La Sierra University needs to make up its mind. Its administration claims it is in full support of the SDA Church and its doctrines as evidenced by the LSU Board of Trustees statement in November 2009:
The Board of Trustees if fully mindful of La Sierra University’s responsibilities and commitments as a Seventh-day Adventist institution of higher education. This includes whole hearted support for the doctrines and teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as defined by the 28 Statements of Fundamental Beliefs, specifically fundamental #6 [dealing with a literal creation week]. (LSU Board)
But its biology professors, and now Faculty Senate, have essentially said it doesn’t have to sacrifice “academic freedom,” if certain professors happen to disagree with and teach contrary to fundamental beliefs of the SDA Church – on the Church’s dime. LSU’s position doesn’t seem so clear.
While many of these same professors do believe in a God, they do not believe God created life on this planet recently and in six days. These professors do not support this SDA fundamental position personally or in their classrooms. One senior biology professor publicly derided those who do, calling them the “lunatic fringe” (Creating Controversy). He also stated, “I am not OK with getting up in a science course and saying most science is b—s—” (Ibid).
Many of the other LSU science professors, and even LSU religion professors, are of the same opinion. They fully support, not just the teaching of, but the promotion of the modern mainstream evolutionary view of origins as the gospel truth to their students.
In a recent PR spot published in the Record (January 2010), biology department chair James Wilson said:
The La Sierra biology faculty have faith that God is their Creator and Sustainer. Each faculty member understands the important responsibility to facilitate broad education in biology in ways that embrace the Adventist perspective of God as the Creator of all things” (Recorder).
Believing in a Creator God isn’t the same as supporting the stated SDA fundamental position on a creation week of six literal days, a position which many professors at LSU clearly do not support, much less promote, in their classrooms (just the opposite in fact).
LSU argues again and again that because it is doing so many other good things, this particular point is no big deal and should be forgotten. After all, LSU does a tremendous amount of community service and foreign mission work. Also, 13 students at LSU were baptized in 2009! This should not overshadow the potential loss that is occurring from students being taught essentially they were not made in the image of God. It seems even LSU president Randal Wisbey has suggested a recent, six-day creation is perhaps outdated and needs reevaluation in light of current scientific evidence, as did his predecessor, Lawrence Geraty (Pitman).
If the LSU Faculty Senators stand so strongly for the pure academic freedom of their professors to promote theistic evolution as the truth in SDA science classrooms, without providing any arguments or support for the stated SDA view on a literal creation week, so be it. LSU shouldn’t advertise itself as in full support of the stated fundamental positions of the SDA Church though.
LSU should be open, honest, and candid about what it stands for and teaches in its classrooms, instead presenting a facade. Students, parents and the SDA community at large deserve to know what they are paying for with their hard-earned dollars. Why is LSU worried about saying what everybody already knows? Here is a suggested statement LSU could make:
Because of our stand for academic freedom here at LSU, we have many professors who do not believe in or support certain fundamental beliefs of the SDA Church in their classrooms. Be advised the majority of our science professors are theistic evolutionists and will promote the modern evolutionary view in their classrooms as the most likely story of origins.
We have yet to see such transparency from LSU yet.
Frequently, Wisbey and others have cited Matthew 18:15-17 not being followed by those who have objected to the promotion of evolution at LSU. It is important to remember this advice is in regard to private sins, which are not generally known or publicly promoted. Beyond this, many have struggled with LSU over the promotion of theistic evolution in its classrooms for many years, starting out very privately and discretely, but without any effect. Ultimately, such decided resistance to open transparency, not to mention active reform, must be met in a more direct manner, even in a Christian church. We deserve nothing less than full transparency when it comes to our own church organizations, especially our schools. Otherwise, what’s the point of having them if “academic freedom” turns them into something essentially indistinguishable from what public universities already offer?
February 2, 2010
Darrell says, “why do you feel the need to ‘purify the church’?”
The Bible says, “And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” Ezekiel 9:4
The Bible says, “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” Psalms 145:15-16
Why then, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Timothy 5:8?
“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10?
The Bible says, “Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people.” Psalms 3:8
Why then, “Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” Ezekiel 33:9?
“Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.” Matthew 22:9?
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” Matthew 7:15-16?
“A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;” Titus 3:10?
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” Acts 20:28-29?
“The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.” Abraham Lincoln
God bless,
Rich
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February 2, 2010
Abraham Lincoln, Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, April 18, 1864:
“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name—liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names—liberty and tyranny.
“The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty…Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold the process by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage, hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruction of all liberty. Recently, as it seems, the people of Maryland have been doing something to define liberty; and thanks to them that, in what they have done, the wolf’s dictionary, has been repudiated.”
God bless,
Rich
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February 3, 2010
@Debbie:
Tithe goes to the religion department and to the men’s dean and women’s dean.
offering and Tuition pay for the rest.
