GOING WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE
The article, "The Discovery Zone" (Mar. 18, 2004), confirms my experience. Here in China, my lack of fluency in Chinese limits my finding souls. But through my teaching I find many.

My best method lately is to invite students, Chinese teachers, and friends to "Dennis's Friday Evening Salon," an evening of a light dinner, singing and music, discussions about life, our futures, current events, and literature. My guests express appreciation for my hospitality, and I get in a few words for the Lord. Some tell me they are new believers who don't know much about the Bible and want my help in understanding it.

Dennis Lowrimore
Chagchun, China

KENYAN SNAPSHOTS
What a great piece of pondering Homer Trecartin does in "Kenya on my Mind" (Mar. 11, 2004). Congratulations on publishing something that goes beyond the obvious and prompts the reader to think, rather than merely react. How true it is that only the Holy Spirit can harmonize our mission in life and in the church.

Kay Gunter
Rome, Italy

POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE
I deeply appreciate Richard Osborn's look behind the scenes at our Seventh-day Adventist campuses ("More Pomp, Less Circumstance," Mar. 2004), and how young people are reaching out to touch the world for Christ.

However, I am saddened that he was not willing to tackle the issue of less pomp. The "bright and colorful medieval gowns" that he mentioned are certainly not something that Jesus handed down to our church from His life or legacy. Rather, I believe they were adopted from the medieval times when bishops of Rome were arrayed in colors that were intended to command respect.

It bothers me that we have allowed this tradition to continue so long in the Seventh-day Adventist system of education. Can we really see Jesus arrayed in one of these robes while He was here on earth? Along with exalting more circumstance for young people to get involved with mission, should we not also in practical and demonstrative ways be doing away with the pomp and returning to the pattern of the lowly Man of Galilee?

Maybe the vision would be clearer.

Marc Scalzi
Rogers, Arkansas

SEEING THE INVISIBLE
Thank you for the article about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ("An Invisible Illness" Mar. 2004). I suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) in 1992 after doing a short assistance tour in Japan to assist a ship which was in need of an administrative assistant. I believe I came down with CFS because I was on antibiotics for three months, and it caused my immune system to crash.

During the three months I suffered with CFS I was totally exhausted. I would sleep all night and wake up exhausted. I would come home from work and immediately fall asleep on the couch. I would wake up, eat dinner, and immediately fall asleep again. I would wake up, go to bed, and wake up the next morning totally exhausted.

Our bedroom was upstairs, and it took me more than a half hour to climb the stairs. My toothbrush felt like a sledgehammer. Medical tests indicated that everything was in perfect working order. There was no medication to take . . . I just had to wait it out until it finally went away.

I had memory loss, headaches, double vision, joint pain, shortness of breath. The worst part is that nearly everyone thought I was faking it.

Thanks again for shedding some light on the subject of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Andrew Eide
Redlands, California

I read the article on CFS with interest, since for two years I had the same symptoms, with doctors unable to pinpoint the reason for my fatigue.

Then, with God's help, I ran across some information about low adrenal function, and how to treat it naturally. After six weeks, I can hardly remember what it's like to be tired. I'm running almost every day and I feel great.

Birger Draget

After reading "An Invisible Illness" I felt better. That sounds terrible but it is a lift to know that you're not alone. The reason for my letter is to let others know about help.

My doctor is an answer to prayer. His bedside manner is 90 percent of the cure. I have been seeing him for three years and I am not cured, but I do have better days more often. I have Fibromyalgia. He also suffers from Fibromyalgia and believes that it and CFS are related.

Kim Miller

CREATION? YES!
Regarding, "Evolution? No!" (Feb. 26, 2004): May all who spend time thinking about the history of Creation expend equal zeal in protecting and cherishing what is left of it.

Who, after receiving a beautiful handmade present from a parent, would stand around arguing about how it was constructed, while the gift itself was being trampled and destroyed?

The history of the earth is important, but it is what it is, and no amount of argumentation can change it. Our actions and efforts do affect the present and future, however. May we all grow in the mature virtue of responsibility.

Shandelle M. Henson
Berrien Springs, Michigan

DEAD LANGUAGES, AND THE
PEOPLE WHO SPEAK THEM
Thank you for the insightful article, "Dead Languages" (Mar. 2004). I am a child of the '80s who turned to popular music for comfort when my young life seemed difficult or empty. If it wasn't for contemporary Christian music, with hard-hitting, real-life-impacting lyrics set to music that I could relate to, I wouldn't be in the church today.

And today I have the honor and responsibility of leading worship for a wonderful congregation at the North Cascade Seventh-day Adventist Church in Burlington, Washington. We have an eclectic blend of musical tastes and worship styles, and we are learning to be graceful and tolerant of one another's differences.

Of course, there have always been those who have a theological or doctrinal complaint about a particular style, be it music or drama or multimedia presentation. I pray that we all can be as sensitive to each other's needs as one 15-year-old guitarist who plays for our contemporary service on Friday nights.

