06 October 2011 Hadsund, Denmark [Thomas Rasmussen, tedNEWS] We were in for a treat when Dr Radisa Antic, and Dr Mike Pearson from Newbold College visited Denmark for our theological weekend from 23-25 September. The theme for the weekend was ‘Black or White’ – put it another way. The topic was Ellen White. We have not had a national event with this topic for quite a few years, so people were excited, and so were the speakers, because just like we had advertised, they did not agree on everything.
The weekend started on Friday evening, where Dr Radisa Antic, Director of EG White-Seventh-day Adventist Research Centre and Lecturer at Newbold College, passionately presented the relevance of Ellen White for the church today. We had over 60 participants at the event, half of them under 35. Young and old were very interested to see the influence she has had in our church and also in which areas. It was a good way to begin the Sabbath.
Sabbath morning we continued with Dr Mike Pearson, Principal Lectureer in theological studies at Newbold College, presenting ‘The Ellen White I Never Knew’. He shared with us his frustration growing up in the church where Ellen White had never become a person to him, but merely a set of read books. Later in life when he started his doctoral studies and the EGW Estate released more than 200 pages on what Ellen White had written on divorce and remarriage. He discovered her personality, her love and affection for people, which seemed very different than what he had experienced. We were all very touched by his presentation, on which even Radisa commented: “What he is saying is very important.”
Throughout the weekend we had time for many more presentations – perhaps too many, but everyone hung in there and were thoroughly blessed. We talked about hermeneutics, the sanctuary, inspiration, revelation, illumination and we had plenty of time as well for questions and answer sessions, which were very fruitful. The interaction betw
een the younger participants and the older ones was great. It was also interesting to hear the speakers, as the first Q&A started, and Mike Pearson began by saying that both Radisa and he had discovered over the weekend how much they actually agreed.
Two completely different personalities, two cultural backgrounds, two completely different educational settings – but both with an enormous respect for the other, and both with the same faith and trust in Jesus Christ and a love for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
We were truly blessed and encouraged to read more from Ellen White and most importantly, as she herself said to read the Bible – God’s Word to us. [tedNEWS]
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