic for Tim) white people feel free to speak about people of color as such, and in the most bigoted of terms. But in this space there can be no challenging of such perceptions, because to do so would introduce the anti-racist status competition of civilized life and destroy the trust that allows white people to voice the vulnerable side of their identity. In Tim's telling, many white people are stuck between "high spaces," where white racial attitudes and habits are strictly controlled but white people can't talk about race, and a "low spaces," where white racial attitudes and habits are uncontrolled, but where they can talk about race.<br />
<br />
<b>How to Be White</b><br />
<br />
So the problem of being white, as I've developed it with the help of Linda and Tim, is one of being morally conflicted with no venue in which to resolve that conflict. The story of whiteness lays bare the sources of that conflict in the white desire to transcend the racial
categories we created and usher in a new, post-racial era via civilizing disciplines that enforce "colorblind" attitudes and habits. We are gambling with our consciences on a repeat of the same move that only partially succeeded at uniting the Europeans; only this time it's for all humanity.<br />
<br />
But that homogenizing Babel project
cannot succeed. Partly because it's imposed from the top down via rules that suppress the conversation necessary for the explanatory power that comes from bottom-up identity formation to emerge. And partly because because we <i>need</i> an Other to define ourselves.<br />
<br />
So, if resolving the conflict of white identity in the twenty-first century does not, or rather cannot, mean sublimating it to an all consuming anti-racist project, how are we supposed to be white? What I took away from reading Linda on that question can be summarized thus: Being white isn't so special. Part of our moral problem is the we need to get over ourselves. <br />
<br />
White people are not, and have never been, the vanguard of history. Jesus is the vanguard of history. That means we can afford to let go of power and control in government and civil society, including in the church. That also means that we're not at the vanguard of an anti-racist civilizing project. God isn't waiting for his white people to be purified of all racism, as if only then could he finally save the world. <br />
<br />
What is required of us white people is the same thing that was required of the Jews who followed The Way of Jesus when it was time for the fullness of the Gentiles to come into the Assembly. It started by giving up control of the food distribution to six Greek-speaking Jews and a Greek proselyte (Acts 6:5). We've become accustomed to a world and a church run "for us, by us," to borrow a phrase. But white people who can't take their place beside, not before, all the other groups of people who have inhabited this world will find they are not suited to the worship of humanity's Creator around the throne of Heaven.<br />
<br />
That does not imply that there are not better or worse ways of being in the world before God. However, the fact that whiteness is just one of them means that it is not the standard by which the rest are to be judged. It also means that it does not have a privileged relationship to that standard. Whiteness is just one way, among many, by which God has lead people to make sense of their circumstances in ways that open them to knowledge of himself (Acts 17:26). To make it more or less than that is an idolatrous denial of God's uniqueness as the supreme agency in human history.<br />
<br />
<b>How to Be White With Others</b><br />
<br />
If that is the case then how are we to go about being white with the Others. Linda points to examples white uplift movements—movements seeking justice for poor whites—that also coordinated with movements to promote justice for black Americans during US Civil Rights era. In other words, white identity and white concerns are not inherently bound up with the oppression of people of color. In fact, they can be very much the opposite.<br />
<br />
But what makes the difference? Here's where I think Tim's ethnography clarifies two ways people form their identity in distinction to the Other. Tim asked his white interview subjects to recall the first time they met a black person. For those who met black people as children, the reaction of the white adults around them was crucial. All the adults recalled a childish desire to form relationships with the black people they encountered. For those who were encouraged in this impulse by their adult authority figures, their initial encounter with black people was associated with feelings of joy, wonder, and contentment. They came to view racial difference as a potential source of personal acceptance, and, as adults, had a less morally compromised relationship with race and racism as a result.<br />
<br />
The other group had experienced the same impulse toward connection, but picked up subtle or overt signals from adults they respected that this was a transgression of boundaries, a transgression for which they felt shame. Out of a strong childish desire to please the adults in their life, they began to be racially discriminating in their associations. As adults, although often not wanting to be racist, they more often viewed people of color as sources of fear and as scapegoats.<br />
<br />
From these identity forming experiences, in which Tim's interviewees came to understand themselves as white, they inherited one of two very different ways of being white with Others. In one, to be white is <i>the</i> way to be human, a way which is threatened by corrupting associations with those who are human in distinctly deficient ways. In the other, to be white is <i>a</i> way to be human, a way that is affirmed by validating encounters with those who are human in distinctly different ways. We white people cannot choose which way of being white was passed down to us, but we can choose which way we will pass on to our children.<br />
<br />
<b>A Cross-shaped Way of Being White</b><br />
<br />
I suspect that the choice to embrace or to exclude will hinge on a willingness to make amends where amends are due. In my own life, I expect to maintain a measure of prudent self protection between myself and those who have proven willing and capable of harming me, intentionally or inadvertently, until such time as amends are made. I can't expect it to be otherwise for people of color, individually or as a group, when it comes to their relationships with me as a white person. For, the benefits of group identity go along with the burdens of group accountability.<br />
<br />
Again, that doesn't mean putting white people back into the driver's seat of history. It simply means we don't get special treatment when it comes to any contemporary or historical wrongs to the extent that we are implicated in them. It means we don't assume we have the best take on what's best for race relations personally, politically, socially, or in the church. And it means we will need to listen to the concerns of those with other racial and ethnic identities—concerns that come from ways of making sense of circumstances rather different than ours—to the same degree that we expect other groups to listen to concerns that come out of having a white identity.<br />
<br />
I take this personally to be the racial side of what it means to hide myself behind the cross. Hiding self behind the cross doesn't mean that my identities are annihilated by Christian conversion. It means that they are held relative to the self-sacrificing love of Christ, so that I now devote them to the purpose of laying my life down for others. I want to commit to God, for his service, those white habits and attitudes that enable me to love others in a cross-shaped way. As for those that get in the way of that love, I want them to stay hidden behind Jesus's sacrifice.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another" (John 13:34–35).</blockquote>
<br />
<i>I've written previously about race, social justice, and Jubilee: "<a href="http://advindicate.com/articles/2016/8/19/the-sabbath-more-fully" target="_blank">The Sabbath More Fully</a>."</i>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-87418064321810956072018-02-18T21:21:00.000-05:002019-01-13T09:22:12.750-05:00Four Adventisms<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iT7OsPnLTdY/WouDSnh5B_I/AAAAAAAABq8/Q7afmRn1CFY4IGiGqzWi8s4ZsfaiwHuLQCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BFour%2BAdventisms%2BChart%2BMinimal.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1009" data-original-width="1264" height="318" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iT7OsPnLTdY/WouDSnh5B_I/AAAAAAAABq8/Q7afmRn1CFY4IGiGqzWi8s4ZsfaiwHuLQCLcBGAs/s400/The%2BFour%2BAdventisms%2BChart%2BMinimal.png" width="400" /></a>The two central tensions, as I have come see them in Anglo-American Adventism, are between immanent and transcendent goods and between justifying and sanctifying grace (or, as I will call them when referring to grace in the immanent mode, affirming and disciplining relationships).<br />
<br />
Their historical roots are in the 1888 crisis (justifying vs. sanctifying) and the Kellogg crisis (immanent vs. transcendent).<br />
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That makes for four possible trajectories movements can take out of the center of Adventism, and I think we've got them all.<br />
<ol>
<li>Immanent/affirming = Recovery Adventism—reconciling the self to itself</li>
<li>Transcendent/justifying = Evangelical Adventism—reconciling the self to God</li>
<li>Immanent/disciplining = Social Justice Adventism—healing the body and society</li>
<li>Transcendent/sanctifying = Apocalyptic Adventism—conforming the body and church to God's end-time purposes</li>
</ol>
Before I briefly develop each category, a couple of caveats: (1) I'm not going to name names because this isn't statistically validated. (2) What follows an intuitive interpretation of my faith community based on my experience of Anglo-American Adventism in relatively diverse church membership and ministry settings. I leave it to you to decide to what or whom these categories might apply and how valid they are in light of your own experience of the same.<br />
<br />
1. The immanent/affirming option is the last trajectory to be explored and is the most marginal. It provides an answer to the question, How can I live with myself? Its deep roots are in the Wesleyan class method, which was practiced as the "social meeting" for a short time in early Adventism. It started again in the 1970s when Adventism first started to incorporate the techniques of therapy culture to treat drug addictions. Where it is associated with Twelve Step culture (Methodism for the spiritual but not religious), it can be properly called Recovery Adventism. But it can also have sources in therapy/coaching culture, chaplaincy ministry, and the spiritual formation movement. Recovery Adventism aims at reconciling the self to itself with divine help via introspective practices combined with group affirmation. It is centered on areas with large numbers of Adventists where it is highly attractive to those who have failed to reconcile an affirmative sense of self to the self-denial required to practice one or more of the varieties of transcendent or sanctifying/disciplining Adventism.<br />
