When I was going through grade school MANY years ago …

Comment on Open letter to General Conference by Lydian Belknap.

When I was going through grade school MANY years ago we had very Bible based classes in real Bible study–The courses were called things like “The Gospel to all the World”, etc. My eighth grade Bible text book was ‘GOD’S GREAT PLAN’ which started with the fall of Satan and went all the way to the Earth Made New, and we had many wondeful preachers and evangelists who grew up “Adventist”–and we still do But I have been shocked through the years to see how the Bible books which have been studied by our young people in the years that have followed. Many are pure “pablum” and are such that could be used by any church anywhere. But our unique “message” that we are supposed to be teaching “to all the world” is often quite difficult to find in those “Bible” books.
Several years ago a young relative of mine took “Daniel” in one of her academy Bible classes. She had no problem with it because she had been taught “Daniel” during her growing up years.But most of her classmates were completely “lost”–they had never heard such things! The crowning “shock” to both my young relative and me was the remark of one young girl–who had been in our church schools from grade one–said to her–“I’ve always thought that the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den was a fairy tale like Cinderella!” If this is the Bible background our children are growing with is it any wonder that many who are leaders and teacher today are leaving behind the “Faith of our Fathers” and going after “strange gods?”
It is time we went after the “roots of the trees” and not just try to chop off the “top limbs!” That is also needed but we will never have youth who have grown up in our schools and churches and are “on fire” for the real truth and mission of our church until their Bible instruction from birth on through all of their school years are not only Bible based but 100% “Adventist belief” Bible based. I find it somewhat ironic that some of the strongest voices in our movement today are ones who grew up totally ignorant of all things spiritual but found the truth in their upper teens and are literally “setting the world on fire” with their preaching today–people like Doug Batchelor, Shawn Boonstra,David Asscherick and others I might name. We really are Laodicieans, aren’t we. (We do have some who grew up “Adventist”, and are still preaching our unique beliefs, of course, but there should be a lot more.
God has a message for a world that is rapidly approachng it’s end and it will be preached “to all the world” but, sadly, many of us Leaodiceans who grew “in the truth” are going to be among the ones to whom Jesus says, “I never knew you!”

Lydian Belknap Also Commented

Open letter to General Conference
I have been reading the comments (pro and con) on this situation for weeks now and am wondering just how long this is going to be allowed to go on. It appears to me (and, of course I don’t know any the folks involved) that the teachers (AND the administrators)know very well what the Bible based Adventist beliefs are on this subject and are deliberately trying (and permitting) to bring before our young people a “different gospel” than the one the Bible teaches. Meanwhile, souls are being lost–and God is soon going to say to those of us that just keep beating around the bush–“Where is thy flock, thy beautiful flock that I entrusted to your care?”

I have a lot of sympathy for the teachers (an the administrators who must deal with them) who apparently have lost their way and have embraced “another gospel”. I agree that we should continue to pray for them (and with them, if possible). But I find it difficult to see why we should continue not only LETTING them–but PAYING them with the sacred tithe–to teach false doctrine to our precious young people.

In the judgement are we not going to be just as lost for continuing to tolerate it as well as those who teach it? Where are the watchmen on the walls of Zion? The “iceberg” is right in front of us and I believe we need to hear the voice of God saying, “Meet it!” Yes, there will be a great shaking (haven’t we been told this would happen?) but we will emerge stronger and better prepared to meet Jesus when He returns–which I believe is sooner than we think.


Open letter to General Conference
Would someone please explain to me why we need Adventist schools–with their hugh tuition costs–if they don’t teach solid Adventist doctrines?
Would someone also please explain to me why it is taking such a long time to deal with this problem (and others) in our schools? Where are the “watchmen on the walls of Zion?” Are they “asleep at the helm” of our wonderful church?
I realize I don’t know the whole story and am not privy to all the workings of the varuious committes but it just seems to me that things are moving much more slowly than God approves of.


Recent Comments by Lydian Belknap

A New Endowment Program for Adventist Education
So here I sit–a “very old lady”–totally confused and not having a clue as to whether to donate or not–or where to donate if I should.

