In all fairness, PUC President Heather Knight has only been …

Comment on PUC responds by Johnny Vance.

In all fairness, PUC President Heather Knight has only been there one year. It’s going to take a while to change the whole system she has inherited, and it’s obvious that we desperately need to reform Adventist education. Church leaders must grant the political capital to Adventist educators to revamp Adventist education as a whole. I can bet that PUC and LSU aren’t the only ones teaching this philosophy of education.

Johnny Vance Also Commented

PUC responds
@Scott Brizendine: Scott, don’t take offense to this, but you must realize that the Seventh-day Adventist church is not a country club to be kicking back in. The church as an organization has a clearly stated mission and structure of discipline and guidelines that define what it is. Professors and pastors and any paid representative of the church whom decides to teach and promote ideas anti-thetical to the stated mission are seeking to redefine Adventism and strip it of its true essence. Hijacking it from within is an accurate portrayal.

A continuance of these ecumenical efforts would result in making the Seventh-day Adventist church just like any other church that has strayed from the Biblical model. As undesirable as it is to address these issues in a public forum, they must be addressed nonetheless.

It is an enormous misreading of the character of God (as revealed in Scripture) to believe that because He is love, He will accept everything and keep quiet to not offend anyone who may believe or do differently. He takes us as we are and then transforms us into His image, if we allow Him. Just imagine what would happen if the military of the United States admitted just anybody into their ranks. Consider this carefully.

As for your assertions about PUC, I sincerely hope you’re right. No matter what the case may be, if your professors and pastors are not making you grow in your faith and reliance on the Word of God as something to be trusted, then they are committing one of the biggest betrayals that could ever be. The Bible–as opposed to “science”–is either your ultimate and FINAL authority, or it is not. Compromising Biblical truths in order to be accepted by the community at large is a shameful betrayal. Truth will never be popular in this world, and it is a sad…sad day when people conform to the world in order to be accepted by it.

It makes more sense to just start a new church from scratch and allow it to create its own theology. That’s what it comes down to. Isaiah 8:20 says, “To the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this, it’s because there’s no light in them.”

Blessings,

Johnny Vance


PUC responds
@Eddie: As Sean has stated about salaries, I’m in full agreement. Even though money shouldn’t determine the quality and Biblical faithfulness of professors, it’s only fair to compensate them accordingly. There are leaders in our church who have called for the youth to be professors at our colleges. For one, I’ve heard David Asscherick preach a powerful sermon, encouraging the youth “to study biology for Jesus.” I wish that the church at large would echo this call and back it up with their actions and with their wallets.


PUC responds
@George: How would you suggest the Adventist lay-people go about asking the church as an organization to uphold its Fundamental Beliefs? Just because you love somebody doesn’t mean you allow them to do whatever they want as long as they do it in a loving manner.

Jesus kicked out the money-changers in the Temple when He was on earth. He was pretty strong and firm about it too. Do we now conclude that Jesus is not loving? At the very least we can conclude that God is love; He is also a god that is not to be trifled with. People forget that true love does not mean a “free-for-all” in tearing down His word, which is btw, His character as well.


Recent Comments by Johnny Vance

An apology to PUC
@Scott Brizendine: Does PUC have something to hide? The church has a right to know what it’s getting for its money. I really doubt the church is happy with the product, especially after reading most of the posts from students.

@Anon: Dr. Ness’s lecture is just the tip of the iceberg concerning Adventist education. Take a few minutes to really consider the comments by professors in the class and the questions posed by students. You’ll realize that THAT is not the product of only a 50 minute lecture. This one lecture is wake up call to all. Or perhaps our schools should start recording more lectures in order to prove to you that these aren’t isolated incidents?

Like Sean said, Ellen White publicly warned parents to not send their children to the college in Battle Creek…not because kids are dumb, but because the kind of education and mentors they are exposed to is a big deal. Educators and pastors are held to a higher standard because of their influence over not just the youth, but everyone. It matters.


An apology to PUC
@Educate Truth Staff: I appreciate your candor with admitting a fault in judgment for posting the video prematurely. Whereas the church at large has every right to know what their youth are being taught, it’s best to attempt to go through proper channels to avoid the appearance of evil.

I understand that Adventist education is going through a crisis, and that there’s much frustration with church leadership for allowing things to get so out of hand.