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2. Transcendent/justifying Adventism views the relationship of God's grace to the self as affirming and aims at reconciling the self to God. It provides an answer to the question, How can God live with me? Its historical source in Adventism is Jones and Wagoner's recovery of the Reformation teaching that the moral law of God is powerless to bring us into a saving relationship with him. It is acceptance God's unmerited favor that enables the self to transcend its sinful condition in relationship to God. The role of the moral law is primarily to show us our defects, which God forgives when we repent. Where this movement retains the apocalyptic transcendent focused on the second coming and Adventist sectarian distinctiveness in light of that, it can be associated with the theological consensus of institutional Adventism that emerged between the Evangelical conferences (1950s) and the aftermath of the Ford crisis (1980s). Where a movement on this trajectory has a Cross-oriented transcendent vision and emphasizes Adventism as a part of the broader Christian community, it can be properly labeled evangelical Adventism. Either way, these movements often also define themselves in opposition to transcendent/sanctifying Adventism.<br />
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3. Immanent/disciplining Adventism that excludes the other Adventisms is what Kellogg advocated in The Living Temple: the discipline of self for the purpose of cooperating with God's restoration of creation. It continues to be centered around Adventist health and higher education institutions. But these are no longer organized to effect a radical reform of medical practice in accordance with natural laws of health. So the focus on God's saving work has shifted somewhat from the perfecting of the human body to perfecting of the social organism. Not that Kellogg was without his urban missions nor that social justice Adventism is devoid of alternative health practices. It's a matter of emphasis. The disciplines that were once applied to make the body whole according to laws of health have been transformed by a new set of disciplines aimed at healing the divisions of society by implementing the imperatives of justice. Either way, they provide an answer to the question, How can we live in the world? Although less radical than its predecessor in some ways, there is enough divergence from those who don't practice these disciplines, both within and without the church, to sustain a distinct Adventist identity around social justice. These movements may or may not have an affinity with other Adventist movements, depending on the consonance of their goals. But social justice Adventism encounters pushback when those committed to transcendent expressions of Adventism believe it is reducing their faith to the concerns of this world, as with Kellogg's panentheistic immanentizing of God.<br />
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4. Transcendent/sanctifying Adventism provides an answer to the question, How can we live with God? It has its historical roots in Joseph Bates's Sabbatarian conversation based on the Seventh Day Baptist interpretation of God's moral law in Reformed theology. His subsequent theological moves held other doctrines relative to the Sabbath—including salvation, which became keeping the God's moral law. For Bates, this was not exclusive to health and social justice activism, but his followers left that work to Kellogg. Their view of salvation was rejected by Ellen White in 1888, and consequently most transcendent/sanctifying Adventists are at least nominally tethered to transcendent/justifying soteriology. The sanctifying part comes in after justification, when the mode of God's relationship to the self demands discipline via empowering grace. The emphasis then switches to ordering ourselves and the body of Christ through wholistic spiritual practices to become the kind of people who can withstand the final crisis. These apocalyptic movements are the most likely to view other movements as having gone beyond the limits of Adventism and often see themselves as the church's disciplinarian.<br />
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I think individuals or movements can be more or less inclined toward the exclusive, ideal type of each trajectory. And while some could be moving away, others could be moving closer to the center.<br />
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But, because of human finitude, movements and individuals cannot deeply pursue each combination of the good and how to achieve it simultaneously. Thus, the third axis of this analysis, not represented graphically, would be time.<br />
<br />
On this analysis, an identity crisis hits Adventism when a major moment along one or another of the trajectories can no longer be explained as Adventist on the other groups' terms. <span data-offset-key="ejlh6-2-0"><span data-text="true">The immanent goods of Adventism can be pursued with more or less openness to transcendent goods (and vice versa). Likewise, discipline can take place in a context of affirmation, and affirmation can ground the disciplining relationships. Or they can be seen as diametrically opposed.</span></span><br />
<br />
I believe the center of Adventism to be wherever movements and individuals
maintain openness to the other goods/graces and to the other movements
pursuing them. And I think you can read Ellen White herself as
simultaneously correcting imbalances among these pursuits of the good and growing herself in
her understanding and practice of how to relate them.<br />
<span data-offset-key="ejlh6-2-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span>So while I do not take these four Adventisms to be inherently mutually exclusive, they do define four dimensions across which movements in Adventism have excluded each other in the following ways.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TgQZa02HG_U/WosVeBA5TdI/AAAAAAAABqU/3QSzdVplHyc35XyLFsR-BNizc3EonoqdgCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BFour%2BAdventisms%2BChart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1237" data-original-width="1600" height="494" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TgQZa02HG_U/WosVeBA5TdI/AAAAAAAABqU/3QSzdVplHyc35XyLFsR-BNizc3EonoqdgCLcBGAs/s640/The%2BFour%2BAdventisms%2BChart.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
1. Immanent/affirming Adventism's self-affirming mode is perceived as directly undermining the sanctification required by transcendent/sanctifying Adventists, especially when it doesn't care to explain itself in transcendent terms. Movements within recovery Adventism can also move outside what evangelical Adventists think of as Christianity when they start to deny transcendent dimensions to our relationship with God, like divine wrath or the need to accept Jesus as savior in order to go to Heaven. They exclude social justice Adventists when they affirm those whose politics and practices are contrary to the imperatives of justice.<br />
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2. Where transcendent/justifying Adventism embraces its natural affinity with the God-and-country mode of its Evangelical cousins, prioritizing a politics of piety and personal virtue, it can no longer be seen as authentically Adventist for immanent/disciplining Adventism. Where it sees no further need for the reconciliation with oneself after one has been reconciled to God, it excludes recovery Adventism. And where it makes the center of God's saving activity on the cross exclusive, it's soteriology is no longer intelligible in terms of apocalyptic Adventism's sanctuary theology.<br />
<br />
3. Evangelical Adventism cannot exchange the free pardon of God for a view of sin as the absence of peace and salvation as social reconciliation, and it fears this is often the upshot of immanent/disciplining Adventism, especially where it has lost the conversionist impulse. And while apocalyptic Adventists and social justice Adventists can both advocate vegetarianism, for the former it is primarily to prepare the body to receive the Holy Spirit, and the later, where it is only to heal creation, excludes the former. Recovery Adventism parts ways with social justice Adventism when the imperatives of justice are seen to require overly adversarial modes of relating to others and to the self.<br />
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4. The self-denial required by transcendent/sanctifying Adventism is even less intelligible on immanent/affirming terms than the self-denial required by immanent/disciplining Adventism because transcendent/sanctifying Adventism isn't always able to offer a this-life explanation for why the discipline is necessary. And when apocalyptic Adventism isn't willing to talk about how its disciplines are consonant with being reconciled to ourselves and the world, it comes across to recovery and social justice Adventism as more sanctimonious than sanctifying. Apocalyptic Adventism also excludes evangelical Adventism when it becomes suspicious that any emphasis on the cross is an attempt to undermine a transcendent vision focused on the second coming.<br />
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I don't at all mean to suggest that these tensions explain everything important about Adventism or everyone's Adventist experience. I do think this analysis is grounded on profound philosophical tensions inherent in Adventist teaching and practice as it relates to the self, God, the body, and the world. Therefore, it likely explains a lot of what's been going on, but that would have to be demonstrated with further research.<br />
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As to the question of whether the center of Adventism holds, it depends on whether we can maintain those tensions as generative of creative responses to challenges and opportunities. That would involve a number of other factors including our relationship to Scripture, Ellen White, spirituality, institutional intentionality, leadership capacity, etc.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I'm putting this half-baked thesis out here in the hopes it can at the least suggest some fundamental questions to bear in mind when you think about and live out what it means to be an Adventist in the twenty-first century.<br /><br />
<i>This essay was published in </i><a href="https://thecompassmagazine.com/blog/four-adventisms-what-kind-of-adventist-are-you-anyway" target="_blank">The Compass Magazine</a><i>.</i>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-73121437292563732562017-12-13T08:49:00.000-05:002017-12-15T21:42:41.760-05:00What Religious Liberty IsIn recent weeks there has been much discussion in the American media about what religious liberty <i>entails</i>. What I have not seen is anyone taking a stab at the question of what religious liberty <i>is</i>. In this essay, I will attempt to define what religious liberty is, and then look how that might apply to a current dilemma.<br />
<br />
I take religious liberty to be the right to withdraw from meaningful participation in an otherwise mandatory custom—whether a practice or an abstention—based on the transcendent claims of a community of believers with which one has a good faith association. This definition does not reduce religious liberty to a mere mode in which freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, property rights, etc are expressed, though it may entail those other rights. It also only kicks in when religious minorities have a different way of relating to the transcendent than the larger political community in which they live.<br />
