As I have said so before, so far I am disappointed in the leadership of General Conference President Elder Ted N. C. Wilson because he has chosen, out of honest conviction, I believe, to be a partisan in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination rather than a pastor or even a president (presider). He is either unable or unwilling, or some combination of both, to discern that there are in it at least two schools of thought from which their supporters cannot retreat in good conscience.
This is not an issue of compliance, It is an unhonest difference of intense moral conscience. Those who oppose the ordination of women are not going to yield no matter how much we pressure them because they ethically can’t. Even if we burn them at the stake or throw them into vats of boiling oil, they will not compromise. We can, and we must say, the same thing about those who support it. Why Elder Wilson seems not to discern this perplexes me greatly.
Some seem to be pushing the denomination into a crisis in hopes that they will split it and only those with whom they agree will remain. This is not going to happen. This denomination will continue to splinter as it has from the beginning but it will never split.
On the one hand, theological agreement on many issues is too deep and wide for this to happen. On the other, the denomination’s administrative structured is honeycombed with so many checks and balances that no person or group can force its will on everyone else. Elder Wilson’s own way of putting this is that his office of worldwide leadership “does not have many levers.”
Sooner later, some leader will diagnose the problem as it actually is and apply the needed remedy. Elder Wilson could be that person and I hope and pray that even at this late date he will be.
If he continues to choose not to be this leader, his administration will end in frustration and disappointment and he will be remembered as a man who could have been a unifier but chose to be a divider instead. Few get to miss so great an opportunity!
"Sola Scriptura" is Not for Me!
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Posted by David R Larson on May 01, 2011 at 06:45 AM in Columns, Comments, Holy Spirit, Science, Scripture, Seventh-day Adventism, Theology, White, Ellen G. | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: David R. Larson, Sola Scriptura