Adventist Review General Paper of the Seventh-day Adventist Church June 7, 1984 Pastors in uniform Page 3 Forgiveness in marriage Page 12 Adventists and military enlistment Page 14 The religion of President Reagan Page 20 Cover: Adventist chaplain James J. North, Jr., receives a flag from a serviceman's coffin to give to his next of kin. See This Week, page 2. THIS WEEK Corps. (See "Colonel Ever- Adventist Review • ett N. Dick, MCC," p. 8, and "A Medical Cadet Remembers " p. 10.) An area of contribution that may not be known so widely is Published continuously since 1849 the work of Adventist military EDITOR chaplains. Some of their experi- William G. Johnson ences are shared in "Pastors in ASSOCIATE EDITOR Uniform: Walking the Narrow George W. Reid Road," p. 3, and "A Chaplain MANAGING EDITOR Recalls . ," p. 6. Jocelyn R. Fay Bible credits: Texts in this ASSISTANT EDITORS issue credited to N.I.V. are James N. Coffin, Eugene F. Durand from The Holy Bible: New Aileen Andres Sox International Version. Copy- ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY right © 1978 by the Interna- Corinne Russ tional Bible Society. Used by EDITORIAL SECRETARIES Chaplain North gives flag to father of a deceased serviceman. permission of Zondervan Bible Chitra Barnabas, Jeanne James Publishers. ART Although the Seventh-day batant capacity—usually as Art and photo credits: Director, Byron Steele Adventist Church does not man- medics. To increase their effec- Cover, pp. 2, 3, 5 (bottom), 6, Designer, G. W. Busch date that its members not bear tiveness as they attempt to serve NSO; p. 7, Gaines Dog CONSULTING EDITORS Research Center; pp. 8-10, Neal C. Wilson, Charles E. Bradford, L. L. arms in the military, the major- both God and country, Ever- Bock, L. L. Butler, Charles B. Hirsch, W. ity of Adventist young men ett N. Dick some 50 years ago Union College; and p. 13, R. Lesher, Alf Lohne, Kenneth J. Mitt- leider, Enoch Oliveira, G. Ralph Thomp- follow the church's recommen- persuaded the church's leaders David B. Sherwin; other son, Francis W. Wemick dation of service in a noncom- to establish the Medical Cadet photos, authors. SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Kenneth H. Wood, Robert H. Pierson, George W. Brown, G. J. Christo, W. T. Clark, Bekele Heye, R. J. Kloosterhuis, Edwin Ludescher, Jan Paulsen, W. R. L. LETTERS Scragg, Joao Wolff SOUTHWESTERN UNION EDITION Letters submitted for publication should There were about 7,000 or Library at Andrews University Editor, Richard W. Bendall contribute ideas and comments on articles or material printed in the ADVENTIST 8,000 cataloged books housed still bear the ownership mark: EASTERN AFRICA EDITION REVIEW. They should be brief, not exceed- Editor, Bill Edsell ing 250 words, and must carry the writer's in the General Conference General Conference Library. Of name, address, and telephone number Library. Among the books were course, now they also bear the (although this number will not be printed). INTER-AMERICAN EDITIONS Letters must be legible, preferably typewrit- most of the important theologi- later stamp that identifies them Editor, Wanda Sample ten, and doublespaced. All will be edited to Associate Editors, Simone Doleyres, meet space and literary requirements, but cal reference works. There was with the Seminary Library. French; Humberto Rasi, Raul Villanueva, the author's meaning will not be changed. an excellent collection of peri- For the 14 years following Spanish Views expressed in the letters do not necessarily represent those of the editors or odicals, primarily denomi- 1946 the Seminary Library was SOUTH AMERICAN EDITIONS of the denomination. Address letters for this national, both current and back the official library of the Gen- Editor, R. S. Lessa, Portuguese column to Editor, ADVENTIST REVIEW, 6840 Acting Editor, Rubem M. Scheffel, Eastern Ave., NW., Washington, D.C. volumes for 20 or 30 years. eral Conference. From 1960, Portuguese 20012. There were also all the Reading when the Seminary was moved Editor, Jose Tabuenca, Spanish Course books and other general to Michigan, until the present CIRCULATION GC library reading. time, the General Conference Manager, Robert S. Smith Associate, L. Rhea Harvey I found it ironic that the same When the library was was without a library of its issue (April 19) that carried the removed to the Seminary, feel- OWIL MARY JANE MITCHELL TO CONTRIBUTORS Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome, but obituary of T. Rose Curtis ings ran high. Berrien Springs, Michigan notification as to acceptance or rejection may be expected only if accompanied by a should also contain the state- The librarian, T. Rose Curtis, • Until it moved to Hagers- stamped, self-addressed envelope. ment, in Newsbeat, that "for fell from a stepladder in August, town, Maryland, the Review 1946, and broke her back while An index is published in the last Review of the first time in its history the and Herald Publishing