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Adventist Ideas Whose Time Has Come, Redux

In June of 2008, I compiled a list of Adventist Ideas Whose Time Has Come. It’s interesting to revisit that post and see what has changed and what hasn’t almost exactly two and a half years later. What do you think should be added or erased as we enter 2012?

OLD IDEAS STAGING COMEBACKS
■ Soy Milk
■ Conscientious Objection
■ Works (not for salvation, but for community)
■ Vegetarianism
■ Caring for Creation
■ The Sabbath School Lesson
■ Women’s Ordination

INNOVATIONS WE MIGHT SERIOUSLY REGRET
■ Video screens in church
■ Instant evangelistic conversion
■ Closing so many Adventist academies
■ Praise music
■ The historical-grammatical method
■ “Seventh-day Adventist” as a corporate registered trademark

SEEMINGLY HORRIFYING IDEAS THAT COULD HAVE POTENTIAL
■ More congregational control over property and money
■ Contested conference elections
■ An Adventist blogosphere
■ Roy Branson, GC vice-president for evangelism and ethics
■ An Adventist Theological Society / Adventist Society for Religious Studies merger

GOOD THINGS WE HAVE THAT WE SHOULD SUPPORT
■ The NAD’s SONscreen Film Festival
■ Adventist Peace Fellowship
■ Jan Paulsen
■ Green campus activism
■ Top notch medical personnel
■ A global church community

IDEAS THAT HAVE OUTLIVED THEIR USEFULNESS
■ Sunday worship as the Mark of the Beast
■ Ingathering
■ 3ABN
■ Mass-evangelism

IDEAS WE THINK WE LIKE— BUT THE JURY’S STILL OUT
■ Chapel Records hires Adventist DJs to remix the King’s Heralds and Take 6.
■ No more segregated conferences
■ Linda Shelton hosting a View-like show on Hope TV.
■ Someone from the 2/3rds world as the next GC President

IDEAS WE ALWAYS STOOD FOR AND ARE NOW COMING INTO THEIR OWN
■ Soul sleep
■ A weekly Sabbath day of rest and in-person community
■ Vegetarianism
■ Women in church leadership
■ No literal hell
■ Not smoking
■ Separation of Church and State

MODEST PROPOSALS FOR THE YEAR TO COME
■ Adventist Community Services and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency join forces
■ Pathfinders with an ecological focus
■ A weekly Sabbath from media
■ More pastors’ wives making music videos
■ Loving our neighbors as ourselves

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