Duane M. Covrig
Akron, Ohio

I appreciate this editorial very much. As I watched the events concerning Pope John Paul, II unfold on TV the things mentioned in the article were going through my mind.

We live in exciting times. The things I learned growing up are unfolding in front of my eyes. Unfortunately, I am of the opinion that most Adventists in North America are not ready, do not see, nor are they prepared for the things that are coming our way.

No wonder Jesus kept repeating in Revelation 2 and 3: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Slavica G. Kukich-Ostojic
Phoenix, Arizona

I don't think a personal perspective should have such a high level distribution on this topic. Where is the official perspective--or do we not want to go on record as to what it is?

I am a solid Adventist. I see Adventists noncommittal when it comes to our church standards, and quiet on our Laodicean attitude. In North America we cannot get people to come to Sabbath school or prayer meeting. We cannot get them involved in relieving social problems. We have, in many cities, become a seventh day church, where we need to be active every day for God. We are often invisible in our communities.

How do we have time to denounce other religions? If Christ is coming soon and we need to wake up--(He is and we do)--then will it serve us best to get ourselves at one with God, or to run from the Catholics? Think it out. If we spend time on the Truth, the counterfeit will take care of itself. We need to get into our Bibles and do the works of Jesus.

The church doesn't need to editorialize about the Pope and soften the position by calling it a personal view. I find no error in the editorial: I find it misdirected.

R. Swan

Congratulations to Editor William G. Johnsson on his superb manner of writing "The Papal Transition."

Dr. Johnsson's way of being succinct, clever, tactful, pointed, simple, clear, and thorough in handling such a delicate topic at such a time is truly marvelous.

I have read the Review with delight for nearly a half century. I loved reading editorials by F. D. Nichol, Kenneth Wood, and now, of course, the ones by William G. Johnsson. All of the contributors to the Adventist Review are doing a fine job.

Your presentation of vital subjects and news items are something I look forward to each week. It is great being a Seventh-day Adventist in times like these.

D. L. Ebenezer
Mandeville, Jamaica


ADVENTISTS IN QUEBEC
I was happy to read about the French work with the brothers Bourdeau by Denis Fortin, "Above and Beyond: Adventism in Quebec" (Apr. 28, 2005). It is extremely difficult to reach French Catholics, as they hold that tradition is above anything else.

My wife's great-grandparents lived in the Green Bay area. Fanny and Francois De Pas were French speaking immigrants from Belgium. I wonder if they were the fruit of Bourdeau's work. I discovered and was surprised to read in my wife's papers the Sabbath school report in French from the early 1880s. Today their son, Philo Baker--born from Martha De Pas--is pushing 102 years old. Grandpa is the oldest camper at camp Waconda in Westfield.

Michel Kordas
Wisconsin


CULTURE AND COUNTERCULTURE
The column, "Cultural Adventists," by Clifford Goldstein (Apr. 28, 2005), was interesting and well written, but I'm confused. My understanding of a cultural Adventist is quite different from the definition given by Goldstein.

I agree that a cultural Adventist is someone who was raised and educated in the Adventist church culture; however, we part paths after that. In my opinion, a cultural Adventist believes all the doctrines but doesn't have a clue why he or she believes them, except that they are what the Adventist church teaches. And if you are an Adventist, that's what you believe and do.

Cultural Adventists are steeped in church culture. They "keep" the Sabbath and pay tithe, but they often know little about basic Christianity or salvation. They are often stuck in the "good old days" of the 1950s, and anything that would draw them out of that box of tradition is considered to be from Satan. They talk about and look forward to Christ's coming, yet they do little to get ready for it, or help others to do so. As long as their name is on the membership roll of the "right" church, they believe they will be saved. Being "right" is more important to them than loving relationships (the first and great commandment). They are quite smug in knowing that they have "the truth" and feel their job (and the church's) is to tell other Christians what they are doing wrong. If they study their Bibles at all, it is not to learn, but to confirm that they are right.

