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Adventist Today Keith Colburn, Secretary/Treasurer Raymond Cottrell Donna Evans Adventists Are Goal-Oriented

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Adventist Today Keith Colburn, Secretary/Treasurer Raymond Cottrell Donna Evans Adventists Are Goal-Oriented FOUNDATION BOARD Inside Adventist Today Keith Colburn, Secretary/Treasurer Raymond Cottrell Donna Evans Adventists are goal-oriented. We're driven. We're aChievers..We rationally calculate our Gary Fraser, Advisory Council ends, and find means. But in our penchant for working toward a better future, we need not Chair neglect the importance of Christian holy days that provide meaning for present life. Jim Kaatz W For many years we have expected the "imminent" coming of Christ, and our actions have followed Ervin Taylor, Board Chair suit-we have worked hard to that end. We have calculated how best to "finish the work." We used sani- James Walters tariums to promote health as an entering wedge for gaining converts. Eventually, rural sanitariums yielded to giant suburban medical centers. If Dorcas Societies in church basements were good, the worldwide help done through ADRA is better. Even if we are now not exactly ADVISORY COUNCIL sure when the Advent will occur, a diligent, rational work ethic has been established that pervades the Jo & Ken Abbott contemporary Adventist mindset. Gary & Jeanne Bogle Adventist Today is thoroughly Adventist, a goal-oriented, rationally-based publication that wants to Antonius & Lilia Brandon make things better by fostering thoughtful discussion of an increasingly complex church. Accordingly, for Todd Burley this issue we invited members and former members to tell their stories about why they stay, leave or return Charlotte & John Cassell to the church. Also, here we remember Waco of two years ag(}--those former Adventists who were so trag- Judy & Keith Colburn ically misled and ended in a fiery apocalypse. James & Kathryn Dexter By so doing, we give rational, truthful attention to important topics in our lives. But as a Christian pub- Merlyn & Rosemary Duerksen lication, AT also must take time apart from cool, dispassionate engagement with "the issues" to allow affec- Donna Evans tive, even passionate, reflection on our inner religious lives. So, even before reading the focus section on Douglas Ewing Leaving and Staying, why not tum to page 23 and spend 15 minutes--or a thoughtful hour-and allow Beverly & Donald Farley Eileen Greenwalt to lead you in contemplating the Passover. Consider its ancient past, its transformation Gary & Sharon Fraser 2,000 years ago by the cross, a Sabbath rest and a glorious resurrection, and its meaning for 1995. Annette & Gary Frykman We Adventists are often so busy in pursuit of noble ends that we don't take time to remember-to say Richard Green nothing of celebrate-the great Christian holy days. In Christendom Easter and the preceding Lenten Kathi & Richard Guth Season have long been the most significant time in the Christian year. (Christmas is a distant second.) Jackie & Jim Henneberg Yet, as much as I'd like to spend this Easter in worship (as I sometimes do when I am not too busy), I may Dennis & Jolene Hilliard be preoccupied this year. My colleagues and I at Lorna Linda University have planned a business trip I am Susan & Wayne Jacobsen expected to make. My daughters' Adventist academy has planned a school outing for the weekend. My John & Judy Jacobson wife's academy has invited her class of 1965 to a 30th anniversary held on Easter weekend. Elton & Marga Kerr When I was a kid in the 50s, growing up in a sleepy little Adventist college town, I got the sense that Janis and Richard Larsen we believers had it all together, and when a sufficient percentage of the world joined our near-petfect com- Florence & Ken Lorenz munity, the New Earth would appear. When I pastored in the early 70s, I prepared each sermon with a Don & Penny Miller sense of urgency that had little time for the cyclic holidays or the routine seasons of the Christian calendar. Rick Murray But now we Adventists are coming to acknowledge our own humanness-for example, divorce near the Thaine & Wanda Price national average. Perhaps it is time we paused in our activity and reflected along with the Christian world Gary & Ruthe-Marina Raines during this present season of Lent-a time for collective penitence. And then on the climactic Passion of Judith Rausch our Lord on April 14-16, we can reflect on the meaning of Good Friday and the importance of Sabbath Joyce & Phil Reisweig rest, and we can celebrate the joy of Easter Sunday. Gordon & Judy Rick Missy & Richard Rouhe Jim Walters Cherie & Glenn Rouse Doug & Sandy Schultz Don & Ursula Shasky James & Maryan Stirling Ervin & Marilynn Taylor Jim Walters teaches and Bob & Karen Torrey writes on ethics at Lama John & Nancy Vogt Linda University. He David Van Putten also helps teach a James & Priscilla Walters Sabbath School class. Betty & James Webster Stephanie & Tim Welebir Cover photo: Richard Cross and Richard TInker 2 March-April 1995 Adventist Today Contents A CLOSERLOOK: MEMBERSSTAYINGAND