GCSDA
Corruption #24
CHURCH DISTANCES ITSELF FROM "DIVISIVE"
ADVERTISEMENTS
Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia ....
[Brenton Stacey/ANN Staff] The
Seventh-day Adventist Church has distanced
itself from anti-Roman
Catholic advertisements that have appeared in New
Zealand and Papua New
Guinea newspapers.
The
advertisements attacking the Pope and the United States were placed
by
lay members of the church and have prompted widespread
negative
reactions. The advertisements appeared in Auckland and Waikato
community
newspapers and in Papua New Guinea's
Post-Courier.
These independent ministries "do not have [our]
approval or support,"
reads a statement from the church in Papua New
Guinea. The statement
appeared in the Post-Courier after the newspaper
published the
advertisements, and apologized to "all of our brothers and
sisters in
Christ" for any pain they may have
experienced.
"We recognize Protestants have incited bigotry and
prejudice at times,
but to blame past un-Christian acts on one
denomination is not an
accurate representation of history or Bible
prophecy. No one can call
>themselves authentic Christians if they fail to
express love while
teaching from the Bible."
It is
"unfortunate" the advertisements "misled" readers, wrote Gavin
Howie,
associate secretary-treasurer for the church in North New Zealand,
in a
letter to the editor of the Auckland newspapers. "[The church] does
not
endorse the actions of the [lay groups]. ...[We] focus on enabling
the
community to understand, accept and enjoy the Christian message of
God's
love, which is freely offered to each individual through Jesus
Christ."
The minister of the church in Waikato wrote a similar letter to
his
newspapers.
Bob Howarth, managing director of South Pacific Post,
publisher of the
Post-Courier, says he will not accept any advertising
from the lay groups
in the future. "I apologize to you and your fellow
Christians for the
upset this caused, and I thank you for your tolerance
and understanding,"
he writes in a letter to the church in Papua New
Guinea.
"Adventists regard all men and women as equal in the
sight of God," reads
a statement released by the worldwide church in
1997. "We reject
bigotry against any person, regardless of race,
nationality or religious
creed. ...Our primary task is to preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ in the
context of Christ's soon return, not to
point out flaws in other
denominations." [Source: Adventist News
Network]
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