Endowments are great…for the recipient of the endowment. But do …

Comment on A New Endowment Program for Adventist Education by Tom Harebottle.

Endowments are great…for the recipient of the endowment. But do they just allow the recipient to continue on in their ways? Have our schools had to learn (like the private sector) how to make do with less, cut the fat, et cetera to survive in this economy? If they, the schools) are insured of plenty of money, will they ever change? Will the money come with strings to guide how the money is spent and what on?

Part of the problem with SDA education is the same as other education and that is the proliferation of easy money…student loans. Why is the “inflation rate” of education so far ahead of the monetary inflation rate and even the health inflation rate? Has the student loan, obtainable by anyone who can breathe, helped or hurt? Do we have degrees that are virtually useless? I am willing to bet that we all know of students who may not have even graduated and have mountains of debt, SDA’s included.

What about professors who publicly scoff at SDA principles? And have we gotten away from what Adventist Education should be? Are we content with health and other degrees that provide great incomes, but the emphasis is off of “finishing the work” and instead now on supporting your family comfortably through your retirement, giving to the latest building project (was it really needed)? Does this lead to complacency and laodeciaism (if that’s a word)?

Don’t get me wrong. Even with the problems at SDA institutions, I still believe our children are much better off at these institutions than most other public/private schools (as witnessed in lurid detail by my wife teaching in the public school system.) All three of my kids attend SDA schools, thank God!

Any other thoughts?

Recent Comments by Tom Harebottle

Changing the Wording of Adventist Fundamental Belief #6 on Creation
@GMF: Yes, it never ceases to amaze me how supposed “learned” men can buy into the evolution myth. However, it reminds me that the devil, though evil, is very good at what he does and we all best be aware through God’s grace at all times. Though evolution versus creation is no contest for me, what is the devil blinding me with???


Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Maybe they were young and not adults and didn’t need to eat a lot and maybe part of the reason the clean animals went on by 7’s is because some were to be used for food for the so called predators. But, think about this, so called predators were not always predators as God did not create killers and eaters of flesh. Think about the gorilla with its big, nasty looking teeth and yet is a vegetarian. If we’re told that the lion will eat grass like an ox in the new earth, chances are he did before. Anyway, it takes less faith in my estimation that God could figure out what these animals needed to eat for a year, than that even one living thing evolved…ever, from nothing.

You are saying species whereas my Bible refers to kinds. It seems that some groupings man has come up with since Genesis was written are not as singular as we would be led to believe.


Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Fantastic! As someone who has visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky, enjoying their unbridled enthusiasm for creation, and at the same time very sad over so many evolution leaning professors in SDA institutions, I’m greatly pleased with this.
Thank God for this step in the right direction.


LSU statement regarding resignations and Bradley’s email
To Dr. Bradley:
It was with sadness I read of your resignation. I don’t know all the details but i do know how judgmental some people can be when you make a mistake. You helped me immensely when I came to LSU. You gave me courage to succeed at my dreams, which you never knew. This is one person who wont pass judgment because in the end none of us are perfect. Its usually the Pharisees that like to point the fingers. Move forward and don’t become bitter because you are not through yet! God Bless you