Wake-up Call for Organized Religion

Nationally-syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts (left) has written an article about the conclusion of a new study -- the American Religious Identification Survey--conducted by researchers at Trinity College of Hartford, CT . To nobody's surprise, the survey of more than 54,000 Americans revealed yet another sharp decline in the number of people claiming religious affiliation. Pitts states:

[P]eople of faith should ask themselves: What is the cumulative effect upon outside observers of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker living like lords on the largess of the poor, multiplied by Jimmy Swaggart's pornography addiction, plus Eric Rudolph bombing Olympians and gays in the name of God, plus Muslims hijacking airplanes in the name of God, multiplied by the church that kicked out some members because they voted Democrat, divided by people caterwauling on courthouse steps as a rock bearing the Ten Commandments was removed, multiplied by the square root of Catholic priests preying on little boys while the church looked on and did nothing, multiplied by Muslims rioting over cartoons, plus the ongoing demonization of gay men and lesbians, divided by all those ''traditional values'' coalitions and ''family values'' councils that try to bully public schools into becoming worship houses, with morning prayers and science lessons from the book of Genesis? Then subtract selflessness, service, sacrifice, holiness and hope.

Do the math, and I bet you'll draw the same conclusion the researchers did.

Who can be surprised if the sheer absurdity, fundamentalist cruelty and ungodly hypocrisy that have characterized so much ''religion'' in the last 30 years have driven people away? If all I knew of God was what I had seen in the headlines, I would not be eager to make His acquaintance. I am thankful I know more.

Including that God and religion are not synonymous. God is, for the faithful at least, the sovereign creator of all creation. Religion is what men and women put in place, ostensibly to worship and serve Him. Too often, though, religion worships and serves that which has nothing to do with Him, worships money and serves politics, worships charisma and serves ego, worships intolerance and serves self.

The ARIS survey should serve as a wake-up call to organized religion. It continues in this manner at the risk of irrelevance. I am reminded of a line from the movie Oh, God!, with George Burns as the deity and John Denver as the grocery store manager reluctantly recruited to spread The Word.

''I don't even go to church,'' says the manager.

And God says, ``Neither do I.''

Well put. So how does Pitts' argument translate to Adventism? Is God and certain segments of the organized SDA church not synonymous? Granted, we are also perpetrators of our own "fundamentalist cruelty and ungodly hypocrisy." More importantly, how do Adventists shift the perception of those who see Adventism as a sectarian religion of the 19th century?

Borrowing from a thoughtful blogger to drive the point home further, physician and blogger Brenton Reading states in Epicenter Conversation,

“Since we first heeded the call out of Babylon over 150 years ago, we have sought to build ourselves a sanctuary and insulate ourselves from society. We have accomplished this by demonizing ‘secular’ culture, suspecting all other religions and denominations, and creating a structure separate from and similar to the surrounding society with our own elaborate denominational hierarchy, school systems, and even our own hospitals. In the process, we have often succeeded in recapitulating the error of the Israelites. Too often, we have forgotten that we have been blessed to be a blessing.”

Yes we have been blessed, despite our hermeneutic approaches to the Gospel. And I am optimistic. You see, my Adventism doesn't insulate itself from the rest of the world for sectarian appeal. The people in my Adventist circles and of my generation don't care to be in tension with their surrounding culture. They want to engage their surrounding culture! Many of this generation have evolved against a Neanderthal approach to Adventism . Our evolution has taken us from cozy Sabbath submission to complete Christ-submission--a daily obedience to love outwardly and upwardly.

Prolific author George Knight reminds us in his speech at the 2000 GC session:

“Our devil is not a dumb one. He knows that if he can discourage the best of our young people from taking over the church, it will be dead or dying. To reach the new generation, we must learn to communicate in the language of their day, just as Jesus used the language and idioms of His, and James White did in his. If the church insists on using the idioms of the nineteenth century to reach young people in the twenty-first, it will eventually end up the same as the Amish, who have maintained their forms and traditions but lost their mission to the world. ”

God is indeed the sovereign creator of all creation. And I believe that same Creator is raising up this new generation of Adventists to reach people of all nations and tongues with as many means as necessary.

