Christian Spirituality And Science Journal

Ellen White’s repeated and strident denunciations of ‘infidel geologists’ and their
ideas in her 1864 monograph “Spiritual Gifts” are well known. This early origins
material was invoked from time to time in her subsequent articles for Church
periodicals, would be re-worked and expanded in her “Spirit of Prophecy” (1870)
and was to see its final denouement in “Patriarchs and Prophets” (1890) with
other associated material appearing in the “Great Controversy” (1888). Because
of her accepted prophetic status Ellen White’s writings in this area have proved
to be enduringly authoritative for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Further,
they were enormously formative for George McCready Price and, through him,
hugely influential for the world-wide recent creationism movement, beginning in
the 1960s. This paper explores the historical and theological contexts of White’s
pronouncements on geological themes, explores possible provocations and sources behind some of her ideas and notes differences in the manner in which she re-used this material in later publications. This study indicates that her statements on geological matters represented ideas which, while once commonly held, were no longer accepted by professionals involved with the rapid scientific progression of nineteenth century geology.

Most Seventh-day Adventist thought leaders have never questioned a "young"
age for the Earth’s biosphere, i.e. from six thousand to tens of thousands of years.
However, while pioneer Adventist Church leaders were also explicit in accepting
these same ages for all inanimate matter on Earth and in space many prominent
Adventist individuals and institutions now allow or accept a conventional “Big
Bang” cosmology with its implications of 4.5 and 13.7 billion-year ages for the
Earth and universe respectively. This view has been increasingly championed by
a number of Adventist writers on science during the last five decades and in recent years there has been a renewed theological attempt to strengthen its exegetical foundation.

This paper argues that the coherence of this “old universe but young
life” model is compromised at two levels. The first involves the selective acceptance of scientific evidence and inconsistent use of scientific methodology. The second, more fully developed in this paper, relates to the implications of the tacit admission of ongoing “process” made by the “old universe but young life” model.

Proposed amendments to Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief No. 6 represent an attempt to define acceptable Adventist understandings of creation more tightly and to exclude alternative viewpoints in a creedal fashion. In particular, there appears to be an attempt to exclude anything but a young age for life. One question which may be asked is whether the proposed amendments are in fact sufficient to exclude unwanted views, since there are models which allow for a creation week consisting of seven consecutive, contiguous, literal, twenty-four days, yet which accommodate current scientific understandings in ways recent creationism finds uncomfortable. While group identity is important, a focus on the formulation of tighter belief statements as a means of defining heretics will do little to bring resolution. Such documents can all too easily become primarily instruments of power and exclusion. They indicate a shift in focus from the core of a community’s identity to its borders and that is no advance. Listening to one another may not always bring unanimity of opinion but it should both foster respect and facilitate a deeper and more productive unity than mere uniformity could ever bring.

Ten interesting facts about alcohol consumption are unpacked.

While the stance of some conservative Christian (and other) groups advocating abstinence from alcohol intake may not be popular, contemporary research into alcohol and its effects on the body may lend weight to such a position. The consumption of alcohol, coupled with its addictive properties, can lead to a wide not only costly in medical terms but also in terms of domestic violence, accidents and antisocial behaviour.

Alcohol is metabolised by the liver and this organ may be consequently damaged resulting in serious impairment of normal hepatic structure and function. Nearly all the physiological systems of the body are adversely affected by alcohol to varying degrees and the behavioural effects observed with intoxication are associated with compromised neurotransmitter functions in the brain and altered brain structure in the long term. Adverse consequences of alcohol intake may be evident in other systems including the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, reproductive and immunological systems. There is an increased risk of atherosclerosis, cancers of the oral cavity, pancreatitis and immune system disturbances associated with prolonged alcohol intake. In pregnant women alcohol metabolism is reduced and as the developing foetus has lowered ability to metabolise blood alcohol compared to an adult there is an elevated risk of serious consequences associated with foetal alcohol syndrome. Despite the nearly overwhelming negative consequences of alcohol intake, the beneficial effects of drinking red wine linked to lowered heart disease despite a high fat diet (the ‘French Paradox’) may be associated with the antioxidants and other polyphenols also found in non-alcoholic red grape juice. Serious consideration of the effects of alcohol on the body should inform decisions on the intake of alcohol.

What did ancient Greek and Roman wine drinkers believe was the mechanism, force, or process which caused their drunkenness? Three primary answers to this question emerge from the extensive ancient Greek and Roman literary references to wine and drinking. The first is that drunkenness is caused by some property resident in the drinker, the result of a bodily response to wine. This will be designated below as the “human cause.” The second is that drunkenness is caused by a property resident in the wine itself. This will be designated below as the “wine cause.” The third of these answers, the one most widely encountered, was that drunkenness was the work of the god of wine, known to Greeks as Dionysus and Bacchus. This will be designated as the “divine cause.” The purpose of this paper is to describe and document these three explanations of drunkenness within the setting of Greco-Roman culture. Relevant original sources will be cited and translated.

This paper uses an historical perspective to illustrate the ambiguous way scientific data, that has implications for understanding our place in the universe, has been interpreted. It is shown that the data can be interpreted from a theistic or atheistic perspective. Scholars of the history and philosophy of science have concluded that theism can never be derived from the argument of design, including the recent proposal of intelligent design. It is also shown that while ambiguity appears fundamental to certain scientific and biblical concepts this need not be a cause for alarm. While it is argued that religious experience can never be derived from scientific knowledge and draws upon deeper issues than intelligence, recent scientific understandings give us no reason to doubt the value of religious experience. In fact, it could be argued that there might be a case for treasuring religious experience.