Anyone who reads the Bible will see that, especially under …

Comment on Clifford Goldstein: Seventh-day Darwinians, Redux by Mahabir Ramkhelawan.

Anyone who reads the Bible will see that, especially under Moses and Joshua, the Israelites invaded, plundered, pillaged, took the lands of their neighbors and also took some of them as slaves! The Old Testament is FILLED with BLOODSHED–MAN’s INHUMANITY TO MAN! No matter what you choose to call it or however you choose to rationalize or justify it, the fact is that one group of humans were pitted against other groups and engaged in CRUELTY, BRUTALITY AND BLOODSHED just like that of the “pagans” THEY WERE ALLOWED TO EXTERMINATE!!!

Imagine a group of people who invade you, grab your lands, kill your people- even women and children and BABIES in the arms of mothers- and then say that they had come to TEACH YOU ABOUT THE LOVE, MERCY AND COMPASSION OF THEIR GOD! Yeah, I bet that such treatment would really inspire you to want to love and accept their God and convert ot their religion, right?

Those who would say that some of Judeo/Christian teachings and practice never caused war and bloodshed and atrocities probably never read the Old Testament! If they did, then they should also be willing to say that some of the teachings and practices of Islam NEVER CAUSED BLOODSHED among humans.

Recent Comments by Mahabir Ramkhelawan

‘Yes, Creation!’ at the General Conference Session
Hi Bob,

That was NOT just an interesting “story”. That was an example of how much The Seventh-day Adventist church has CHANGED over the years! I guess if you are a young or recent Adventist who has NEVER seen ADVENTISM OUTSIDE of the USA, THE WAY IT WAS IN THE OLD DAYS, ( AND TO SOME EXTENT, STILL IS) these examples could sound like “interesting stories”!

I said NOTHing about “exegeting EX 20:8-11 or “bending” Genesis 1:2; 2:3 or the fall of man or “tossing out…. much of the Bible…so that evolution will be unchallenged” If you re-read carefully what I wrote, and if you follow my reasoning, you will see that I cited all those incidents to SHOW ONE THING—that our curch has CHANGED SOME OF ITS POSITION NOT ONLY IN DOCTRINES BUT ALSO IN PRACTICE!!!

Some of the doctrines and practices that we ENFORCED made the lives of many of its members NEEDLESSLY UNCOMFORTABLE AND BROUGHT HEARTACHE AND SUFFERING THAT WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN IF WE HAD UNDERSTOOD SCRIPTURE CORRECTLY!

Bob, THIS IS THE POINT I AM MAKING!!!

And why am I emphasizing this? Because sometimess we think the Bible says one thing But, it turns out AFTERWARD that the Bible did NOT say so. WE THOUGHT it said so!

Please notice I am NOT saying that We have been incorrect on EVERYTHING. Nevertheless, the lesson we ought to learn is that we should be careful that we REALLY UNDERSTAND what the Bible is saying so that we do NOT enforce wrong conclusions, AS IN THE PAST, WHICH HAVE CAUSED NEEDLESS SUFFERING TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS! Also, when we later realize that we were incorrect, IT IS VERY EMBARRASING FOR THE CHURCH TO HAVE TO ADMIT THIS! Then there is the temptation to take the “EASIER” option of just keeping quiet, or trying to sweep it under the rug, or even deny we were incorrect in what we were teaching! But, sooner or later, TRUTH ALWAYS REVEALS ITSELF! As I mentioned before, it took the Roman Catholic church CENTURIES before it found the courage to finally admit that it was wrong, And look how much suffering Galileo was made to bear!

My argument is NOT that the church should EXEGETE OR BEND SCRIPTURE so that darwinian evolution will go unchallenged. The SDA schools I attended taught CREATION. And, like most Adventists in my neck of the woods, I did NOT subsequently go on to inform myself on the topic. Of course, every Adventist KNEW that Darwin “taught that man came from momkey.” And whenever someone would say so, we all would have a good laugh, and that was the end of that.

