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President and Board Chairman Vow
Open letter signals shift in two-year controversyBY MARK A. KELLNER, News Editor
In an open letter welcomed by church leaders and members across North America, La Sierra University March 9 acknowledged serious problems in its teaching of origins over the last several years, and apologized for not having adequately communicated Seventh-day Adventist beliefs about creationism to its students.
‘We found that only 50 percent of the students surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that our Adventist view of creation was presented, and only 40 percent agreed or strongly agreed that our Adventist view was supported,’ LSU President Randall Wisbey and LSU Board Chairman Ricardo Graham wrote in the open letter accompanying the release of a Board-approved report on the controversy that has focused on the Riverside, California, campus for nearly two years. “‘This is not acceptable, and we apologize,’” the two leaders added....
http://clubadventist.com/forum/ubbthrea … ber/428848
It's about time that this SDA University give a SDA Education.
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"It's about time that this SDA University give a SDA Education."
Agreed. If one wants a good SDA education, he should go where it is guaranteed.
However, if one wishes to receive the benefit of all the scientific knowledge for which he is paying, he should choose a university, recognized in the particular field for which he is training. There are several UC schools in the area of La Sierra, which would be preferred in the biological or geological disciplines. Why go to a school to gain a biology major where Creationism is taught? Is there a demand for such graduates?
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Elaine, it depends on how fairly both sides are studied. I see nothing wrong with introducing students to what they need to know about evolution, but, as our previous GC President said, at the end of the day, have them back under the roof of an SDA educational facility, not an athiestic educational facility. Fair enough??
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What is "atheism" to most Adventists is scientific knowledge to the majority. How does one "lead them back to Adventism after they've studied the science of biology? As the old WWI song went:
"How you gonna' keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen Paree." Turning the clock back to the age of innocence has not usually been too productive.
Children believe all sorts of supernatural tales; adults are not content with such simplistic answers.
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There is enough unsubstantiated elements in the dating of fossils and other items that I have no problem with faith in Creation, and the Flood. If you want those done away with in the name of SCIENCE, it's not that cut and dry from my study. Sounds like you've gone for it hook line and sinker.
I do believe in ADAPTION which for some is called EVOLUTION, but the difference being the species barrier. By that I mean like between a pig and a cow, not like between Holsteins and Gurnseys. That species barrier I don't believe has shown to beable to break. Open to be shown.
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Hundreds of years ago, few believed in microevolution. Today it is accepted by everyone. How do we know what the future may yield?
As for the flood: yes, there is evidence that there was once a flood in the Middle East, but a world-wide flood, and the probable date by biblical dating? Why were the pyramids not destroyed when they were built before the Genesis dating of the flood? There are so many questions unanswered, that to be certain of any solution is best left for the future rather than being so certain.
While there is no evidence that birds and dinosaurs are related, there is also no evidence whatsoever that man came from the dust of the earth. Since neither can be explained, to resort to supernatural as an answer is just as absurd: neither can be explained.
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That's where faith comes in. You and Science see an enigma, other's see in the complexity of the universe, and man's/woman's own bodies the need for a Designer. The dating mechanisms of science is where the puzzle will or must be solved, IMHO.
Elaine, microevolution - yes; macroevolution - no
Last edited by bob_2 (03-16-11 3:51 pm)
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Is the acceptance of microevolution fairly recent and undisputed? How can we be so certain that macroevolution may one day also be scientifically accepted and undisputed. Time takes care of many older certainties.
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If you can break the species barrier, you are into macroevolution, BUT I think God commanded everyone after their kind (species}.
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It is interesting that nowhere in the Bible is there mention of an animal that could possibly describe the family of dinosaurs. Were they living contemporarily with the earliest inhabitants? Since there is abundant fossil evidence that they at one time covered most every part of the globe. What happened to explain the extinction of an entire family of animals (or reptiles)? If they lived prior to the flood, did God not see that they were also in the ark?
IOW: what happened to make such a prolific entire class of animals not survive today?
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Elaine, now this is my speculation about the subject, but not too much is said about the Nephilim:
Genesis 6:1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with[a] humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”
Now, if the people were able to breed dinosaur type animals to the point that man could not control them, is it possible that God chose to eliminate them along with the evil Nephilim.
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Elaine, though this passage refers to non-canoncal writings, do they give a clue about the evil that could have existed before the Flood and some Nephilim being part spirit, survived the Flood in their Spirit nature.
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~abr/onlined … iants.html
I don't like venturing too far from the Bible, but ....
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There is always speculation on ancient writings which we cannot explain. Intersting, but cannot be confirmed.
We DO know that there were once dinosaurs (including the whole family of dinosaurs), but there are no living today. The mystery of their disappearance is a subjec of much speculation, also.
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