Comment on PUC Professor: The Noachian Flood was just a local flood? by Nathan Adams.
I am another former student of Dr. Ness from a few years ago at PUC. I am also the product of 20 years worth of schooling in the SDA education system (1st grade through high school, 4 years of college, and 4 years at Loma Linda).
As a life-long Adventist, I have been quite adequately engrained with the traditional SDA beliefs and interpretations on the Bible. I’m also quite certain this group of PUC theology students have no lack of knowledge on what the SDA church believes on Creation and the Flood. Once a student has reached college, the time for memorizing and regurgitating facts is over. Instead, college is a time for critical thinking, asking why, and exploring and discussing about new ideas. As a former student, I can assure everyone Dr. Ness facilitates this kind of exploration in a healthy and God-fearing manner.
We, as Adventists, are making a huge mistake if we refuse to even consider the fact that we might not have everything all figured out. What an ego-centric view that is! Our understanding of God and his word should be, and is, always developing and evolving (yes, I said evolving). God didn’t create us as robots to simply memorize all the data, and then stop processing it. We are supposed to continue to study, ask questions, and think for ourselves. That is the essence of the idea of present truth.
The real issue here should not be whether a teacher should be allowed to discuss these kinds of sensitive issues, but why there are so many closed-minded people who feel so threatened that it is occurring. This mentality will stifle the thinking and education of our colleges.
As young Adventist graduates, we leave the protected bubble and enter a world where the people we interact with believe a lot of very different things. It is our responsibility to not only be educated on different views, but to be able to maturely discuss them, and not judge those people who think differently than us.
This open-minded mentality was an extremely important thing in my college education and helped me develop the critical thinking skills I now use everyday.
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Nathan Adams Also Commented
PUC Professor: The Noachian Flood was just a local flood?
First of all, evolution is not an opposing religion, as many of you seem to fear. Talking about it, understanding it, and recognizing its existence around us does not detract from the power, authority, or character of God. Evolution is a simply a HUMAN ATTEMPT to study nature. It’s a set of ideas trying to explain observable phenomena all around us. Is it prone to error and flaw? Of course. But are there observations made that help us better understand our world? Absolutely.
It is quite possible and realistic to believe in God, be a devout Adventist, and still see the beautiful patterns and intricacies in nature (as described by some of the ideas of evolution). Do I agree with every theory, scientific conclusion, or assessment that’s ever been uttered under the name of “evolution?†Absolutely not! I obviously don’t believe in the radical concepts of macro-evolution. But I do accept any observable and provable assertions seen in nature. I have plenty of room in my faith system and understanding of God to accommodate these observations. There’s nothing evil about the word “evolution.†It simply means “change.†And I have no problem knowing I live in a world created by my God that is governed by His natural laws and is continually changing. Anyone who refutes that changes takes place in our world is ignorant of things occurring around them. Nature was designed to adapt to circumstances. And I believe this ability is directly from God.
God is the one who created the patterns and laws that humans continue to attempt to study and understand. As we continue to learn more and more about the amazing concepts of the nature God created, we get to see and comprehend a bit more of the big picture. But no human has, or ever will, perfectly understand nature, the Bible, or God. All of these things leave us with a great deal of unknown, and ample room for individual interpretation. Anyone who thinks they have all this figured out is lying to themselves. God wants us to continue to study, search, and ask why. And part of that is the painful process of looking at and discussing things we don’t fully understand, as well as the evidence that challenges our fundamental beliefs.
Maybe this continual exploration is not for some people. If it makes you uncomfortable to challenge your own belief system on a daily basis, then don’t do it. Stay grounded. But you need to recognize that for most people, exploring and learning more is a natural thing. We were created to ask questions, be skeptical until something is proven, and continue striving for greater understanding. If you aren’t one of those people, don’t stand in the way of the rest of us.
