Comment on Perspectives from alleged LSU students by Kingsley Whitsett.
It has been interesting to “look over the shoulder” of those who have been commenting on this discussion regarding the teaching of evolution on the campus of LSU. Years ago when I was a conference Youth Director, I attended a leadership training event at which a professor from LSU stated that it was foolish to try to uphold the traditional Adventist beliefs of the 7 literal days of creation and of the biblical truth of investigative judgment. It struck me then as strange and unbelievable that the denomination would allow such variance from our biblical foundation to be taught in one of our Adventist universities.
We live in a free country where we are allowed to believe as we wish. Our Creator doesn’t twist our arms either to make us believe one way or another. However, if you are hired by a Seventh-day Adventist educational institution to train and teach our young people, and you have personal beliefs contrary to the denomination’s decisive truthes, and you even include those deviant doctrines in your instruction to your students, then how can such a person honestly continue being employed by the Church’s institution?
If an employee finds himself/herself in that situation, it seems to me the only ethical choice for that professor is to resign from the position. As a former Church educator and administrator myself (now retired), it baffles me why LSU and denominational leaders have apparently not taken a stand on this years ago to assure that our young people are truly receiving an Adventist education in which our foundational truthes are taught and upheld. While I’m not on campus there, and may not know all the details in this situation, it is a fundamental principle that if you are hired by an Adventist institution as a teacher, you should be expected to teach the unique Adventist biblical beliefs which this Church holds dear.
My thoughts and prayers are with each professor involved, with LSU administration, and with our denominational leaders who are called upon to work through these issues, that God’s guiding hand will be with you as you seek to do His will.
Kingsley Whitsett
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Recent Comments by Kingsley Whitsett
If the Creation Account Isn’t True…
It’s refreshing to read from Mark Kellner’s article that there are Adventist believers who haven’t strayed from a “thus saith the Lord!” If we can casually throw out the veracity of the creation story, as has been mentioned some do, then we can pick and choose whatever we want concerning other Bible truthes. Thus, the final authority in matters of truth becomes not what the Bible teaches, but what best suits me to believe. Since God hasn’t called me to be His prophet, I choose to believe His inspired prophets, those “holy men of God” who “spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
Kingsley Whitsett
