Someone recently wrote me a message: “Why do you allow people who are no longer Adventists to Adventist today?” she asked.
That is a good question. The answer goes to the heart of the Adventist today Philosophy.
Of course, there is an official definition of what makes someone a Seventh-day Adventist: your name is on the church records, you adhere to the core beliefs, you go to church on Saturday, and you eat and live a certain way.
But we at AT We have consciously decided to expand the circle: We want to include not only active Seventh-day Adventists, but also those who may have once been part of our congregation and still have an interest and appreciation for what this church is and what it could be.
One of the great weaknesses of our church is, to quote a current AT Article by Dr. Charles Scriven, that the church only wants to talk at us, not talk with us. They are all apologists and say “Hurrah, us!” – an echo chamber of the same stuff repeated in different words and in different media.
In the meantime, the problems are not being solved. Problems like the aging of the church, the overvaluation of Ellen White over the Bible, the failure of our eschatology, our overgrown church structures, and a long-standing fear of the gospel of grace and mercy.
We at Adventist today believe that we need to hear from people who are on the fringes or even outside of, this community. Often they can see who we are more clearly than those who are fully involved.
Our church spends a lot of time looking inward. There are so many big problems in the world and we ignore many of them while we debate what God allows us to do on Sabbath afternoon, whether we should eat cheese, or whether it is a sin to wear something shiny on our ears. I am embarrassed to say that we are still handing out anti-Catholic literature from a century and a half ago!
Those who lead the church do not necessarily know what Adventist today does. But they should. We throw open windows and doors and try to make this church that we love part of the world in which we live Now, not the world of two centuries ago.
We are currently in the middle of our summer fundraiser. Appreciate Adventist today? Have you donated to keep the ministry running? Would you to our donation page at the moment and share something with us?
Please don’t put it off. This office means a lot to so many people. Thank you!
Loren Seibold
Senior Editor, Adventist Today
24 August 2024
ANNOUNCEMENTS & LINKS
Today’s ATSS class (1:30 p.m. Eastern Time) with Ron Graybill
Link with one click: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86283341079
Passcode: ELLENWHITE (CAPITALS ONLY)
The ATSS recordings from the past few weeks can be accessed here.
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