SOW 1 BILLION
Please tell me where I can get a copy of the Sow 1 billion pamphlets I've been reading about ("Sow 1 Billion," Jan. 8, 2004). It seems as if it would be simple to include them in the Review so everyone who wants to copy them, can just print them. I've looked for them, and if they're there, they're hard to find.

Also, it would be a great help to include some instructions about how to get them to people. I know, my church can probably get copies from the conference office, but suppose the person who's suppose to, doesn't and our minister doesn't want to because he has other plans. We can give them out ourselves, can't we?

B. J. Green

Sow 1 Billion Bible study invitations and updates about the Sow 1 Billion initiative are available at the Adventist Review website: www.adventistreview.org/2004-1502/story6.html.

A FATHER'S LEGACY
Joel Johnsson's positive influence on his son's Bible reading ("My Father's Gift," Jan. 2004) could not have been recounted at a more timely moment for me personally, or for our church. My 10-year-old daughter and I decided that our 2004 New Year's resolution would be to read through the Bible. Just as we started our project, the Review arrived. It seems almost providential that a parallel experience shared between a father and child a generation ago should appear at the very time we commenced our venture together.

With Bible knowledge fast fading in our society--and in our church--this inspiring article will result in many fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters sharing the pleasure of reading God's Word together this year.

I look forward to meeting many in heaven who can trace their spiritual journey back to the time when their mother or father snuggled on the family sofa with them and began reading Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning . . ."

Timothy G. Standish
Geoscience Research Institute
Loma Linda, California


I enjoyed the article, "My Father's Gift." My father, who was not a religious man, bought us the Bible Stories in 1953 in a little town in Michigan when two men came to our house. My father bought us (nine children) the books, we read the stories, but that's all they were--only stories. We didn't know they were all in the Bible.

It was not until 1967 that I married into the Seventh-day Adventist family, and learned those beautiful stories were from the Bible. I've always believed God has a plan. Now I read them to my grandchildren.

Juanita Longoria Terra Bella, California

GOING THE EXTRA MILE
In "Marital Affairs" (Jan. 2003), Kay Kuzma advises a woman who is married to a relationship/love addict to, "go the extra mile in meeting your husband's emotional needs so he doesn't use that as an excuse to stray."

The premise upon which this faulty belief is built is that the wife has some sort of control of her husband's behavior based on her meeting his needs. Current literature indicates that putting that responsibility on the betrayed spouse creates a false sense of control and may in fact make the situation worse. The wife didn't cause it; she can't cure it. Marriage counseling, support groups, and picking up some books about his disease and her part in it may be more helpful than taking on the responsibility of "meeting his needs . . . so he won't stray."

Besides, there's never a good excuse to stray. No matter what.

Name Withheld

ANOTHER VIEW
This letter is in response to the article, "America: Another View," by Mark A. Kellner (Dec. 2003). I do not understand why this article was published in the Review. Mr. Kellner is certainly entitled to his point of view regarding the United States, but I cannot see how stating this opinion corresponds to the mission of the Review, a magazine for a world church. What Kellner wrote may be popular in the United States, but I'd like to express another view.

I am Canadian; however, I do not see the Canadian government or its citizens as being morally superior to those of other countries. The Bible teaches that we are all sinners. This sinfulness extends to our governments. Since the United States is so wealthy and powerful, its sins may be easier to see and affect more people. Because of our emphasis on the Bible and how the Bible interprets history, this should be clearer to Seventh-day Adventists than to anyone else.

It is difficult for people of any group to objectively analyze their own actions and attitudes, but it's something that we need to do. For example, as a non-Aboriginal Canadian, I am not proud of the fact that, due to the treatment of our Aboriginal peoples, we were not really a democracy until the 1960s. Because of its treatment of African Americans and others, the same can be said of the United States.

Though it is true that the United States has done good things over the years, we should not forget those other events, such as the expulsion of the United Empire Loyalists, the systematic genocide of Native Americans, the enslavement and repression of African Americans, war crimes committed against the people of southeast Asia, to mention only a few. The current situation in Guantanamo Bay, where, according to the United States government, prisoners are not protected under either the Geneva Convention or the Bill of Rights causes great concern to many people. Although I belong to none of these groups, it would be wrong not to acknowledge the suffering that those people have endured at the hands of the United States government.

The author mentioned that the land of his grandfather's birth killed half of his family because they were not racially, religiously, or politically pure. The United States government has been guilty of systematic genocide (in the case of Native Americans), political discrimination (in the case of the United Empire Loyalists and Communists) and racial discrimination (in the case of African Americans and many others).

I noticed that the article included a picture of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the government of France, which was soundly criticized by Americans for opposing the war in Iraq. Like other American Foreign policy, the war in Iraq is becoming more and more suspect. Kellner stated that it is popular to bash the United States. I hope the United States is brave enough to ask why.

Name Withheld

PROTECTING THE FAMILY
Regarding the report of the North American Division's (NAD) year-end meeting ("Ethics, Child Protection, and Pay Highlight Discussions," Dec. 2003): Though the newly voted NAD policy about reporting illegal behaviors of any and all congregants who have accepted any church responsibility (including volunteers) enters clothed in child protection garb, I encourage its reconsideration.

History in all societies reveals that immoral, unjust, and unethical laws do occur, not only against those who have not followed them but against those who aid them. Ellen White observed that those who serve Christ have been judged the vilest of criminals, and will be again.

This broadly worded policy will encourage some within our spiritual family by human justification to report others who are standing for the right, or protecting those who are. It will create a Judas sub-society for their and others' discomfiture. Is that truly what we want?

Gayle R Wilson
Dallas, Oregon