Just like you, I read in Genesis that God made man from the dust of the ground. Like you, I too, DO Believe that god did create man. That was how my parents and all the members in church and my teachers at school understood it. And it’s seems likely that some or most, if not all of our Adventist founders could have UNDERSTOOD that God did it the way our SDA sister–a Ph.D. to booth, demonstrated it. She believed that God literaally bent over and used his two hands to scraape dust together and make a big dirt body and then knelt down and put HIS nose to the nose of the dirt body and breathed His breathe into it to make Adam.

But, like it or not, over the years, a growing number of SDA’s have been looking at the possibility that we really DON’T KKNOW how God ACTUALLY created man. Yes, He created man. But does Genesis go into details as to HOW the Creator actually DID it? Since the Bible does NOT explain exactly HOW He did it, must we limit the transcendent, omniscient, omnipotent Creator to the way we puny humans THINK HE did it?

And IF the latest findings in the different branches of biology, genetics, physics, chemistry , astronomy etc., are revealing that our UNDERSTANDING of the EXACT METHOD GOD used in creating man does NOT stand up to scientific evidence, then we DON’T have to be scared. Truth will ALWAYS SHOW itself, WHETHER OR NOT WE LIKE IT! This is my thinking. That’s what I am saying.

Look, how can I be INTELLECTUALLY HONEST if I simply say I KNOW EXACTLYJUST HOW GOD MADE MAN and I don’t examine the relevant, ONGOING
findings available to me? Well, I trust that I have made myself clear and that you NOW UNDERSATND that I WAS NOT saying that we should “EXEGETE” or “BEND SCRIPTURE” so that Darwinian evolution goes unchallenged. I don’t know how else to say it so that you will understand what I am saying. Maybe if I said it in HINDI You understand me better? (smile)

If our UNDERSTANDING of exactly HOW God made man is correct, we have nothing to fear! Truth will vindicate itself. If we are not altogether correct, why would we NOT want to correct it? TRUTH is what is important. We have been wrong before! And it is always more difficult and embarrasing to have to do it later! This is the way human nature is.

Bob, what the Bible says is NOT in question. God created man. What we should investigate is if our UNDERSTANDING of HOW He did it is altogether correct. We HAVE been wrong before. So why should we be AFRAID TO CHECK it out again? Which would be better? For us to make any adjustments (IF ANY) NOW, or to have to ddo so later, when it would be EMBARASSING etc., etc.
TRUTH is what we are after. Have NO FEAR! TRUTH MUST TRIUMPH! aND IT WILL. cOURAGE, BROTHER!

Blessing from the Creator? Father on you ans us all!


‘Yes, Creation!’ at the General Conference Session
Maybe I am just plainly naive. But I don’t see why both theologians and scientists involved with the creation/evolution question within Adventism should not have ONGOING DIALOGUES and certainly NOT just a ONE TIME BIG EVENT. It seems that some (a majority?)just want us to come together to simply REAFFIRM what we have been saying all along. If that would be the case, why bother to even discuss it at all? We already know what we have been saying. Neither am I saying that we should come together to simply say: “OK, the official position of the church is wrong. So let’s all just change it.

I am NOT a scientist. Neither was I a science major at school. And, honestly, I have NOT BEEN KEEPING myself informed of the ONGOING strides in biology, geneticS, chemestry, physics, astronomy, etc. This is to my discredit and disadvantage. Also, I was NOT a theology major. Neither have I been keeping up with the latest investigations and understandings in Biblical research. Again, this is also to my discredit and disadvantage! If my mother and later, my father, were NOT willing to have open minds and investigate, they would not have become Adventists.

