It
is pretty clear to those with experience in the Seventh-day Adventist
church
that the Lesson Study Guide (LSG) and its editor have come upon these
Catechism
texts with a previous set of beliefs regarding the Roman Catholic
Church. The
assumption in the first paragraph of the lesson is that it is
legitimate to
replace certain words in the text with other words that the lesson
provides. By
doing this, the reader is then able to see how the Roman Catholic
Church
replaces God. This they mistakenly reason, being done with the actual
words taken
from the official Roman Catholic Catechism. The first question we
should ask;
is it logical to perform word replacement techniques or is that simply
a
manipulation of the reader based upon the editor's prejudice, the
reader's
prejudice or both? For instance what if I thought the Church, pick any
denomination, was actually of Satan. Would it be acceptable to replace
their
wording in documents with Satan instead of Church? Would it be
acceptable to
insert Apostate in front of every reference to Church in some
denominations
official documents? No reasonable person would accept this type of
manipulation, yet here it is in our own church sponsored LSG.
The
LSG editor has removed from this fairly short paragraph seven
references to God
or Christ. Of those four sentences the only one that does not include a
reference to God or Christ is the one that the editor Clifford
Goldstein
selected to use in the LSG. It is ironic that in this selected sentence
the
editor suggests that we substitute "God or Christ" for
"Church" when in the surrounding sentences it is clear that the
church mentioned in the statement is united with God in her activities,
at
least in the Roman Catholic view. Now we can always debate whether what
the
Roman Catholic Church claims is true or not. Since the time of the
Reformation,
Protestants have asserted that the Roman Catholic Church to some degree
or
other is the Antichrist. But we should seek a more truthful
understanding, not
out of context quotes.
Clifford
Goldstein follows the same manipulation in the five other Catechism
quotes,
using the same butchered, out of context method and the same faulty
word
replacement logic. Due to space considerations we cannot examine each
Catechism
text. They are easily available in a searchable format at the following
web
address: http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/ccc.html
Via
E-mail I asked Clifford Goldstein to explain why in the recent Sabbath
School
quarterly there were greatly abbreviated quotes taken from the Catholic
Catechism which misrepresent their actual teachings. His answer was as
follows:
"All I
can say is that if you look at the basic
point we were making, that Rome as a church, as an institution, has
usurped the
role of what Jesus does for us, then the quotes are fine. That
comes
through loud and clear in the Catechism. I believe the points we
made by
using those quotes were accurate".
As
Mr. Goldstein's answer shows, he begins with the assumption that
Mr.
Goldstein's distortion of the Roman Catholic Churches teachings will
not
embarrass the Catholic Church because they can simply refer anyone
interested
to the Catechism quotes in context. This is only an embarrassment to
those of
us involved in the SDA church. It is our church's publication that
lacks the
critical thinking ability to separate prejudice from fact.
According
to Clifford Goldstein these Catechism quotes were not part of the
original
author's manuscript but were added by Mr. Goldstein and at some point
reviewed
and approved by the Lesson Study Committee. Clifford Goldstein's answer
and the
approval by the above committee indicate that there is a problem
systemic in
the SDA church. If the committee had reviewed the quotes in context how
could
they have approved their insertion into the LSG? If they did not review
the
quotes in context, then just what kind of review is actually
performed?
Either way it seems we are being indoctrinated in an institutional
prejudice.
It
is difficult to believe that Clifford Goldstein does not understand his
dishonest use of the Catechism quotes. The same week that I received
Mr.
Goldstein's response mentioned above he wrote in his Adventist Review
column
the following: "Everyone knows perfectly well what the church means by
"a literal, recent six-day creation," and to exploit the weaknesses
of language in order to read into the statement what it is purposely
not saying
is sheer intellectual dishonesty." (Painting a storm
In
Religion anyone can believe whatever they want to believe. But in the
Christian
religion belief is based on historical evidence. It is based upon the
accounts
given in the Bible; it is based upon the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus.
That evidence changed Christ’s followers
and their
changed lives changed the world. Evidence and the logic that is
necessary to
understand the written word is the thread that instructs us, encourages
us and
makes our belief believable and attractive. So as we present Christ to
the
world we need to pay attention to the evidence. Not glossing over
information,
ignoring meaning, or rewriting what does not fit the tradition we have
grown up
with.
Jesus
who said of Himself that He was the way, the truth and the life is not
well
represented by those who distort and manipulate. The lesson study guide
may not
be viewed as an authority on what our church thinks or believes, but it
should
strive to use valid logic and actually in context quotations. It is
still a
study guide and if it fails to use legitimate methods of interpretation
how
will the people in the church learn to grow in their understanding and
application of the evidence around us. As Ellen White has said there
are many
things we must learn and many things we must unlearn. If we fail to
practice
reason, if we fail to be honest with others and ourselves, we will
remain
stagnant. A religion based upon tradition, never moving past what we
thought we
knew and tragically never even questioning what we hold as truth.
There
certainly must be steps we can take to end blind intellectual
dishonesty. As
Christians we must always pursue truth for that is what God Himself is.
If we
have something important to say then we must say it in open truthful
ways, not
through manipulation and trickery. To be wrong is troubling but
honest
mistakes are easily forgiven, to be purposefully wrong is tragic, to
remain
intransigent in error is fatal.
--
This Article was submitted to Adventist Today and
Spectrum Online for publication. Both alternate SDA media outlets
declined to
publish this article.