| Author | Message | ||
| Bskillet Registered user Username: Bskillet Post Number: 346 Registered: 8-2008 |
I started reading Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison, and I came across the following discussion of folly, within the letter "After Ten Years": This reminds me so much of what it was like in Adventism, especially the part about how it is impossible to communicate with the man himself, because he simply spouts slogans and watchwords in reply. If you have ever debated with an Adventist, this is exactly what you find. It is so true that they are being used as tools by evil forces. We all were. One of the most eye-opening things to me was reading Truth Led Me Out by Dale Ratzlaff, and also A Theologian's Journey by Jerry Gladson. These books proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to me that the SDA leadership absolutely knows its theology is wrong, that Ellen White is not truly a prophet of God, etc., but that they still spout the slogans, and encourage the laity to do so, for their own power. The average pew-sitting Adventist becomes the fool, the dupe, the patsy of men whose lust for power is their only god. The group-think foolishness that Bonhoeffer describes is also there: No one within the SDA church questions the basic assumptions of Adventism, testing them by the Bible. Men and women just go along with them because the crowd does so, and emotionalism and fear are the tools used to keep everyone in line with the herd. | ||
| 8thday Registered user Username: 8thday Post Number: 976 Registered: 11-2007  |
wow - great quote! This topic came up in our Sunday school yesterday. The pastor brought up Jim Jones and how everyone just followed lock step behind him all the way to death. I said that in the end, many no longer wanted to - but had lost the ability to choose because a gun was pointed at their head. It didn't start out that way. They gave up their will to someone else when it all still looked good and safe. Then someone commented that Hitler did the same thing. But then there are those that never wake up and no matter what the atrocity or contradiction - believe they are still in the right. It's so much easier to follow, and the leaders attract us and soothe us with their facade of power, wisdom, and offering you a badge of membership into some special elite. It takes a lot of work to be responsible for your own thought processes, and additionally to submit them to Christ alone - and not the attractive schemes of men. Christ asks us to die, give up ourselves and our pride. Human nature really wants a different way. | ||
| Hec Registered user Username: Hec Post Number: 284 Registered: 3-2009 |
I guess this explains what I always doubted. How can a person like Fidel Castro, or any other dictator have so many followers. True, there are many who are forced and deceived, but there are millions who would give their life for him. It seems like it would be so easy for one of his guardsmen to just put a bullet in him and end it all even if they themselves are killed. Sometimes they commit suicide because they can't take it any longer (protecting him) Ok. if you are committing suicide so you won't have to protect him why don't you just kill him,and they will kill you. You end up dead anyways, but so does him. But they can't think of that. It's like the power is overpowering even the reason. Could that explain why the SDA rulers has swept some issues under the rug even though they know these issues are non biblical? Could it be that they do no intend to deceive the membership, but that they themselves are "fools" and cannot do the opposite because of the power the institution wields on them? If that is the case, can we send then to jail for the crime or send then to a hospital for insanity. ( To use a court case example) Hec | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 9996 Registered: 12-2003  |
Great insights from Bonhoeffer, Brent. I remember being moved and overwhelmed when I read Letters and Papers from Prison several years ago. Very thought-provoking and impacting book. Colleen |