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"Meaningful participation" is an expression intended to exclude second order involvement with other responsible parties from religious liberty exemptions. So once money changes hands, I'm no longer responsible for what happens to the good or service provided. Or, going the other way, what the business does with the money I provide them in exchange for their good or service, I'm not longer responsible for.<br />
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In concrete terms, a Jehovah's Witness can't try to stop a hospital they patronize from providing blood transfusions to other patients. A conscientious objector can't sue to stop the whole nation from going to war. A Catholic gynecologist can't object to their medical society licensing doctors who perform abortions. And so on.<br />
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Crucially, "meaningful participation" doesn't prejudge what ways of relating to the claims of the transcendent are legitimate. I only assumes the the final responsibility for the way one relates to the transcendent, as far as a free society is concerned, is personal (though typically sustained through associations of like-minded individuals). Hence, it is to be expected, for example, that some traditionalists are okay with going to same-sex weddings and others not.<br />
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But what "meaningful participation" does do is limit the extent to which exemptions for those who recognize such claims must be extended across social relationships. It does so based on the assumption that other parties are responsible for their relation (or not) to the transcendent as they best understand it. Therefore, the participation for which an exemption is granted has to be meaningful with reference to a network of relationships in which each individual is responsible for their own relationship to transcendence.<br />
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So on this definition of religious liberty, an third century Christian may withdraw from the incense offering to the Roman emperor—a mandatory practice reinforcing state solidarity that the empire takes the gods to be indifferent to—because Christians have a good faith association with a community of believers in a resurrected God who requires they not have meaningful participation idolatry.<br />
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And on this definition, an nineteenth century Seventh-day Adventist has the right to withdraw from Sunday rest—a mandatory abstention that America takes the Christian God to be in favor of—because Adventists have a good faith association with a community of believers in a God who created in six days and rested on the seventh and requires they not have meaningful participation in observing Sunday as a day of rest.<br />
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But, as with all rights, your right to religious liberty ends at my nose. To take two extreme examples, if your god demands human sacrifice, you don't get to kill me. Likewise, if your God demands race-based discrimination, you don't get to organize to broadly exclude historically discriminated against racial/ethnic minority groups from goods and services offered to the public.<br />
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Now, to briefly apply this framework to the specific case of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiece_Cakeshop_v._Colorado_Civil_Rights_Commission#See_also" target="_blank">Colorado baker</a>:<br />
<br />
The assumption of American capitalism is that God (if a Supreme Being exists) doesn't hold us responsible for the transcendent moral implications of what we know people will do with the goods and services we provide to the public. The baker belongs to a community of believers who dissent from that view of the relationship between transcendence and free markets. They can't have meaningful participation in gay marriages due to the meaning they see in the institution of marriage as it relates to their God.<br />
The Colorado baker isn't suing to stop everyone from using any of his cakes in a same-sex wedding. He isn't screening every customer based on their beliefs about same-sex weddings or asking about the intended use for every product sold. But he does object to making specific cakes that he has good reason to believe would be used to celebrate a same-sex wedding. Thus, this is a request for exemption based on meaningful participation. And the Colorado baker has also turned down business making cakes for Halloween and divorce celebrations, evidence that his appeal to a transcendent claim is in good faith.<br />
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But the custom from which he is requesting exemption provides a social good that must be weighted against his religious liberty. Sexual minorities are a historically discriminated against group that is even today targeted for violence and needs protection from being broadly excluded from goods and services offered to the public. So whether the Colorado baker can be granted an exemption does not simply turn on whether his claim of meaningful participation is in good faith and simply not cover for an anti-minority animus. The extent of the exemption he is requesting would determine whether this baker is trying to push his rights past the minority group's nose.<br />
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In this case, the Colorado baker requested a narrow exemption to the non-discrimination mandate from providing a select good and service. So it is not part of a broad attempt to exclude sexual minorities from his business dealings all together. The baker is willing to provide sexual minorities cakes in general with the exception of those that entail meaningful participation in practices his God prohibits, including, but not limited to, cakes that entail his meaningful participation in a same-sex marriage.<br />
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We have no reason to doubt the harm to dignity wrought by the experience of being discriminated against on the part of the gay couple. We should be especially sensitive to it given the high rates of suicide found among sexual minorities, and require those who claim to religiously object to meaningful participation in same-sex marriages do so without expressing of animus toward sexual minorities as a sign of good faith.<br />
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On the other hand, the Colorado baker's conscientious objection was not part of a broad social exclusion of sexual minorities from the wedding cake market. The gay couple was able to get their wedding cake from another local goods and services provider.<br />
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In a free society, while there is a right for minority groups not to be excluded from public life, including the marketplace, there is no right to be shielded from every indignity. We recognize that the rights of others, such as freedom of speech, will expose everyone, including historically discriminated against minorities, to certain indignities. We minimize our exposure to indignities through free associations, which also reinforce the sense of self by which we are able to bear those indignities we must in order to maintain our freedom.<br />
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Because the extent of the meaningful participation to which the Colorado baker objects is narrow, because his objection is good faith and not primarily motivated by animus, and because Coloradans in general disagree with the Colorado baker's understanding of what God expects of him, having enacted civil rights legislation to that effect; religious liberty requires that we allow for this narrow exposure to indignity on the part of sexual minorities in order to maintain the religious liberty on which a free society is predicated.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>I have previously treated this issue in greater length: "<a href="https://spectrummagazine.org/article/2015/04/16/framework-balancing-competing-concerns-rfras-and-adventists-public-square" target="_blank">A Framework for Balancing Competing Concerns: RFRAs and Adventists in the Public Square</a>."</i>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-45102285794955098022017-02-05T22:09:00.000-05:002018-04-05T20:23:57.929-04:0056 Theses On Trump And Truth1. Understanding the power of how President Trump relates to the truth requires understanding how professional wrestling and reality television, the televisual forms in which he built his popularity with the everyman, appeal to their audiences.<br />
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2. If we don't understand what the rise of Mr. Trump to the presidency reveals about the way these these televisual forms shape their audiences' relationship to the truth, we won't understand how to effectively communicate with them.<br />
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3. These audiences know that what is being presented in these televisual forms as unscripted is in fact heavily scripted, yet not entirely scripted.<br />
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4. Pointing out to these audiences that a gap between presentation and reality makes a TV show "fake" does not lessen the appeal of these televisual forms for them.<br />
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5. By asking their audiences with a "wink" to suspend disbelief on the question of whether what is presented is fiction or non-fiction the producers of these televisual forms invite the audience into an interpretive game played with an unreliable narrator.<br />
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6. The audiences that enjoy professional wrestling and reality television enjoy it, not despite the fact that they are being "lied to," but because the gap between presentation and reality invites them to account for the mechanics of scripting a spectacle that resonates emotionally.<br />
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7. This gives the audiences a powerful sense of being "in the know" about stories over which they have little to no control.<br />
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8. These audiences can then play this interprative game with the rest of the media, media that is not "winking" as they present a story as fiction or non-fiction.<br />
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9. If fiction and non-fiction are on a spectrum, how much of non-fiction media is presented by unreliable narrators as real when in fact it is scripted? Answer: All of it, to some degree.<br />
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10. In reality television and professional wrestling, good and evil are not moral absolutes but plot devices used by unreliable narrators to ask their audiences' to suspend disbelief.<br />
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11. Sensationally good characters suspend disbelief just as well as sensationally evil characters. Only boring characters are wrong.<br />
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12. If something boring happens, the interprative game is no longer fun because the gap between presentation and reality collapses as the reality of the scripting process becomes evident in its failure to deliver a spectacle that resonates emotionally.<br />
