Comment on PUC Professor: The Noachian Flood was just a local flood? by Justin Napod.
As a current Student Missionary representing PUC in the Philippines, and have attended PUC for the last 3 years. I Fully support the belief’s and statements my fellow PUCites have made. As a biology major I have taken two classes with Dr. Ness, and have been educated in both creation and evolutionary sides of this argument. But at no point did i ever feel that Dr. Ness has not supported the Adventist church with his teachings. Dr. Ness prepares his students by educating them on both sides of many controversial scientific beliefs like creation vs. evolution, by allowing students to hear both sides and the evidence that supports it, to enable the student to be educated on both sides so he or she can better support themselves. Dr. Ness does not force his own beliefs on his students, he opens doors for students to gather knowledge to support their own beliefs, as do all professor’s at PUC.
As a current missionary I have a front seat, and have seen the affects of sin in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Just in my own mission we have hundreds of believers and members in our church’s, but only 60-100 of them show up. This is because sometimes individuals feel that they have to be forced to believe all the doctrines our church teaches. Yes I strongly believe in the doctrines of our church, but I also believe on doctrines alone we cannot be saved. I believe it is between us and God, our personal relationship with Him, that can saves us.
Just this past week God taught me a lesson. I was hiking with a medical mission group to Mt. Polanza and we hiked into a small town. After our long hike i began to explore. I noticed a mother hen with her chick’s following her. There were 9 chicks in total and i noticed that two were different. Then a small breeze blew through the trees and it began to get cold. Then i noticed that the mother hen called her chick’s under her, and she protected all of them equally. Then i began to contemplate what makes people different, color, ethinicity, belief’s. Why on the basis of all these differences create such seperation in our World today? this is because sin has entered our world. God’s blood was spilt for all of us. We are all made in God’s image. God created us to think differenty so we can all share in God’s love in different ways so was can share it with others. Under God we are all the same. Our belief’s in doctrines and the bible or even any scientific belief in this article’s context does not make does not unite us. It is the fact that we all serve an all powerful God that has spilt His own blood for each of us that we all may be saved. That is what unites us. The fact that by God’s blood different people, who don’t look the same, and don’t necessarily believe the same are united as one group, one family of God, is the beauty and the blessing i receive from being a Seventh-day Adventist, and PUC has helped me realize that.
I am proud to be student at PUC and it was an honor to be taught by Dr. Ness and all PUC professor’s, because i knew that whatever i believed in everyone one of them supported me and cared for me regardless. That is the love that PUC has shown me, and that is the love God has shown me, and i hope everyone can experience that.
