One thing I appreciate about Randal Wisbey is that he …

Comment on Readers respond to Adventist Review article by David Read.

One thing I appreciate about Randal Wisbey is that he has at least enough integrity not to lie about what is going on at LaSierra. In this letter to the Review, as with his previous open letter written about a year ago, he does not deny anything that Educate Truth has been saying about the situation at LaSierra.

Wisbey does not deny that LaSierra biology professors are teaching Darwinism as truth. He does not deny that Louie Bishop was disciplined for leaking Darwinist teaching materials (which the school absurdly asserts was a violation of copyright). He does not deny that he believes that Darwinism is the true story of human origins, and in fact subtly affirms this by asserting how difficult it is to integrate Adventist beliefs with biology education.

Every word that Randal Wisbey has written is completely consistent with what Sean and Shane have been saying about the situation at LaSierra. With regard to what is going on at LaSierra, there is not, as attorneys like to say, “a triable issue of material fact.” It is time for summary judgment.

David Read Also Commented

Readers respond to Adventist Review article
Richard, you are right that this is a symptom of a more general problem. It is a law of human action that any organization that is not explicitly and militantly conservative will liberalize over time. Having been raised and educated an SDA, and having lived most of my life in Texas and the past 12 years in California, it has become clear to me that the process of liberalization is far advanced in what you might call “blue state” Adventism.

Be that as it may, Darwinism is very good place to draw the line, because the issue is so clear, so “cut and dried.” Seventh-day Adventism calls attention to the biblical sabbath, with its rationale of creation in six, literal 24 hour days. We also have scores of statements from Ellen White repudiating Darwinism and Lyellism (long-ages geology) both of which were extant and well established during her lifetime. So trying to engraft Darwinism onto Adventism would require an “extreme doctrinal makeover”, as it were, as well as the abandonment of Ellen White as a prophet, or as anything other than a 19th century devotional author of no special authority and limited relevance.

Most Adventists, even in “blue states,” are still uncomfortable with such an radical change in Adventism, which is why LaSierra has always been careful to fly under the radar, and why the Seventh-day Darwinians are so upset about the publicity this site is generating.


Recent Comments by David Read

The Reptile King
Poor Larry Geraty! He can’t understand why anyone would think him sympathetic to theistic evolution. Well, for starters, he wrote this for Spectrum last year:

“Christ tells us they will know us by our love, not by our commitment to a seven literal historical, consecutive, contiguous 24-hour day week of creation 6,000 years ago which is NOT in Genesis no matter how much the fundamentalist wing of the church would like to see it there.”

“Fundamental Belief No. 6 uses Biblical language to which we can all agree; once you start interpreting it according to anyone’s preference you begin to cut out members who have a different interpretation. I wholeheartedly affirm Scripture, but NOT the extra-Biblical interpretation of the Michigan Conference.”

So the traditional Adventist interpretation of Genesis is an “extra-Biblical interpretation” put forward by “the fundamentalist wing” of the SDA Church? What are people supposed to think about Larry Geraty’s views?

It is no mystery how LaSierra got in the condition it is in.


The Reptile King
Professor Kent says:

“I don’t do ‘orgins science.’ Not a single publication on the topic. I study contemporary biology. Plenty of publications.”

So, if you did science that related to origins, you would do it pursuant to the biblical paradigm, that is pursuant to the assumption that Genesis 1-11 is true history, correct?


The Reptile King
Well, Jeff, would it work better for you if we just closed the biology and religion departments? I’m open to that as a possible solution.


The Reptile King
Larry Geraty really did a job on LaSierra. Personally I think it is way gone, compromised beyond hope. The SDA Church should just cut its ties to LaSierra, and cut its losses.

As to the discussion on this thread, round up the usual suspects and their usual arguments.


La Sierra University Resignation Saga: Stranger-than-Fiction
It is a remarkably fair and unbiased article, and a pretty fair summary of what was said in the recorded conversation.