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13. For the audiences of these televisual forms, the value proposition of most media on the non-fiction end of the spectrum comes across as, Give us your time and attention (making us money) in exchange for boring stories told by unreliable narrators who never "wink". At least the unreliable narrators of fiction media tell spectacular stories, even if their interprative game is less fun.<br />
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14. These audiences cannot evaluate the truth of professional wrestling or reality television based on whether the narrator is sincere in what they present as true or false, good or evil, but on whether the (always unreliable) narrator tells a story that is emotionally compelling while inviting them to consider how they scripted reality.<br />
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15. By inviting their audience to consider how they scripted reality, the unreliable narrator allows their audience to evaluate them based on whether the narrator's self-interest in telling the story aligns with the audience's interests in investing in it.<br />
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16. For the audiences of these televisual forms, earnestly presenting truth as Truth, not-truth as Not-truth, good as Good and evil as Evil is the sign of an unreliable narrator who either doesn't realize they are scripting reality according to their own interests or knows it and is keeping their audience from playing the interprative game by being inauthentic.<br />
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17. For the audiences of these televisual forms, what counts for truth is authenticity—telling a spectacular story they can resonate with and inviting them to evaluate your motives for having done so by "winking" at your unreliable narration.<br />
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18. Of course, there are those in the audiences of professional wrestling and reality television who believe everything they see is real and none of it scripted. They intensify the sense of interprative play for the rest of the audience who is in on the game.<br />
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19. In the metanarrative constructed by the audiences of these televisual forms in their interprative play, the true believers among them are just another part of reality being scripted by the unreliable narrator, in this case, using the spectacle to script the true believers.<br />
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20. This reinforces the audiences' sense of being behind the scenes of a story over which they actually have little to no control.<br />
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21. For the true believers, truth resides at the level of spectacle, where presentation and reality appear to merge.<br />
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22. For the rest of the audience, truth resides in the gap between presentation and reality where spectacle and motive combine: Lie to me, so I can see if our self-interests are aligned.<br />
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23. Those who present truth earnestly, in the view of these audiences, are obscuring how they've scripted reality so that they can obscure their motives to themselves or their audiences.<br />
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24. Those who present truth earnestly and appear to be scripting reality the least may limit the spectacular in their presentation by breaking up their story with alternative viewpoints, caveats about their own biases, and other nuances. They are boring.<br />
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25. Boring presentations of reality are not emotionally compelling, so the audiences of these televisual forms are apt to ignore them.<br />
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26. Boring presentations of reality do not help these audiences tell themselves a story about themselves that makes their lives feel spectacular, so there is no payoff for these audiences that alignes with their self-intersets in investing time and attention in media.<br />
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27. If a presentation of reality doesn't offer a story that can be evaluated in terms of these audiences' self-interests, it cannot be evaluated by them through interprative play for its truth content.<br />
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28. For the audiences of professional wrestling and reality television, boring, non-fiction media has even less truth value than earnest, non-fiction media (Donald Trump > Hannity > Fox News > CSPAN).<br />
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29. Boring presentations of reality also imply that acting based on ones interests is less important than understanding reality in all its complexities.<br />
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30. If reality is always being scripted by all media, it is meaningless to seek an understanding of it that goes beyond the interests of powerful actors.<br />
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31. The spectacular celebrates the act taken without regard to complexities, whether for good or evil, as that which compels an audience to invest time and attention in the story of the actor and find truth in its resonances with the story they tell themselves about themselves.<br />
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32. Because the story we tell ourselves about ourselves shapes and is informed by our self-interests, it is possible to influence the interests of audiences invested in a story by shaping their story about themselves.<br />
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33. The one who produces spectacular acts can influence the interests of these audiences by shaping they story they tell themselves about themselves through the metanarrative they tell themselves about the scripting of the spectacular. (The effect also works in reverse from audience to producer.)<br />
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34. Having given up on any truthful presentation of reality, the audiences of professional wrestling and reality television are not equipped to evaluate this shaping of the stories they tell themselves by any standard other than their interests as they are being shaped.<br />
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35. Pointing that that Mr. Trump is "fake," a more pervasive scripter of reality than ordinary politicians, and that his blatant disregard for the pretense of truthful presentation disqualifies him from being taken seriously does not lessen his appeal to these audiences because they do not believe that any presentation of reality can correspond well-enough to reality to discredit the story Mr. Trump is telling.<br />
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36. For the audiences of these televisual forms, Mr. Trump is telling the truth because he tells a story through spectacular speech acts that leave gaps between reality and presentation inviting them into a interprative game in which they tell themselves a story about how his interests align with their own.<br />
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37. Politicians are simultaneously narrators of the national story and actors in it.<br />
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38. Politicians who want their audiences to participate in their decisions about how to deal with the reality of Truth and un-Truth, Good and Evil, make earnest presentations—the more boring the presentation, the more reality their audience is able to participate in deciding about.<br />
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39. Mr. Trump does not want his audience to participate in decisions about reality, but instead asks his audience to trust that his own interests in scripting reality are aligned with theirs to the degree that his unreliable narration reveals that they are.<br />
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40. The more spectacularly Mr. Trump's speech acts as an unreliable narrator signal that he is aligned with the interests of his audience, the more truly his interests can be judged by his audience through interprative play to be aligned with their own. <br />
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41. The more spectacularly Mr. Trump's speech acts as an unreliable narrator signal that he is not aligned with those opposed to the interests of his audience, the more truly his own interests can be judged by his audience through interprative play to be aligned with their own.<br />
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42. For the purposes of creating spectacle, it does not matter whether Mr. Trump presents himself as good or evil.<br />
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43. Evocative presentations of Mr. Trump as evil heighten the spectacle for his audience.<br />
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44. Earnest presentations of Mr. Trump as evil that can be plausibly denied heighten the sense of unreliable narration from both Mr. Trump and the news media for his audience.<br />
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45. Nuanced presentations of Mr. Trump as one not aligned with the interests of his audience are boring to his audience, which causes them to question the motives of the presenter.<br />
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46. Science-fiction author Phillip K. Dick was correct when he said, "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." (And he should know, because he had a mystical vision and then did a lot of perception altering drugs.)<br />
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47. Unfortunately, that kind of reality is so complex that by the time we realize it's not going away, it's too late to avoid trouble.<br />
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48. Those who wish to understand the reality of Mr. Trump and make decisions about it before it reaches the point where it doesn't go away are limited to the study of his actions in speech and deed.<br />
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49. As an unreliable narrator, Mr. Trump will continually create ambiguity as to how much of what he presents is Truth. You will rarely know enough about how big the gap between presentation and reality is before it's too late to respond.<br />
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50. Ask not what Mr. Trump's says but what his speech does and how it aligns with everything else he is doing.<br />
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51. When making decisions, account for how Mr. Trump's actions in speech and deed script reality for himself and his audience, shaping and responding to their mutual self-interests.<br />
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51. The study of Mr. Trump's speech as act requires detaching from the emotional resonance of his spectacular performance as national antihero.<br />
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52. To detach from Mr. Trump's spectacle, you must tell yourself a story about yourself that has more emotional resonance than the one Mr. Trump is narrating by replacing self-(interest)gratifying entertainment with spiritual practices.<br />