Deadly Distractions

Comic from Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
(click to enlarge)

"Truth Led Me Out"

Dale Ratzlaff. He is no longer a Seventh-day Adventist. But he should be of significance to Adventists. At the 2005 Ellen White Summit, Jud Lake, professor of preaching and Adventist Studies at Southern Adventist University called Dale Ratzlaff "the fountain head" of all who criticize the SDA denomination.

Dale Ratzlaff is the originator, publisher, and major contributor to Proclamation! magazine which is mailed free to an alleged 10,000 former, current, inquiring, Adventists and Evangelicals. The magazine is currently edited by Colleen Tinker, herself a former Adventist.

Dale Ratzlaff is obviously a controversial figure. If we go by the letters to the editor published in Proclamation! magazine, people either love him or hate him. And he has written a number of books arguing against Adventist theology. The two most significant are The Cultic Doctrine of Seventh-Day Adventists: An Evangelical Resource and an Appeal to Adventists which provides an incisive critique of the doctrines of the Investigative Judgment and Ellen White's inspiration; and Sabbath in Christ (an earlier edition was called Sabbath in Crisis) which argues that the Sabbath is no longer a requirement for Christians. In fact, this book played a significant part in the Worldwide Church of God giving up the Sabbath and commemoration of feast days.

I have always enjoyed reading about the spiritual journeys of people. And I have often wondered how individuals move from one belief system to another. How does someone like Dale Ratzlaff, originally a conservative, fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist who studied in Adventist schools, graduated from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, and taught Bible in an Adventist school for seven years — how does someone like this come to make such a major shift in their understanding of the Bible and leave behind a system of belief? Wouldn't it be good if someone like Dale Ratzlaff shared with us his journey from one place to another?

Well... Ratzlaff has done just that in his new book Truth Led Me Out. It is a short book (only 156 pages including appendices) and yet provides a very useful insight into the process of one man courageously following where he believes the evidence leads.

In the preface, Ratzlaff explains why he wrote the book. According to Ratzlaff, he is

... continually being accused of leaving because I wanted to live in open sin. When I respond that I left because of thorough Bible study and a desire to be true to my conscience, I am often met with a blank, questioning stare. For many this is simply incomprehensible. How can one leave "the truth" and not go into error? (p. 9)

Ratzlaff offers three reasons for writing this book:

1. It is his life story.
2. He wishes to answer the many questions that he has received about the details of 'his exodus'.
3. It may motivate some to do their own study to find truth for themselves.

Truth Led Me Out uses, as its "launching pad" an email Ratzlaff received from an Adventist pastor crying out for help as he 'desperately sought God's will.' (p. 11) He shares the email with the reader and then begins his story of his upbringing within the Adventist denomination. He shares the way in which he struggled with serious theological questions from an early age, his discovery of the gospel, secret meetings that occurred as part of the theological turbulence within Adventism as fundamental doctrines were challenged, and the challenging decisions he had to make as he left the denomination and established his ministry to ex-Adventists as he believed God was calling him to do.

There are a number of reasons this book is worth the time to read:

1. It provides an insight into the real reasons that some people leave the Adventist denomination. Within Adventism, there is only one term that is used to label those who have left: apostate. The term implies some moral fall no matter what the reasons for leaving. For many Adventists, leaving the denomination is equivalent to losing salvation. Very few that I have talked to would imagine these individuals have left because they actually don't believe certain doctrines anymore. And often there is no consideration that they may still remain Christian. For many, leaving Adventism is the end of the road as far as salvation is concerned.
   
   It is important that we listen carefully to the stories of people who leave and accept their stories as their stories. It seems clear, from Ratzlaff's story, that he is deeply committed to God, believes he is following God's will. It is important to hear stories about the courage that others have to follow their conscience no matter what the cost.
   
