“Criticism is something we can avoid by saying nothing, doing …

Comment on Michigan Conference takes substantial action in LSU conflict by Mel.

“Criticism is something we can avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, being nothing.” (Aristotle) Thank God this was not the MCEC choice.

Recent Comments by Mel

A “Christian Agnostic”?
2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? v.15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? v.16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. v.17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,
v.18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.


Back to Square One…
>…Ivy league schools like Harvard DO NOT have accreditation.

‘fraid this is mistaken. If you Google you’ll find this old and long-lived myth authoritatively debunked. (Harvard was first accredited in 1929) In one of the hits it was interesting to note Bob Jones University constituents upset over BJU’s propagating this falsehood until relatively recently in their official communications seeking to justify BJU’s historic refusal to seek accreditation.

Ch 27 of ALW’s 6th vol of his EGW bio is about the year 1912 during which EGW made her last visit to Loma Linda. There are interesting comments several places in this chapter about the medical school & students. I was looking for something she might have said pertaining to accreditation but found nothing explicit.

I did find this interesting account, from the spring of 1915, just a few months before she died. It’s about how Ellen White responded to a report about the situation of SDA young men in WWI. The last sentence says “she counseled against presumptuous attitudes in dealing with matters in which Seventh-day Adventists were involved with the government.” This seems to articulate a principle that could apply to the accreditation question. WDYT….?

“But the war question was to come up again in late spring some weeks after her accident. W. C. White wrote of this on May 26 in a letter to Elder Guy Dail, secretary of the European Division. He spoke to his mother of the war and of Seventh-day Adventist ministers referring to it in their sermons as one of the signs of the end. This sparked a question in her mind: {6BIO 426.5}

“Are our people affected by the war?” she asked. “Yes,” I said, “hundreds have been pressed into the Army. Some have been killed and others are in perilous places. . . . Some of our people in America and in Europe feel that those of our brethren who have been forced into the Army would have done wrong to submit to military service. They think it would have been better for them to have refused to bear arms, even if they knew that as a result of this refusal they would be made to stand up in line to be shot.” {6BIO 427.1}
“I do not think they ought to do that,” she replied. “I think they ought to stand to their duty as long as time lasts.”—WCW to Guy Dail, May 26, 1915. {6BIO 427.2}

In the light of the other references to the war when the subject was opened up in her presence, it is clear that she had no special light that would pinpoint how drafted Seventh-day Adventists should relate to the demands of military service. It seems that whatever she said was based on her general understanding of avoiding rash positions. The situation was much like that of the Civil War days when she counseled against presumptuous attitudes in dealing with matters in which Seventh-day Adventists were involved with the government. {6BIO 427.3}