@Faith: Faith: “And round and round we go.” Indeed! There …

Comment on WASC Reviews LSU’s Accreditation by Charles.

@Faith:

Faith: “And round and round we go.”

Indeed!

There are two opposite sides in “The Great Controversy”. Everyone is on one side or the other in this great war. The battle is for the hearts of the individuals of humanity and many have made a firm decision as to which side they will be loyal. Some know whom they serve. Others are deceived.

How does one KNOW the Bible is literally true?
How does one KNOW that the still small voice he/she listens to is the Holy Spirit?

Proverbs 16:25 – “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

For everything that God has given us, Satan has devised a counterfeit. The nature of a counterfeit is that it is convincing. Monopoly money would never pass as real Federal Reserve Notes. It has to SEEM real and be most convincing. SO….

* For the Sabbath, Satan has substitued Sunday.
* For miraculous creation,he has substituted evolution.
* For God’ ten commandments, Satan took God’s commandments but eliminated the one about IMAGES and then divided the one about coveting into two parts. (That one seems a bit obvious but actually most of Christianity has sort of bought into it, yes?)
* We know that Jesus is coming again but that His coming will be preceeded by a false coming by the “anti-christ” that will “deceive the whole world” so much that IF POSSIBLE even the “very elect” will be deceived.
* And yes, there is the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit. How does one distinguish that voice from the whispers of temptation that Satan puts into our “ears”? Most certainly, Satan has a counterfeit “holy spirit” that can be manifested in multiple convincing ways.

There is ONE TRUTH. There are many counterfeits. How to know which is right and which is wrong? Is the Bible really God’s first and pure line of information from Himself to humanity?

Faith: “And round and round we go.”

True. Faith, if you ever “win” a round with these guys, just remember what Ben Franklin said, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

Each must evaluate the evidence for truth and make a decision. There are billions on planet earth who are seeking truth. When all have made their final decisions, Jesus is coming. It will be soon. Many will be saved. Sadly, the majority will be lost.

Happy Sabbath, everyone. I pray everyone participating on this board will be present in the Kingdom.

Charles Also Commented

WASC Reviews LSU’s Accreditation
@Sean Pitman:

It is interesting to read this dialog. I am not a “scientist” or student of genetics, BUT… I have a bit of common sense.

When I was a child – in the 60’s, I remember reading about the work of a man named Bill Ison with the American wild grapes called “muscadines” – down in Georgia. The “wild” versions of these grapes are okay for eating but have many undesirable traits. Not only did Mr. Ison plant seedlings and select the best (or most desirable) traits from the seedlings, but he also bombarded some of the genetic material (seeds?) with radiation to cause mutations. By far, most of the mutations were worthless. But once in a great while, a “variety” with highly desirable characteristics would emerge and be “selected”.

As a child, this example served as a rational illustration to me. I grew up “in the country” and I observed that anything growing wild tended to be less desirable because of the effect of being “wild” – caused by what I understand to be “natural selection”. When “natural selection” is replaced by intelligent selection, the result is vastly different.

Intuitively (to me at least) “intelligent” will consistently win over “natural” or “wild” pretty much everytime. I see a consistency in decline for those things left unguided. I see a consistency in improvement for those things affected by intelligence. (“improvement” meaning – outcomes that are desired by the one making the choices)

For me (yes, I admit to being a simpleton), the notion that our world of order came to be by some sort of accidental or “natural” process is foolishness. The existence of matter, those things made of matter,and the essence of life itself – is proof enough of Who God is. I can find no reason at all, to doubt the record that He has provided to us to help us understand clearly how we got here, why, and how it all turns out. To me, that record is the highest form of information available to us about our existence.

“God said it, I believe it, and that settles it for me.”

Happy Sabbath everyone. If you do not understand the significance of this “Holy Day”, you miss out on more than you can imagine. If indeed you do honor this day, you acknowledge God as “Creator” of the world in seven literal days – and therein you will have His blessing.


WASC Reviews LSU’s Accreditation
@Steve Shedell:

Well said, my brother.

I suspect that those on this board defending the teaching of evolution (as truth and fact) in our schools have little regard for what EGW has written.

Can you feel the shaking?


WASC Reviews LSU’s Accreditation
@Bob Pickle:

I understand what you mean now.

SAU has a good relationship with SACS as far as I know. And I do not believe that SAU professors are teaching evolution as fact / truth of origins. Maybe SACS are not as advanced as WASC.

I am quite sure that SAU does not offer tenure to anyone either.

But this is the Bible belt and SDAs are not the only religion that believe in a literal 7-day first week creation event that happened about 6,000 years ago.


Recent Comments by Charles

La Sierra Univeristy Fires Dr. Lee Greer; Signs anti-Creation Bond
I read something today that seems relevant to these discussions. I am incredulous that we should be having a discussion within the SDA movment about evolution as having a role in our origions.

But teaching evolution as truth is not the only inroad that Satan has made into our church. In fact, there is little area to our core beliefs that has not been compromised.