As I gave him a ride home from practice, he told me about a Christian rock concert he and the youth group had attended, and how the music and lyrics had spoken to him. I probably wouldn't have understood a word of the concert had I been there, but I was blessed to know that this young person, immersed in today's culture of selfishness and humanism, heard the gospel message because it was spoken in his language.

The proof that he got it was his next statement. He said that although he loved that kind of music and really didn't relate to the words or music of most of the hymns at church, he would never think of playing his guitar in that style for the church service because it would block some of the older people's worship experience. He could see how hymns that were drudgery to him, moved many in the congregation, as he was moved at the Christian rock concert. That is a level of spiritual maturity that I aspire to.

My wife and I are moving to a new area, and Friday was our final opportunity to lead out in worship. Our associate pastor embarrassed us by having us sit in front of the congregation while people revealed their feelings about us. I will remember forever the multiple responses that reflected a similar theme: "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for your music, your dramas, your acceptance of my child."

I will never worry about taking the heat for reaching out with contemporary music and drama again. If only one teenager, urban young adult, wandering soul who can't relate to church as usual is in heaven because of hearing a song or seeing a drama that touched his or her heart, it will be worth any criticism.

I pray that we all will remain grounded in the wonderful, unique message we have about God's character, but not be afraid to reach out and express it in new ways. After all, Jesus commissioned us to preach the gospel to all people, not just the ones we understand.

Raleigh Clough
Burlington, Washington

Ed Dickerson made a good point in "Dead Languages." But he didn't address another important issue in music.

Music conveys both overt and subliminal messages in regard to both content and focus. All of these need to be in harmony in religious music, whether used for worship, praise, proclamation, or invitation. Too often they are not.

I speak here only to focus, or where the attention is drawn. Whether it is the words, the music (melody, harmony, rhythm), or the style and manner of presentation, the focus must be on Christ or toward the divine, so as to inspire a reverent awe or an attitude of worship in the hearer.

The contemporary music employed in religious services is more often performed than participatory, and far too often the focus is on self, drawing attention to the performer(s). Whether contemporary or traditional, whenever that is the focus, it is inappropriate for religious service.

Gerald Reynolds

PASSIONATE ABOUT CHRIST
Here in North Carolina, the Fletcher, Hendersonville, Erwin Hills, Upward, and Mills River churches are working together at movie theaters to pass out books about Christ's passion, along with copies of The Great Controversy.

People swarm us like flies to receive their free books. All we do is hold up a sign that says "Free Passion Book" as people leave the theater.

I encourage every Seventh-day Adventist Church where this movie is showing to get out there for the Lord and bring in His sheep. The Lord allowed this movie for a reason . . . so we can evangelize the world. Let's not let Him down.

Debra A. Snipes

MARRIAGE, THEN AND NOW
In his news commentary, "Will Massachusetts Redefine Marriage for America?" (Mar. 2004), Mark Kellner quotes from Rebecca Hagelin's piece, "The Beginning of the End for America?" (www.heritage.org, Feb. 10, 2004).

It is ironic that, in an effort to fight a perceived assault on marriage, Seventh-day Adventist leaders are jumping on the bandwagon with evangelical Christians who don't share our values. How can we legitimize the views of groups who want to blur the separation of church and state? The separation of church and state is at the very core of religious liberty, and religious liberty is at the very heart of our church. Without such separation we would not be allowed the freedom to worship we enjoy every Sabbath as we gather in churches around the country.

It is also troubling that Kellner quotes an author who boldly states as fact, "The nuclear family starting with the marriage of one man and one woman is the very foundation of the entire human race and every single civil society since the beginning of time." This is blatantly untrue. The nuclear family is a relatively recent institution.

Before then, families were often extended to include multiple generations living together under one roof or family compound. In biblical times these families included multiple wives, concubines, and children from several biological mothers, raised together. This is clearly different from the nuclear family model that has supposedly existed "from the beginning of time."

Genesis 4:19 says, "Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah". In Genesis 20: 11, 12: "Abraham replied, 'I said to myself, "There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife." Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife'" (NIV).

Ms. Hagelin repeats a popular fallacy: that marriage has always been as it is today, which we know to be untrue from reading the Bible.

Marriage in the United States has two distinct components: civil marriage and the religious ritual of marriage. Mixed-gender couples can have a civil marriage without the religious ceremony, and often do. In these cases the marriage is "solemnized" by a justice of the peace or other civil authority. Alternately, any couple can choose to have a religious ceremony without a civil marriage, and same-gender couples can find churches that will unite them in marriage. However, to receive the legal protections of marriage, a couple must have a civil marriage, which is the only marriage that can be addressed by courts or legislatures.

All religious institutions are currently free to decide which relationships they will bless. Seventh-day Adventist pastors are prohibited by church regulations from performing marriages under certain circumstances. This discretion is currently guaranteed by the separation of church and state, and only threatened when the lines of separation are blurred. Ironically, this is exactly what Christian activists are advocating when they maintain that marriage is "under attack."

Carolyn Parsons
Renton, Washington