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hmm

Yes we need to check things, however, we have been a church of growth, and a church of diversity. The people who tend to complain about the church going into apostasy have been complaining since 1888. In the early 1900s they even accused Mrs. White of apostasy and recommended not reading her newer works but to only read her older works and to have her interpreted by some of the pastors who taught their views. (Pastors who by the way I read a number of letters from both Ellen and nearly identical letters from Willie that was critical of them.) Granted as time went by they were able to find post 1888 works that they could quote and they either said that people were messing with her writings, or changed the timing of these supposed heresies until after Mrs. White died. They use to blame much on Willie (one even would use the texts about Samuel's sons and Aaron's sons as talking about Willie) and W. W. Prescott. I read one criticism of Prescott written in the early 1900s. It said that a certain heresy had come into the church during the 1890s when Prescott was helping Mrs. White with her works and has passed his beliefs into the church pretending that she was writing. Now the same criticism is again floating around the church except that they changed the name of Prescott to Froom and from it being Prescott's work with Mrs. White in the 1890s to Froom's own work from the 1950s. If this heresy did not come into the church until the 1950's, why is it that the great-grandparents of these same people who are accusing Froom of introducing the heresy wrote the same complaint and blamed Prescott? There is a group of people who believe that the gospel is the good news that the church is going to hell in a hand basket. They have had many of the same complaints for decades and as time goes by they like to re-package their old villains and turn them into hero's of their cause and place the blame on more modern villains.

Guess we'll see how long it stays that way... got a long way to catch either of you! Noticed I must have blown through 15,000 posts unawares at some point in fairly recent history, too.

I'd say that was the number of perfection, wouldn't you?

Is it simply good news? Or a complex riddle to be solved in order to be saved? Why do I get the impression from many discussions of the Gospel that God is playing a cruel "gotcha" game with our eternal destiny? "Ha ha ha! So sorry you misunderstood the subtle intricacies of ancient words, symbols, object lessons, and metaphors. You lose!" How many people just give up in the confusion, thinking they are just too dumb to be saved?

