This commentary posted at Spectrum reflects the Christianity and Spirit …

Comment on [6/17/11 UPDATE] Two administrators, one biology professor, and one board member resign by Professor Kent.

This commentary posted at Spectrum reflects the Christianity and Spirit of Christ that motivates me:

Patti Cottrell Grant – Wed, 06/15/2011 – 09:44

Once again it appears that vengeful and short-sighted GC leadership has carelessly squandered a priceless opportunity to present to the world a true picture of how God deals lovingly with his all-too-human children. Instead of offering these men the opportunity for forgiveness and redemption they were blindsided and backed into a corner and threatened with shame if they did not resign immediately. No chance to repent, no chance to learn from this Kafkaesque play, no chance to salvage decades of sacrificial service lovingly given to the gospel of Christ. Just Wham! Off With Their Heads! Is this what Jesus would do?

What incalculable damage has been done to the Gospel of Christ. Not by the four friends who were inadvertently recorded and exposed against their will but by men in positions of power who chose to execute those dedicated servants with the harshest, most draconian punishment available.

What possible glimpse of the Savior does this slap down present to the world?” Where is the invitation to others to seek forgiveness and redemption, and inclusion in the family of God? The summary execution of these men has done incalculable damage to a church that ironically claims to be chosen of God but that offered no opportunity whatsoever for change and growth.

It is time for truly courageous GC leadership–there must be some somewhere–to begin to repair the very public damage to the world church that it has wrought. Work with these men, extend to them the forgiveness and opportunity for redemption that God has promised each of us, and allow them to go back to the work they love. It is never too late to do the Right Thing.

Patti Cottrell Grant

Professor Kent Also Commented

[6/17/11 UPDATE] Two administrators, one biology professor, and one board member resign

Kevin: If you do have such evidence, please present it to us, or explain why you can’t.

I have listened to the “evidence” so I am presenting it to you right now. The most objectionable material in the recording was some negative comments about certain individuals–but these were no more malicious than many of the comments posted here by Educate Truth supporters.

If it’s okay for the defenders of conservative Adventism to make negative comments about others here, in a very public format, then why should employees be fired for doing so in the privacy of their own home.

Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy.


[6/17/11 UPDATE] Two administrators, one biology professor, and one board member resign

Greg&#032W: If professor kent is correct (I cannot know with certainty) then it seems to me the conversation was used as a threat to force the resignations and, the alcohol rather than the conversation provided the substance for the firings. This is consistent with what Spectrum is reporting.

I listened to the conversation, and Greg’s interpretation is EXACTLY my take on the matter.

My hearing is not what it used to be, and the conversation was difficult to follow at times, but I did not hear anything that struck me as a “smoking gun” to justify either a firing or a resignation. I have the humility to concede that I might have missed something, whereas others here have the assuredness that they know that which they have not heard for themselves.

In my personal opinion, the negative comments made toward other individuals were no worse, on the whole, than those made routinely here by Bob Ryan and Ron Stone. The former foursome made their comments in private, whereas the latter twosome make their comments in public.

And let’s make one more thing clear: I didn’t hear anything remotely resembling drunkeness. I have never been drunk in my life, but I have been around it enough to recognize it.


[6/17/11 UPDATE] Two administrators, one biology professor, and one board member resign

BobRyan: Obivously the Inside Higher Education article did a more “complete” job of explaining the problem to the world. You on the other hand – are predictably devoted to “spin doctoring”.

Neither Inside Higher Education nor you listened to the conversation. I did. I’m speaking from facts that formed my personal opinion, and you accuse me of “spin doctoring.” So what is the basis of your “spin?”


Recent Comments by Professor Kent

Gary Gilbert, Spectrum, and Pseudogenes
Nic&#032Samojluk: No wonder most creationist writers do not even try to submit their papers to such organizations.
Who wants to waste his/her time trying to enter through a door that is closed to him/her a priori?

You have no idea what you’re writing about, Nic. As it turns out, there are in fact many of us Adventists who “waste” our time publishing articles through doors that open to us a priori. Even Leonard Brand at Loma Linda, a widely recognized creationist, has published in the top geology journals. I mean the top journals in the discipline.

The myth that creationists cannot publish in mainstream science is perpetuated by people who simply do not understand the culture of science–and will remain clueless that they do not understand it even when confronted with their misunderstandings. Such is human nature.


Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Pauluc,

Your questions about conservation genetics are very insightful. I don’t understand how all these life forms were able to greatly increase in genetic diversity while simultaneously winding down and losing genetic information to mutations. Sean seems to insist that both processes happen simultaneously. I had the impression he has insisted all along that the former cannot overcome the latter. But I think you must be right: God had to intervene to alter the course of nature. However, we can probably test this empirically because there must be a signature of evidence available in the DNA. I’ll bet Sean can find the evidence for this.

I’m also glad the predators (just 2 of most such species) in the ark had enough clean animals (14 of each such species) to eat during the deluge and in the months and years after they emerged from the ark that they didn’t wipe out the vast majority of animal species through predation. Maybe they all consumed manna while in the ark and during the first few months or years afterward. Perhaps Sean can find in the literature a gene for a single digestive enzyme that is common to all predatory animals, from the lowest invertebrate to the highest vertebrate. Now that would be amazing.

Wait a minute–I remember once being told that SDA biologists like Art Chadwick believe that some animals survived on floating vegetation outside the ark. Now that would solve some of these very real problems! I wonder whether readers here would allow for this possibility. Multiple arks without walls, roof, and human caretakers.


Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit

Ellen White said, “In the days of Noah, men…many times larger than now exist, were buried, and thus preserved as an evidence to later generations that the antediluvians [presumably referring to humans] perished by a flood. God designed that the discovery of these things should establish faith in inspired history…”

Sean Pitman said, “All human fossils discovered so far are Tertiary or post-Flood fossils. There are no known antediluvian human fossils.”

Ellen White tells us that humans and dinosaurs (presumably referred to in the statement, “a class of very large animals which perished at the flood… mammoth animals”) lived together before the flood. Evolutionary biologists tell us that dinosaurs and humans never lived together. You’re telling us, Sean, that the fossil record supports the conclusion of evolutionists rather than that of Ellen White and the SDA Church. Many of the “very large animals which perished at the flood” are found only in fossil deposits prior to or attributed to the flood, whereas hunans occur in fossil deposits only after the flood (when their numbers were most scarce).

Should the SDA biologists, who are supposed to teach “creation science,” be fired if they teach what you have just conceded?


La Sierra Univeristy Fires Dr. Lee Greer; Signs anti-Creation Bond
For those aghast about the LSU situation and wondering what other SDA institutions have taken out bonds, hold on to your britches. You’ll be stunned when you learn (soon) how many of our other schools, and which ones in particular, have taken out these bonds. You will be amazed to learn just how many other administrators have deliberately secularized their institutions besides Randal Wisbey, presumably because they too hate the SDA Church (as David Read has put it so tactfully).

Be sure to protest equally loudly.


Gary Gilbert, Spectrum, and Pseudogenes
@Sean Pitman:

So clearly you believe that science can explain supernatural events. Congratulations on that.