LEAVING _ 4 Why I Left the Seventh~day Adventist Church Clela Fuller 6 A Letter to the Church Board Walter Fahlsing 7 Coming Back to Family Rosalie Anderson Lynn 8 Treasure (and a Few Other Things) Hid in a Field Maryan Stirling Walter Fahlsing 6 9 I Am an Adventist DavidJ. Entz 10 Why I Am Still in Love Richard L. Bates 12 The Stages of Faith John K. Testennan 14 The Real Reason People Quit the Church John R. Martin THE FIREAT WAco-A Two ..YEAR MEMORIAL _ 15 The Branch Davidians Today the editors 16 Understanding David Koresh Joseph Greig Rosalie Anderson Lynn 7 17 Adventists and the Waco Syndrome Raymond Cottrell LEITERS 20 Women in the Church 21 Creation Articles IN THE NEWS ------------------------------------- 18 Folkenberg Explains Remarks on Nurture the editors John K. Testerman 12 18 Nielsen Rates Lifestyle Magazine Albert Dittes 18 Church Finds AIDS Challenge in Africa the editors 19 Truth and Financial Consequences the editors 19 NegativeMail on Women's Ordination the editors 24 Financial Irregularities and Sexual Misconduct Charges the editors 24 Creationism: A Hot Issue in Leadership Circles the editors REFLECTIONS ------------------------------------- 23 Across a Century of Centuries Eileen Greenwalt John Martin 14 EDITORIAL ADVISOR: Frank Knittel, La Sierra University Unsolicited submissions Adventist Today (USPS Pending) is published Steve Daily AQ\iENnsTToDAY Andy Nash, Andrews University are encouraged. Payment is com~ bimonthly by Adventist Today Foundation, DIREcroR OF DEVELOPMENT: Beatrice Neall, Union Colkge petitive. Send a self-addressed 1845 S, Business Center Dr., Suite 140, San Dean Kinsey Vol. 3, No.2 Joel Sandefur, La Sierra University stamped envelope for writers' Bernardino, CA 92408. Application to mail March-April 1995 OFFICE MANAGER: Lynn Sauls, Southern Colkg, guidelines. at second-class postage rates is pending at Hanan Sadek Larry Downing, Anaheim Advendst Chllrch, CA San Bernardino, CA. POSTMASTER: EDITOR: Raymond Cottrell DESIGN AND PRODUCTION: Caleb Rosado, Humloldt SWte University, CA Annual subscriptions: send addresschanges to Adtrntist Today, PO. ExECUTIVE EDITOR: Richard Tinker $18 for individuals James Walters Box 1220, Lorna Linda, CA 92354-1220. Colleen Moore Tinker Adventist Today reports on contempo, $12 for students MANAGING EDITOR: EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS: rary issues of importance to Adventist $29 for institutions Copyright@1995 by Adventist Cherie Rouse Antonius Brandon, Lorna Linda University church members. Following basic (Payment by check or credit card. Add $10 for Today Foundation, a nonprofit AsSISTANT EDITORS: Barry Casey, Columbia Union CoUege addresses outside North America.) principles of ethics and canons of organization dedicated to fostering Cheri Lynn Gregory Glenn Cae, South Windsor, Connecdcut journalism, this publication strives for Telephone (909) 884-1224 open dialogue in the Adventist James H. Stirling Donna Evans, Cascade Christian Academy fairness, candor, and good taste. Fax (909) 884-3391 community. ~ Adventist Today March-April 1995 3 A Closer Look: Members Staying and Leaving of State for two years. Later I worked for Paradise Valley Hospital in nursing administration for about 20 years and retired in 1990. My four children received all their education in Adventist schools. Two are still in the Adventist church. I move comfortably among all my children hy I Le and we freely discuss our religious beliefs. I was always content with the Adventist way of life and the schools and the happy, positive people. It was a good life, and I don't live much differently now. The transition from Sabbath School teacher to nonmember took 12 years. About 1979 I became Seventft,day acquainted with someone who had no religious back- ground and did not believe in the Bible. Yet this per- son believed in God and was a good individual. He enjoyed attending church with me and listened care- fully through Sabbath School and church, and was soon asking questions: "Why do you take one part of the Bible literally, but not another part? Why do you Adventist keep this Old Testament law and not that one? Why do you do this on Sabbath, but not that?" He never argued with me, but I had the feeling that my answers did not make sense to him. Worse yet, many of the answers didn't make sense to me. As if that was not problem enough in my religious life, there were some developments within the church which caused me great distress. The first was Church the Davenport situation. I studied everything in the Bible related to tithe and church finances. I stopped paying tithe through the regular channels, but gave to the local church budget and to special projects other took me to Sabbath School that appealed to me. by Clela Fuller and church at North Park church in Next came Glacier View and I studied everything San Diego. I was baptized and mar- the Bible says about the Investigative Judgment, Mried in that same church. My mother followed Ellen which didn't take long, and then I abandoned that White's recommendation and taught me at home traditional Adventist doctrine.
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