9 January 2025 | St Albans UK [Jon Paulien with tedNEWS]
In a wide-ranging interview for tedNEWS during the European Pastor’s Council in Belgrade last August, Jon Paulien (former dean of the faculty of Religion at Loma Linda University) shared his perspective on the theme of the current January – March 2025 Sabbath School study series, “God’s Love and Justice.” For Paulien, this matters because, as he says, “You become like the picture of God you worship.”
Throughout the interview and in whatever direction the conversation headed, Paulien brought the conversation back to that fundamental question humanity individually or collectively faces, “What is God really like? At the centre of Paulien’s understanding is a view of God through the lens of the Gospel and Revelation of John. Citing John 13:3, he shares the record of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet and discovers an insight into the character of God as seen in Jesus.
Knowing who He was,
Knowing where He was going,
Knowing where He came from,
He bowed down and washed their feet,
A deliberate demonstration of what the Father is like.
As Paulien reflected on the challenges facing the church in a rapidly changing world, he grappled with the pressing question: ‘How do we make Adventism relevant in a society increasingly unresponsive to Christian appeal?’ While such profound questions often resist simple or definitive answers, wrestling with them reflects a deep commitment to faith. This process does not diminish or flatten belief; rather, it broadens and enriches it, fostering a more dynamic and resilient spiritual engagement.
More of Paulien’s thoughts about the character of God can be found on the Pine Knoll Sabbath School ministry podcast, which he co-presents with Daniel Duda.
In addition to his studies in John, Paulien has written several books on the apocalypse, personal Christianity, and how Adventists navigate their faith in changing world. His first book, published in 1993 entitled, “Present Truth in the Real World: The Adventist Struggle to Keep and Share Faith in a Secular Society,” suggested that the first step of the Adventists towards secularism is – the decline and then absence of a meaningful prayer life.
