Jan Paulsen gets it again
By Alexander Carpenter
The General Conference has been engaged in retooling the world administrative structure and this weekend, for Annual Council, Jan Paulsen delivered a pointed sermon on a few priorities (and moot points) for the future.
Recalling the world church’s past discussion on
women’s involvement in church ministry, Paulsen said many woman trained
in ministry are not so much concerned with the issue of ordination as
with just being employed in ministry.
“Local churches are reluctant, and conferences find them difficult
to place. That, I think, is a most unfortunate failure,” Paulsen said.
But the issue, Paulsen said, that has the potential of dividing the
church most is theology. He said he does not support another restudy of
theological issues originally presented 50 years ago in the book
“Questions on Doctrines,” particularly regarding the nature of Christ. “I think there is a reason why we have chosen generous language in
describing our position as a church on the nature of Christ,” Paulsen
said. “The uniqueness of Jesus Christ … leads us to that,” he stated.
“I just cannot imagine a post-modern person in Europe, a businessman in
Asia or Latin America, any more than a farmer in Africa will care one
iota whether Christ had the nature of man before the fall or after,”
Paulsen said. “The realities of the world in which we live have other
concerns and other priorities which occupy us.”
I believe that’s called present truth.
This gets at a Spectrum Blog discussion about Adventists showing moral solidarity with the people — not the military junta — of Burma. Should we hone our public moral voice, not just our theological one?