I have not been fortunate or unfortunate to live in an Adventist “ghetto” or “safe city” like Loma Linda or any other areas where the population is mostly Adventist. Daily, I rub shoulders with Hindus, Christians, Moslems, Buddhists and people from other religious perspectives. So I know, from experience, what it is to be QUESTIONED about what you say you believe! I also know the frustrion of giving facile answers to people who ask PROFOUND QUESTIONS. (And you realise that your explanations are sadly inadequate!) It’s one thing to discuss ” speaking in tongues” with a Pentecostal or “once saved always saved” with a Baptist or even the Sabbath/ Sunday question with some one who is well-dressed, well fed in a comfortable FIRST WORLD, air-conditioned setting. It’s a different thing to try to talk about a loving God to someone who never has enough to eat and in rags and who daily experiences the effects of what great, industrial
WESTERN SUPERPOWERS (which they see as Christian) impose on third world countries! So, when some one throws out questions, it’s not good to jump to conclusions that they may be “playing the devil’s advocate” or “judging God” or saying the “Bible is evil” or needing to accept Jesus” or what have you! The old native American saying reminds us that we can’t really judge (understand) a fellow human until we have “walked in his moccasins”!

I read many “it’s the devil attacking God’s remnant church” type of comments posted here. But could it be that the creation/evolution questions that have arisen in our church will serve to DRIVE many of us COMPLACENT Adventists to RENEWED STUDY AND RESEARCH? I,for one, admit that I DO need to do that! But I have to be careful that I don’t simply dig out my notes and study outlines etc., that have been gathering dust. As I dig them out, I also need to get a hold of materials that reflect the RECENT, ONGOING, CONTINUING, INVESTIGATION available in BOTH the Biblical and scientific arenas!

And I DON’T have to be SCARED of anything! After all, that’s the way our Creator Father OBVIOUSLY wants it! He wants us to search, STUDY, COMPARE, CRITIQUE, EVALUATE IN ORDER FOR US TO ARRIVE AT TRUTH! If HE were scared for us to THINK, ( and not just think that we are “thinking”) He obviously WOULDN’T have given us the ability to do so! He didn’t make us robots! He DIDN’T program us. So let’s be INTELLECTUALLY HONEST, and in a spirity of Christian charity, honesty and transparency have CONTINUING, ONGOING, DIALOGUE!

When John F. Kennedy was running for President of the USA, many DEVOUT members in our small church were SURE that he would bring in the Sunday laws, the Mark of the Beast, persecutions for Seventh-Day Adventists, etc., etc.! And I must admit that I was among them! You see, we “KNEW FROM THE BIBLE AND THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY” that If a Roman Catholic became president of the USA, that would usher in the fulfilling of a whole series of Bible prophecies! Even some pastors believed that! Well, we were simply WRONG! Despite all the “proof texts” from the Bible, and Spirit of Prophecy quotations we produced, the truth is WE WERE SIMPLY WRONG!!

When Kennedy later said that the USA would put a man on the moon within a decade, some of us learned from our former wrong predictions. But there were still some who again tried to put words in God’s mouth. They were SURE that God would NOT allow man to leave this SINFUL earth to go into outer space! Well, again, well-meaning, Bible-oriented people were WRONG!

Just a few years ago, a group of us went out into the streets to do some witnessing. We carried water, food, clothes, and of course, adventist literature to distribute. The one who did the speaking was a sister with Ph.D. in theology. As she related the creation story of how God “FORMED” Adam from the “dust of the ground,” she bent over and used her hands to scrape dust together and shape a human figure on the ground. Then she knelt down and lowered her face to show how God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Afterward, I said to her:”That was a vivid, dramatic way you depicted the creation. I bet they will remember it!”

She replied,”I was NOT merely dramatizing it. That’s the way God how God actually made man! The Bible says so!” There are labels we put on one another. We talk about ‘fundamentalists’ people who believe in the literal, verbal, word-for-word inspiration of the Bible. And in church there are some brothers and sisters who still believe that God gave dictation to the writers of the Bible:”OK, Moses, pick up your pen and start writing,’In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth’.” But let’s be charitable and NOT deride them. Hey, at one time, maybe all(?) of our spiritual ancestors in Adventism believed the same! Thankfully, most(?) of us have “EVOLVED”(?) to better understanding of the Bible! I, for one, will begin to study again! Hope you, too, do the same. Biblical and scientific research will NOT stop, even if we do!

Blessings from the Creator Father to us ALL!


