Back to Square One…
On the issue of Harvard’s accreditation: I stand corrected! My apologies for my incomplete understanding of the matter…

Back to Square One…
I don’t understand why our educational institutions have ignored counsels from the Spirit of Prophecy. We are clearly told to NOT seek secular accreditation. Why do we care about WASC? Do we lack in faith to believe that God will uphold the credibility of His institutions?

Let all be reminded that Ivy league schools like Harvard DO NOT have accreditation. Their reputation precedes them. The Lord can do the same for His.

WASC Reviews LSU’s Accreditation
At what point do we stop casting pearls to the pigs? I’m getting weary of this controversy.

Panda’s Thumb: ‘SDAs are split over evolution’
@Professor Kent:

@ Johnny VanceSo, YOU claim to be able to judge from the many student comments their philosophy and spirituality? And YOU can decipher, whilst I cannot, that the vast majority were “postmodern” and “lacking in spirituality?” And I can be deceived while YOU cannot?When you choose to believe the very few, Johnny, you reveal your obvious and very selective bias. You can cherry-pick as well as anyone here. And you’ve proven your arrogance.  (Quote)

I’m not offended by Sean’s assertions about faith and evidence. I’m with Sean to a large extent (as far as I can tell). God gives us evidence to believe and back up His word, although there will be some things we’ll just have to take by faith until it’s made clear to our minds (maybe in Heaven?). But don’t try to use me as a pawn in your dislike of Sean.

You also neglect to note that in the great controversy between good and evil, the majority does not constitute the right side, unfortunately. Only 8 chose to enter the ark. Only a minority believed in Christ. Only a minority will resist the popular waves of anti-biblical worship. I can say that your judgment of students’ comments and Dr. Ness’s video are wrong, but how dare I say that you are wrong? I don’t believe it’s arrogant to say you are wrong. I’m not insulting you as you are insulting me. If we’re having an honest and open dialogue about the situation, then you should be able to AT LEAST take back what you dish out without threatening to leave the church because some of us dare to say you are wrong, or this and that is wrong. Don’t try to blackmail people for stating their mind.

I really wonder if you read the same Bible and the same Testimonies to the Church that I read, because I can’t for the life of me figure out how you can come up with such drastically opposed conclusions. I just state the former because you claim to believe in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, and I am truly perplexed by your conclusion.

Panda’s Thumb: ‘SDAs are split over evolution’
@ken: I understand your question, Ken. It’s an honest inquiry into our human weaknesses. One characteristic of a true seeker of truth is that he/she will examine his heart daily–especially when having to make a stand for truth, and will even be humble enough to concede when wrong.

It is true that even extremists like Al-quaida are deluded in believing that they have the truth, and I dare say that most of them have stopped looking for truth in their lives. We can never settle down into a complacency that accepts what others say. You must prove it for yourself, and it must appeal to your reason. Faith is not blind; true faith is “the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.”

This is why it’s important to have an ultimate authority, and in an Seventh-day Adventist context, the word of God would be it. We all have a filter by which we process information, and no matter how much sense the evidence may make to you, the heart will rationalize away this evidence because of pain, resentment, fear, etc. We can’t fall into the trap of thinking that God has not revealed to us enough truth to know that His word is reliable, because then you fall into post-modernism which says that truth is relative. If this were so then anything would go.