IT'S NOT ONLY MONEY
Jan Paulsen's interview, about the Annual Council vote to fairly apply church worker remuneration ("In Times Like These," Mar. 13, 2003), is commendable and long overdue. We need to follow God's plan completely in regard to doing His work, lest we be found not following it at all.

President Paulsen states: "The philosophy seeks to capture the idea of sacrifice, which has always been part of the mission of the church. We will never be able to match, nor do we think we should try to match, salaries that are offered in the secular workplace."

From our the very beginning Seventh-day Adventists have considered church work a sacrificial work and have never compared it to the standard by which the world operated. However, I noticed that Paulsen side-stepped applying this readjustment scale to medical institutions and health food factories. He carefully supplied them with an exemption. Why?

It's no mystery. They're no longer part of the church organizational work that operates on a missionary, sacrificial basis as such; and he no longer has any influence or authority over them. They are completely free from the church organization and use their own operational guides.

Were they ever connected to the Church? Oh yes, originally the doctor of a sanitarium or hospital received the same sacrificial salary as the pastor. They worked together as a unit. Sanitariums made one charge for their care.

Today's college theology classes would be much larger if graduates could look forward to a yearly salary of $150,000 to $175,000. When will this correction be made? Very probably never! Too much water has gone under the bridge to unite the medical and health work together with gospel workers, pastors, and missionaries.

Preaching the gospel and healing the sick were never to be separate, as they are today. There are 43 statements in the writings of Ellen White, like the following, stating that the medical and health work and preaching of the gospel should both operate on a sacrificial basis as a missionary unit.

"Christ, the great medical missionary, is our example. . . . He healed the sick and preached the gospel. In His service, healing and teaching were linked closely together. Today they are not to be separated" (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, pp. 170, 171).

CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS
As a former missionary in an Islamic country I read with interest the exchange in "Christian-Muslim Relations" (Mar. 13, 2003).

I appreciate the deep sensitivity, love, and respect with which Jerald Whitehouse approaches Islam and its adherents. Given the current state of Christian-Muslim relations, the need for such an approach cannot be overemphasized.

I also appreciated, however, the insights offered by Borge Schantz. An understanding of all aspects of Islam, good and bad, are helpful in relating to it in a redemptive manner. Both men are obviously very learned in this field and their perspectives are highly instructive.

When I first began working among Muslims, I was influenced by Adventist missiologists to believe that Islam is a true faith and Mohammed was a true prophet. I believed and taught that myself for a number of years. Further study of the Qu'ran and the Bible led me to realize (very reluctantly), however, that the opposite is true. The core theology of Islam strikes at the heart of the gospel. The greatest sin in Islam, the shirk, is to attribute partners to God, including Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the world.

None of this in the least diminishes my appreciation, love, and respect for Muslims and their many contributions to society. Rather, it increases my solicitude for them to realize that Jesus Christ is indeed "the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 2:2, NIV).

Mark M. Eaton
Davisville, West Virginia

SHOULD WE, OR SHOULDN'T WE
It was difficult to answer the on-line poll about whether the United States should attack Iraq.

I served in the U.S. armed forces during the Vietnam era, and my welcome home afterwards left a great deal to be desired.

I hate war, it serves absolutely no useful purpose. I recognize that there are times when we will have no other alternative, but that still doesn't change my mind.

Before my brother went to Vietnam, he wouldn't kill a fly if he could avoid it. After serving a tour of duty, he would just as soon kill someone of Asian descent as look at them. The things he talked about seeing and having to do would make your blood run cold; something I would never wish on anyone.

War is cruel and senseless. But as long as we live in this sinful world it will be a fact of life and death. I pray that Jesus will come back soon, before we end up killing ourselves.

Gerry Buck
Tawas City, Michigan


Your question regarding letting the U.N. inspectors do their job was totally misleading. The job of the inspectors is not to search to find weapons of mass destruction. Saddam is to bring them to the inspectors to verify that they are being destroyed. If their job was to search and destroy, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

It seems that too many listen to the liberal media and don't understand the conditions of U.N. Resolution 1441. It would be better to become informed before making any decision.

It has been said that we need to learn to negotiate. How do you negotiate with the devil, or with someone who doesn't want to negotiate?

I voted with the majority that we do not need the U.N. The U.N. has failed in almost everything its undertaken. It is a disgrace.

Jack Baker

I was surprised and disappointed to see the online poll about whether America should fight or not. What does this have to do with our beliefs? What is the purpose of such a poll?

I was already disappointed a couple months ago when you proudly published an item about the talk U.S. President George W. Bush had taped for the church. Who cares if President Bush is saying something to the church or not? He can say anything, but I doubt if he seriously means anything. Everything in his life is politics.

Please leave President Bush and American politics aside and concentrate on other subjects more relevant to our church.