‘Yes, Creation!’ at the General Conference Session
Imagine if it were possible that we could have brought the founders of our church back from the 1800’s to the present time. Imagine seeing them walking in just this past Sabbath at the General Conference session. Just try to picture the astonishment,the utter surprise,the look of unbelief mirrored in their faces as they stare at the people in the congregation and wonder if they had come to the right church!

“No, this certainly cannot be the Seventh-day Adventist church,” they exclaim! “Not the SDA church we founded!There must be some mistake! Why, just look at the jewelry some are wearing! We Adventists DON’T wear jewelry! And look, some of them are wearing pants! The Bible condemns women dressing like men! And Seventh-Day Adventists DO NOT BUY AND SELL ON THE SABBATH!! Can you believe it? They are eating food prepared on the Sabbath! They are staying in hotels where the maids come in and clean the rooms and make the beds! And while they are singing and praying and preaching, they have people in the kitchen cooking FOR them so they can get hot food to eat after the sermon is ended! Don’t they know that the Bible says that we should NOT KINDLE fire on the Sabbath? And we must NOT let even strangers work for us during Sabbath hours? NO we have come to the wrong church! Let’s leave.”

Some may smile at this. But I remember, as a teeenager, traveling on a Sabbath morning to attend special meetings in another city. Hundreds of Adventists would travel from the outskirts to be there. But when lunch time came, did we go to buy food? NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! The Adventist missionaries who had come from America to bring us the Advent message, had taught us how we should STRICTLY keep the Sabbath! So we ALL brought our food, COOKED on PREPARATION DAY–the day before the Sabbath. Imagine someone reading this asking:”So how did you people HEAT UP YOUR FOOD?”

With one voice we would reply:”Heat up food? We Don’t cook or even heat up food on the Sabbath! The Bible says:’kindle no fire on the Sabbath day'”. Usually such events began on the Sabbath and ended the Sunday. So, on the Sunday, some who felt like it could go out to buy food for lunch. But certainly, and DEFINITELY, NOT ON THE SABBATH!

So what am I saying? Simply this. Like it or not, our church is NOT exactly the way it was before! Adventism has CHANGED A LOT! When my mother was to be baptized, they made her take off her jewelry. She was instructed that it was a SIN to wear jewelry. They showed her from THE BIBLE that God frowns on jewelry and that she would NOT be saved and go to heaven when Jesus comes if she wore jewery. And, of course, they simply would NOT BAPTIZE her unless she discarded her jewelry!

Now, anyone who knows anything about the culture and custom of Hindu people, would understand just what this meant. Her mother had given her jewelry passed down from her mother! Jewelry items were family heirlooms! They held meaning! They were NOT simply things you just put on and took off as it suited your fancy! My father was away for a while when my mother was baptized. He had already warned her about getting mixed up with Adventists. You have NO idea how he exploded at seeing my mother without
the jewelry passed on from his parents, too! And her wedding ring! That, too, was gone! ESPECIALLY HER WEDDING RING!! “What! Do you want the neighbours to think that you have rejected me?” he bellowed! A “decent Hindu woman NEVER removes her wedding ring! What! Do you want people to thing that you are going to be a loose woman???”

So, not only those Adventist pioneers, but my mother, too, and the others who had become Seventh-day Adventists would certainly feel that they were in the wrong church if they were to be present at this General Conference session. Later on, because of the storm this stirred up, many women were allowed to keep wearing their jewelry. But my mother was among those who NEVER AGAIN WORE HER JEWELRY!

A Seventh-day Adventist brother told me that the sisters in his church wanted to hold a tea party to raise funds for a church project. (This happened in New York city about thirty years ago.) But the pastor was totally against it! He read them some quotations where Ellen White had spoken out against the church having tea paries. And this was a pastor who had just come out of Andrews University with a Masters degree!