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53. To detach from Mr. Trump's spectacle, you must invest time and attention in boring presentations of reality by replacing 24-hour news cycles and social media with critical analysis of longform journalism and peer-reviewed research findings.<br />
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54. Reliable narrators who understand the reality of Mr. Trump's audience will not try to influence them with earnest appeals that require the audience to assume that the presenter is good, the presenter's opposition evil, and the presenter's self-interest, irrelevant.<br />
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55. Reliable narrators who understand the reality of Mr. Trump's audience know that talk is cheap and reality is expensive. They prove their good intentions with real investments in their audience that cannot be denied because they don't go away.<br />
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56. Reliable narrators who understand the reality of Mr. Trump's audience attempt to engage them with irony, Socratic dialogue, and illustrative stories that make nuanced presentations of reality an invitation to mutual discovery instead of a boring monologue.<br />
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<b>Further (Boring) Reading </b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/cantor.txt">Wrestling and the End of History</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n20/peter-pomerantsev/putins-rasputin">Putin’s Rasputin</a></li>
<li><a href="http://Donald Trump Is The First President To Turn Postmodernism Against Itself">Donald Trump Is the First President to Turn Postmodernism Against Itself </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/opinions/journalists-stop-taking-trump-seriously-todd/">Dear Journalists: Stop Taking Trump Literally</a></li>
<li><a href="http://entropymag.org/i-wish-more-poets-loved-pro-wrestling-or-the-apocalyptic-postmodern-fanscape-with-examples/">I Wish More Poets Loved Pro Wrestling, or the Apocalyptic Postmodern Fanscape (with Examples)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://kottke.org/17/01/the-new-rhetoric-of-television-politics">The New Rhetoric of Television Politics</a> </li>
</ul>
David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-32635987927827412302017-01-23T19:46:00.000-05:002018-04-05T20:23:41.583-04:00Polarization In American Politics: Whither Adventists?<div data-contents="true">
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<span data-offset-key="1sf4n-0-0"><span data-text="true">As Americans move deeper into an era of relativistic political tribalism, where picking a team and embracing its biases increasingly counts for more than arriving at a truthful consensus, political disagreements threaten to divide American Adventists against their coreligionists. This will require the church to either retreat even further from religiously informed political engagement or renew a distinctly Adventist political theology that can withstand the forces of polarization. I will argue that we cannot afford to abandon the political formation of the Adventist soul to American political factions because the fundamental political commitments of those factions are not religiously neutral and have religious implications.<br /><br />To get that religious perspective, it is important to understand that much of the spiritual energy </span></span><span data-offset-key="1sf4n-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="1sf4n-0-0"><span data-text="true">driving the left and right of American politics apart</span></span> is derived from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin#Discipline_and_opposition_(1546%E2%80%931553)" target="_blank">Calvinist impulse</a> to transform society through an integrated relationship of church and state. It first came to these shores with the Puritan settlers of New England and later with the largely Presbyterian Scotch-Irish settlers of Appalachia. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="6j3eo-0-0"><span data-text="true">On the left, the Puritan "city on a hill" vision of "<a href="http://emerald.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/fall2013/features/up-in-arms.html">perfecting earthly civilization</a> through social engineering, denial of self for the common good, and assimilation of outsiders" was secularized in mainline American Protestantism and directed toward accomplishing social equality. By the 1950s, WASPs were being told by their liberal clergy that they didn't need a particularly Christian God, or even any God at all, to accomplish that pluralistic vision. But that implies their churches weren't really needed either. So they emptied them and turned to left-wing party politics as a secular church, in which they could better organize to actualize their religiously derived vision for the ultimate good of society (the ultimate good being the highest source of meaning one has when one no longer has a sense of the transcendent). "In short, <a href="http://s-usih.org/2013/10/should-historians-weep-for-liberal-protestantism.html">ecumenical [American] Protestants embraced modernity</a>, advancing the cause of Enlightenment while simultaneously becoming one of its casualties. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fs550-0-0"><span data-text="true">On the right, a neo-theocratic vision exists, which revolves around rolling back the sexual revolution by re-establishing, to some degree, the state sponsorship of Christianity that existed in the thirteen colonies and early US states. For them, a degree of inequality is the price of orienting society toward sexual morality as a transcendent good; just as for the left, a degree of sexual immorality is the price of equality. The forerunners of this "religious right" faction took the fundamentalist side of the same Protestant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist%E2%80%93Modernist_Controversy" target="_blank">fundamentalist/modernist controversy</a> that secularized the mainline. And by the 1950s, many Fundamentalists were sloughing off their social quietism and joining an Evangelical movement that secularized in its own way: being <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/corporate-america-invented-religious-right-conservative-roosevelt-princeton-117030" target="_blank">politically activated</a>, partly in <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/04/the-evangelical-view-of-abortion-and-literalist-approaches-to-history" target="_blank">response to the sexual revolution</a>, through involvement with conservative political apparatus in search of a popular constituency.<br /> </span></span><br />
<span data-offset-key="fs550-0-0"><span data-text="true">Other Christian traditions share the goals of reforming American sexual mores and/or bringing about equality, but, crucially, differ on the question of how tightly church and state must be integrated to accomplish social reform. The recently published, <a href="http://jbtsonline.org/review-of-five-views-on-the-church-and-politics-eds-gundry-and-black/"><i>Five Views on the Church and Politics</i></a>, gives a good sense of the spectrum, from separationist, on one side, to integrationist, on the other: "</span></span><span data-offset-key="fs550-0-0"><span data-text="true">Anabaptist (or Separationist), Lutheran (or Paradoxical), Black
Church (or Prophetic), Reformed (or Transformationist), and
Catholic (or Synthetic)." Calvinism—through the neo-Reformed movement—is the major intellectual force in White Evangelicalism today. However some neo-Reformed voices are resisting the spiritual energy of theocratic politics, including Russell Moore, who is trying to bring the <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/debunking-4-myths-about-religious-freedom">Southern Baptists closer to their</a> Anabaptist/separationist roots in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Dissenters">English Dissenters</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="erbkh-0-0"><span data-text="true">It is those persecuted minority, dissenting Protestant groups, <a href="http://www.adventistreview.org/2013-1502-16">as my professor, Nick Miller argues</a>, who birthed the tradition of religiously informed politics to which Adventists properly belong. Adventists have no illusions of perfecting, much less transforming, society on this side of the Second Coming. We don't desire a privileged political position for ourselves (or any other group) to implement our conception of the transcendent good, because that will not be realized in the here and now. But we recognize that God has given us a democratic government to foster temporal goods based on consensus, including temporal goods derived from both sexual morality and social equality. While willing to work with <a href="https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1998/11/viewpoint-legislating-morality" target="_blank">groups</a> motivated by very different political theologies toward <a href="http://nrla.com/ellen-g-white-national-moral-reform/" target="_blank">reforms</a> in these and other areas, we ought to be <a href="http://spectrummagazine.org/article/2015/04/16/framework-balancing-competing-concerns-rfras-and-adventists-public-square">deeply skeptical of political agendas that sacrifice one for the sake of imposing the other</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ebcni-0-0"><span data-text="true">Adventists cannot take sides in the political fight within the house of Calvinism—a </span></span><span data-offset-key="ebcni-0-0"><span data-text="true">secularized </span></span><span data-offset-key="ebcni-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yankee camp pushing equality and a </span></span><span data-offset-key="ebcni-0-0"><span data-text="true">religious</span></span><span data-offset-key="ebcni-0-0"><span data-text="true"> Appalachian camp pushing sexual morality—without compromising both our commitment to the Second Coming as the only source of societal transformation and our imperative of religious liberty with respect to transcendent/ultimate goods in the meantime. And with this Washingtonian captivity of the Protestant church comes the threat of persecution for those who don't pick the winning side. Both kinds of Puritan might equally expel a later-day Roger Williams into a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams#Litigation_and_exile">cold Massachusetts winter</a>, whether for being on the wrong side of the march of progress toward sexual equality or for being the wrong side of God as they believe He ought to be worshiped.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ebcni-0-0"><span data-text="true">Thankfully, the political theology of the dissenters, not the Puritans, made it's way <a href="http://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3253&context=auss">into the First Amendment</a>. The question is how long the promise of separationist religious liberty guaranteed on paper can last in a political environment spiritually dominated by religious and secular Calvinists.</span></span></div>
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David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-40898580308782836802016-11-07T11:56:00.001-05:002016-11-07T12:19:12.117-05:00History, Prophecy & Tomorrow's VoteI just finished a close reading of Ellen G. White's short treatise "<a href="https://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=Ed&lang=en&pagenumber=173">History and Prophecy</a>" in <i>Education</i>, and I'm persuaded that is has a message that is vital for American believers of all persuasions facing tomorrow's vote.<br />
