THE PERILS OF BEING RIGHT. By Dr William G Johnson.

HERE IS HOW A SENIOR SDA LEADER EULOGISED DESMOND FORD.

I need to make one thing clear: in my judgment, the blame doesn’t lie wholly with church leaders. Reconciliation requires action from both sides, from both parties. Des was so sure that he was right that he made reconciliation very difficult.

Margit Heppenstall, wife of Dr Edward Heppenstall, Des’ mentor, shared a revealing vignette with Noelene and me when we visited them in their retirement home at Carmel, California. She related a conversation that went as follows when Des and Gill stayed at their home:

Margit: “The trouble with you, Des, is that you are always right.”

Des: “No, I am not always right — except in matters of theology!”

Always right — it’s a peculiarly Adventist thing. We think that if we can only dot all the theological “i’s” and cross all the “t’s,” we have it made, in this life and the next. Somehow we’ve never taken the Apostle Paul’s words to heart: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). We profess salvation by grace, but practice salvation by knowledge.

Toward the end of Des’ life, his daughter, Ele’nne, tried hard to broker the needed reconciliation. Ele’nne, a brilliant barrister, who as a side ministry intervenes in church disputes to try to bring healing on Christian principles, solicited my help. Although I was retired and no longer part of the power structure of the Adventist church, I was a “neutral” party, a friend of Des and also known and respected in the South Pacific.

I made the trip to Australia, Des and I met in Brisbane, close to where Des and Gill lived in retirement. We sat in the sunshine, on a bench surrounded by flowers in full bloom, then went inside to a small café and ate together. A reconciliation meeting had been planned. Low key, of course, without publicity.

It didn’t happen. Plans fell apart, tangled in ecclesiastical red tape.

When will we Adventists ever learn? Ever learn that theology, important as it indeed is, cannot be allowed to become the be all and end all of our Christianity? Ever learn that at best we know in part and understand in part?

I weep for Des Ford.

I weep for my church.

ONE OF THE INTERESTING THING IS THAT THE SDA CHURCH ADMITS THE MAN WAS AND IS RIGHT. THIS REMINDS ME OF WHAT THE LEADERS IN UGANDA {EAST AFRICA} HAVE ALWAYS TOLD ME,  “ISAIAH YOU ARE RIGHT BUT KEEP QUITE AND STAY WITH US”.

Am sorry, am always right until I am proven wrong theologically. Jesus died out of the system and he left us his bloodline an inheritance. WE WILL DIE OUTSIDE OF THE JUDAISM CULT AND  WE WILL NOT BEHAVE LIKE DOGS WITH PUKES.