ANOTHER RWANDA
"A Bridge in Rwanda" (Oct. 21, 2004), the article about the Rwandan genocide, was inspiring and challenging. Inspiring because of the courage of one Adventist who put his faith into action in the most trying circumstances; challenging, because it forces us to ask, Where was the rest of our church?

Today genocide is occurring in Sudan, and we are forced to ask again, Where is the voice of the Adventist Church? More particularly, where is the voice of the self-described "flagship journal" of Adventism? You recently ran an article on the Holocaust--more than 50 years after the event; now you run a story on the Rwandan genocide--10 years after the event. Where are the stories about the genocide happening today?

It took enormous courage for Carl Wilkens to stand up to killers in the flesh. It would take little courage for the editors of the Review to stand up to killers in print. Will we have to wait 10 to 50 years before the Review has the courage to discuss the slaughter of innocents occurring today in Sudan?

Michael Stanton

Thank you for the beautiful, encouraging words we read in the Adventist Review every week. The cover story about Rwanda was special for me, not only because I live in Africa, but because I know the Wilkens family.

I am a Zimbabwean living in South Africa, and I remember fondly the Wilkens family, as they used to be our neighbors at Lower Gwelo Mission in Zimbabwe. Teresa used to give me piano lessons, and I remember especially the commitment they had in all they did.

We still remember them and are so glad to learn of how God has protected them over the years.

Thembi Dube
Aganang Municipality
South Africa

OUR CIVIC DUTY
Nathan Brown's column, "I Believe and I Vote" ((Oct. 21, 2004), is a rich ship with colorful images. The need to vote is a privilege and a duty to maintain our liberty. As an immigrant, now a United States citizen, voting is an expression of my concerns for the candidate who upholds the moral standards I cherish the most. Where the spirit of Christ is, there is liberty, the liberty to go and vote.

Thank you for printing this column.

Michel Kordas

LET GOD CHOOSE
I'm writing to share a thought related to the current discussion on the nominating process ("GC Nominating Process Examined" ).

Since God is the all-knowing Creator, the One Who knows the future, we can assume that He is best qualified to select a church leader. Since God is the true Head of the church, we can also assume that He has accurate information as to who would best fit the job. Since the Bible record is true, we can further assume that the selection process in Scripture will give us a model of selection. Then we can allow God to select the leader in an active and direct way using Bible methods.

Here in Lafayette we have selected qualified individuals, then cast lots between them after a season of prayer, the model used by the apostles when replacing Judas.

The church in Lafayette has been blessed and amazed at how God works. I can elaborate more when it's appropriate.

Throstur Thordarson, pastor
Lafayette

NOW WE KNOW
Angel Rodriguez gave an excellent linguistic explanation of Lucifer in his column, "Where Did We Get 'Lucifer?'" (Oct. 14, 2004). I'm writing to add a postscript from the astronomical perspective.

Venus being the brightest of the planets, its orbit is easy to track with the naked eye. Ancient minds had more aptitude and certainly more time to do so than we do. The Assyrian library of Ashurbanipal (about 600 B.C.) records the appearances of Venus for 21 years.

Because Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, it is visible only within three hours of dusk or dawn, never in the middle of the night. Venus appears low on the western horizon after sundown, and climbs a bit higher each night until it disappears from sight to reappear some time later in the pre-dawn eastern sky.

In ancient mythology where stars were gods, it is easy to see where "I will raise my throne above the stars of God" and "You have been cast down to the earth" originated (Isa. 14, 13, 12, NIV). The brightest god wanted to become the highest god. It is likely that this passage was then a well-known song relating to the strange antics of one wandering star. It was appropriated by Isaiah to refer to the king of Babylon, and also to Satan--appropriately!

Kudos to the late Owen Mattingly and his astronomy class at Atlantic Union College.

Dennis Campbell
West Chesterfield, New Hampshire

THE DEBATE RAGES
I appreciate Leslie Kay's devotional, "Does God Kill?" (Oct. 2004), where she points out that the last message to the world is the good news about God's character. If I were to visit with Leslie over lunch I'd suggest several changes that would make this message clearer and more appealing.

First, we must recognize that we tend to read out of the Scriptures that which we read into them. Bible translators have done a good job of telling us what the Scriptures say so we can concentrate on what they mean. God has called our church to present a clearer picture of God, one that is not being preached by our fellow Christians. Repeating traditional dogma does not clarify, it only echoes confusion.

Second, we need to remind ourselves that Jesus is "the God" not "a God." While omnipresence is not an easy concept to relate to, it is still a characteristic of God.

Third, let's keep in mind that who God is, what God thinks, is the law. There is no law above God. God is the Law and the Law is Love.

Fourth, God's wrath is God's love rejected. When we reject God's love we reject God, the only source and sustainer of life. God reluctantly lets us go, thus eternal death. At the cross and in the resurrection Jesus demonstrated that He is the Life Giver and has power over death. Jesus was in the grave for 36 hours, not for eternity.

Traditional Christianity preaches a God of love. But when stripped of its flowery terms and convoluted language it goes on to describe God as one who is offended by our actions, and to satisfy His own sense of justice, subjects Himself to pain and death, rises to life again, and declares victory. God now feels good about Himself, acts graciously toward those who accept Him, and tortures forever those who reject Him. It's no wonder that God has called us to repudiate this version of God, and present the good news about who God really is.

The Adventist message is that God's character was called into question by Satan. The human race has been caught up in this controversy. God has allowed Satan great latitude to make his case while God has countered with the truth. The cross exposes Satan for the liar he is, willing to kill God if he could. The cross confirms the depths of God's love; a love that wants to heal us from the damage caused by rebellion and bring us home to live with Him in heavenly bliss.