In chapters 14 and 15 Matthew serves up three stories about crumbs with a few teachings thrown in to, like salad and vegetables, to round out the meal and fill the plate. But make no mistake, the theme of these two chapters is the Kingdom of God being served up so the hungry might be filled, the hurting might be healed and the dead might have life. These two chapters are focusing on the banquet feast of the Kingdom of God. There are two stories of mass feedings with meager supplies. Both times Jesus takes what’s available, gives thanks and then, without making a fuss, tells the disciples to “Feed the people.” Both times there are left overs. But, I’m getting ahead of the story. Before each meal, there are healings. Jesus walks into one crowd and the other walks up to Him. The first crowd is on the shore, Jesus has compassion and he goes ashore and heals them. The second crowd discovers him sitting on a mountain and rushes to him – with their lame, blind, deformed, deaf and dumb – and he healed them all. The difference between the two crowds was their heritage – and the size of the baskets they brought to the banquet. The Israelites followed Jesus’ boat from the lakeshore hoping for an audience with Him. In compassion He went to them – although, as a people they failed to recognise Him time and time again. His compassion knew no bounds and when He saw the need – even of His fickle fellow Jews – He provided all He had to meet all they needed. The Gentiles flocked to Him because of the testimony of those who had met him previously. Mark tells us this was the same place where Jesus healed two demoniacs. They went to their homes and towns. They told their Jesus story. And when Jesus returned the people rushed to Him and begged to touch the tassels of His robe, such was their faith. They fully expected to be prostrate before Him as He walked by – and then they could just reach up from their humble lowly place and touch the hem of the Master’s garment. Instead, Jesus sat down – at the level of a child – and healed all who were brought to Him. After the two stories of healing we read about the feedings. In the first feeding, the quantity is precise – five loaves and two fish – and the result is a filled multitude and 12 baskets of left overs. In the second feeding, the quantity is unsure – seven loaves and a few small fish – again resulting in a filled multitude and 7 baskets of leftovers. The meat in Matthew’s Kingdom crumb sandwich is completely missed in the English word “basket” and yet it is the entire point of these two stories. Before we explore these baskets – and the amount of crumbs they held – we need to visit a lady with a demon possessed daughter. She is a Gentile. Jesus is a Jew. She knows her place – lower than the Master’s tassels – but puts herself under the table instead. She asks Jesus to heal her daughter. At this point in Matthew’s Gospel he is hoping the reader is starting to get the point that whenever Jesus gets cryptic, He’s talking about the Kingdom of God – the new Kingdom of God. She begs from a distance. Jesus keeps moving. She gets closer – crying out in prayer for her daughter’s healing – She says, perhaps quoting Psalms, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.” She knew Jesus for who He truly was. Jesus keeps moving. Finally, the disciples beg him, “Quiet her!” Jesus stops and enters into dialogue with the woman. He talks about the first Kingdom saying, "I was sent to Israel." Finally able to catch up with Jesus, she crumples to the ground and reaches for his tassels, “Lord Help ME!” Then, reflecting on the common practice of keeping pet dogs in the house, Jesus says, “It’s wrong to take the children’s bread and feed it to their pet dogs!” Quick on her knees, the woman replies with a truth of the ancient world, “Yes, Lord, but everyone feeds the crumbs of that same bread to the dogs once the children are done!” In a world without puppy chow, the pet dogs ate last at the masters table. Jesus laughs. I’m not sure if you can hear it but I sure can! “Too right, woman! Your faith is great. As much as you have asked, you have received! And from that moment her daughter was cured. Jesus contrasts the woman’s faith with the few crumbs typically left for the dogs. It’s not just falling off the table like left over crumbs, it’s pouring onto the floor and bursting out the door of the house and into the streets of the Gentiles – much like the Kingdom of God. Matthew is ready, now, for the next mass feeding. Again, healings come first. Three days later, Jesus suggests that the people might be getting hungry. The story follows the pattern set by the first one. The disciples are asked for what they have. Jesus thanks the Father for it. The disciples distribute it. This time seven baskets remain. This time its Gentiles being healed then fed. This time it’s the people who, like the woman of ‘great faith’ have been healed to a man, woman and child. And this time there are a lot more left overs. To our ear, it’s less. 7 is less than 12. But look again. The first story – with the 12 baskets – says just that in Matthew 14:20. Twelve baskets full. The second story – with the 7 baskets – says … (have a look at Matthew 15:37, it’s more fun if you see it yourself!)… Seven LARGE baskets full. How large? Before we answer that – lets talk about the 12. The Greek word used for those baskets is a basket the size of a lunchbox. The 12 disciples, busy feeding the crowd, probably hadn’t eaten. Collecting the leftovers, they each had a basket of fish and chips to fill their hungry bellies. Israel was fed. Sufficiently. Now to the 7 baskets. Remember how Paul escaped from the men who wanted to kill him .. In a large basket – lowered by a rope? That’s the word used here. 7 man-sized baskets of crumbs. The translation 'large baskets' is understated to say the least! The Kingdom of God is no longer restricted to Israel – it’s being served to anyone who needs God’s grace – whether your need be for a slice of His Divine mercy or a basket full of Kingdom crumbs so big you can climb in, eat until you are full and then fall asleep in the basket of His love. View the full article