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In my interpretation, her burden in this chapter is to show how history is a medium through which God's character is revealed in the historical forces that lie behind the rise and fall of nations.<br />
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Using Nebuchadnezzar as an example, she decries his arrogance and pride in speaking and acting as if he were the source of his power and greatness. These character defects led the formerly great king to gave himself over greed, resulting in the oppression of those he was given that power to protect.<br />
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She writes:<br />
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To each the words spoken to Nebuchadnezzar of old are the lesson of life: 'Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.' Daniel 4:27.<br />
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To understand these things,—to understand that 'righteousness exalteth a nation;' that 'the throne is established by righteousness' and 'upholden by mercy' (Proverbs 14:34; 16:12; Proverbs 20:28); to recognize the outworking of these principles in the manifestation of His power who 'removeth kings, and setteth up kings' (Daniel 2:21),—this is to understand the philosophy of history.</blockquote>
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In the word of God only is this clearly set forth. Here it is shown that the strength of nations, as of individuals, is not found in the opportunities or facilities that appear to make them invincible; it is not found in their boasted greatness. It is measured by the fidelity with which they fulfill God's purpose" (174–175).</blockquote>
God acted to remove the abusive king's power, and those who believe in Daniel's God can still fall into the same trap by arrogantly imagining that the outcome of tomorrow's election is up to the electorate. If it were, our "strength" would be "found in" a human source, namely, the number of people who vote like we do. Rather, our strength as a individual voters and as a nation "is measured by the fidelity with which" the choices we make in deciding the leadership of our nation, "fulfill God's purpose."<br />
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We have a role to play, but it is God who ultimately permits one candidate or the other to inhabit the White House. Thus, divine supervision of history frees us from the burden of making Machiavellian political calculations entirely within the "<a href="http://religionatthemargins.com/2010/11/belief-in-the-immanent-frame/">immanent frame</a>," as if God were not an active agent in history.<br />
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This brings all the options political pragmatists insist we must ignore back on the table. But, it also brings an even greater burden on us who must choose whether to vote and whom to vote for, because history is not only the medium in which God's character is revealed, but also our own.<br />
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We need to study the working out of God's purpose in the history of nations and in the revelation of things to come, that we may estimate at their true value things seen and things unseen; that we may learn what is the true aim of life; that, viewing the things of time in the light of eternity, we may put them to their truest and noblest use. Thus, learning here the principles of His kingdom and becoming its subjects and citizens, we may be prepared at His coming to enter with Him into its possession (184).</blockquote>
David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-62437338367472035942016-07-29T21:08:00.003-04:002016-07-29T22:14:03.125-04:00"The Sabbath More Fully"<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I saw that God had children, who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They had not rejected the light on it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully” (Ellen White, “A Word to The Little Flock” [WLF], <a href="https://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=WLF&pagenumber=19">19</a>).</blockquote>
On April 7, 1847 a young visionary, Ellen White, wrote a landmark letter to the Advent preacher and abolition activist, Joseph Bates. Her husband, James White, published it two months later in “A Word To The Little Flock,” the broadside that first set forth the core beliefs of the coalescing movement that would become the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The letter was a straightforward account of what we now call the Sabbath Halo Vision.<br />
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The Holy Spirit had shown Ellen White the Most Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary. As she looked into the Ark of the Covenant, Jesus opened the tablets of stone that contain the Ten Commandments. “…the fourth (the Sabbath commandment,) shone above them all; for the Sabbath was set apart to be kept in honor of God's holy name.…The holy Sabbath looked glorious—a halo of glory was all around it.” (WLF, 18)<br />
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Then the scene panned down on terrestrial events. She saw how the Sabbath had been changed and that just before the final crisis of earth’s history Sabbath keepers would go out and proclaim “the Sabbath more fully.” Ellen White, reflecting on the vision five years later, understood the fuller proclamation of the Sabbath as a promise that the Sabbath message would be widely propagated by more believers than the “little flock” of Adventists then honoring the seventh day Sabbath could muster.<br />
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But beyond a greater quantity of proclamation, the Sabbath Halo Vision also indicated broader qualities of the Sabbath message, not previously understood or emphasized, that must be proclaimed “more fully” before Jesus comes. By 1847, the Seventh Day Baptists had long taught that the sacredness of the seventh day was never changed and was as important for Christians to observe as the other nine commandments. But the scenes of the final crisis Ellen White was shown go farther by emphasizing how the Sabbath is <i>not</i> just like the other commandments, how it has a special significance prior to the second coming.<br />
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“…all we were required to do,” she wrote, “was to give up God's Sabbath, and keep the Pope's, and then we should have the mark of the Beast, and of his image” (WLF, 19). Because of their total commitment to Jesus, Ellen White saw that Sabbath keepers would be persecuted, and God would save them with supernatural power at the second coming. This implies that a full proclamation of the Sabbath includes its end-time role as a sign of our commitment to God and of God’s protection for His people.<br />
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This part of the Sabbath Halo Vision confirmed Joseph Bates’ conclusions about the heart of Revelation (chs. <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=revelation+12;+revelation+13;+revelation+14">12–14</a>), and ever since Seventh-day Adventists have proclaimed the ultimate test of God’s relationship with His people as the center of the Sabbath’s end-time significance.<br />
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<b>Jubilee</b><br />
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Next, Ellen White saw the second coming in sabbatical terms:<br />
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“Then commenced the <i>jubilee</i>, when the land should rest. I saw the pious slave rise in triumph and victory, and shake off the chains that bound him, while his wicked master was in confusion, and knew not what to do; for the wicked could not understand the words of the voice of God” (WLF, 20, emphasis mine).</blockquote>
The Year of Jubilee was the culmination of the Sabbatical year system (<a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/leviticus/25.html">Lev 25</a>). Every seven years the land was to lie fallow, allowing the people and the land to rest for the entire Sabbatical year. This would continue for seven cycles of seven years (49 years), and then the 50th year, the Jubilee year, was to be an extra Sabbatical year. During this year all debts were to be cancelled, all Israelite slaves set free, and everyone was returned to their ancestral lands. <br />
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Might the Jubilee also indicate the quality of a fuller proclamation of the Sabbath before Jesus comes? I believe the answer to that question lies in the answer to another. On which of the two tablets of the Ten Commandments does the Sabbath belong?<br />
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Recall that Ellen White saw it on the first, which along with the three preceding commandments pertain to our relationship with God. Sabbath is about loving God by respecting God’s time: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God …” (Ex 20:8–10a NKJV).<br />
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Sabbath simply acknowledges that six without seven is incomplete. The sixth day is the day on which human beings were created, and seven, the creation day on which God rested, is the biblical number of sufficiency. Thus, Sabbath keeping is a rhythmic reminder that human flourishing is not based on what we accomplish but on who we know. By resting on the seventh day we embody our dependence on our relationship with our Creator.<br />
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But notice the middle part of commandment: “… In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates” (Ex 20:10b NKJV). This aspect of Sabbath keeping deals with how we relate to other people (and animals, but that’s for another article). It teaches us that everyone is equal before God, because on Sabbath there are no socio-economic divisions. When we are all resting from our labor, we rest from our struggles within the divisions and power structures of the social order. On the seventh day, we are freed to relate to everyone as princes and princesses of the Heavenly Creator before whom we can claim nothing that sets us above another.<br />
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<b>Complete Sabbath Keeping</b><br />
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Proclaiming the Sabbath more fully in the end times encompasses more than preaching Sabbath as a sign of God’s relationship with His people. Resting on the Sabbath calibrates our relationship with God; and that way of relating through rest based on God’s prior involvement in our existence must in turn recalibrate our relationship with each other. Therefore, the Sabbath is especially significant in the end-times because it functions as the bridge that unites the two great commands: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,’” and “‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt 22:37, 39).<br />
