It’s Really All About God

Review by Nathan Brown

In our increasingly pluralistic societies, one of the most urgent questions facing Christianity—and Adventism—is how we relate to those who believe differently. Too often, the traditional approach seems to have been to dismiss these others—anyone and everyone who does not believe as we do. But our increasing interaction with those of other faiths forces us to re-examine these assumptions. Life is often not as black-and-white as we might like it to be.

Samir Selmanovic is one voice who can help Christians—and particularly Adventists—wrestle with these issues. Writing overtly as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and pastor, his book It’s Really All About God is published by a large mainstream press, Jossey-Bass, but highlights a number of distinctly Adventist contributions to Christian faith and how these also connect beyond Christianity.

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Please get rid of your spiritual life…

Guest post by Pastor Sam Neves

Somewhere along the line I think we missed the point. I am constantly reminded of the difference between secular and sacred, worldly and spiritual.

Have you ever wondered why so much energy has been spent labeling parts of our life? I remember being taught that I should develop my academic life, my professional life, my family life and you guessed it, my spiritual life. Over the years I have noticed that if each area of my life was compared to a slice of pizza (can’t help it, my family is Italian), then my spiritual life was just another slice of the pizza.

In practice, this meant having to do my morning worship to feed my spiritual life before I faced the secular world. It meant dedicating one day a week to my spiritual life, the Sabbath, whilst caring for my needs on the rest of the week. It meant having to choose certain music as sacred and ignoring others as secular. Some friendships were spiritual whilst others were worldly. Maybe you can relate. If you are happy with this, please forget this invitation and stop reading now!

If you are not fully satisfied with this formula, please read on...

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Relevance, Part 3

A couple of things have happened in the last few weeks that inspired me to begin this series on relevance.  This will be the concluding post - but you may find this theme throughout much of what I write (both in the past, and in the future).  When I preach, when I write, when I do just about anything, I ask myself, what is the point?  And this becomes the question I have to ask about God, His Word, and His Church - what is the point?

For me, I've found meaning in God.  The Bible was a little more challenging - but once I moved past the cultural distortions, I have found great relevance in those words.  I'm still wrestling with the Church though.  I'm wondering, what is it that people are trying to do there?

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Exporting Adventism

Overseas not long ago, I had an interesting interaction with an Adventist pastor. I had just finished telling him about a person who had expressed to me a desire to begin keeping Sabbath and to be baptized. I would have expected him to be thrilled with the news, as this individual had been an ongoing ‘project’ for him for some time. To my surprise the pastor appeared disappointed, annoyed, and even a little angry.

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Egocentric mission or inclusivist gospel?

I've just finished reading an article in Adventist World about the "Roadmap to Mission" draft document to be edited and presented at the Annual Council of the General Conference Executive Committee in October 2009.

According to Mark Kellner's report, the document affirms that

"[t]he goal of Seventh-day Adventist evangelistic and outreach work among adherents of world religions is to bring people into a saving faith in Jesus Christ..."

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Relevance, Part 2

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

When I look around at others, and I try to understand people's motives for church attendance, I am often baffled. I don't really understand why people choose to attend a weekly church service – or get involved at a deeper level. But my not understanding probably says more about me, then it does about the people I'm trying to understand.

Typically, I am not a joiner. I tend to not just go along because everyone else is doing something. As a certified introvert, I tend to prefer my own company over that of others. So, when I see groups of people gathering – for anything, not just church – I am left a little confused as to what their motives, or intentions are.

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Event: Idea Camp Coming to Portland

Idea Camp followed us on Twitter a few days ago, but other than liking the name, I didn't think much of it.  Then, last night, two of my friends invited me to the Facebook event listing for the Portland event.  Now, I don't know about you, but I get a lot of "invites" on Facebook, and most aren't worth my time, but since I recognized the name, I took a look.

If you're familiar with the OpenSource software movement, or the openspacee format of the un-conference, you'll recognize this format.  I've attended various tech events locally, and have been thinking the Church needs to embrace this format of reaching out to our culture, but I haven't had the time to make it happen - yet.

In a nutshell, what this does is to take your online social networking into the real world - and vice versa...

But here it is, live, and coming to PDX!

More details here: http://theideacamp.ning.com/page/icpnw-details

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Being Open

I was looking through my files the other day, trying to gain some perspective on “then” and “now” when it comes to where we are as a church and a nation. Jan Paulsen’s words in the November 9, 1995, Adventist Review have special meaning in light of the current acrimonious, sometimes hateful, potentially deadly, and fundamentally unChristian political rhetoric. “Being open”, when reason is drowned out by shouting, listening is seen as unproductive, and compromise is ridiculed as weakness, is a fundamental test of patriotic duty and Christian virtue.

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Comments

From this point forward we'll be using the Disqus commenting system, this will allow our community to log in using Facebook, Twitter, and other means.  It may take some getting used to, but we think you'll find it better in the long run.

Join the Community, Participate in the Conversation

The beauty of online social-networking is the ability to connect with people across the planet.  No longer are we limited by the constraints of mere physical geography. Now, your sphere of influence and community can include almost anyone.

Join the conversation.  Contribute when you like, or just listen. We invite you to join in the discussion and make Adventism a better reality.  Ultimately, we all want to reflect Christ's character in a way that glorifies Him - and Him alone.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to the feed here.  Whichever works best for you!

No matter your persuasion, your theology, your age, or your gender - everyone is welcome to participate in the conversation.  We'd love to have you on board!

Relevance, Part 1

Twenty-five years ago when I was wrestling with spirituality and religion, I struggled to find meaning.  After dabbling in various religions (e.g. Buddhism, Disco, Scientology, New Age, bowling leagues, and narcissism), I began to re-read the Bible.