That same church had an alarm system which alerted the police in case anyone tried to break in. This was an inner city church that wasn’t taking any chances with ongoing crime. The pastor had been giving Bible studies to a cop who was also a member at a Pentecostal church. He finally decided to become an SDA. He was already attending church on the Sabbaths when he was off. The only problem was that he could NOT get every Sabbath off. He tried his best but superiors told him that he would just have to work some Sabaths. Long story short, the pastor told him that he could NOT baptize him, but he would be welcome to come whenever he was off duty. And he did just that. He even brought his tithes when he went to church there. Until one Sabbath when he was on duty, the alarm in the church went off. He was the cop dispatched to the church to see what the problem was. It turned out that there was a malfunction. But when as he was leaving, he told the pastor:” So you can’t baptize me because I have to work some Sabbaths. But today, I am the cop who would have intervened to protect you and your congregation if there had been a real break in!” He never returned to the church after that!

Another SDA pastor would allow SDA nurses,who came from other Adventist churches, to take part in church ministry–they could sing in the choir,etc–but he would NOT allow them a transfer their membership to his church if they worked during Sabbath hours! He also encouraged them to give the money earned on Sabbaths to the church. One of the members aqsked him why he did NOT donate the money he earned on Sabbaths. He replied that his preaching on Sabbaths was doing God’s work. Obviously, he did NOT consider taking care of the sick on the Sabbaths as “doing God’s work

For us, when I was growing up in the church, policemen, firemen, ambulance drivers could Not be baptized and become members of the SDA church. They were Not conidered different from others who worked as carpenters, mechanics, etc. Today, in the USA, I’ve heard that most, if not all, of this has changed.

So there we have it. There has always been, and always will be DIFFERENCES in the SDA church, just as in all other churches–Christian and otherwise. As long as the Creator, Father allows us to have individual minds, there will be differences in understandig whether it be in religion,or any other area of human life. To pretend otherwise is to deny what can be plainly seen. Like it or not, this is the way we humans are. And this is THE WAY IT HAS BEEN AND IS in our church, too! That’s why some want to do “church cleaning” a la the apostle Paul. But others want instead to follow Jesus’ admonition to let the wheat and the tares grow together, lest in trying to uproot what we may think is a tare, we uproot a wheat plant! The interesting thing, here, is that both groups will get their opposite positions from the Bible!

DO you think that when William Miller began teaching what he THOUGHT THE BIBLE SAID, his well-meaning Baptist brothers didn’t try to disuade him? Of course,they counseled him and finally ended up expelling him from their fellowship. Or maybe, he left on his own. Whatever was the case, they just did not see eye to eye! The others who came out of the Methodist and other churches,experienced the same thing. And so the Millerite Movment was born. But Miller, sincere, godly man that he was, despite all his prayers and dilligent Bible studying that he did, was INCORRECT in some of his HONEST CONCLUSIONS and finally returned to his former church. You can just hear his Baptist brothers saying:” See, we told you that you were wrong! The Lord has brought you back to HIS church! And they most likely had a thanskgiving, prayer and praise service, thanking GOD FOR BRINGING A WONDERING BROTHER BACK TO HIS CHURCH!

And those who went on to call themselves Adventists and later, Seventh-Day Adventists, did they then have a church that was FREE from all differences in understanding and practice of the Bible? Of course not! And why not? Simply because they, too, were JUST AS HUMAN AS THE MILLERITES! And the Millerites were just as human as the people in the churches from which they had come. So,in the SDA church, there were differences in understanding. Some finally left on their own. Some were disfellowshipped. Regardless of who we believe were right or wrong, the fact remains that we humans DO NOT ALWAYS SEE EVERYTHING EYE TO EYE!

So then, how should we learn to live together with one another? If anyone one of us would leave and form another group or church or whatever we chose to call it, the same thing would happen! And it has been happening. Sooner or later, there will arise those who don’t understand everything EXACTLY as We (the ones who started the group and drew up the statements of beliefs, etc.) Then what? Ask them to leave? Throw them out? Make them so uncomfortable until they leave on their own? And when they form their own group and draw up statements of beliefs and others don’t see everything EXACTLY as the founders do, what then?

OK. I don’t have to belabour the point. BuT I have said all this just to urge us ALL to TREAT ONE ANOTHER THE WAY WE WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED BY OTHERS! Some of uss would WISH there could be UNIFORMITY IN EVERYTHING. But the reality is otherwise!

