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On page 2 of the August issue of Adventist Review, Justin Kim has written an editorial titled One out Dangerous Idea. You may read it at the link below. I will open this thread for discussion after I have posted a comment on his article. https://adventistreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AR-AUGUST-2025_Web.pdf * Justin kim's article seems to suggest to me that the primary purpose of the Ordained Pastor should be evangelism.. That would seem to be in accord with Matthew 28:19-20. However, such lacks the mission laid out in Revelation 14:6-12 that in End Tims assigns the task to the Church of preparing a people for the Coming of Christ. * I once lived in a country where the typical SDA pastors had 13 congregations. Of course the Elders ran those congregations. I noted that the organizations critical of the SDA Chruch would get their materials, translated into the native language, six months before the Local Conference could get a rebuttal in the native language. * Yes, indeed, Justin's idea would be quite destructive, in my opinion, of the mission given to us be God for the SDA Church. * We need more pastors and less administrators.

Joe, I was not offended by your post in any way. I just wanted to show I was not some backwoods' person, blindly followed the bible. Although there are times when I envy those people. I believe there are VERY many sincere scientists who are working to understand more. But in 2025, we have people posing as scientists, with fake science, like this Mars rover thing. It undermines real science.

I am sorry, I do not believe any of it. 1) A radio signal sent through space is subject to plasma discharge from our sun and the Galactic sheet (more plasma discharge) and must travel through the Van Allen belts. It would be difficult for a text message to arrive through 140 Million miles of this interference, let alone a high bandwidth video signal. 2) Both ends of the transmission are MOVING. They require highly directional antennas that cannot be synchronized to the precession of 140 Million miles away. 3) Because of the scatter, dispersion, noise, drift, the power would have to be enormous. A battery the size of a baby stroller, weighing thousands of pounds, would be needed to send streaming video.

There is a serious credibility problem with science. Here is a 1-minute video that highlights the problem. https://www.bitchute.com/video/BT6cVDmo6Z9N As someone with extensive 2 way radio experience, I can tell you that they're not live-streaming from 140 MILLION miles away.

The reason why it is a usual argument is atheists have no true or logical answer to it. I have never gotten any other answer from an atheist than the one you just gave, "You're wrong and just to simpleminded to understand science" Several prominent atheists have admitted it takes just as much faith to believe in atheism as it does to believe in God. Admitting that it is in fact a theory, not truly science. Those are just the facts, none of which has ever been dis proven to me with anything but I was just to simple to understand. You do know that not only atheists attend college and take the sciences taught by atheist don't you?

I know Science and Physics. I have a high IQ. But Theophilus , said it very well Most of the scientists look at science through am evolution lens. One of my favorite podcaster is Bret Weinstein, an evolutional biologist. Smart guy, but we see some things differently. Both sides can look at the same evidence and come to different conclusions. Like the Grand Canyon. One side sees the cut in the soil and the deep gorge and says that's proof of a long period of erosion. The other side says, no, those are sediment layers put down by a large flood. I do like to see what other people have to say on the topic.

I have always questioned the millions and billions of years--I just dont know where those figures comes from. I found this-- 1. Biblical Arguments YEC reasoning starts with the belief that the Bible gives a reliable historical record from creation onward. Plain reading of Genesis Genesis 1 presents six literal 24-hour days (yom with “evening and morning” formula). Exodus 20:11 links the creation week to the Sabbath command, implying no symbolic “ages.” Chronological genealogy Genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 give a relatively complete timeline from Adam to Abraham. Adding biblical dates from Abraham to Christ to modern times yields about 6,000 years. No death before the Fall YECs argue that “millions of years” puts death, disease, and predation before sin, conflicting with Romans 5:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:21–22. 2. Theological Concerns Undermining the Gospel Foundation If death existed before sin, then Christ’s atonement would not be a direct reversal of the curse introduced in Genesis 3. Authority of Scripture YECs see acceptance of millions of years as reinterpreting Scripture to fit secular science, undermining biblical authority. 3. Scientific Objections to Millions of Years While YECs don’t deny scientific observations, they reject uniformitarian assumptions — the idea that present processes explain all past events at the same rate. Geology Catastrophism: The global Flood of Noah’s day could explain large-scale sedimentary layers, rapid fossilization, and continent-scale strata without millions of years. Polystrate fossils: Tree trunks found vertically through multiple rock layers suggest rapid deposition, not slow burial. Soft tissue in fossils: Findings of soft tissue and proteins in supposedly millions-of-years-old dinosaur bones challenge long-age assumptions. Radiometric Dating Assumption challenge: YECs argue dating methods rely on unprovable assumptions about initial conditions, constancy of decay rates, and closed systems. Discordant results: Different methods sometimes give vastly different ages for the same rock. Astronomy Light travel time: Alternative models (e.g., gravitational time dilation or God creating light in transit) are proposed to explain distant starlight without billions of years. Young phenomena: Observations like spiral galaxy “winding” or short-lived comets suggest a young age. 4. Common YEC Summary

One aspect of science is that there is more to understand. We do not know it all at this time. So, we simply search for truth, wherever it leads.

It was less of a debate and more of a friendly discussion.

I believe the earth is around 6000 years old. I believe the creation of this planet happened in 6 days. I believe God created man from the dust of the earth.

Let me now say, nothing I say here is meant to be argumentative nor is it intended to persuade anyone to believe as I do. I am perfectly fine with everyone believing what they can.

August 8,2025 Joe: there are a series of short statements of fundamental belief, which are the official belief of the SDA Chruch. Each of those short statements is followed by a multi-page explanation and discussion of each statement. That expansion is not an official Church requirement of belief. Only the short statement at the beginning is an official SDA Statement of belief. Today, I discovered that the Belief # 6, on Creation, has officially been expanded by inserting a comment that states the SDA belief on creation to have been a recent creation by God. I had been using an older statement of belief that did not require a recent creation. My personal understanding of the Biblical account of creation is that it does not teach a time for the creation of the Earth. I accept what the Bible teaches as truth, even when I do not understand how it could be true. But, I do not believe that a time for the creation of the Earth can be taught from the Bible.

A relative recent change to our official statement of beliefs adds a comment to the effect that God's creation was recent. That change is absent from the book that I have relied upon as containing our official beliefs. I will simply say: Large numbers of SDAs do not believe in a creation of less than 10,000 years. My personal position remains that God created all life, and the Bible does not specify when.

I think initially it was a far greater risk to people's health when compared to the flu - but as the virus mutated the virus became weaker. I know of two people who died from the Covid Vaccine and two more that I used to work with that developed a heart condition after the 2nd vaccine that had to retire early with one of them in their late 30's. I unfortunately know of two people who didn't get the jab, got covid and died. All of my wife's family in the US work in the medical field with jobs ranging from respiratory therapist to RN (at 4 different large hospitals) and from what they said (at Covid's peak) was that EVERYONE in Intensive Care, at their respective hospitals, who were being treated for Covid complications - were all unvaccinated. I take this to mean that to a greater degree people who were more susceptible to severe illness or death from Covid fared better if they were vaccinated. I also think a lot of people hurt themselves by taking the shot. It's a tough one because how does one know??? I had a long talk with my Doctor and due to my medical conditions he recommended I get the shots - I got 5 and called it good after that. Despite that I caught Covid and was surprised that I had zero respiratory problems. I have fairly serious asthma combined with PFAS so I was really stunned I had no breathing problems - for me it was like a very minor cold with ZERO energy and no smell or taste for months.