Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [ANN Staff]
Following presentation of a report from a series of international faith and science conferences, the Annual Council of the Seventh-day Adventist Church considered its recommendations and set up a committee to prepare the Council’s response.
“An Affirmation of Creation” report, which was presented to the delegates by Lowell Cooper, general vice president of the Church and chairman of the conferences’ organizing committee, recognizes the Adventist faith-based belief in the Biblical account of creation, but it also expresses an affirmation of Adventist scholarship in theology and science.
The report was drafted at the conclusion of the International Faith & Science Conferences 2002 to 2004, and was sent to the church body, which established a three-year series of consultations on issues in faith and science, particularly those relating to the Adventist understanding of origins, evaluated the findings in theology and science and how they interface, and contributed and challenged the Adventist understanding of origins.
During a nearly two-hour discussion on the report’s recommendations, the council delegates confirmed the outcomes of the conversations as “valuable,” and “essential” in a climate of today’s emphasis on evolution.
The eight-page document presented the delegates with three specific
recommendations: (1) In order to address what some interpret as a lack of clarity in Fundamental Belief number 6, the historic Seventh-day Adventist understanding of the Genesis narrative be affirmed more explicitly; (2) Church leaders at all levels be encouraged to assess and monitor the effectiveness with which denominational systems and programs succeed in preparing young people, including those attending non-Adventist schools, with a biblical understanding of origins and an awareness of the challenges they may face in respect to this understanding; and (3) Increased opportunity be provided for interdisciplinary dialogue and research, in a safe environment, among Seventh-day Adventist scholars from around the world.
Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the world church, chaired the session.
In his concluding remarks, Paulsen restated his earlier comments that the “church was never unclear in what we stand for,” and several delegates expressed their appreciation of the report’s emphasis on affirming the church’s belief.
Citing a statement in the report that “while we found widespread affirmation of the church’s understanding of life on earth, we recognize that some among us interpret the biblical record in ways that lead to sharply different conclusions,” Martin Feldbush, director of the church’s Chaplaincy Ministries, commented that there “does seem to be some unfinished business… everybody is agreed that there is a Creator involved … [but] then there were sharply different conclusions about how the Creator was involved in the process. There is a need for continuing dialogue and research, [but] how will we continue to manage or seek to resolve those sharply different conclusions?”
Roy Adams, associate editor of the Adventist Review, inquired of those who participated in the conversations whether there “was any movement at all, did anyone change their position in course of deliberations?”
and whether “those who attended the [conversations] are satisfied that this was money well spent if not one changed their position?”
Delbert Baker, president of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, expressed his views as an educator, and said he “didn’t get the sense that there was in any way changing the doctrines, or moving them, but did feel the church was addressing an issue that was vital and needed reinterpreted for out time.”
“There was a great sense of collaboration, discussion, exposure, of coming together and talking about a vital subject in the 21st century.
This was the type of thing I’ve heard theologians say on campuses, that we need to talk about these things, [the] positive asset to the whole history of our church. When our young people see this document [it will] say to them that the church is seeking to look at this from a fresh perspective and reestablish it in the context of our time. I think it’s a good thing.”
The discussion also emphasized that the four-person committee charged with drafting a response to the report should not only consider a statement of reaffirmation of the church’s Fundamental Belief regarding creation, but that such a statement express the meaning of the belief with more specificity. Drafting of a response to the report’s recommendations, the committee will be chaired by Lowell Cooper with Angel Rodriguez, director of the Biblical Research Institute, L. James Gibson, director of the Geoscience Research Institute, and William G.
Johnsson, editor of the Adventist Review, as members.
Commenting on a recommendation to address what some interpret as a lack of clarity in the church’s creation-related doctrinal statement, Ted N.
C. Wilson, a general vice president, said: “I think action we take here will be extremely important in helping the world field to understand what we mean by number six, … six literal days, [and] I understand them to be 24 hour days that are literal. Even with the word ‘literal,’
it would be helpful [to use] the word ‘contiguous,’ or ‘sequential’.”
He also suggested that there would be a “greater clarity expressed in identifying the flood as a global event, not just a localized event.”
Kent Staunton, lay member of the committee from Australia, expressed a feeling of “some discomfort” if there were expressions of belief “without any room for differences.” He said, “It’s interesting, I think, that God didn’t create the world in black and white. He created the world in color. I would be uncomfortable with something that sought to remove differences in the name of unity, for I fear that may be something that is exclusive and creates division rather than inclusive in pursuit of object of unity. [We] must be very careful … we need to use words of Scripture, [but] when we add to words of Scripture we must be very careful … [the] words of Scripture are open to have shades and we need to be open to those shades.”
Gerry Karst, a general vice president, commented on the impact of the creation belief “on those involved in Adventist teaching ministry.
“Our own young people in church [and] parents of our young people have a right to expect that their kids will receive an Adventist education in all areas. In these formative years of their life, they will need to be exposed to various views, but at the end of the day they have the right to hear from teachers who believe by conviction what Adventism teaches about a certain topic,” he said.
Copyright © 2004 by Adventist News Network.
