April 30, 2009
> Pastors Jan Paulsen, Don C. Schneider, Ricardo Graham
> General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
> 12501 Old Columbia Pike
> Silver Spring, MD 20904
>
> Dear Pastors Paulsen, Schneider, and Graham,
>
> Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. Like each of you, I
> am an ordained pastor of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist
> Church. I write these words with my heart on full
> display--from pastor to pastor. This letter concerns the
> teaching of evolution at La Sierra University. While I am
> not a formally trained scientist, I am, however, familiar
> with many of the apologetic, philosophical, and theological
> issues surrounding the theories of naturalistic evolution. I
> have made this an area of special study in my life and
> ministry. So, I feel both comfortable and qualified to speak
> to the issue, especially in its ecclesiastical
> ramifications.
>
> It is a matter of incontestable fact that naturalistic
> evolution is being taught at La Sierra University. This is
> not in and of itself a bad thing. Evolution should be taught
> at our denominational universities. But it should be taught
> as a competing and inimical worldview to the biblical
> worldview. We need our young people to know what it is they
> are up against, yes, but when naturalistic evolution is
> taught as fact or as the preferred and normative worldview,
> then we can be sure that the enemy has breached our lines.
>
> There is no point in equivocating. I have seen the class
> materials with my own eyes. Frankly, I think every
> Seventh-day Adventist deserves to see them. Our people need
> to know what is happening. Many of them have heard various
> rumblings, but being the conscientious, confiding, and
> hopeful people they are, they have generally assumed the
> very best. We are making capital of their trust.
>
> In 2003 I preached a two-week evangelistic meeting on the
> Loma Linda University campus. The event was student-led and
> university-sponsored. Many students from La Sierra
> University attended those meetings, and I personally visited
> with many of them. They told me what was being taught in
> some of their science classes. I shall never forget the
> looks and questions of unadorned incredulity that I
> witnessed among those students. I have talked to many more
> since. What should I do? Should I say something? Should I
> just attend a non-SDA school??Do our leaders know about
> this??How come these people are allowed to teach at a
> Seventh-day Adventist University??These young people, and
> many others like them, are justifiably nonplussed. Frankly,
> I share their confusion!
>
> What deeply concerns me is that the faith of many students,
> who look up to their Adventist professors as more than just
> academic instructors, but also as spiritual leaders, is
> being undermined. Jesus' words in Luke 17:1, 2 about
> causing one of these little ones to stumble carry
> inestimable weight, and they should be reason enough to
> propel us to responsible action. Brethren, what are we doing
> and allowing? Will not God hold us accountable in our
> respective spheres for what happens on our watch?
>
> I am aware, of course, that the church's governmental
> structure gives institutions like La Sierra University a
> necessary degree of administrative freedom. This is a good
> and wise arrangement. But this freedom, surely, is not
> synonymous with virtually unaccountable autonomy. La Sierra
> University is, after all, a denominational university. If
> the board has not yet adequately addressed this matter, then
> doesn't that evince a kind of complicity, if not
> outright mismanagement and denominational disloyalty? I
> genuinely ask, at what point is La Sierra University's
> board accountable and answerable to you men and the levels
> of church government that you represent? When, if ever, can
> someone step in and save our children and the institutions
> they attend?
>
> Governing and administrative structures are not the church.
> The people are the church. The governing and administrative
> structures are the scaffolding of the church. Scaffolds are
> for building and strengthening a thing; they are not the
> thing itself. But what if some are using the scaffolding to
> tear down the very church they were commissioned and created
> to build up? What then? I genuinely want to know. Where does
> the buck stop?
>
> Perhaps you feel that your hands are tied by policy and
> protocol. But surely they cannot be tied completely. What
> should I, as a church pastor, do if someone is teaching
> doctrine that undermines the church's biblical positions
> in one of my Sabbath School classes? Wouldn't it be
> expected of me, the pastor--shepherd--of the flock, to
> address it? To ask this question is to answer it. Of course,
> I would work through the Sabbath School council and the
> church board, but you can be sure that I would deal with the
> problem. My conference president, to say nothing of my Lord,
> would surely hold me in contempt
>
> if I told him lamely that my hands were tied, no?
>
> Furthermore, the greater the errancy, the greater the
> urgency. As even a cursory analysis plainly reveals, few
> doctrines are at greater philosophical odds with Seventh-day
> Adventism than naturalistic evolution, the arguments of
> well-meaning theistic evolutionists notwithstanding. Our
> Magna Carta is Revelation 14:6-12. If naturalistic evolution
> is true, Creation is cremated, the Sabbath is sabotaged, and
> our very name is neutered. What becomes of Scripture? And of
> our unique eschatology? We are not talking about bongo
> drums, wedding bands, and Christmas trees here.
>
> If our hands are tied, then surely we must let an
> unfaltering love for God, for His Word, and for His young
> people dash these fetters into so many deserved pieces! We
> must do something. You must do something.
>
> Who knows but that you have come to your positions for such
> a time as this. My ministry places me in somewhat of a
> unique situation in the world church. In partnership with
> the Central California Conference, I run ARISE, a mission
> training school that has seen hundreds of young people over
> the last seven years. I also have the privilege of preaching
> regularly on 3ABN and the Hope Channel. Too, I travel all
> over the world holding evangelistic meetings and preaching
> at camp meetings, youth conferences, weeks of prayer, etc. I
> genuinely feel that I have my finger on the pulse of the
> average lay person in the Seventh-day Adventist church the
> world over. Especially the young people ages 15 to 30. I can
> say with unblinking confidence that God is working in His
> church! Praise Him!
>
> I just arrived home from the Youth Mission Congress in
> Frankfurt, Germany. Over 1600 young people attended the
> meetings. Night after night I preached the Adventist
> message--I preached Christ! The theme chosen for the
> congress was Follow the Bible, and what an indescribable joy
> it was to see, at the end of my last sermon, hundreds and
> hundreds of young people streaming forward. All of them had
> personal decision cards in their hands. A beautiful,
> five-foot-tall wooden Bible had been constructed for just
> this moment. On the side of the Bible was a slot designed to
> receive the decision cards the young people clutched in
> their surrendered hands. One by one, each placed his or her
> card in the Bible. The symbolism was rich and thrillingly
> profound. It was impossible to not be moved at a fundamental
> level as each eager young person placed their decision, and
> thus their life in that wooden Bible. My translator openly
> wept at the sight. We will follow the Bible, they were each
> saying. All over the world, God's people--and in
> particular, it seems, His young people--are saying We will
> follow the Word--the Living Word, Jesus, and the Written
> Word, the Bible.
>
> God has entrusted us with these young people. They are His.
> He has given us His wise counsel to raise up institutions of
> learning to educate, equip, and empower them. To build them
> up.
>
> But what do we do when one of our institutions turns from
> this inestimably important responsibility, a responsibility
> that is fraught with eternal significance and involves the
> souls of those Jesus died to save? This is what I want to
> know.
>
> And so do many, many others.
>
> I thank each of you for your time, and, in advance, for
> your thoughtful responses.
>
> Sincerely,
> David Asscherick
> Director, ARISE
Author
Topic: Evolution at La Sierra? (Read 28414 times)
