Posted By: razorren
"The Most Popular Adventist Sin" ?? - 12/21/05 12:47 PM
Very interesting article below. Is it true?
SCANBERTE LUNDERSONDT1 GREW UP in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, attended church school, academy, and college because of the loving sacrifice of his working-class parents. He obtained a M.Div. from the Andrews University Theological Seminary, married a from a professional-class Adventist family, and became a pastor. He had finally "arrived," and to all appearances had achieved the "Adventist dream."
Scanberte may carry some painful baggage from the past, though. He may have felt like a second-class citizen in school, because his dad wasn't a doctor, lawyer, or other professional with a college degree. (Some professionals' kids have a special talent for evoking this feeling in others.) This feeling may have intensified in academy and college along with the pressures of who-you-are and what-you-have, and he worked with all earnestness to obtain his degrees and improve his socioeconomic status. In the depths of his heart, where we often push the most painful and shameful elements of our lives, he may be somewhat ashamed of his parents for their modest or lowly status compared with that of his in-laws. Perhaps he tries hard to please his wife's parents, but his heart is pierced because, in that deepest place, he feels they believe their daughter could have "done better." And perhaps he's afraid that on some level, their daughter believes so as well.
We need to deal gently with Scanberte, for as Jesus says: "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12).2 We also need to deal straightforwardly with him, because he has some attitudes and motives that are bearing unwholesome and even harmful fruit.
A pernicious temptation that Scanberte, like some of his colleagues, may have succumbed to is that based on the human tendency toward one-upmanship--to be ahead of one's fellows in some way. It is the perception that professional churches and members are better than their working-class counterparts.
Full article here: http://www.adventistreview.org/2004-1517/story2.html
--Ren
SCANBERTE LUNDERSONDT1 GREW UP in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, attended church school, academy, and college because of the loving sacrifice of his working-class parents. He obtained a M.Div. from the Andrews University Theological Seminary, married a from a professional-class Adventist family, and became a pastor. He had finally "arrived," and to all appearances had achieved the "Adventist dream."
Scanberte may carry some painful baggage from the past, though. He may have felt like a second-class citizen in school, because his dad wasn't a doctor, lawyer, or other professional with a college degree. (Some professionals' kids have a special talent for evoking this feeling in others.) This feeling may have intensified in academy and college along with the pressures of who-you-are and what-you-have, and he worked with all earnestness to obtain his degrees and improve his socioeconomic status. In the depths of his heart, where we often push the most painful and shameful elements of our lives, he may be somewhat ashamed of his parents for their modest or lowly status compared with that of his in-laws. Perhaps he tries hard to please his wife's parents, but his heart is pierced because, in that deepest place, he feels they believe their daughter could have "done better." And perhaps he's afraid that on some level, their daughter believes so as well.
We need to deal gently with Scanberte, for as Jesus says: "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12).2 We also need to deal straightforwardly with him, because he has some attitudes and motives that are bearing unwholesome and even harmful fruit.
A pernicious temptation that Scanberte, like some of his colleagues, may have succumbed to is that based on the human tendency toward one-upmanship--to be ahead of one's fellows in some way. It is the perception that professional churches and members are better than their working-class counterparts.
Full article here: http://www.adventistreview.org/2004-1517/story2.html
--Ren
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) since they've put in the hard work to maintain their station. The right attitude should accompany them, as well. The case of this pastor deserves unstinting respect from his in-laws, since he's improved his station.