I happen to know that the leaders of the local …

Comment on Former LSU student letter reveals professor’s agenda by Sean Pitman.

I happen to know that the leaders of the local Church, the local Conferences, the Division, and the General Conference were well aware of this problem. I personally wrote letters to them all back in 2004 (and again in 2009) and received letters in return assuring me that all was well and that Mrs. White had told us that the Church would go through to the end of time. A couple of these leaders even called me on the phone and promised me that they would look into this problem. Of course, as we all know, nothing of any substance was done.

At least part of the problem, of course, was the very deliberately deceptive language that was used by the LSU administration – especially Dr. Lawrence Geraty. While president of LSU he would tell people that all the professors at LSU believed in creation and actively supported and promoted the SDA fundamental belief #6 on creation. How could he possibly say this? with a straight face? Well, you see, Dr. Geraty, together with Fritz Guy, had been largely responsible for the current wording of SDA FB#6. In their minds, the wording of FB#6 allows for the interpretation that the “days” of creation represent vast periods of time – not necessarily “literal” days as is the historical view of the SDA Church regarding the Genesis narrative – and as is clearly stated in the writing of Mrs. White and the Bible as well. This is why Geraty and Guy worked so hard to block the inclusion of the word “literal” from SDA FB#6. Because, without the phrase “six literal days”, Geraty and Guy felt that they could then hire professors who could honestly teach their students about the reality of Darwinian style evolution taking place on this planet over the course of hundreds of millions of years while still pretending to support the fundamental doctrinal beliefs of the SDA Church.

So, there you have it. Dr. Geraty would tell people that the professors of LSU were in full support of the Church’s official position on origins while not explaining what that really meant: that the professors were not in fact young-life creationists in the remotest sense of the word and that they did in fact believe and teach mainstream evolutionary theories as the “true” story of origins to their students…

I’m not sure how deliberately deceptive one can get, but in my opinion, Dr. Geraty and Fritz Guy should have been fired and disfellowshiped from the SDA Church over such deliberately deceptive words and actions. The current administration of LSU is really no better than when Drs. Geraty and Guy were president. Dr. Randal Wisbey, the current LSU president, has publicly expressed his own sympathy with long-ages of life evolving on this planet and is in full support of the positions and methods of his current teaching staff. He and the LSU board have actively opposed any effort to substantively address this issue at LSU as well. Instead, they have been producing deceptive advertisements and misdirection regarding what is really being taught at LSU against the doctrinal positions of the SDA Church in an effort to sweep this issue under the rug yet again.

At this point, I think that the Church should put out an official reprimand against what LSU did in the past and is currently doing and offer an official apology to parents, students, and the Church membership at large for not dealing with this issue decades ago…

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com

Sean Pitman Also Commented

Former LSU student letter reveals professor’s agenda
@Professor Kent:

I wrote, “The SDA Church is God’s appointed vessel to bring salvation through Jesus Christ to the world…Jesus is what saves and Jesus alone; the SDA Church and all it represents (“truth”) can never save a soul who does not reach out to Jesus.”

And you graciously corrected me: “Last I checked, the Church has no power to save at all. The entire purpose of the Church is not to save, but to spread the Gospel message of hope to those for whom salvation has already been purchased.”

You have suggested I need to do more thinking on my own, but somehow you are always one up on me.

This wasn’t a correction professor. I was actually agreeing with you on this particular point. My disagreement with you is over the importance, or lack thereof, of knowledge of the truth. Just because empirical knowledge doesn’t have the power to save, in and of itself, doesn’t mean that it isn’t important or vital to the Gospel’s message of hope…

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com


Former LSU student letter reveals professor’s agenda
@Kevin Paulson:

And once again you give evidence of your embrace of the false dichotomy so popular in modern and postmodern Adventism between “Christ” and the “doctrines.” You insist that correct doctrine will save no one. And you are wrong. Over and over again, in Holy Scripture, truth is declared to be the means of salvation (Hosea 4:6; Matt. 4:4; John 8:31; II Thess. 2:13; I Tim. 4:16). Such truth must be internalized within the heart, to be sure, but it is still the means by which God saves men and women.

Internalization is key. Knowledge of the truth, by itself, is powerless to save. After all, Satan has more knowledge of the truth than all of us put together. Therefore, one must have a love of the truth which allows one to internalize the truth and make it part of one’s self in order for the saving power of Jesus to become effective within the heart.

It is for this reason that even the heathen who are honestly ignorant of the life of Jesus, the Plan of Salvation, the Bible, or the Gospel message of hope can be saved – by living a life according to the Royal Law written upon the hearts of all mankind. However, they will have missed out on the blessings to be had by knowing and accepting the Gospel message of hope here in this life…

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com


Former LSU student letter reveals professor’s agenda
@Professor Kent:

Sean Pitman

The SDA Church is God’s appointed vessel to bring salvation through Jesus Christ to the world–not salvation through 28 fundamental beliefs, FB#6, physical evidence for a young earth and the flood, and the like. Jesus is what saves and Jesus alone; the SDA Church and all it represents (“truth”) can never save a soul who does not reach out to Jesus.

Last I checked, the Church has no power to save at all. The entire purpose of the Church is not to save, but to spread the Gospel message of hope to those for whom salvation has already been purchased.

Remember now, knowledge, in and of itself, doesn’t save. However, knowledge does have the power to give people hope here and now…

When was the last time you got an empirical hug from Jesus, Sean?

Every time I see the evidence of Design in nature I know that there is a God. Every time I read the Bible and see the empirical evidence supported by historical science, I know there is a personal God who loves and cares for me. If that isn’t a “hug from Jesus” I don’t know what is…

God didn’t have to give us any evidence whatsoever. He didn’t have to tell us anything about why we are here or any reasons for sin and suffering or anything about what He plans to do about it or our bright future in Heaven with Him for eternity. He didn’t have to tell us any of that. He didn’t have to give us any evidence for the reliability of the Bible vs. other flights of fancy – like the Book of Mormon. The righteous could have been saved without any knowledge, in this life, of the Gospel hope. Yet, I’m so glad that I do have this knowledge here and now. How much better this life when one has a knowledge of the Gospel message of hope and the evidence supporting its credibility as a true story of history and of our future life…

Why is it that you don’t speak of Christ, love, forgiveness, or the cross?

I do speak of Christ’s love, forgiveness, and the Cross all the time. It is just that without evidence of the reality of these things, they’re just a bunch of just-so stories that have no more power to give people hope than a Santa Claus story told to gullible children.

I think you’re so stuck on your superior knowledge of “evidence” and so hypercritical of the simple faith of others, which you mock, that you have lost grasp of the source of your salvation. It is written, “the righteous shall live by faith.” Tell us once again that I’m teaching falsehood, Sean. Warn us all!

Faith is based on the evidence of things unseen professor. Without this evidence, one may be saved, but one will not have a solid conscious realization of this future reality here and now.

For example, did the disciples of Jesus have more or less faith in the Gospel message after they saw Him raised from the dead? Think about it…

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us… We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 1 John 1:3 NIV and 2 Peter 1:16 NIV

Clearly, it was the evidence of their senses, the empirical evidence itself, that gave them their hope and confidence in Jesus as the true Savior and Redeemer.

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com


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Yet, you say, “Who cares if it is written into law”? You should care. Everyone should care. It’s a very important law in this country. The idea that the organized church could have changed vaccine mandates simply isn’t true – particularly given the nature of certain types of jobs dealing with the most vulnerable in society (such as health care workers for example).

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