Are human beings naturally good? No. The Bible tells us that our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. I accept that face value. As someone who spent years in addictive addiction I know a good deal about how deceitful our hearts are. The addict lives in denial of who he is. He lies to himself and everyone else about who he is. The only way to recover from addiction is to deal honestly with yourself. Many people are unable/unwilling to do this. I know because I watched people who became friends of mine in NA fall back into active addiction and the one thing they had in common was lying to themselves about who they were. They had no desire to honestly look deeply into themselves and then make the changes required of them to stay clean. It was so much easier to just lie to themselves and others than to put forth the effort it takes to face up to themselves and then to others by making all the wrongs they had done to others right as far as humanly possible. I struggled with this big time. It's so much more pleasant (or at least it seems so at the time) to take the easy way out. I had to face up to things about myself that were anything but pleasant. It was humiliating to acknowledge what I had become, who I was at that time. It was even more humiliating to go to the people I had wronged and do all I could to make those things right. But, it was necessary. It's the only workable path to leaving addiction behind. Now, since we are all sinful, born into sin, and can't seem to leave it alone other than through the power of God, if we want to overcome sin we must admit that we are addicted to sin. We have to admit our powerlessness over it and that sin is at the very core of who we are as individuals. Its pernicious behaviors and results affect every aspect of our lives, even if/when we don't want to admit it. Just like the drug addict's heart lies to him about his condition, every sinful human being's heart will lie to him/her about the depth of the hold sin has upon them. . All we are capable of on our own is tinged with sin, which is nothing but the holding self supreme in all things. Sin is selfishness. Now, we can look at the actions of an individual who sacrifices for others and say, Wow, what a good person, but we cannot see into their hearts to see their real motivation. All we can really know about it is that the Bible is correct in its assessment of the human heart. So, we must acknowledge that even the person who sacrifices greatly (the person apart from Christ) does it to get something they value highly that even though they may not be aware of it themselves(the heart is deceitful above all things) their altruism is done to get something they highly value. In other words, it isn't really altruistic. It just appears that way from the outside. As to Robert's continued rant that nothing should be done for self, he is ignoring the fact that if a person doesn't feed, clothe, house himself, educate himself according to the gifts God has given him, that person is absolutely useless to the rest of society. If he starves himself, lives under a bridge, dresses in rags, neglects to educate himself as much as possible, and doesn't earn to the ability God gave him, he can contribute nothing toward the welfare of others. He lives only for himself if he contributes nothing toward the welfare of others, so his first duty is towards himself. God requires that he become all that God created him to be. He cannot fulfill the role God created him to fill if he doesn't take care of himself first, and if he does not fulfill the role God created him to fill he is sinning against God. He has making God look bad. He is smearing God's character. He is robbing God of the talents that God gave him.

I found an interesting post on Facebook. Here is the post and my reply: What do you think of the issue of our attacks on other churches. In particular it is popular in our church to attack the Catholic institution. But when reading this it sounds like it might not be productive. Ellen White: "Do not denounce other denominations—When some who lack the Spirit and power of God enter a new field, they commence denouncing other denominations, thinking that they can convince the people of the truth by presenting the inconsistencies of the popular churches. It may seem necessary on some occasions to speak of these things, but in general it only creates prejudice against our work and closes the ears of many who might otherwise have listened to the truth. If these teachers were connected closely with Christ, they would have divine wisdom to know how to approach the people."—Testimonies for the Church 4:535. PaM 91.2 We, all of us have two attitudes fighting inside of us: There is our sinful nature. I like the discriptions by both the poet/philosopher Eli Siegel and the one by Ellen White. Siegel said "There is in all of us a disposition to think we are for ourselves by making less of the outside world." and Mrs. White says "There is in man a disposition to esteem himself more highly than his breathern; to serve self, to seek the highest place and often this results in evil surmisings and bitterness of spirit." Fighting this is a gift given to us in Genesis 3:15, something that sees evil as ugly and is attracted to beauty. Again Siegel says that our deepest desire is to like the world on an honest basis. Mrs. White says that when we love the world as Jesus has loved it then for us his mission is acomplished; we are fitted for heaven for we have heaven in our hearts. While the desire to be like and with Christ is our deepst desire, until we are born again it is our sinful nature which is in power. The attacking the outside world through the putting down other churches appeals to our sinful nature. Sadly we have suffered for this method of evangelism. We have attracted many into the church who believe that the gospel is the good news that the church is going to hell in a hand basket. They soon discover that even the Seventh-day Adventist church is part of that outside world that they have made a habit of making less of. And thus we get a lot of members who get their glory in putting down the outside world. Our first criticisim of other churches was how tightly they held to a creed, while we are willing to grow, but also hold to only a handful of landmarks and outside of the landmarks, as long as we were not fanatical, willing to question our beliefs and listen to other's questions of what we believe, we could believe what we wish. But too many of us want a strict creed of their views forced on the rest of us.

Well, you have just moved beyond the level of perfection.