2. This is the first book I have read related to the theological controversy within Adventism where the author names names. Often, claims are made by critics of Adventist theology that Adventist scholars, administrators, and pastors don't really believe certain doctrines but we never get to know just who they are talking about. Well, Dale Ratzlaff tells us who. He provides the names of people who had discussions with him, suggested that he minimize the truth about what he believed, or keep them to himself, and so on. Ratzlaff wants to counteract what he believes is the traditional practice of '... Adventism and how its leaders have either tarnished or rewritten the history of those who have made public its errors.' (back cover)

Despite the value of reading about Ratzlaff's journey, I am a bit disappointed that it stops at the point it does and doesn't explore in more depth some of Ratzlaff's thinking. For example, there is his experience with John Wimber and Ratzlaff's speaking in tongues; his 'Encounter with the Holy Spirit' where he claims to have received direct revelations about others. I would love to read more about how Ratzlaff has incorporated these experiences into a theology of the Holy Spirit and how these relate to his previous understanding of Ellen White's ministry.

In addition, if you read Proclamation! you will find that Ratzlaff has adopted other beliefs held by most (but not all) Christians. For example, he now believes in the traditional Christian beliefs on death and hell and fundamentalist understandings of inspiration and the nature of the biblical text. Clearly, the end of Truth Led Me Out is not the whole story. I would have liked to be able to read how these journeys into other areas inconsistent with Adventist theology occurred.

Truth Led Me Out is an adequate, informative book about Ratzlaff's journey out of Adventism. It is simply told in straightforward narrative form. Although it makes reference to the broader context of the theological and political context of Adventism and the theological crisis that correlated with his journey, the story lacks a breadth and nuance that these would have brought if considered in more depth.

In addition, the suggested resources at the back of the book are all, except for one, critical of Adventism. In my view, when providing resources for people to think through an issue, both sides of the argument should be provided. So if you are looking for both sides of the debate on Adventist ideas and theology, then you will need to explore outside the resources suggested.

If you wish to gain some insight into Dale Ratzlaff and why he is one of the most significant critics of Adventism, then you will want to read this book.

Richard Dawkins for Cats

Richard Dawkins has recently published a new edition of his book, The God Delusion specifically for the cat community.

Source: Unknown

(This is, of course, a joke! — you'd be surprised at what some people believe.)

Reasons for Unbelief

The words at the bottom of the cartoon are Ted Rall’s. His comment may have been inspired by “official” explanations like the following: Believe in God or you may end up in not one but two lakes of fire, pelted by fire and brimstone, or “broken on the wheel.”

Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 7, pages 875 and 876
"‘A lake of fire'. Or 'The lake which is fire.' This phrase immediately turns to the reader's mind to an identical phrase in Rev. 20:10, which in turn seems to call for the conclusion that these phrases refer to the same a fiery event, namely, the destruction of the wicked at the end of the thousand years. But to do so presents a problem.

"Revelation the 19th chapter is most evidently discussing events in connection with the second coming of Christ. Hence to hold that the lake of fire mentioned in Rev. 19:20 describes an event at the close of the millennium is to lift this verse out of its contextual sequence. It is always better, if possible, to find an explanation that allows any given statement to maintain its historical sequence in a passage of Scripture. As regards Rev. 19:20, this is possible on the reasonable premise that there is a fiery judgment from God both at the beginning and at the close of the millennium. This is no inconsistency and certainly no contradiction in speaking of a lake of fire at the beginning and the lake of fire at the end of the millennium.

"James White wrote thus on this point: 'So, if you please, there are two lakes of fire, one at each end of the one thousand years' (RH Jan. 21,1862)."

The Week magazine, February 27, 2009, reported on page 6:

“Confession, after the Vatican announced that men who go to hell—likely for sins of lust—will have their souls pelted with fire and brimstone, while women’s souls will be punished—probably for sins of pride—by bring “broken on the wheel”.

cartoon from Search and Destroy by Ted Rall
(click to enlarge)