God the eternal Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ. Through Him all things were created, the character of God is revealed, the salvation of humanity is accomplished, and the world is judged. Forever truly God, He became also truly man, Jesus the Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived and experienced temptation as a human being, but perfectly exemplified the righteousness and love of God. By His miracles He manifested God's power and was attested as God's promised Messiah. He suffered and died voluntarily on the cross for our sins and in our place, was raised from the dead, and ascended to minister in the heavenly sanctuary in our behalf. He will come again in glory for the final deliverance of His people and the restoration of all things. (John 1:1-3, 14; Col. 1:15-19; John 10:30; 14:9; Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:17-19; John 5:22; Luke 1:35; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 2:9-18; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4; Heb. 8:1, 2; John 14:1-3.)

There are some good turns of phrase in this belief—"forever truly God, He became also truly man"—but where is the call to be like Jesus? Noting the language above, it reads as though His miracles primarily proved His divinity while there is no mention of how any of his actions, beyond death and resurrection, helped humanity. Oddly, we have coming up in number nine another entire fundamental belief on the Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ just in case anyone didn't catch it in this one. But, spoiler alert, despite the first part of the title, it also glosses right over the actual life of Jesus, merely noting that he was obedient to God.

As documents of their times, it is interesting to see how these fundamental beliefs emphasize what was important to the Adventist Church leaders in the late 70s and early 80s. But where's the Jesus who inspired followers to resist Roman militarism, create hospitals, fight to end slavery or raise the status of women around the world? Where is the God in the gap between being born, dying and the sanctuary in heaven?

Missing is the entire tradition of Christology and ethics—imitatio Christi. While Phil. 2:5-11 is cited, the central point of it is not actually included in this fundamental belief: "in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." Classic works like Thomas à Kempis' The Imitation of Christ, Ellen White's The Desire of Ages or Charles M. Sheldon's In His Steps have helped Christians understand Jesus as more than a symbol on the cross. His calls to "Follow me" and his Sermon on the Mount show that the Son of Man preached and practiced a radical spirituality and social ethic that continues to inspire disciples.

This mimicking of Christ is developed by Paul in 1 Cor. 11; 1 Thess. 1:6; Eph 4:32. In the latter, followers are called to be imitators—mimēntai—of God in forgiving others "as God in Christ has forgiven you." In the "Imitation of Jesus" entry in the Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics, F. Scott Spencer writes:

The imitation of Jesus in tradition and Scripture stresses a thoroughgoing, wholehearted response of discipleship to Jesus as sovereign Lord and suffering servant more than adherence to a set of characteristics or rules of conduct. Guidance and strength for following the Lord Jesus in today's world come from the foundational portraits of Jesus in the NT and the abiding Spirit of Jesus within individual believers and the community of faith.

In addition to this mimetic, moral example, the Son is also the Word of God and thus reconciles our hermeneutical difficulties between the OT and NT. As Charles Scriven as written for Spectrum and published in books like The Promise of Peace, as the incarnate Word of God, following the example of Jesus helps us interpret scripture. He writes: So here was Someone like you and me—who, by the Father’s grace was so fully responsive to divine leading that He was the human form of who God is. In Him you could see the identity of God” (106). In Matthew 5, the Son reveals this principled divine identity that subtly fulfills, and reconciles with, the actions and commands of God recorded in previous cultures. "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." This is godliness according to the Son of God. It is through the incarnation of the human and divine identified in Jesus that all imitators elevate their understanding of our relationship to God—in acting like Jesus, we see everyone's relationship to the divine.

Image: Rene Magritte, The Son of Man, 1964.

Addicted to health food stores, I came across quinoa about 18 years ago, packaged in tiny boxes with an alarming price tag and the promise of exceptional nourishment. My favorite health food store had a sales advisor who sold me on its health benefits, but he had little to say about how exactly to prepare and use quinoa.

At home with my new treasure, I read the instructions: “Rinse well before cooking.” Have you seen dry quinoa grains? They’re practically microscopic; most of the pricey grains caught the flowing water and rode on to provide nourishment to whatever creatures inhabit the pipes and sewer system under our house. The little quinoa that remained, I cooked, and the outcome was a pasty, gummy mess not suitable for human consumption, so it too, nourished the landfill.

