shermancox | Sabbath Justice

April 20, 2011August 10, 2017

I Don't Know…

“We are certainly at the very end of time. We are seeing a converging of events that are unprecedented at this time. It all points to Jesus Christ returning in the next 5 to 10 years. Don’t you agree pastor?” The question came to me from an excited reader. The person sees Economic crisis added to earthquakes and other terrible events and the person is very sure this is the end.

And my answer, “It could be…It kind of looks like it to me…but I don’t know.” I don’t want to be glib about it. But after years of living through “signs of the end” like economic downturns including gas lines and misery indexes and Tsunamis and wars and crime and Y2K and all of these things, I begin to realize that perhaps gauging the end by crisis is not necessarily the right thing to do.

Is It The Last Days?

I guess, I don’t have a problem with anyone’s prediction that we are close to the end. But let us recognize that we don’t really know and could be wrong. I mean the Bible writer says that the writer was in the “last days.” (Hebrews 1:2)

So please come say it with me “I could be wrong.” That is not to say that I am wrong. Neither is it to say that you are right. But there is something truly liberating about realizing that one can be wrong. I guess if I am consistent then I could be wrong about the fact that I could be wrong, but we ain’t gonna think about that one right now…

Difficult To Deal With “Can’t Be Wrong” Folks

At any rate, it is very difficult to have discussions with people who can’t be wrong. Often people who “can’t be wrong” are always attacking straw men. They are the hard core ideologues. Their ideology may be conservative, liberal, or even the lack thereof, but they know they are right and you are wrong.

Interestingly, it seems that a lot of discussions with Adventists go down that road. I don’t care if you are liberal, conservative, or even former. Many Adventists have this “I can’t be wrong” idea. I don’t know if it is from the “having the truth” or if it is from the “Sister White said.” But whatever it is, Adventists too often have a mindset where they “can’t be wrong.”

The People Who Are Sure

What is funny is when this mindset even carries over into things that they couldn’t know. I know someone who knows for certain that an herb will always heal you. Notwithstanding experience has proven that idea false, it is still something that one will fight you over. Then there are the ones who know for certain that various people are Jesuit infiltrators into the church. They can give you the names of infiltrators. I always wondered how can they so easily identify them if these infiltrators are so good at infiltrating?

Let us not forget the ones who are sure that the last great event in the world is a certain harbinger of the end time. A lot of them said that Y2K was going to be the end. Life went on past that non-event. I remember 1996 was supposed to be the end of the age. Using Ussher’s chronology 1996 was supposedly the 6 thousandth year of earth’s history. And time went on. All the way to the last “great recession” that was supposed to be the very end. What’s funny is some of the same folks predicted all of those events. And now they are still making predictions. Can we all just say it together….”I may believe it…but I Don’t Know.”

This I can’t be wrong mentality seeps into more discussions. In my interdenominational work, I have the opportunity to interact with people of many denominational groups. Some conversations are difficult to have. Whenever one has a conversation with one who can’t be wrong, then the conversation becomes more and more cumbersome.

Hard Discussions With Know-It-All’s

I remember doing a presentation once on vegetarianism. The presentation was not condemning but informing. I presented the speech to a secular audience and had a very good but respectful disagreement and agreement. Some said, I made some good points but was missing some information that would be helpful. Some made some valid critiques of my information. The point was sharing of information.

While preparing for the presentation, an Adventist got wind of it and decided to let me have it. She told me I was a legalist teaching salvation by works and promoting unhealthy living (she alleged that I didn’t consider the need for protein). Please note that the presentation had nothing at all to do with salvation (which would probably cause some others to be mad at it), the Bible, or even how to eat. But one thing I learned early that some Adventists are hard to have discussions with about anything.

I know it ain’t just us. But I must admit that there seems to be a disproportionate number of Adventists who “know it all and can’t be wrong.”

Conversation Is Difficult With Those Who Can’t Be Wrong

I can remember at Vanderbilt as well having interesting discussions about theology where we shared our own positions recognizing that we can learn from each other. But conversation is difficult with people who can’t be wrong.

Some attack those with whom they disagree with a certainty from those who cannot be wrong. Perhaps we Adventists need to add a spiritual discipline to our Bible Study, Prayer, Fasting, Meditation. Let’s add a discipline of regularly saying “I could be wrong.” Let us say together “God knows….I think I am right…But I don’t know.” Ahh…wasn’t that liberating?

April 8, 2011August 10, 2017

Returning To The Glorious Past?

I was reading a blog post by one of my former classmates at Vanderbilt Divinity School on how pastors must deal with the ghosts of the past when attempting to lead a church today.

Much Adventist historiography paints the picture of a “glorious group of saints seeking desperately to be more Christlike while reading their Bibles to stay pure from the encroachment of culture in movies, music, and dress.”