Associa- June and December. The Adventist Review General Conference is to have a getting a book from a top shelf. is indexed in the Seventh-day Adventist tion, which had an extensive Periodical Index. reference library." While she was in the hospital, reference library, was the One of the most pleasant the General Conference Com- The Adventist Review (ISSN 0161-1119) is library for the General Confer- published every Thursday. Copyright C memories connected with my mittee voted to merge the Gen- ence. 1984 Review and Herald Publishing Associ- secretarial work in the General eral Conference Library with ation, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagers- town, Maryland 21740, U.S.A. Second- Conference Department of Edu- that of the Seminary (located in class postage paid at Hagerstown, Mary- Honesty land. Postmaster: send form 3579 to same cation is of T. Rose's friendly what is now the General Con- address. Subscriber: send address change to and helpful presence as General ference South Building). I am The more I think about the above address. Subscriptions: one year, US$30.95. Single copy, 90 cents U.S. Conference librarian a few pretty sure that it was an econ- "Three O'clock Honesty" (edi- currency. Prices subject to change without doors down the hall. In 1946 the omy move—not needing two torial, April 26), the more I notice. books were incorporated into libraries such a short distance wish it could be posted on every Address all editorial correspondence to 6840 Eastern Avenue NW., Washington, D.C. the Seminary Library (to T. apart. committee wall and every 20012. Rose's distress, it must be The books came to us (I was church bulletin board. said). ESTHER BENTON Seminary librarian at that time). ERNEST H. J. STEED Vol. 161, No. 23. Glendale, California Many books in the Seminary Washington, D C 2 (586) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JUNE 7, 1984 Pastors in uniform: walking the narrow road Editor William Johnsson talks doctrines. Sunday morning, of course, they are more limited—they adapt their sermons to the chapel audiences with Charles Martin and their needs. about Adventist chaplains And they have services on Sabbath for Adventists and in the armed forces. others who may wish to come? Definitely. They often conduct services on the base Friday nights or at other times on the Sabbath as needs develop and Review: How many chaplains do Adventists have in the as chapel or room space is available. If there are Adventist armed forces? churches in the community, we encourage our Adventist Martin: We have six in the Air Force, 13 in the Army, and young people in the military to attend them. Our chaplains 14 in the Navy—a total of 33 on active duty. This sounds like a large number. There are quotas based upon church membership in the United States. We have about 6,000 "Seventh-day Advent- ists" in the military, that is, people who have given SDA as their religious preference. About 900 are on the mailing list to receive our church papers. Actually, we are above our chaplain quota. Some churches—for instance, the Catholic Church, which is short of parish priests—do not fill their quotas. If a denomination has not filled its quota, the authorities invite us to help fill it. Among our Seventh-day Adventist ministers we have many veterans who feel a deep concern for men and women in the services. In fact, we have a waiting list of Adventist ministers who would like to become chaplains. So our Adventist chaplains have made a favorable impression with the authorities? Very much so. I wish you could read the officer efficiency reports about our chaplains. I frequently read them, and some are outstanding. Our men are highly respected, in many cases because of their Biblical preaching in the chapels and their personal interest in counseling. I take it that their work is not confined to Adventists. That is correct. Much of their time is spent in counseling. A chaplain who went into the Navy from the Northern California Conference a few months ago remarked, "I have had more people seek help or counseling in one week as a chaplain than I had in three months as a pastor." Sometimes the families of service personnel also need help. Our chaplains conduct some Sunday services. One of our men, a Navy chaplain assigned to a Marine base, is a very fine preacher. The father of one of the pilots on that base, himself a chaplain serving in the chief chaplain's office in Washington, stated, "My son says the Adventist chaplain is so popular they ask him to take about three of the four Sunday services, though they have four or five other Protestant chaplains on the base." Our chaplains also conduct Bible studies or midweek meetings, in which they are free to take up any of our Charles Martin is director of the church's National Service Conducting worship services is only one of the responsibili- Organization, which assists Adventists in the military and ties of Adventist military chaplains.