To the extent that the religion department is cooperating or in Fritz Guy’s case – actively promoting evolutionism – it shares in the blame.
in Christ,
Bob
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February 3, 2010
@Darrell:
Hint: 1Cor 5:6-7
1 Tim 5:20
But Darrell illustrates a good example instructive for the unbiased objective reader. His argument is to claim equality with all inspired texts (be that Ex 20:8-11 or 3SG 90-91) and then argue that all of those texts are merely “opinion” of no more value in than an TE-ist on the planet.
Therefore to choose to affirm those texts (as if they matter and as if ignoring those texts is actual error) instead of claiming “we are ALL the same” along with your friendly neighborhood TE is to be intolerant and elitist.
But as it turns out — the inspired texts actually do have value. weight and authority in these matters.
As hard as that is going to be on the TE solution.
in Christ,
Bob
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February 4, 2010
I’ve said no such thing, Bob. My argument is that regardless of the obviousness of error in TE, the mindset that people are generating of ‘kill em all and let God sort them out’ will usually be applied to other things that are not the mountains like TE. Our history is rife with issues of dress, adornment, meat eating, secular entertainment and sports where someone has taken a hard stance and expected everyone else to conform or you are not a ‘good SDA’. The trend has shown that bullies in the big things are usually bullies in the small things too. Who decides who is the SDA morality police that feels it is their right to purge heresy in whatever form they deem fit?
The current mentality from many conservatives is, ‘If you can’t believe as our church believes in every doctrinal specific, you shouldn’t be an SDA.” And I’m not talking about TE here. I’m talking about not believing on how to keep the Sabbath as some do, I’m talking about not believing the finer points of biblical prophecy or eschaetology as some in our church do. I’m talking about styles of worship, dress, eating and drinking that others feel they have a monopoly on the truth of it. This mentality is taken further when the witch-hunters decide you are not moving out the door fast enough for them. Character assassination, slander, railroading, vicious gossip..all of these have been engaged in because people won’t toe the status line.
Our church is rife with scandal, slander, corruption, and false accusations at all levels because people feel their way of worshipping, believing and interpreting the scriptures is the ‘truth’ and woe to him who doesn’t follow it that way.
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February 4, 2010
Darrell, I think you are over-reacting a bit. No one has said to ‘kill em all and let God sort them out’. There has not been the least whiff of physical violence or mob mentality displayed on this site at all. If these professors were caught committing adultry, would we be asking for them to be fired? Of course we would. Would we expect them to be disfellowshiped? Of course we would. Well, they may not be guilty of physical adultry, but, (as my sister reminds me), they certainly have been guilty of spiritual adultery.
And, Darrell, what do you think defines any given group of people? It is the rules and standards they live by, be it Hell’s Angels or the SDA church. You are basically arguing that people who don’t agree with the official doctrines of the church and refuse to follow the defined standards should be allowed to continue representing the church. Inspiration tells us that such ones are worse than infidels because they claim to be SDAs and don’t live up to the principles of SDAs; they essentially misrepresent the church and mislead people who don’t know what we are supposed to be.
This idea that God loves us all, no matter what we do, say, or believe has been skewed to the interpretation that anything goes. Why, then, did God lead the pioneers to study the scriptures and establish the doctrines and standards of this church–sometimes even giving Ellen White visions to lead them in the right way concerning issues that couldn’t be resolved in any other way? Why, then, do angels keep records of every word, thought, and action of every human being on this earth? Do you really believe that people will go to heaven and live in harmony unless they share the same beliefs and lifestyles? (You need only look around you on this earth to know that is impossible!) God has outlined doctrines and standards for us in the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy. Do you honestly think that He called the Bible writers and Ellen White to devote their lives to record all these truths just to have them ignored?
There IS a standard for us to live by–as has been defined by God Himself. And yes, woe will come to him who doesn’t follow it. When the Lord separates the sheep from the goats, many who thought they were saved, won’t be. (Does that make God a “Catholic Inquisitor” or a “Pharisaical persecutor”?–and, no, I am not putting myself in the place of God–don’t even go there. I am only trying to uphold the standards and doctrines He has set for us.) It is a serious thing to live according to your own will and desires instead of conforming to the will of God. All are free to choose to live the way they like, but to take the name of SDA and not to strive to live up to the standards of the church is to be dishonest. To actively teach heresy is reprehensible.
By choosing to teach evolution in any way, shape, or form, these professors have disqualified themselves as instuctors in our institutions and, yes, even as church members. You don’t seem to understand (or care) that they are daily leading young people away from the truth. Frankly, I don’t understand why our people don’t consider this an urgent matter that needs immediate attention. With every day that passes, this poison spreads wider and deeper. Simply sitting back and letting it resolve itself is not an option. The past 25 or 30 years should have made that abundantly obvious. Even withdrawing support from the institutions involved is not going to work. We need action and we need it yesterday. Why should these people hold our institutions hostage to their false beliefs? Did they struggle to establish these schools? Men and women committed their whole lives to get these places up and running for the benefit of our people and these professed SDA teachers are being allowed to bring them to ruin. We all need to read Job 38:4-41:34 It begins:
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.”