Culture As Enemy

There is a strong “us against the culture” orientation latent in much Adventist discourse. Even today when one goes to YouTube one can find various attacks on demonic culture from those with an Adventist background. Certainly we must recognize that the God against culture theme is embedded in even the New Testament. From Paul’s call to “Be not conformed to this world…” Romans 12:2. To his description of “Spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12. They all point to God’s people facing a culture that is hostile to Christian values.

After accepting that culture must always be battled we often take the next step which is that in the past, we were much more effective at battling culture. We were more “peculiar” in the past. We were “more Adventist” in the past. We were more “recognizable” in the past. Some would quote Ellen White who speaks about a return to “primitive godliness.”

But today, in contrast, this mindset argues that we are unrecognizable to the world, according to the argument. We are less Adventist. We have chosen the demonic culture over against the spiritual values of our past. This mindset privileges the past with a godliness that is not here now.

Is There Any Truth to The Argumentation?

Now I understand where this argument comes from. To be fair, it seems to me that the church seems to look more like the general public than it did when I grew up. The music is more like the general public as well as dress and the like.

I mean I remember arguments over whether to attend theater in my early years. I doubt that the theater is even a discussion today as most if not all go. To be honest, most of us have the theater coming into our homes through cables and even wirelessly into our computers. All piping movies that most Christians of all denominations would be ducking and hiding to see. But that ain’t my point. My point is that the mindset of “Spiritual us against the demonic culture” seems to have broken down.

What About A Call to The Past?

It is a comforting call to go back to a time when we were allegedly more “Adventist.” I always wonder about calls to go back to the past though. Was the past really so great? Am I seeing only part of the past? Even my suggestion that Adventists look more like their non-Adventist neighbors might be conditioned by an orientation that privileges the past.

Look at race relations today and then look at the 50s, 60s, and lord help us the 1800s. Certainly we can’t say that the church of today is not better on this issue than in the past. I just give this as an example to say that we often ignore very important pieces when we glorify the past.

I don’t want to condemn those who long for the past. I really think it is a longing for “home” that is in all of us. In addition Adventists who were born in the Great Disappointment was supposed to usher in “home” have a very deep desire placed in our psyche for home. I want home. I want a place where all will be treated equally. I want a place where humanity seeks to become more and more like God rather than taking on attributes of the evil one. The more I define what I want…the more I realize that it is not in the past that we will find that, for it never existed. It is in the future of God’s coming Baselia.

April 6, 2011August 10, 2017

Perfection: Stop Arguing And Start Living?

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who was wondering about the whole issue of perfection. The subject is not talked about as much as it has been talked about in the past, but it still comes up from time to time. Members can get ruffled over whether perfection is possible or not. We fight over definitions of perfection. We struggle with the very real truth of human limitation. Often the argument disintegrates into one side accusing the other of thinking that they have reached “perfection.”

Do Right

Because the term “perfection” brings up so much mess, I like to use another term “obedience.” I think that we need to discuss perfection. In addition, we need to stop distorting the position of those on the other side of where we come down on the subject.

However, whatever our position on perfection, it does not give us an out where we don’t have to obey. I think it is interesting that some of the most unloving words can come from those who are defending perfection.

Be that as it may, let us go head on and do right, by God’s grace. Whether we are grace filled believers in what some might call the “new theology” or we are the red books (or whatever color they are now) reading traditionalist, there is a place in all of our understandings of theology for obedience.

Whether we believe that we attempt and fail or we attempt and one day will succeed, we all are seeking to become a more clear reflection of our Lord Jesus Christ. From the most evangelical among us to the most traditional among us, we all want to be more Christ–like. What about Christian growth? From the most liberal to the most evangelical to the most traditional we all agree that Christians should be growing in grace and truth as time goes on.

Go ahead and Argue, But Live Out

I think it interesting that some of the greatest arguments against perfection comes from how those who believe in it act towards those who do not. No doubt, our discussion of perfection is important theologically, but if we just allowed the Grace of God to help us live into what we already believe then perhaps the evangelical among us will see where he has not fully appropriated the grace of God which will, once taking residence in him, lead him to further growth. Perhaps the liberal will find the power to do the work of God and be a witness to the coming Baselia in this world, and perhaps the traditionalist would see God create that generation that will fully deserve the approbation of “keep the commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.”

In short, go ahead and argue over perfection, but wouldn’t that discussion be a lot better if we all simply lived what we say we believe on all sides? If we allowed the grace of God to do its work in us and let that grace do what it will. I find it is much easier to have a discussion with a Grace filled loving Christian with whom I disagree, than the one who has not had the Grace of God touch their lives and argumentation with whom I agree.