The Adventist message is a beautiful expression of who God is. Let's be true to mission and not let traditionalism destroy its clarity and power.

Alvin Corson

WHAT ABOUT MEGA CHURCHES
"Why Don't Adventists Grow Megachurches?" (Oct. 16, 2003). Because of the Sabbath? Because of liberalism in the organizers?

Please! Adventists don't grow megachurches because we don't love each other and because we don't love those outside the Adventist church. Period.

If among our local congregations such unconditional, accepting love for each other existed, we couldn't help but share it outside our community. Love--and all the action type things that go along with it--is what will grow Adventist megachurches; Jesus told us that just before He died (John 13). The litmus test for the effective spread of the gospel is our love for each other and the "world." When we stop creating new programs and evangelistic gimmicks every year and instead genuinely love each other, God will act through us in a way we can only imagine.

Gwen Ashley

As a young church leader I've always been intrigued by megachurches. We have a few of them in my area. We have "Harvest Christian Fellowship" in Riverside; and "The Rock" in Loma Linda. The Rock has been boasting about services on Saturday in an aggressive attempt to lure disenfranchised Adventists or former Adventist youth.

One factor that Ed Christian's column did not mention is the giving of tithe and offerings. The Rock, for example, has overseas missions and ministries, as well as a newly erected, multi-million-dollar worship center. Its large busses can often be seen crisscrossing the freeways in order to pick up local worshipers within a vast radius. All this costs money. Adventists are expected to help the unchurched understand why tithe goes to the conference and then to the global mission, while our facilities are neglected (especially in Hispanic churches where offerings are not very high). All The Rock has to do is provide a good show and demonstrate that it is committed to its own community with a huge building.

Besides the Sabbath and tithe, our commitment to the global mission has made it difficult to create a megachurch scenario. However, Christian's editorial nailed the issue on the head. If we were out there making disciples with Jesus' methodology, this doctrinal issue would be secondary to the power of attracting masses to church. Thanks for addressing this topic.

Fabian Carballo
Colton, California

I thought the article about Adventists and megachurches was interesting.

I don't agree with it, however. One of the many reasons why the Adventist church has no megachurches is because it's not our culture. I was raised an African American Adventist for 36 years now, and quite honestly our faith doesn't support the megachurch idea. We have always believed that if a congregation is large enough to sustain itself, it's time for it to give birth to another one. We are a church planting organization. We have never been about creating large masses of Adventist in one church. It has nothing to do with being a liberal or conservative.

We Adventists criticize the megachurches, but how many Adventist churches have an organization that runs as smoothly? I applaud the megachurches for getting on television and cable TV and reaching people. We have satellite broadcasts, but who's going to spend hard earned money to buy HopeTV, 3 Angels Broadcasting Network, and others, just to have some Christian programming? Very few.

It's easy to say that megachurches are liberal, but at least they have some sense of order and organization. The Adventist Church is baptizing folks, but are we keeping them? We are losing the battle to these other churches because we have the truth; and that's all we have, the truth. We don't have love; we don't have the caring church we should have. We are still segregated, yet most megachurches are multicultural. We need to learn a lesson or two from megachurches about striking a balance, and create a climate where Blacks, Whites, and other races can worship together in harmony. Megachurches are already doing that. Are we?

Paula Morris

MEETING THE CULTURE
My response to the letter by E. L. Jones, Jr., of WTBC Radio, regarding the need to support Christian rap music, dress, and lifestyles in order to introduce Jesus is: I think you're just a bit over the line.

I'm a refried hippie of the Woodstock days, with silver hair now, instead of the dark dreadlocks of then, wrinkle tracks instead of smooth face. When I first stepped inside an Adventist church in Great Falls, Montana, I was dressed to the nines in what I thought was cool clothing. If the greeters or the couple who invited us home for dinner had been dressed like me, I'd first have been insulted, knowing that they were only talkin' the talk, not walkin' the walk. Second, I'd have figured they really weren't into what they believed or they'd be living more humbly; or I'd figure they were baiting me.

The couple we spent the day with could not have been more opposite from my husband and me. They were well dressed and well educated; they had good jobs, a beautiful home, perfect manners. We had none of those things. Yet it was their honest and sincere interest in us, their Christ-like gentleness and kindness, and the kindness with which they treated each other that so impressed me. When we left I turned to my husband and said, "Those Advents are weird; nice, but weird." Weird enough that I decided to investigate.

This couple stepped out of their comfort zone and into our home to visit us, and even tried to help my husband find work. They were the opposite of us, but they showed concern and interest in us, and God was there. My husband and I became members a year later.

We do not have to experience the same lifestyle or heartache of others in order to relate, as some maintain. Nor must we dress, eat, or live like them. Nor must we endorse the things they endorse, or accept the things they accept. What we must do, is love them, genuinely, personally, impartially, without bias, without prejudice, without expectation of reciprocation. Just love them like Jesus does.

Amy J. Reich
Hurricane, Utah

RECYCLING THOSE PAPERS
Reagarding Carlos Medley's editorial, "Wasted Crumbs or Discarded Treasures" (Sept. 23, 2004): there is another area of "paper" wealth that could be gleaned. The Sabbath school superintendent could have a box in the church foyer for placing the children's weekly Sabbath school papers and quarterlies. Many of these papers are thrown away each week or at the end of the quarter.

A Sabbath school project for the children--and the whole church--would be to bring back their papers each week and place them in the box. The name and picture of the country these papers are going to could be posted above the box. Every six months a Sabbath afternoon could be spent getting the packages ready to be mailed. The money for postage could come from either the lay ministries fund or a jar next to the box to collect funds for the purpose.

Virginia Coombs
Willows, California