FIFTH GENERATION
I recently completed reading John McLarty’s book, Fifth Generation (Abstracted in AT March/ April 2005). It is the best, most refreshing and compelling, formulation of Adventist belief that I have ever read. I had been looking for a resource to give a Jewish friend who has requested a book on Adventism. This is it. I’m ordering a dozen copies to give friends and family for Christmas. Thanks for what you’re doing for Adventist Today and thanks for this book.
Ted Hamilton, M.D. Vice President Medical Mission Adventist Health System ted.hamilton@ahss.org

NEWMAN ON TITHE PAYING
Several points need to be considered in Newman’s article [published on the AT Web site]:

1) He states ministers are underpaid based on their educational level. I believe this has yet to be proved. I have seen no evidence to support that statement.
2) It has been said by some that Ellen White gave tithe directly to ministers in need of it. This is not true. It is said she gave tithe outside of the regular channels. This is to be questioned. She gave it through regular channels. Check with Elder Ed Reid of the North American Division who has researched out this point.
3) Mormons have a fast-growing church, it is pointed out, and they have no paid clergy. They send people out two by two without wages to do work for the Church. Is not the worker worthy of his hire? So why compare the SDA system with the Mormon system?
4) It was said we should give our members the freedom of where to pay their tithe. The very sentence above states we do just that - “We do not make tithe paying a test of fellowship.”
5) We are not really a congregational system. If we were each church would be a law unto itself. A conference being independent would not make us a congregational system.

Yes, the system of tithing needs to be reviewed now and then and adjusted as needed, just like the wage scale needs periodic adjustment.
John Scharffenberg, M.D. North Fork, California

CASUALTY OF TITHE DISCUSSION
I’m a pastoral casualty for publicly discussing tithe. Two years ago I was fired from Florida Conference for ambiguous reasons which include false rumors of an affair.

Within weeks I was informed by three church leaders (a GC officer, Union leader and a Conference president outside Florida) that they were convinced I was fired for publishing two months earlier a document on tithe. This document, “The Local Church: The Most Important Institution on Earth” discussed issues similar to those raised in David Newman’s article. The GC officer even challenged me to “recant” the paper and “everything will be fine.”

This is the Holy Grail of the organization. Touch it and you disappear. Evidence? It’s the reason why author Fred Numbers is a “pseudonym for several pastors.” And where now is David Newman?

The topic has been “under study” by the administration for the 35 years of my ministry. Who in their right mind believes that a 100-yearold organizational model is “perfect” for the 21st Century? For it to change, administrators must vote to terminate their careers. What are the odds?

Fred Numbers is dead right, i.e. “we have only two choices: change or go extinct.” The extinct prophecy is winning the day unless many very courageous pastors and leaders “stand for right though the heavens fall!”
Terry Pooler Pastor Sabbath Grace Fellowship www.sabbathgracefellowship.com (Tithe paper is available on this Web site)

p.4 adventist today | vol. 14 issue 1