My rationale for reading the Bible, wasn't in a search for truth, but rather to expand my rich literary background.  I considered myself well-read, and so, even though I was approaching this from an agnostic's skepticism, I thought it would be good to round out my knowledge.  Instead, I found God.

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Announcement of Changes

For the last few years, I've ran this blog as editor and moderator. Due to time constraints, I'm gladly handing over all editorial duties at Reinventing to Gary Walter. Click here to read Gary's bio.

The vision of our community blog stays the same, yet Gary will add his own style and flair to postings and the look/feel of the website (as you can see, the header image has already changed from the boring Blogger header). You will still see my occasional musings as "Contributing Blogger" writing from the perspective of a life and leadership coach.

I leave you in great hands. Gary is a progressive voice, with experience as a missional pastor, and a person with a caring and graceful nature. Like me, and all the rest, he wants to see the Adventist church become a driving force, a relevant, inclusive and accepting church for today's generation.

Please extend a warm welcome to Gary Walter, and don't forget to change your blog roll editor titles from Marcel to Gary.

Onward and forward we go.....

Marcel - Former Reinventing Editor

Meet the Contributing Bloggers

This page was last updated on October 3, 2011.

Welcome to our contributing blogger profile page. You will notice postings by the people below stretching beyond traditional meta-narratives of Adventism. As we express our faith in a post-Christian culture, we affirm an Adventism proclaiming the fullness of Christ’s vision for humanity.

Note: Commentaries and editorials are the sole expressed views and opinions of each contributing writer, and do not necessarily always reflect the views and opinions of the blog owner, nor the official views of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

We greet you now with a little portrait of ourselves.

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Andy Hanson, Editor and Moderator
Personal Blog: Adventist Perspective

Andy Hanson, Ed.D, recently became Professor Emeritus at Cal State University, Chico where he taught Education. He is a member of Grace Connection and the Paradise SDA Church. He has degrees in English (PUC), MA in Education (Cal State Northridge) and an Ed.D. (USC). Andy was once the editor of Perspective: A Journal of Dialogue for SDA Laymen/Students and the on-line magazine Adventist Perspective. He's married with two sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren. His personal hobbies include fishing, golf, collecting police procedural fiction from around the world, and British novels set in the Victorian era. Andy brings his highly-regarded editorial insights on matters of church ethics /politics and reformation. He blogs regularly at Adventist Perspective.


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Larry Downing, Contributing Blogger

Lawrence (Larry) Downing is a retired person who once served as a parish minister (40 + years), an adjunct professor at La Sierra University School of Business and the School of Theology), visiting professor (Adventist Institute of Advanced Studies in the philippines). He works as a part-time consultant at the White Memorial Medical center in Los Angeles. He is the husband of one wife (47 + years), is the parent of three grown children and a grandpa to four young grandkids. He and his wife, Arleen, have for the past 25 years made their home in Orange County, California.

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Gary Walter, Contributing Blogger
Personal Blog: Confessing My Dad Attitude

Formerly a successful and decorated EMS manager, and now a second-career, ordained Adventist pastor, Gary and his wife, Jennifer, have team-pastored, several churches, including an innovative church plant in Colorado Springs.

Gary is currently a freelance writer and online social media consultant living in Oregon. His online profiles are located at: http://bit.ly/gwalter




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Steve Parker, Contributing Blogger
Personal Blog: Thinking Christian

Steve Parker is the Associate Dean (Academic) at Flinders University School of Nursing & Midwifery. He holds a PhD in nursing and a degree in education. His teaching areas are critical thinking, interpersonal communication, research, and ethics. Steve's theological interests are eclectic, he loves thinking critically and resists any attempts to confine himself within any ideological box. Steve celebrates doubt as an ongoing opportunity to learn and grow. He attends a Seventh-day Adventist church at Morphett Vale, South Australia but has discovered that the freedom of God's grace transcends denominational and religious boundaries and gives no one the right to tell him (or anyone else) what they should believe. He believes that following Jesus is a life of enjoyment, risk-taking, eternal growth, humble revisioning of belief, and loving others. Steve enjoys reading widely, watching movies, is married and has two teenage girls.


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Kathleen Dunn, Contributing Blogger

University Librarian from 1965 to 2004, specialties Reference and Information Services, Collection Management, and Administration. Retired from California State University, Pomona.

Mother of two, grandmother of two, wife of one husband of 48 years.

BA, Pacific Union College; MA; University of Wisconsin, Madison; Ph.D., USC (University of Southern California).

Interested in and some experience with the practices of Buddhism. Have read work of the following authors == Karen Armstrong, Bishop John S. Spong, Burton Mack, and others; Jack Kornfield, Thich Nhat Hanh, and other Buddihist authors; and some Jewish authors, as well. I am a 3rd generation SDA, though I no longer define myself within the narrow confines of Adventist theology.

If you'd like to join our team as a contributing blogger, please contact Andy by email.

Change

Saving Jesus from Adventism

By Bill Colburn

Every movement wrestles with the human inclination to make saints out of it's originating leader-sinners. We all too soon forget that those we celebrate were considered, in the eyes of their contemporaries, miserably unruly heretics.


There is a predictable entropic shift from dynamic to static when a 'faith that works' becomes a success-bandwagon filled to overcapacity with those who don't 'get it'. What soon remains is that which doesn't work because it is not of faith. The proverbial 'tail inevitably wags the dog' in silly, yet spiritually fatal efforts to make Kodak moments of the previous, rather than persistently and continually grasping heavenward for the Precious. Wonder in heavenly wideness, lapses hopelessly into narrow and meaningless wander in humdrum wilderness.

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