Lisa Stier

PASTORS WHO PREY
("Unfaithful: When Shepherds Become Wolves", Feb. 27, 2003) When I was 14, I was cleaning house for the pastor of our church. I was a young girl desperately needing money and affirmation of my very existence. I admired this man very much and held him in high esteem as God's servant to His people.

One afternoon, as I was going about my duties, this man came home. He apparently saw the admiration I had for him in my eyes and mistook it for something else. He reached out for the buttons on my blouse saying, "You're a warm little sister, aren't you?"

I was totally shocked, surprised, frightened, and very much hurt by this unseemly remark. I immediately dodged away from him and got out of the house as quickly as I could. I don't remember whether I ever went back or not, but I never mentioned it to anyone, because somehow I thought it was my own fault. Besides, who would have believed me?

I have no idea whether something like that ever happened to anyone else; but after all these years I realize that it could have, because people like this don't usually change into a wolf for only a isolated moment.

During the ensuing years I still loved to hear this man preach, but I had a difficult time hearing what he had to say when I remembered what he said to me that afternoon.

Often the only thing that made it possible for me to return to church was the thought that God had something to say that I needed to hear; and it was Satan's goal to keep me from hearing it.

There have been other incidents in my life, both before and after this experience, that played on my need to be affirmed. I made many poor choices because of them.

When things like this happen in any congregation or denomination, the guilty party must make his past behavior known to the people in authority wherever he goes, thereby holding himself accountable to the congregation of which he finds himself a member. His unwillingness to do this is an indication that he has not accepted responsibility for his actions and is therefore suspect. Those who are in the know about him must make it their job to keep everyone--especially children--safe from this possible predator. This would not necessarily need to be made known to everyone, but the officers of the church should be made aware of his presence and a watchful eye kept on his activities.

When his name is brought up for church office, those who understand his problem should stop the nomination before it goes any further. However, if a nomination comes about because of an oversight in committee, he should be responsible enough to refuse any position that would require his presence in the midst of children, or any other compromising situation.

Church pastors must always know about possible predators in their congregations and handle them appropriately, without sensationalism, but always with the safety of the congregation in mind. I cannot say for sure if there is any official position that would be appropriate for a person who has committed improper acts against another, but I'm inclined to think that there is not. People who "slip up" in this manner have already lost their position in this life and should keep this fact in mind before they allow themselves to indulge in any unseemly activity.

Name Withheld

The Adventist Review will print many more letters on this issue in a special reader-response feature soon.

DON'T FORGET HARRY
I was reading some of the comments people sent in about Harry Potter ("What About Harry?" Feb. 20, 2003). I was wondering if those who think there is nothing wrong with these fantasy books have children.

There is so much out there today to draw our children's minds away from Christ; yet do some of us think that the devil could not be using this "harmless" children's literature? I beg to differ. And if you think that this is not a deliberate tool of the devil, then why is the latest one called, The Gospel According to Harry Potter?

Is Christ coming soon, or not? Frankly, I don't think I need to "get a life," other than the everlasting one Jesus offers us all. Why do we insist on wasting our time reading all this garbage so late in the day?

I will continue to share with my daughter the gospel--according to the Bible. And, oh yeah, magic in any form is dangerous. None of it is safe and harmless. That's not just my opinion; it's God's: "Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred . . . they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:20-22).

John Bradshaw
Consort, Alberta

SEX AND THE REVIEW
Has it really been 33 years! I read the letter from Kenneth Wood, and can verify what he wrote. Reading the latest article, "Love, Sex and Romance in the Twenty-first Century" (Feb. 20, 2003), I was reminded of the important information on the same subject that my husband and I read long ago from the Adventist Review.

We were brought up believing that nude bodies and sex were something embarrassing. This attitude caused our sex life to be merely perfunctory. The articles Kenneth Wood mentioned turned our minds to the beauty of sex and made the act more loving. It was a real blessing. In fact, it wouldn't hurt to reproduce those articles. I wish I'd saved mine for our children.

Thank you for all the helpful articles we've received through the years. I wouldn't be without the Adventist Review and make sure our children receive every issue.

Dorothy Kromrei

A WOMAN'S PLACE
Thanks for the article, "Is This Woman for Real?" (Jan. 16, 2003). Thank God, she isn't!

Proverbs 31 has distressed me for years. It was hard to believe the Holy Spirit could inspire that chapter when the woman was not even temperate; and temperance or self-control characterizes a person with the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23).

When I read she planted a vineyard, I wondered when the curse of working by the sweat of the brow was removed from males and placed on females. I detested this chapter. It made me angry. I decided the next time it was read in church, I would walk out. Your article has restored my faith in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and you have honored and glorified Him.

Each year when I am reading the Bible through, I will get out your commentary on that chapter and enjoy it. I feel the article was written for me.

Wanda L. Lowry
Carmel, Indiana