Ari Bates, a religious studies major at Southern Adventist University, said the school is drafting a policy that would endanger the LGBTQ+ community. Bates said she was told that if she did not comply with the policy, it could lead to disciplinary action. A statement released by Southern said the school “welcomes all students who […] Source: https://atoday.org/southern-adventist-university-transgender-student-the-church-is-dangerous-in-situations-like-mine/
Virtually, the Real Thing: First Online Adventist Church Established
NEC’s first online church, Living Manna, will still have church elections, give tithe and offerings. Living Manna will also operate seven days a week through varied online programming addressing daily living, finances, mental health, and more. “I don’t think [Living Manna] will be poaching members from our brick-and-mortar churches,” said Nicardo Delahaye, NEC associate secretary. […] Source: https://atoday.org/virtually-the-real-thing-first-online-adventist-church-established/
Thursday: The New Covenant Has Solved the Problem of the Heart
Compare the new covenant promises of Jeremiah 31:33 and Ezekiel 36:26-27. How are they related?
The first covenant document was written by God on tablets of stone and was deposited in the ark of the covenant as an important witness of God’s covenant with His people (Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 10:1-4). Documents written in stone, however, could be broken; and scrolls, as Jeremiah had experienced, could be cut up and burned (Jeremiah 36:23).
Image © Daniel Pape from GoodSalt.com
But in the new covenant God now will write His law in the hearts of the people. The heart refers to the mind, the organ of memory and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15, Deuteronomy 29:4), and especially to where conscious decisions are made (Jeremiah 3:10, Jeremiah 29:13).
This promise did not simply secure access to and knowledge of the law by everyone. It also, and more importantly, was to bring about a change in the heart of the nation. The problem of Israel was that their sin was engraved “with a pen of iron,” “with a point of diamond … on the tablet of their heart” (Jeremiah 17:1, NKJV). They had a stubborn heart (Jeremiah 13:10, Jeremiah 23:17); therefore, it was impossible for them to do the right thing (Jeremiah 13:23).
Jeremiah did not announce a change of the law, because the problem of Israel was not the law but the heart. God wanted Israel’s faithfulness to be a grateful response to what He had done for them; thus, He gave the Ten Commandments to them with an historical prologue expressing His love and care for them (Exodus 20:1-2). God wanted Israel to obey His laws as an acknowledgment that He wanted the best for them, a truth revealed in their great deliverance from Egypt. Their obedience was to be an expression of gratitude, a manifestation of the reality of their relationship.
The same is true today for us. Jesus’ love and care in dying for us is the prologue of the new covenant (Luke 22:20). True obedience comes from the heart as an expression of love (Matthew 22:34-40). This love is the distinguishing mark of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. God pours His love on us through His Spirit (Romans 5:5), which is expressed in love (Galatians 5:22).
| If ancient Israel was to love God, even without the understanding of Christ’s death, why shouldn’t we love God even more than they did? How does obedience make manifest the reality of that love? |
Amen!
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/thursday-new-covenant-has-solved-problem-of-heart/
Anti-Vaccination Is Not Our Message
by Loren Seibold | 15 February 2022 | Here is a question that has often puzzled me: why do some people survive in the Adventist Church in spite of their heterodoxy, and others don’t? Paging back through our history, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that there is far greater latitude for people who are […] Source: https://atoday.org/anti-vaccination-is-not-not-the-adventist-message/
A musical gift
A gift worth thousands of dollars will give Avondale students access to resources from an academic honoured by his country for service to music education. Source: https://wp.avondale.edu.au/news/2022/02/16/a-musical-gift/