May the Creator/Father give us grace to learn to disagree agreeably. Some will NOT like this. Then I would suggest that they, too, start their own group/church etc. and see what, sooner or later happens!

Blessings on us all.


‘Yes, Creation!’ at the General Conference Session
Dear Kevin,
Happy Sabbath,to you!I want to thank you for your June 16 reply to my June 15 comment. It has been very helpful to me. It has helped me to see the problems inherent in human communication! To see what I’m talking about, let’s look again at what I wrote and how you responded:

1.In my opening paragraph,I talked about having (capitals now for emphasis)OPEN,CANDID,HONEST, E-V-A-L-U-A-T-I-O-N of BOTH the BIBLICAL and SCIENTIFIC DATA, regarding the creation/evolution issue.”

In your opening paragraph, you responded :”But you are quite wrong if you insist that human beings have (my capitals for emphasis) NO PROACTIVE ROLE TO PLAY IN THE VINDICATION OF TRUTH.”

I talk about our EVALUATION of the available data. I emphasize that it should be OPEN,CANDID and HONEST! If I wanted to say that we should have “no proactive role to play”, then I wouldn’t be talking about EVALUATION! I would simply say that we DON’T EVEN HAVE TO DISCUSS THE ISSUE!” Obviously, what I say is different from what you “THINK” I say!

2. In your second paragraph, you say:” Please don’t forget if we accept evolution, love for one another ceases to exist.”

Again, I talk about open, candid, honest EVALUATION. And you respond with “accepting evolution”. Why do you equate having open, candid, honest EVALUATION of all the available, relevant data with “ACCEPTING EVOLUTION? I did NOT say that! Why should you? Are you NOT SURE of your beliefs? (Notice that I am asking, not implying) I was born in the Seventh-day Adventist church! In fact, I was baptised EVEN BEFORE I WAS BORN! How? My mother was baptised when she was pregnant with me. So I was baptised in the womb and then again when I was twelve. Before I could even read, I was already giving “picture Bible studies” from the big, old volumes of Patriarchs and Prophets,Prophets and Kings, Desire of Ages, Christ’s Object Lessons and Great Controversy. I attended SDA schools. I have never belonged to another church. But I don’t feel that I have to be scared about making open, candid, honest evaluation of the latest, available information in BOTH the biblical and scientific areas. I do NOT equate open, candid, honest, professional investigation with “accepting evolution.”

Do ALL SDA’s still own and read only the KJV? There was a time when we all quoted Jesus as telling the Jews: “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.” The KJV has it as a command. But now we understand that Jesus was pointing out to them that they they were forever searching the Scriptures because they believed that in the Torah–the written teachings,(the only Scriptures available to them) eternal life was to be had. And He pointed out that eternal life was in HIM-the Person- and Not in the written letter on parchment. Jesus was correcting their INCORECT understanding of the BOOK they prized so much! lIFE IS IN HIM, NOT in the BOOK! – And this correct understanding came to us because of more accurate translations! So why be SCARED (?) of doing the same with other areas of research. Look, if it’s not correct, it’s not correct and this WILL come out! Now there have been and are those in the sciences who are just as scared/reluctant to be open and up-front in those fields. Just look at the Piltdown Hoax, for one example. There was a time when the so called, Piltdown man was trumpted as THE MOISSING LINK! But not anymore! Truth will vindicate itself if we are OPEN, CANDID, HONEST and realize that, as the old saying goes:” You can fool some of the people some of the time,…..” Truth vindicates itself. Sometimes we are more hurry than God. But He sees to it. God can wait, but we can’t,right? And we run the risk of ROOTING OUT THE WHEAT with the tares

3. In your third paragraph, you say:”The let go and let God view of church affairs… is mistaken…..we have an active part to play..”