There is such a denomination. It is named "The Church of One." The spiritual head of that denomination attends the Boulder SDA Church, as he states that God has required him to do so and in compliance he has attended for probably more than ten (10) years. [No, he is not a member of the SDA denomination.] On a biographical note: He is in his mid 80s as to age. He still works full-time as a catenary engineer and is probably one of a half-dozen of the top world experts in his specialized field. His name is Ian Hayes He is an author who has written seven (7) books of poetry totaling 465 pages. I do not think that they are either available to the public or that he sells them. However, he does give them away to friends. One of the unique things that he does is to take well known writings by other people and rewrite them as poetry. When he does this he gives full credit to the source, which I have not done in those cited below. [NOTE: Also much of his writings is original. to him.] Here are a couple of examples, both of which were written in the late 40s and early 50s: 1) HOPE "Hope is not pretending that troubles don't exist, It is the trust in life they will finally desist. Hope is a faith, a source of strength that's found in every one, When all is dark renew your hope--for then you'll find the sun! Based upon words from Elizabeth Chase." 2) THE 23rd PSALM "The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I need, Green are the pastures 'neath glorious skies, And near restful waters he will comfort and lead Where I can replenish my soul as I lie. Though I walk in the valley of darkness and death He is true to his name, and no evil I'll fear, For he is beside me with rod and with staff, And I shall be comforted while he is near. He has measured my troubles and prepared with his hand, A banquet for life in the sight of my foes. He has taken my head in the palms of his hands, And anoints It with oil and my cup overflows. Goodness and mercy shall follow me still, For the rest of my life I shall be by his side, In the house of the Lord I shall constantly dwell For ever and ever, till death be my bride. Based on words from King David of Israel" 3) I can't help it. the following was written in the 2014 to 2015 time frame and it was based upon a source for whom the copyright had expired and was in the public domain: THE DIVINITY OF WORDS "The Bible was written by the Hebrews of old. With inward incitement by what they'd been told. It was not of God's mode of expression or thought. But by using his servants, through Divinity wrought. God, as a writer, wasn't held manifest, Though men will observe it's not God who's expressed. For He didn't get into rhetoric or word, Nor is logic on trial--it contains what was heard By the writers who crafted his word with their pen; Thus the Bible contains his transactions through men. It is not that the word of themselves were inspired, But the men were inspired, and they did as required. Such divine inspirations acts no only in words, But on Man of himself and expressions observed, Who, under God's aegis, through the Holiest Ghost, Were imbued with the thoughts that God favored the most. When his words are impress on a consenting mind, the wisdom of God is diffused in mankind, Which then when his mind with man's will are combined, The utterances of man are words truly divine. Based upon words by Ellen G. White. Envoi, God has no hands to write, per se, and so He made another way; He uses us to do his work, inspiring us, . . . [sic.] we're just his clerk.'

I suppose before you say anything to them, you should do the research to see whether these things are really so, and look into the history to see what our church was like before, and the values that they held and compare the past with today, then get together with your friend to have prayer for yourselves and your church.

Maybe I wasn't clear. Non-Christian does NOT equal evil. All people (Christian and non-Christian) have fallen short of God's standards. Does that mean they are evil? Probably not by relative human standards; but by God's absolute standards - I think yes. In that sense it is my belief that we all need a Savior to make it into the Kingdom. I thank and praise God that His love for us exceeds His distaste of our sins - so much so that He gave His one and only Divine Son to suffer the consequences of my sin - "evil" - so I don't have to.

I like the article's focus on taking responsiblity for our own emotional states, and agree with it. The context-setting saying 'people take offense too much', though, bugs me. It's almost a truism, but I don't think it's either true or useful. I think people took offense every bit as much in the past as they do now. And some things are genuinely offensive. Often telling people off for being offended is inherently telling them to shut up and continue enduring injustice. How about we just take the message of taking responsibility for our own emotions: and then calmly, rationally, fight injustice?

Dental services for children will soon become a reality at the Seventh-day Adventist operated Good Samaritan Inn (GSI) in Kingston, as construction of the promised health facility was recently completed. View the full article