Receiving the Word by Samuel Koranteng-Pipim
Receiving the Word by Samuel Koranteng-Pipim (1996)
B-
Brother Pipim hits the nail squarely on the head in determining the cause of the problem of divisions within the Seventh-day Adventist church today. The problem lies with how we view the Bible. Is the Bible to be trusted in its entirety? Or is it to be trusted in matters of salvation but not in some “minor” things? Or is it mostly a good book, but a product of its times?
The book is 368 pages long, and in my 2 hours of perusing it, i probably read about 1/4, and skimmed the rest, so this book review may not accurately reflect all that is in the book. My impression tho, is that while identifying the root problem of divisions within the church, Br. Pipim has not accurately identified what should be done to cure the problem.
Brother Pipim is considered a staunch conservative in the SDA church by almost anyone’s standards, and his views about the subject matter express the “conservative” position very ably. He goes into detail why there are disagreements in the church over many things. “Likewise, in the current debate over such issues as creation, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, abortion, women’s ordination, homosexuality, polygamy, etc., the issue is really over how to interpret the Bible. Thus, whether they are aware of it or not, church members may have shaped their views on the above issues at least in part by their alignment in the ongoing battle of interpretative approaches between the two opposing factions of Adventist scholarship – those who read Scripture through the lenses of liberalism’s historical-critical method and those who reject this methodology.”
He describes “The Three Major Theological Factions” as:
Liberals: Bible Rejecters
Conservatives: Bible Believers
Moderates or Accommodationists: Bible-Doubters
The “liberal” mindset is fundamentally different from the “conservative” mindset, and that all boils down to how one views the Bible. With the “liberal” camp believing that the Bible has some errors, it becomes easy to see how this group of people are always changing opinions and ideas to fit in with the culture and times they are personally living in. In other words, this group determines what is right and wrong by what they want to, not by what is written in the Bible. This group has no foundation upon which to stand, and is always sliding from error to error. In general tho, they have a “loving” attitude towards anyone except fundamentalists, which makes them appear close to the truth.
The “moderate” mindset says that while there are some very minor errors or discrepancies in the Bible such as whether or not 1 or 2 demoniacs met Jesus in the Gadarenes, everything that pertains to salvation is absolutely true. “Moderates tend to occupy high positions in the church where their neo-liberal influence is felt in the classrooms, in the pulpits, and in administrative decision-making positions.” This has been this reviewer’s personal experience too, seeing little outright rejection of the Bible as truth, but some accommodation of the idea that there are small mistakes in the original autographs of the Bible. Many of them are very sincere, dedicated people, and i have even met one who is seen as a very “conservative” pastor who does excellent work in spreading the gospel in China. But he told me there are errors in the Bible such as the OT saying that 70 people went with Jacob to Egypt, while Stephen says 75 went. Unknowingly, he is building his house on the sand, just as the “liberals” are. This is the most dangerous mindset, because the holder of it actually believes they are “upholding” the Bible, where in actuality, they are judging the Bible by their worldly education.
The “conservative” mindset accepts the “full reliability and trustworthiness of the Bible in matters of salvation as well as on any other subject the Bible touches upon.” Thus, everything in the Bible is seen to be absolutely true, and superseding everything else anyone outside of the biblical canon writes or says. We are to take everything to “the law and the testimony” and if there are discrepancies between the Bible and what someone says or writes, we are to follow the Bible and reject the other as error.
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