BobRyan writes: “I in fact do appreaciate Bravus’ willingness “at …

Comment on The hinge of our faith by Martin Schratt.

BobRyan writes: “I in fact do appreaciate Bravus’ willingness “at times” to venture into what is for them “no-man’s land”. (Hint: You will notice that when Bravus addresses this glaringly apparent flaw in their evolutionism-from-inside-Adventism context – he gets no other evolutionists to join him in speaking out about their “solution” in this area.).”

I think that Bravus does a commendable job of present a reasonable case.

Anything I said would likely be similar to what he writes and perhaps I take Matt 7:6 more seriously than he does.

Martin Schratt Also Commented

The hinge of our faith
OK, well, at least it looks like something logical. Honestly though, there are still a few spots where the logic is tortured at best. Do you really think that your long diatribes are causing people to admire God? Shannon went on at length about the Woman Caught in Adultry. Here is a fairly clear case of religious people being concerned about the “authority of scripture”, and yet Jesus gave no scriptural responce at all. Instead he simply called their bluff. (That is: they accused him of ignoring scripture by not stoning the woman, so he challenged them to stone her themselves. The “without sin” condition just rubbed the message in even stronger, not only were they too chicken to do themselves but they apparently lacked righteousness as well) Personally, I do not believe that God, whose Garden in Eden was not perfect without the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, would insist on firing teachers for teaching science.


The hinge of our faith

Shannon: The Bible explains itself.

Dear Shannon, I appreciate your effort at presenting your thoughts. However, while it is possible that you might be able to express your own thoughts, your presentation is woefully inadequate to judge others thoughts.

You claim the Bible explains itself, but give no explaination of how to determine what the “explaination” is. You say something, (with poor grammar, yes it matters!), about theocracy. I have never seen the word theocracy used in the Bible. Apparently you think there was some sort of special circumstances that no longer apply today. What in the Bible caused you to come to that conclusion? You further state: “they were suppose to stone the man and the woman.” Are you arguing that if the man got away the woman could not be stoned? Do you have a reference for that?

And you think that God gave Moses instructions for how to do laundry? Wow!

Then you say: “in Titus there is an appeal to accept a slave back as a brother.” I just read the entire book twice and could not find this appeal. Fortunately I know the Bible very well and the instant I saw your claim, recognized that you were probably refering to Philemon. (A book which I have memorized in 4 languages by the way). Simple details like these are critical if you want to condemn the thoughts and ideas of others, which is, of course, the whole point of this site.

And then there is the hanging of witches in (“the”?) Virginia. Again, I hate to brag but I have studied a great deal about the witch trials and I could not recall any in Virgina. A quick Google search revealed one witchtrail in Virginia, the case of Joan Wright of Hampton Roads in 1626. There is no historical record of her conviction let alone execution. I did find some executions in Maryland of which I had previously been unaware. However, once again, details, details; were you actually referencing the witchtrails in Salem? If so then the state would be Massachusetts (I made sure the spelling was correct). And speaking of spelling I believe Mr. Vernon Howell was also known as David Koresh.

I glad you understand that the Bible reflects the cultures in which it was written. My point is that you not insist on imposing your beliefs on the entire group. Make your case without condemning those with whom your disagree.

P. S. The last four sentences were beyond even my linguistic abilities to interpret. I am fairly sure that the “to” at the end of the sentence should be “too”. And your last sentence implies that we should kill witches “What they say is what they say!”


Recent Comments by Martin Schratt

Dr. Geraty clarifies his “Challenge” to literal 6-day creationism
To Bobryan:
I do still stand by everything I wrote in the spectrum blog entry. It has been a while since I had Dr. McCloskey as a teacher, I think most of the quarter I had with him was about taxonomy. However I can assure you that he made no assertions as to how he believed life came into existence. While I found him to be a bit gruff at times he did not spend lecture time on teaching us anything about origins or even much about evolution.

Martin Schrattenholzer


Video show LSU undermining church doctrine
I don’t know why I keep expecting to read actual truth in this site, but once again I find a gross exageration. Nowhere in the video did Dr. Webster denounce a literal interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2. I understand that you disagree with Dr. Johns, but I don’t think he was being hostile either. I also read the syllabus but fail to see anything objectionable. Like I was always told: “If you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all.”


Perspectives from alleged LSU students
@Shane Hilde: That is an interesting final sentence. Does that mean: that since it is not a “salvational issue”, we should feel more free to toss people out? After all “membership in the church is not a salvational issue.”
Furthermore, Paul clearly indicates that being a functioning member is indeed a “salvational issue”. Salvation is about restoring relationships and we as ambassadors need to be very cautious about destroying relationships. The story of Ananias and Saphira clearly shows that God is capable of acting when exclusion is necessary. Our efforts would be better spent inviting people in, rather than driving them out.


La Sierra schism widens
To John Testerman and Darrell

Please know that the opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the church at large. Iknow these people talk as though they and they alone are Adventists but they mistaken (to be charitable about things) Please look in on Adventist Today and Spectrum Magazine web site for the opposing viewpoint. Keep the Faith.

Martin


GYC Q&A addresses universities who hire and protect evolutionists

rose durant:P>There was a fire not long ago at one of our institutions in Washington State. There was a fire in EG White’s day at the Battle Creek location; this was a rebuke for not following God’s will in dispersing the work to many locations. Will God again use fire and other means of rebuke to make His voice be heard?

Are you talking about Auburn Adventist Academy? What did they do wrong or are you asserting that God is just torching our church’s assets at random?