If I wanted to say that we should NOT have an active part to play in the affairs of our church, I would have just said so! If I wanted to say that we should just “let go and let God”, I would have said so. Please notice that ALL ALONG I MAINTAIN THAT WE SHOULD HAVE DISCUSSIONS. WE SHOULD PARTICIPATE. But what I emphaisze, again and again is that we must do so WITHOUT BEING VINDICTIVE, AND IN A SPIRIT OF CHRIST’S LOVE! And finally, it is the Creator who vindicates. And sometimes he seems to do so in ways that, FRANKLY, SURPRISE THOSE AMONG US WHO WOULD SEEM TO BE THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE! It’s common knowledge the we, too, along with ALL other religions/denominations, have had incorrect understanding of certain parts of Scripture. And we have corrected some of our former beliefs and practices,whether or not ALL SDA’s know or care to admit it. But this does NOT mean to say that we have been incorrect on everything. Nor does it mean to say, that, in the light of that, we should simply abandon ALL our beliefs. But it is to say that, if we would learn from our experiences, we would do well to EXAMINE ALL THE PERTINENT INFORMATION AS IT BECOMES AVAILABLE. hINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN FORESIGHT! And why would we NOT want to do so? How else can we have OPEN, CANDID, HONEST, PROFESSIONAL INVESTIGATION?

In my second paragraph, I say.:”Galileo…said the sun, not the earth is the center of our solar system..” I referred SPECIFICALLY to the issue of the earth or the sun being the center..

Your reply was: “The problem in Galileo’s day was that the church had not considered the Biblical evidence in confronting Galileo.” But you did NOT give the ‘Biblical evidence’ you say the church did not consider! Where does Genesis or any other part of the Bible say that the earth is the center of the solar system? I was NOT talking about the church’s tradition taking the place of Scripture. You brought that in. My point is that Galileo asked the churchmen to simply LOOK through his telescope to see the evidence. But they refused to even look! Not even the tinest peek! Their attitude was:’We don’t have to LOOK. We already KNOW what the Bible says!” The lesson is that in the earth/sun-center issue, the church made a BIG BOO-BOO because they would NOT EVALUATE what they THOUGHT the Bible said!

The simple truth is that they were NOt saying what the Bible said. They were merely IMPOSING the CURRENTLY HELD WORLD’ VIEW on the Bible! For milennia, people had looked up and SEEN the sun rise, march across the skies and set in the west. They seen a flat earth and concluded that the sun moved around the earth. they had looked up into the skies and seen the other stars as faint points of light. So they concluded that the earth was the big important, central figure.The Bible didn’t say so. They THOUGHT it said so!

I could contine,pointing out how you MISUNDERSTOOD what I wrote. But spacewise, I will simply ask that you REREAD what I wrote and stick to what I said. I did not say that we should believe in evolution. I did not say that we should say that we should not have a proactive part in the affairs of the church. I did not say that we should have a naive let go and let God attitude. I WANT to see OPEN,CANDID, HONEST, investigation and participation among brothers and sisters.

Please respond to my observations regarding your comments about what I wrote. But please stick to WHAT I WROTE. NOT TO WHAT YOU THINK I WROTE.

Blessings on you and all of us!

In Christ,
your brother,
Mahabir.


‘Yes, Creation!’ at the General Conference Session
There should be no fear, paranoia, apprehension, or any kind of “us” versus “them” mentality regarding an open, candid, honest evaluation of both the biblical and scientific data regarding the creation/evolution issue. Truth has NOTHING to fear! If we truly believe in the power of the transcendent Creator of the universe, then there will be NO place for any kind of vindictive feelings. We don’t have to “VINDICATE” truth. Truth always vindicates itself. God does NOT need anyone to go on any kind of “witch hunt” for Him.

Along with the Creator’s ability to vindicate Himself, we must also remember that Jesus Himself said that all men would know that we are are his disciples as we DEMONSTRATE LOVE to one another! Human nature being what it is, we shouldn’t be surprised that history documentss the fact that ALL religions–Christianity included and we Seventh-day Adventists, too,– have found it difficult to hold these two priciples together. Over and over again, we see that well meaning, religious people, in the pursuit of “truth” have treated their human brothers and sisters in very cruel, inhumane ways!