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The Sabbatical year and Jubilee laws fleshed out the political and economic implications of Sabbath for Israelite society, and Ellen White held that the social principles encapsulated therein would be beneficial for us to follow today (<a href="https://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=PP&lang=en&pagenumber=536">PP 536</a>, cf. <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/amos/5-24.html">Matt 5:17–18</a>). God did not create human beings to be enslaved by endless production and consumption, globalized competition, over-regulation, indebtedness, and crony capitalism. And God did not create human beings to be inescapably oppressed by discrimination, police brutality, welfare dependency, predatory mortgages, and gang violence. God desires that earthly societies be structured such that people threatened by slavery—real or virtual—have an escape route to freedom. So while the fourth commandment primarily deals with our relationship with God, if it were possible, it could find a place on both tablets of the law, because it also relates to how we treat each other individually and in society.<br />
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Keeping the weekly Sabbath gives us the experience of Heaven as time spent with God apart from the problems of this present age. Keeping the social principles of Sabbath expressed in the Jubilee gives us a foretaste of a human race free and equal before God, which is the “great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” in worship (Rev 7:9 NKJV). Working to present that vision in concrete ways is indispensable to a full proclamation of the Sabbath.<br />
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It would be absurd for me to tell people to keep a weekly Sabbath without resting on the seventh day myself. It is just as absurd to invite people to come to Heaven with us and not demonstrate to them what Heaven will be like by our actions. Proclaiming the Sabbath more fully even involves working to insert the social principles of Sabbath into the governance of our society so that by tasting a drop of practical compassion, a world thirsty for justice can have reason to hope in the promise of its one day running down like a mighty stream (<a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/amos/5-24.html">Amos 5:24</a>).<br />
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<b>Reform Movements</b> <br />
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Though the American institution of slavery Ellen White saw being abolished at the second coming ended during her lifetime, she insisted that this change in the slaves’ legal status did not exhaust the divine mandate for privileged American Adventists to make special efforts toward racial equality:<br />
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“Are we not under even greater obligation to labor for the colored people than for those who have been more highly favored? Who is it that held these people in servitude? Who kept them in ignorance, and pursued a course to debase and brutalize them, forcing them to disregard the laws of marriage, breaking up the family relation, tearing wife from husband and husband from wife? If the race is degraded, if they are repulsive in habits and manners, who made them so? Is there not much due to them from the white people? After so great a wrong has been done them, should not an earnest effort be made to lift them up?” (“<a href="https://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=SWk&lang=en&pagenumber=9">Our Duty to the Colored People</a>,” 20).</blockquote>
The pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist movement saw no distinction between preaching the soon second coming and working for a better world today. They joined the social reform movements like abolition, prohibition, and health reform to alleviate the suffering of the oppressed through a combination of personal influence, organized relief, and legislative action. All were idealistic causes with little chance of success, but if you believe in Heaven, you can afford to be an idealist, because Jesus is coming to right the wrongs of this world! The founders of my church did not regard history’s trajectory toward persecution and the eventual destruction of this wicked world as an excuse with which to wash their hands of any involvement with activism and politics. Rather they took the second coming as permission to make a difference in society, knowing that their work would find its eternal value in the restoration of all things.<br />
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Today, Americans are confronted with a crisis of race and law enforcement that has its roots in a self-righteous failure of empathy and solidarity for those whose experience differs from the vulnerable group with whom we most identify, whether the already vulnerable or those who make themselves vulnerable for the sake of protecting others. Today, Adventists in America decide whether to step out of their demographic box to find a common humanity, or step into the scripted role society expects them to play. We decide whether to step in and work with those advocating solutions to this crisis, or step out and do nothing as things get worse. God has promised to use the Advent movement to proclaim His Sabbath more fully, and He promised that He has numbers waiting to join those of us who embrace a complete Sabbath message. Let us go out, and proclaim “the Sabbath more fully.”David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-58300034137358121942015-07-18T22:29:00.001-04:002015-07-19T01:17:59.047-04:00Top 5 Reasons Why The 2015 General Conference Was More Progressive Than You Thought<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay, so they voted down allowing divisions to decide whether to ordain women. But that wasn't all that happened in San Antonio. Here's five progressive changes the delegates voted through.<br />
<ol>
<li><b>No To Eternal Subordination</b> – It was stated from the podium that a revision to Fundamental Belief 3 rules the idea that the Son is eternally subordinate to the Father out of Adventist theology. This introduction of hierarchy into the trinity's eternity past has been proposed by supporters of male headship theology, as it is used to explain how two persons can be theoretically equal and at the same time always in a hierarchical relationship (guess the gender of the persons who are always at the bottom). The revision states that "The qualities and powers exhibited in the Son and the Holy Spirit are also those of the Father," which implies that no quality that leads to subordination can be attributed to the Son or Spirit that would not also be shared by the Father and thus such a quality could not result in involuntary or necessary hierarchy within the trinity. Got it? No? Read that again, cause I'm moving on.</li>
<li><b>Gender Neutral Language</b> – A sweeping revision to the Fundamental Beliefs statement removed terms like "men", "man", and "mankind"; and replaced them with terms like "human beings", "human", and "humanity". Welcome to the 21st Century, church! Over the objections of some they also specified that at the incarnation Jesus became "truly human", instead of "truly man", clarifying that we believe Jesus didn't only identify himself with the male gender, but with all humanity.</li>
<li><b>No To Non-consensual Sex</b> – No means no, even if you're married. The Church Manual now makes it clear that forcing yourself on anyone is a reason for church discipline. When asked if that refers to spousal rape, the answer came back, Yes. It's past time we said that it's not only important who you're doing it with, it's about whether they want it.</li>
<li><b>Discipleship</b> – As per the Church Manual revisions, your local Adventist church board now has a new primary responsibility. It used to be "Spiritual nurture". Now it is the formation and execution of an "active discipleship plan". Helping people follow Jesus wherever they are in that journey—sounds like what church ought to be all about, doesn't it?</li>
<li><b>Adventist Youth Ministries</b> - First, they dropped the legacy name "Adventist Youth Society", which, as was explained, had come to refer to a meeting more than an umbrella organization. This meeting, which is still a blessing in many places, has become a ball and chain of youth ministry in some churches, tying youth programming expectations to a model developed in the mid-20th century. But more importantly, Adventist Youth Ministries has new departments that can be organized within it, and their leaders get board positions according to the new Church Manual. That means that youth and young adults have a potential to have their say in the operations of their local church like never before. So if young people don't have a voice in your church, get out there and organize a Public Campus Ministry. And when Nominating Committee rolls around, if you don't have a seat on the Board, you can say with a cheeky grin on your face, It's in the Manual.</li>
</ol>
David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-38189217119485863122014-12-30T13:59:00.000-05:002014-12-30T14:05:01.635-05:00Getting Off Time's Big RideTime is the big ride that nobody gets off.<br />
<br />
But wouldn't be cool if we could?<br />
<br />
In
the recent film, Edge of Tomorrow, Tom Cruise plays a soldier who
suddenly gets the ability to reset the day. Think Groundhog Day, but
with violence instead romance driving the plot. With each recurring day
the soldier uses his increasing knowledge of what's happens next to
plan his moves, enabling him to accomplish the otherwise impossible.<br />
<br />
<img alt="http://www.le-serpent-retrogamer.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/game-over-continue-end.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://www.le-serpent-retrogamer.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/game-over-continue-end.jpg" /><br />
<br />
The
film was inspired by video game storytelling, specifically the way
games allow you to make mistakes that are fatal to your in-game
character then bring your character back to life at an earlier point
in the game and, hopefully having learned from your mistakes, try
again.<br />
<br />
This game mechanic allows video gamers to simulate what
theologians call foreknowledge. Within the closed system of the game
time moves in one direction, but with the ability to get off that ride
and try again as often as necessary the gamer is able to gain what to
her in-game character would be knowledge of what will happen before it
happens. That's foreknowledge, and it is generally considered, though
theologians debate exactly how it works, to be one of the attributes of
God.<br />
<br />
Godlike power is part of our attraction to video games and
time travel flicks. Getting off time's ride through unlimited death and
resurrection while everyone else is forced to remain means you can
get a look at the destination and control how we get there. That's
intoxicating because in real life we worry that our destiny is largely
outside our control.<br />
<br />
Video game storytelling speaks to our
spiritual need to believe our lives are part of a greater story
that calls for us to invest ourselves in a struggle for the good. But
video games also exploit that need by addicting us to the sensation of
wielding unstoppable power, thereby tempting us to see ourselves as a
timeless beings among lesser mortals, justified in manipulating their
actions to serve our goals. (The video game, <a href="http://braid-game.com/">Braid</a>, explores this
conceit.)<br />
<br />
But after we've turned off the console and are laying
in bed, the fact remains that our real life failures are permanent.