When you read this passage, it really makes you humble. God is so much greater than we could ever be. He has given us so much in the way of understanding that we could never have discovered by ourselves. What a privilege to know God…what an incalulable gift is eternal life with Him! Instead of striving to live in comformity to the world, we should be striving to live in conformity to Him and His will. We are here on this planet to get ourselves ready to live in heaven. That means we need to develop characters that will enable us to live in heaven in perfect harmony with other like-minded believers. That means we need to quit looking at the world, quit looking at self, and look to Christ, our perfect example and our essential helper.
I truly don’t understand the mentality that comes down on people who are trying to stand up for the right when there are people out there doing their best to undermine faith in the Creator and in His church. Surely your efforts could be put to better use.
Faith
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February 4, 2010
Bob Ryan said:
The gross equivocation that Darrell attempts above – equating the practices of 1Cor 5:6-7 and 1Tim 5:19 (public censure) to dark ages “torture” — is clearly visible to the unbiased objective reader (and so it is avoidable).
We need to take action – (as we see in 3T 265-269)
in Christ,
Bob
Rich Constantinescu said:
Darrell: “Faith, your tactics smack of Catholic Inquisition and Pharisaical persecution.”
On the contrary she refuses to drink the maddening errors of Babylon and does not think to change times and laws. Neither is she drunk with blood, much less the blood of saints who believe and obey God’s law.
God bless,
Rich
Thank you, brothers, for your understanding and support. It is much appreciated.
Faith
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February 4, 2010
@Darrell:
Darrell I think it is facinating how you redirect this subject on the serious issue of leading SDA students into gross apostasy (such as atheist views on origins as found in evolutionism) – into the more bland subject of “what did you do on Sabbath that I don’t agree with”.
Is it your argument that all differences of every kind must be eliminated from church discusssion BEFORE we are allowed to even start to deal with the serious decades-long problem of evolutionism being promoted in our own universities?
Surely you have not gone to such an extreme.
Yet this is the logic in your argument above.
Did you really mean to go there?
This brings up a secondary issue. In the SDA church today we have an emerging group calling themselves “Progressive Seventh-day Adventists”. I am not convinced that that group is uniformly in favor of evolutionism. However I am concerned that they may see evolutionism as “their cause” to defend – as it gets to the subject of “let everyone believe whatever they choose” that is so near and dear to the Progressive agenda.
in Christ,
Bob
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February 4, 2010
Faith: “I truly don’t understand the mentality that comes down on people who are trying to stand up for the right when there are people out there doing their best to undermine faith in the Creator and in His church. Surely your efforts could be put to better use.”
A young teenage woman baptized into a latino SDA church not far from where I live. At her baptism service she testified that her mother had told to leave her home because of her decision to be baptized. When she started to study the Bible earnestly her mother had begun disciplining her by taking away her privileges – car, insurance … and eventually delivering the ultimatum – ‘You get baptized and you find another home.’ The young woman, now taken in by church members said, “I don’t understand this. When I was living in the world, dancing, staying out at night, wild, my mother had no problems. Now that I’m drawing close to God, my mother is angry with me!”
God bless,
Rich
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February 4, 2010
Very true, Rich.
Faith
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February 14, 2010
The catholic church obviously believes apostasy is a more serious sin than dancing, staying out late etc. This situation illustrates how irrational religious beliefs harm people’s relationships and friendships.
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February 14, 2010
Colin:
This illustrates how irrational man-made theories are, such as evolution or love for the world (1 John 2:15-17) over the Word of God (Exodus 20:11) and the unreasonable opposition of their adherents to those who challenge evil by word and example (2 Timothy 3:12.)
God bless,
Rich
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February 21, 2010
All are not Israel who call themselves Israel. I have 2 problems with those who teach counter to the Bible. They are teaching our chldren these things and other people assume that what they believe is what we believe.
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February 21, 2010
@BobRyan:
Regarding tithe going to the religion department, men’s dean and women’s dean: Why is that happening?
To reiterate an earlier post:
“One reasons that the tithe may be applied to school purposes. Still others reason that canvassers and colporteurs should be supported from the tithe. But a great mistake is made when the tithe is drawn from the object for which it is to be used–the support of the ministers. . . .
The tithe is the Lord’s, and those who meddle with it will be punished with the loss of their heavenly treasure unless they repent. Let the work no longer be hedged up because the tithe has been diverted into various channels other than the one to which the Lord has said it should go. Provision is to be made for these other lines of work. They are to be sustained, but not from the tithe. God has not changed; the tithe is still to be used for the support of the ministry.–9T 247-250.”
As I understand from this one statement, tithe is not to be used to support schools in any way. So why are we doing it?
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