I was raised to be a cultural Adventist, and I can tell you that's the reason many people in North America under the age of 50 have left the church. They came of age since the 1960s, when it began to be acceptable to question everything. The pat answers they got from the church didn't cut it. It was clear that most of the Adventists they knew were not very spiritual or happy Christians, and they refused to live that same hypocrisy. Most of them believe the doctrines and will not hesitate to tell others where they are wrong; that smug "rightness" is so ingrained in them. Many of them are filled with guilt and self-condemnation that they are not doing what they know to be "right." Some have found true Christianity in Sunday churches and are determined never to return to the dry formalism they grew up with.

I'm happy to see Adventist ministries beginning to reach out to those who have left and show them true Christianity along with Adventist doctrines. I pray for the day when cultural Adventism will be the exception in North America.

Carol Allred
San Antonio, Texas

In "Cultural Adventists," Clifford Goldstein writes: "There is only one thing that makes us Seventh-day Adventists--and that's our beliefs. We're who we are only because of what we believe--period. Get rid of those beliefs, water them down, or push them to the sidelines, and we're left with nothing that justifies our corporate existence."

Cultural Adventism is a matter of concern, and it will take considerable effort to keep our denomination from becoming largely cultural in nature. One of the most amazing studies I have done in recent years focused on the life of a prominent Adventist evangelist who was active in the 1950s. He would go into a town and conduct meetings five or six nights a week for six to nine months! People who attended those meetings were thoroughly Adventist before the evangelist left town.

Nowadays we believe we can turn a person into an Adventist in two or three weeks of meetings. When the evangelist leaves town (or the satellite goes off), people find themselves members of a local church whose members they've hardly met. Those who stick with the church often do so only if they've made close friends there. They become loyal to those friends more than to the things they were taught. They may eventually study enough to become thoroughly indoctrinated Adventists, if they are so inclined. But in my observation this happens far less often than it did 50 years ago.

It's not possible to go back to the days when an evangelist could pitch a tent and draw a crowd for months on end, so the Voice of Prophecy is striving to help fill the need of new members to delve more deeply into our beliefs through our Bible correspondence courses and the new Exploring the Word pastor's Bible class seen on the Hope Channel. But it is up to local congregations to encourage their new (and perhaps some of their long-term) members to take advantage of these resources.

Ken Wade, Producer
Voice of Prophecy
Simi Valley, California

If Clifford Goldstein wants to show off, that's fine; but not in the Adventist Review. "Alembication," indeed! The word does not appear in www.dictionary.com. It cannot be found in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition. It is found in the New Shorter Oxford Dictionary with this definition: "overrefinement of expression etc., concentration," which was hardly helpful. Finally, I tracked it down in The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, second edition, unabridged under the noun: alembic: "anything that transforms, purifies, or refines." Exactly!

Why couldn't Goldstein have said that in the first place? I was an editor for 11 years and never came across this word before.

Goldstein wrote an excellent article on cultural Adventists, then spoiled it with this "show-off" word.

Pastor J. David Newman
New Hope Adventist Church
Burtonsville, Maryland


KIDS AND THE CHURCH
I read Bonita Shields' article, "Kids are Christians, Too!" (April, 2005), with great interest. We are told that our young people may well finish the work. Last fall I chaired our church's Nominating Committee. I could not sleep the entire night before we met, talking with the Lord and thinking of ways to involve our youth in church.

I shared with our committee my thoughts and we placed our young people in many junior assistant capacities. One young man, an eighth grader, is now writing our monthly church column for our local paper. He is also working with our sound system. Others are on the Vesper Committee, Prayer Committee, Personal Ministries, Women's Ministries, library, music, songs of praise, bulletin assistant, as well as in other church work. We added a college student to our church board.

It's about time we take the counsel of the Lord seriously and involve our young people. We have to let them know they are a valued part of our church body, and use their youth and ministry to encourage them to serve the Lord until He comes again.

Loraine F. Sweetland
Crossville, Tennessee

I always appreciate Bonita Shields' articles. I especially appreciated the latest one, "Kids are Christians Too!" I made about 25 copies of it and sent it to my children, friends, and elders in our church.

Richard S. Norman