While we may claim we regret nothing, it's hard to know what our lives
are going to mean when our part in time's ride is over.<br />
<br />
New
Year's is almost here. No one's getting a do-over of 2014; no one gets
to skip what happens in 2015; and no one knows what the price of
oil will be by the time 2016 rolls around.<br />
<br />
What you can do is choose where you'll look for direction on the journey. The way I see it that boils down to two options.<br />
<br />
You
can choose the video game option and leverage what power you have
toward the outcome you want. Or you choose to believe there is an Author
of our story who loves the characters in it and is bringing it to a
conclusion that will end well for those who come to trust that love.<br />
<br />
As they say in video games, "Choose wisely."<br />
<br />
<i>This article was originally submitted for the Clergy Comments column of the</i><i> </i>Fort McMurray Today<i> (December 26, 2014). </i>David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-72095743404421350742014-11-10T13:28:00.000-05:002015-01-27T00:51:52.394-05:00Monster Energy Drink Is Anti-Christ: A Case Study In Occult Epistemology<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bntfUA6TmLs?rel=0" width="420"></iframe></center>
<br />
First, if you haven't already, watch the video embedded above. It's blowing up on the internet today.<br />
<br />
Second, ask yourself whether you think it might be possible that, aside from any health effects, you're putting yourself under the power of Satan if you drink Monster.<br />
<br />
If your answer to the above question is yes, you might have an occult epistemology.<br />
<br />
What is occult epistemology, you ask? <br />
<ol>
<li>Occult: Pertaining to hidden knowledge of supernatural power</li>
<li>Epistemology: The philosophy of how to attain knowledge.</li>
</ol>
Occult epistemology teaches that there are two levels of knowledge. The lower level is the knowledge that can be gained by observation and reason through the normal and boring disciplines of history, science, philosophy, etc. The higher level of knowledge that leads to supernatural power is not laid open to ordinary observation and disciplined reason but is layered on top in a system of secret symbols that only the initiated can interpret.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occult">modern occult movement</a> of the 19th century looked back to the ancient mystery religions for this knowledge. One of those religions was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism">Gnosticism</a>, a blending of mystery religion and Christianity. Gnosticism means something like "knowledgeism", because the Gnostics taught that a system of hidden spiritual knowledge through symbolism was necessary for salvation from the material world.<br />
<br />
The word heretic as we use it today, was created to describe Gnostics. They were heretics because they preached salvation through secret knowledge instead of salvation through Jesus.<br />
<br />
Today we not only have a modern expression of ancient mystery religions known as the occult, we also have a modern expression of Gnosticism—Christian conspiracy preachers who teach attainment of spiritual power through secret knowledge of hidden symbols. They purport to warn you against the occult, while at the same time adopting occult epistemology in order to explain its power.<br />
<br />
When conspiracy teachers blend Christianity and occult epistemology they end up with two levels of spiritual knowledge. The first level is the knowledge you get from ordinary theology—comparing scripture with scripture, studying the original languages, thinking through the teachings of the Bible—that's open for anyone to study. That's probably enough to get you to Heaven, but you still might get fooled by the Devil if you don't know what he's secretly up to. So you need to advance to that second level of hidden knowledge that is only available through an extra-biblical system of hidden symbols, which only the initiated can understand.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Once you accept the premise that spiritual knowledge can be gained through this system of hidden symbols, you're swept up into a hidden world of mysterious<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"> powers, remarkable secrets, and high-stakes conflict. It's like being on a spiritual drug, and once the buzz wears off you want some more. None of it does anything to bring your heart closer to Jesus, and you end up trusting in your knowledge about the inner-workings supernatural power to save you from Satan.<br /><br />So what can you do if realize you've fallen for occult epistemology?</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".a.1:3:1:$comment554020704686349_554046494683770:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><b>Recognize that true spiritual knowledge starts with Jesus,</b> and Jesus doesn't hide this knowledge but lays it open (<b><i>apokalupto</i></b>) in His Word: </span></span></span></span></span>"There is nothing covered up that will not be <b><i>revealed</i></b>, and hidden that will not be known" (Luke 12:2).</li>
<li><b>Get close to Jesus.</b> Instead of studying conspiracy theories, spend time in prayer. Not only will you get true spiritual knowledge, but you'll be protected from the Devil. No one accidentally ends up under demonic power by drinking a beverage with "666" hidden on it or watching a music video with Illuminati symbolism. The real danger is in choosing to focus my heart's desires on something other than God (1 Peter 5:8-10). In that light, conspiracy preaching holds a more subtle danger than popular entertainment, because you think your heart is close to God when the reality is far from it.</li>
<li><b>Study the symbolic system of Scripture.</b> The Bible is replete with ritual, typological, and apocalyptic symbolism. God uses it to communicate spiritual truths that are too profound for simple explanation. Nowhere in Scripture are we encouraged to look to a hidden knowledge outside the Bible to interpret the symbols in the Bible. Rather, the Bible provides its own interpretive keys, which are not hidden and available only to initiates, but open to all.</li>
</ol>
I believe occult epistemology is the Devil's counterfeit to distract us from the symbolic system of the Bible while fooling us into thinking we can have a measure of control over supernatural power. The symbolic system of scripture is deep enough to sustain a lifetime of study, but it has a simple message: God is in control, put your trust in Him.<br />
<br />
<i>This post was revised, expanded and posted to <a href="http://ssnet.org/blog/monster-energy-drink-anti-christ-case-study-occult-epistemology/">SSNet</a> as a commentary for the Adventist Adult Bible Study Guide for the week of January 17-23, 2015. That version was crossposted on <a href="http://advindicate.com/articles/2015/1/25/monster-energy-drink-is-anti-christ-a-case-study-in-occult-epistemology">ADvindicate</a>.</i><br />
<ol>
</ol>
David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738853.post-11047000492980489272014-04-11T21:57:00.003-04:002014-04-11T22:07:05.359-04:00Mrs. Jesus?<i>This article was originally submitted for the Clergy Comments column of the Fort McMurray Today (September 21, 2012). </i><br />
<br />
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For people who study ancient documents, Egypt is what South Africa is to diamond cartels or what Nashville is to country music fans: the gift that keeps on giving. Egypt has had a thriving literary culture since the dawn of history. But it was blessed with two other gifts that have made it a treasury of ancient documents that has yet to be exhausted—papyrus, an easily produced and sturdy kind of writing material; and a dry climate in which papiri (papyrus manuscripts) can survive relatively intact for hundreds of years.<br />
<br />
So it was no surprise when, on Tuesday, a Harvard professor announced a new papyri fragment discovery. It was not even necessarily surprising that the papyri was about Jesus and was dated to just 250-350 years after his death (<strike>assuming it isn't a forgery, a question that may never be resolved</strike> [The <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/april-web-only/gospel-of-jesus-wife-nicholas-perrin.html?start=1">manuscript has been dated</a> to between the fifth and ninth centuries AD]). Those finds happen every year. No, what revved a routine papyri discovery into a media headline was the fact that in the fragment Jesus is talking about his wife.<br />
<br />
Most people know that Jesus isn't supposed to have a wife, which was part of the attraction to The Da Vinci Code. The curious thing is that nowhere in the Gospels (the four volumes in the New Testament that record Jesus life) is it positively stated that Jesus didn't have a wife. The gospels have Jesus interacting with other family members, such as his mother and brothers, but make no mention of Jesus having a wife or children. Thus it is generally assumed he didn't.<br />
<br />
But to conclude on this point is to miss the larger controversy, because this most recent papyri fragment is the latest in a series of discoveries that have challenged the status of the New Testament as the exclusive source of reliable information about Jesus. For example, a series of "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic_Gospels">Gnostic Gospels</a>" have been discovered, which chronicle events not found in the four Gospels of the Bible, and cast Jesus' life and mission in a radically different light. At issue is not so much the question of whether Jesus had a wife, but which ancient documents have a trustworthy record of his life, if any at all.<br />
<br />
Against this slide toward agnosticism, the weight of the documentary evidence we do have about the life of Jesus speaks volumes. We have <a href="http://fulfill.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/nt-reliability.jpg">by a few orders of magnitude</a> more ancient copies of the New Testament availabe to us today than we have for any other ancient text. That speaks to the value and validity that those who originally received those writings placed in them.<br />
<br />
It should come as no surprise that there were competing accounts of Jesus life in circulation in the centuries following his death. But copying manuscripts by hand was both time consuming and expensive. What counts in assessing Jesus historically is the effort people who read the various accounts were willing to put into copying and spreading one version versus another.<br />
<br />
So when a story about a single ancient manuscript saying something sensational about the life of Jesus breaks in the media, remember that single manuscript is what most people who were around and cared judged as unworthy of the effort of transmission. What counts is the boring discovery of another group of New Testament papyri, too routine to be covered in the media, because that's what more people who were in the best position to know thought was worth preserving for us.David Hamstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00918076742603923375noreply@blogger.com0