Once upon a time religion believed that our planet, earth, was the center of the universe! And when Galileo, following on the heels of Corpenicus said the the sun, not the earth was the center of our solar system, the church would have EXECUTED him if he had not bowed to its wishes (at least, outwardly). He was put under house arrest and his works were publicly condemned and outlawed! Luckily, his writings were spirited out and finally saw the light of day. Finally, a few years ago, the church publicly apoligised and admitted it was wrong and Galileo was right! All the feelings of contempt, all the inhuman actions against a fellow human brother were totally unnecessary1 Truth always vindicates itself.

So what can we learn from history now as we address the creation/evolution issue within our denomination? God does NOT need us to go to war with our fellow human brothers and sisters in order to ‘protect” truth. Let us GENUINELY, and in a spirit of BROTHERLY LOVE, LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE and let the SPIRIT OF CHRIST EXPOSE TRUTH. It is ironical that humans can become so jealous for “truth” that they become animalistic and INHUMAN in the way they treat one another! God does NOT need us to violate the golden principle of TREATING OTHERS THe way we would want TO BE TREATED!

One more thing, and I know that to some of us this could sound like being “unfaithful” to “our beliefs”. But to be CANDID and HONEST and truly OPEN, we CANNOT come to the discussion table with a closed mind. Now, that is not saying that we should throw away what we believe. But it is saying that must be genuinely prepared to TRULY EXAMINE AGAIN ALL the data that is available–including that which is recent. This is NOT saying that we have to begin by saying that creation is incorrect. The caution is that we DON’T come to the table, as we hear happens in a non-demcratic settig, where the verdict of guilt is a foregone conclusion and the “trial” is simply a facade!

Right now, I can hear some of my well-intentioned brothers saying:”What!DO YOU MEAN TO SAY THAT WE MUST DOUBT OUR BELIEF IN CREATION and believe in evolution?” I am most certainly NOT advocating that! Let truth speak for itself. By now, We Seventh-day Adventists, along with all other Christians should be humble and candid enough to admit that we have,sometimes, ALL interpreted the Bible in ways that were incorrect and we have had to update both some of our theology and practices! This did NOT mean that they had to discard the Bible. But it meant that they were INCORRECT in their INTERPRETATION and UNDERSTANDING of the biblical data. Sometimes religion tries to hide this, sometimes it just can’t be hidden.

Look, we ALL must confess with the apostle Paul that now we know only IN PART. And it will ever be so UNTIL THE PERFECT DAY ARRIVES! So let us be HUMBLE, OPEN, CANDID, HONEST. Let us hold fast to that what is true but always open to the truth that “truth” is progressive.

The Darwinians who hold blindly to what Darwin taught as truth get left behind and sadly out of touch with what is subsequently evidenced! And the religious community that REFUSES to examine what is subsequently evidenced, also remain sadly out of touch and left behind with the ONGOING search for what is true.

So if all we do is come together to simply bolster and shore-up what we have been saying,–WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING AT THE LATEST, ONGOING SEARCH FOR TRUTH. YES, EVEN WWHAT WE BELIEVE TO BE BIBLICAL TRUTH, THEN WE COULD END UP LIKE THOSE WHO WOULD STILL BELIEVE THAT THE EARTH IS THE CENTER OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE SUN JOURNEYS AROUND THE EARTH TO CREATE DAY AND NIGHT!

YOU DON’T COME TO THE TABLE TO ” SIMPLY THROW AWAY THE BABY WITH THE BATH WATER” BUT NEITHER SHOULD WE JUST COME WITH CLOSED MINDS! WE DON’T HAVE TO BE SCARED TO TAKE A GENUINE, OPEN, CANDID, HONEST LOKK AT ALL THE AVAILABLE DATE,INCLUDING THE LATEST. UNDERSTANDING WHAT IS TRUE IS AN ONGOING ENTERPRISE! If we deny this, then we should simply continue burning old women as witches as we did in Salem BECAUSE THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT WE SHOULD “NOT SUFFER A WITCH TO LIVE”!

Let us pray that our intention to truly discover truth does NOT degenerate into a WITCH HUNT but rather serve to vindicat what is true!