What is the laity to do when most of the church leadership and church members appear to be asleep at their posts? Shout at them to wake up, of course. But perhaps a tap on the shoulder would have been a loud enough call to arms for PUC and Adventist education in general? I doubt it, in light of past resistance and rationalization of anti-biblical concepts by
certain elements within the church.

I strongly suspect that the problem so clearly illustrated from Dr. Ness’s lecture is just the tip of the iceberg concerning the crisis in our educational institutions. The fruits of Adventist education on most of these kids who’ve commented on here is indeed disturbing, and bodes ill for the future of the church. It’s unfortunate that it takes a video to wake people up to the realization that there’s a crisis. But even then there are those who still find excuses to dismiss the evidence.

Thank you Sean and Shane for having the courage to sound the trumpet. I hope our leaders and church members will answer the call to defend the walls, because it sure is exhausting being all alone. I want to go home soon.


For real education reform, take a cue from the Adventists
@Eddie: I appreciate your response. It seems to be heart-felt. I’ll admit that I cringe at having to address these issues in a public forum. Would you feel differently if for the mere sake of transparency videos, letters/emails, syllabi and the such were posted on here with no commentary to prevent the appearance of public criticism? Maybe the church needs to see how ugly and widespread the cancer really is. But I take issue with your definition of criticism in this case. There’s criticism of people for the sake of envy and resentment, etc., and then there’s criticism of wrong or good actions (constructive).

I just wonder how you propose to address the issue without considering the people behind the problem? Surely any denunciation of the error will be labeled character assasination. But this isn’t necessarily so. Note how Paul and other apostles publicly “criticized” those spreading error within their ranks. I know you love Dr. Ness, and I also believe he’s a good guy. But we cannot allow the open teaching of error because we like the guy. This is a tough issue to wrestle with, and my heart sinks for these people. But truth is more precious. If we stand for truth then the Lord will bless. He’s powerful enough to correct and save Dr. Ness and anybody else who may be in error (including myself) if the heart is willing.

My brother in Christ, I think we’re both wanting to solve the problem; but we have a difference of opinion. I’m open to Biblical correction. I trust that you’re bringing this to daily prayer as you wrestle with how to fulfill your sacred role of training young people at PUC. People are praying for you all who are sincerely seeking to present the Christ of the Bible. God bless.


For real education reform, take a cue from the Adventists
@Eddie: Ok, Eddie. We can sit on our hands and keep our mouths shut, and shut our eyes and expect God to do all the work we’re supposed to be doing. Lord forbid we take care of anything unpleasant. “And all of God’s people put up with the apostasy because no prophet was sent and Jesus’ time had not yet come.” I don’t see anything of that sort in Scripture. By the way, God did send a prophet who gave us copious amounts of counsel on how to deal with these situations. You are contradicting yourself by demanding that a prophet or Jesus Himself come to put down this apostasy.

If the Master of the house left you in charge and came back to find it a chaotic mess, He’d ask: why did you not keep my house in order?

Would you respond?: I knew your statutes and commands but I wanted You to come and fix it yourself.

Brother Eddie, if you did this, you’d be found to have been a very unfaithful steward. The Master of the house has left us plenty of guidance on how to keep His house in order. Are you prepared to meet Him with excuses for knowing the “rules” of order yet doing nothing? Come on, brother. You can do better than that.


For real education reform, take a cue from the Adventists

Tell Johnny Vance that the Church functioned just fine with discipline issues prior to the internet, and that the internet isn’t the only way to work on this issue.

@Professor Kent: I’m just curious on a couple of points.

1) Does the Spectrum blog get the same criticism from you for its public and vitriolic rants against the church as Educate Truth? If not then I’d be curious to know why they get a pass.

2) If you think that Educate Truth is so bad, then why do you keep on feeding the fire by posting on it? Common sense would say that you’d shun it to prove it’s as irrelevant and as awful as you claim it to be. It’s ironic to note that you’re one of those who’s actually proving Educate Truth’s point.

3) I have yet to see you back up your accusations and rants with Biblical support. Do you just pick and choose at your convenience? There are many of us who want a better way. Please feel free to come up with a solution that will move people in a position of power to action. If not then you’re just playing ring-around-the-rosies with the devil while nothing gets done because there’s a lack of backbone in the house of God.