Read what Ellen White wrote in GC 509: “Conformity to worldly customs converts the church to the world; it never converts the world to Christ. Familiarity with sin will inevitably cause it to appear less repulsive.”

Jesus is coming soon. Not only is there a great work to be done in taking the 3 angels messages to the world; there is a great preparation to be worked within each of our hearts individually.


La Sierra Univeristy Fires Dr. Lee Greer; Signs anti-Creation Bond
To love the historic truths embraced by the SDA church and to defend them is not “hate”.


The End of “Junk DNA”?
I have studied only elementary courses in science and thus much of what I read in the discussions on this thread are a bit over my head.

Still, I think I have come common sense and that is the tool that I have for drawing the conclusions that I hold.

The Bible describes a 2000 year old event in which the God/human man we know as “Jesus” raised Lazarus from the dead. The event, as described, set a scenario in which Lazarus clearly was dead and his body decomposing. Jesus, in a miraculous way, put “LIFE” back into that decomposing body.

Now either that account is a true event, or it is not. What do you choose to believe? Where is the empirical evidence that this could happen? If you believe the account is true, how do your scientific ideas reconcile to the story?

You can study the building blocks of living creatures / plants and observe much of how life is operating. But without that operational essence that is “LIFE”, those building blocks do not exist.

So Mr “Scientist”, please show me first how to take the elements in their raw forms and put LIFE into them. Then I can believe that you have an understanding of our origins. You are looking at living forms (dead or alive) and drawing conclusions about your observations without explaining the most fundamental cause of it all: How did it get started?

Please don’t make a claim: Demonstrate it. If you understand how it was done, show me. I will make the question even more simple: “What is life?”

“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

“…should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Now if you want to tell me that “God” was some brilliant scientist from another planet who created our beginnings in a laboratory, I will point back to the demonstration by Jesus of the raising of a dead man (Lazarus) after three days of decomposition. Jesus simply called him back to life. There was a reason that Jesus did this and the account of it in scripture makes that reason clear.

I choose to believe that most of our “reality” (including “life”) is beyond our comprehension. There is much about reality that God has reserved to Himself. If you think you can explain it, then you are buying into the lie told by the serpent, “you will become as God…”

Use the intelligence that God has given you to acknowledge your limitations and His role in our existence. Accept by FAITH those things that you cannot understand.

We have been given a few decades of life to live in the world we know and understand today. Empirical evidence available to us would suggest that when we die, that is the sum total and end of it. Of the billions of humans on earth, where is a person among us who has been risen from the dead?

If you have a hope that there is something beyond your death, then you must shed the notion that you can explain our origins as anything besides an unexplainable mystery that God does not share; except for the account of it that He left to us by His servant, Moses.

I choose to accept my limitations and I place my trust and faith in the word that God has left to us, to help us understand how we got here, why we are here, and how it all ends.

“Even so, come Lord Jesus.”


The End of “Junk DNA”?
@pauluc:

So do I understand correctly that your “faith” is subject to your scientific provabilities?

You have not yet addressed what I asked about demonstrating from whence comes “life”? Do you believe that life could exist apart from a miracle working God? Do you believe in miracles? Or do you believe that God is just a very brilliant scientist or magician? OR… is it all just a hoax to persuade us to (whatever)…

At what point do we acknowledge our limitations and that our observations can deceive us?

For what reason was the SDA church founded? Is that reason relative to the reason for its continued existence today?

The name of the church was carefully chosen to reflect the reason for its existence. The “Seventh-Day” refers to the holiness of the the seventh day of the week – in memorial of the literal seven day creation week. The “Adventist” part of the name proclaims that we believe that Jesus is coming again very soon in a very miraculous, splendid, and un-scientific way. BUT, the reason for the existence of this church is the proclamation of these things we believe to be true. It’s not just a club of folks who hold these “beliefs” – although it could sometime seem that way.

No, the seven days of creation were not vast periods of evolutionary development and the clouds of Heaven are not going to be space ships. But in all honesty, from viewing what you write, I would not know what to expect that you believe, relative to our existence and the advent of Jesus in the near future.

I speak in respect to you, with honesty.

I see truth, not as progressive, but absolute. Our perceptions about truth can be progressive or regressive.

Prov 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but…..

Do you believe what you observe? Or do you believe the record that was provided by the Creator?

You claim to be a Seventh-Day Adventist, it seems. I wonder, just what is it about the SDA faith (it seems inapproprate to me to label it as a “tradition”) that, for you, distinguishes it from other “religions”? What is the compelling doctrine or belief that drives you to choose this faith over the abundance of others that are in the world?

Again, with all due respect, I honestly wonder.


An apology to PUC
So far the only substantive responses by PUC defenders have been empty sarcasm and ridicule. Unfortunately, 18-year-old students eat that sort of thing up and follow anyone who has mastered tactics that mirror their favorite media characters. Educate Truth isn’t going after anyone. It is simply laying out the evidence and presentations for all to see and assess for themselves. Educate Truth doesn’t have to point out the dishonesty and the underlying problem that balanced views in science are not being respectfully presented on Adventist college campuses.