I didn’t try quinoa again for many years. During those years, the price of quinoa came down a bit, the boxes got bigger and the Internet changed the culinary world forever. Now, if you want to learn how to effectively use quinoa, Google, Wiki and Bing, among many others, are there to help. The hundreds of videos on YouTube about rinsing quinoa completely validate my original struggle.

But I have learned something important: You don’t actually need to rinse quinoa. Put quinoa and water in a rice cooker, then turn it on. This single solution has revolutionized how I prepare quinoa and has thus helped me and my family to ingest it and personally, physically, benefit from its outstanding provision of nutrition. I’ve grown to love this little powerhouse grain.

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet my son’s girlfriend and her family for the first time, and we agreed to have a Sabbath picnic after church. Since we don’t live in the area, my resources were limited to whatever kitchen items my son had scavenged from our house for his collegiate apartment. On Friday, we scoured through his bachelor’s cupboards, then made a quick trip to the little store on the corner and managed to put together a delicious Mexican quinoa salad for the next day’s outing.

Everyone loved it and wanted the recipe—and that’s really the birthplace for this article. When giving out a quinoa recipe, I struggle with any form of precision or measuring, or formulation. And I certainly can’t discuss it without addressing the rinsing step that seems to foil people in their own efforts to use it. The key for using quinoa is to cook it in advance in your rice cooker and fluff it while it cools down. Refrigerate it, and then it is ready to become whatever you want it to become; it makes a wonderful replacement for rice, pasta, potatoes and other starchy higher glycemic foods.

I have used quinoa in stir fries, soups, casseroles, veggie burgers and veggie nut loafs, all with excellent outcomes. It's a blank canvas on which you can create a lovely, beautiful, nourishing occasion that brings out the best in the people you care for and love. 

Kathryn Stiles is married and has a son attending Southern Adventist University and a daughter attending La Sierra University. She currently works at the new Loma Linda University Medical Center -  Murrieta as the executive director of marketing and communications.

Photo credit: Kathryn M. Stiles

This week’s recipe for Mexican Quinoa Salad comes from Kathryn M. Stiles in Murrieta, Calif. Stiles notes that salad ingredients for this recipe are only suggestions; the recipe can be easily adopted to your preferences.

Mexican Quinoa Salad
Serves: 4
Total time: 40 min.

Quinoa
2 cups dry quinoa
4 cups cold water

Dressing
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
Honey or agave to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Dash of hot sauce
Dash of fresh lime juice

Salad Ingredients (Suggestions)
One or two red and green bell peppers, diced
1 can (about 2 cups) black beans, drained
1 small can black olives, drained and chopped
¼ red onion, chopped fine
2 ears of fresh, or 1 small bag of frozen, corn kernels
¼cup jalapeno peppers, fresh and diced without the seed, or pickled and diced, to taste
1 small package cherry tomatoes
1 handful cilantro, diced
1 handful pepitas (pumpkin seeds), raw or toasted
2 handfuls raw spinach leaves
1 head chopped romaine lettuce
2 small avocados, diced

1. Place quinoa in rice cooker and cook according to its usual setting. When your rice cooker clicks off, remove the quinoa immediately and let it cool in a large container. Fluff it lightly with a fork. Place the quinoa in a covered container, to cool.

2. While the quinoa is cooking, make the dressing by whisking together the ingredients in a small bowl.

3. Prepare the salad by combining your choice of suggested options, except for the avocadoes, which should be added just before serving. Add half the dressing to the salad, then mix well.

4. Add the cooled quinoa at the very end, tossing it lightly into the other ingredients. Save the other half of the dressing until just before serving, then lightly drizzle it over the top.

1. Seventh-day Adventists join with 100,000 Christians in Indonesia on May 17 and 18 in a Celebration of Unity with the World Council of Churches.

2. According to a study of Adventists that has been picked up by dozens of news organizations around the world: Vegetarians Live Longer Than Meat-Eaters.

3. British International Development Secretary Visits ADRA-UK & Praises Grass Roots Work.