As things stand now I think I will just continue putting my own little amount to my current “missionary out reach” of buying “Steps to Christ” and “Who Do You Think You Are?” and passing them on to the clerks in the stores where I shop or other people I meet that I think would like them.

If and when you folks decide on what, how and where to help in this very worthy project let me know and I’ll do what I can then.


A New Endowment Program for Adventist Education
I just noticed that there is such a program in place in northern California but I would want one that is nation wide. After all, if our kids aren’t already in danger here in the southern union also (as well the rest of the US) it’s most likely only a short matter of time till they will be.


A New Endowment Program for Adventist Education
I am far from a wealthy person who could and gladly would donate large sums of money to such a program but I could and would gladly donate some if such assurances were solidly in place. I’m sure there are many “old folks” like me “out there” who feel the same way. (Is there already such a program in place? If so please post all needed information.)


The God of the Gaps
While browsing my rather voluminous file of articles to “save” I ran across this jewel—I think it is worth saving and thinking about–especially the last statement by Darwin himself:
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Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

While Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is a relatively young archetype, the evolutionary worldview itself is as old as antiquity. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Anaximander postulated the development of life from non-life and the evolutionary descent of man from animal. Charles Darwin simply brought something new to the old philosophy — a plausible mechanism called “natural selection.” Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantageous genetic mutations. Suppose a member of a species developed a functional advantage (it grew wings and learned to fly). Its offspring would inherit that advantage and pass it on to their offspring. The inferior (disadvantaged) members of the same species would gradually die out, leaving only the superior (advantaged) members of the species. Natural selection is the preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild. Natural selection is the naturalistic equivalent to domestic breeding. Over the centuries, human breeders have produced dramatic changes in domestic animal populations by selecting individuals to breed. Breeders eliminate undesirable traits gradually over time. Similarly, natural selection eliminates inferior species gradually over time.
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Darwin’s Theory of Evolution – Slowly But Surely…

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is a slow gradual process. Darwin wrote, “…Natural selection acts only by taking advantage of slight successive variations; she can never take a great and sudden leap, but must advance by short and sure, though slow steps.” [1] Thus, Darwin conceded that, “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” [2] Such a complex organ would be known as an “irreducibly complex system”. An irreducibly complex system is one composed of multiple parts, all of which are necessary for the system to function. If even one part is missing, the entire system will fail to function. Every individual part is integral. [3] Thus, such a system could not have evolved slowly, piece by piece. The common mousetrap is an everyday non-biological example of irreducible complexity. It is composed of five basic parts: a catch (to hold the bait), a powerful spring, a thin rod called “the hammer,” a holding bar to secure the hammer in place, and a platform to mount the trap. If any one of these parts is missing, the mechanism will not work. Each individual part is integral. The mousetrap is irreducibly complex. [4]

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances we’ve made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the past fifty years. We now know that there are in fact tens of thousands of irreducibly complex systems on the cellular level. Specified complexity pervades the microscopic biological world. Molecular biologist

Michael Denton wrote, “Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world.” [5]

And we don’t need a microscope to observe irreducible complexity. The eye, the ear and the heart are all examples of irreducible complexity, though they were not recognized as such in Darwin’s day. Nevertheless, Darwin confessed, “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.” [6]

Footnotes:
1. Charles Darwin, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life,” 1859, p. 162.
2. Ibid. p. 158.
3. Michael Behe, “Darwin’s Black Box,” 1996.
4. “Unlocking the Mystery of Life,” documentary by Illustra Media, 2002.
5. Michael Denton, “Evolution: A Theory in Crisis,” 1986, p. 250.
6. Charles Darwin, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life,” 1859, p. 155.

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I don’t think Sean could have said it better himself!


Walla Walla University: The Collegian Debates Evolution vs. Creation
Sean, I guess I “bit off more than I can chew” when I subscribed to some of your other options.
All I can handle is the ^way it used to be”–like this column still is. Please put me back to this mode of information and I will be very happy. Thanks.