Three New (Interesting) Blogs in Adventism
Here are three recent members in the Adventist blogoshere. I think that what makes these bloggers especially interesting is the very personal focus of their writing. They write from experience.
1. Trinidad. Adventist. Gay?
Twenty-something. Male. Trinidadian. Have same-sex attractions. Love God. Here to help. Please understand that because Trinidad and Tobago is such a small place I can’t be too descriptive; especially since I am a Seventh-Day Adventist. They all know one another!
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2. John McLarty, Pastor, North Hill Adventist Fellowship, Edgewood, WA, reflects on a book given out by his conference president to all the pastors, Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be):
I am puzzled by the book. It is clear that one of the authors’ major concerns with the Emergent Church is their downplaying of eternal torment. Both authors return to this repeatedly throughout the book. Of course, we Adventists applaud the Emergents for their “seeing the light” on this doctrine.
The larger concern of the author, however, though he never uses the word, is epistemology. He insists we take the inerrant Bible as our guide. He argues the Emergents have no clear authority–not the Bible, not the Church, not “their church”, not the Holy Spirit. It is not only that the Emergent movement is intentionally doctrinally amorphous. It is that the movement insists there is no proper way to be definite about any truth.
Reading the quotations DeYoung cites, I am reminded of classic apophatic theology but without the stability and wisdom offered by deep connections with the history and traditions of the Christian Church. Emergent authors question all theological affirmations while appearing to uncritically make strong ethical, social and political affirmations. I am sympathetic to the social concerns characteristic of the Emergent movement, but I think DeYoung’s criticism of their epistemology is apt.
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3. Rajmund Dabrowski, Communication Director at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Church writes about Barack Obama’s inauguration, meeting Benicio Del Toro after a special screening of Che and the terrible injustice of Mugabe:
. . .once again, Archbishop Tutu pricked my conscience with a challenge – this time to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe. Starvation, cholera, apathy and hopelessness of a land whose innocent victims are countless children and women all are crying to high haven.
This week’s end topped my anger and my resolve with a news feature in The New York Times about scores of desperate and destitute Zimbabwe children whose plight takes them from hell into South Africa’s milieu of the “unwelcome” and resentment.
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Are you following some interesting (not just new) blogs around Adventism these days? Share them in the comment section below.
