Adventist Counter Cult-ure

A new exclusively SDA clothing company eighteenfourtyfour.com has Adventists talking about fashion and culture. It's debatable whether the two should go together in the SDA context. Still, the company seems to be a hit with their "Homeschool Hottie" and "I [heart] haystacks" t-shirts, among others. But hey, why should they have all the fun? Here is some Adventist apparel for the church-lover in all of us.

SDA Tats

Following up the story that Shawn Boonstra plans to hit the big city (Los Angeles) despite his not being "gangsta", I found this photo of someone who certainly is. At least as gangsta as an Adventist can be. Here's the photo from Flickr, courtesy of user http://flickr.com/photos/sergei1971/

Now here's the big, big question: Is gettting "Seventh-day Adventist" tattooed on the forearm super-tough or just plain nerdy?

Boonstra on the Boob Tube

Adventism has its own honest-to-goodness televangelist, Shawn Boonstra. A friend of mine living in the Los Angeles Metroplex says that Shawn Boonstra was on KCAL 9 TV last Sunday morning (competing with Joel Osteen on the Fox affiliate).

Boonstra gets Gangsta in LA

Boonstra, who took over It Is Written after Mark Finley had "other stuff to do" at the GC (Finley's a vice-president), has apparently getting some face time in Los Angeles. Sources close to the situation (i.e. Southern California Conference of SDA's) reveal that Shawn Boonstra is going to be the speaker for a massive campaign to turn Southern California Adventist green (it's a real color, I'm not even kidding!). The campaign called cLAim is a ramped up revelation seminar-type thing that sources say will cost $1 million. I wonder how much it costs to get Boonstra on KCAL 9.

My friend who spotted Boonstra on the Tube says that his message was part of a series entitled "In Tables of Stone", which unsurprisingly is about Adventism's favorite topic--besides the three R's: Revelation, Remnant and Revelry (meat, jewelry and dancing)--the 10 Commandments!

Boonstra reportedly told a story about some Russian guy who kidnapped a girl. Everyone was outraged that the guy would do such a thing. So that's how we know that postmodernism is wrong. There ARE absolute moral values because everyone just KNEW that it is wrong to kidnap a girl and make her your captive. Postmodernism says that everything is relative, and that one person's morals are just as good as someone else's. But we KNOW that it's not true because of the story of the Russian guy. And that's why we should follow the 10 Commandments!

I wonder how well a message like that is going to go down in LA. Shawn Boonstra is obviously not gangsta. He's not really fly for a white guy. He can't lean like a cholo.

I guess he does have the "in" of being a TV star...kind of. So that should get him a little respect in Hollywood at least. And come to think of it, there are probably lots of people in LA who can identify with a message about tablets and stone--those Californians... It'll be interesting to see how the Million Dollar Man does next year in the hood. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, enjoy these screenshots my Cal Pal got for me:

Energy Policy [For Adventist Environmental Advocacy]

I created this to go with a post on energy policy for Adventist Environmental Advocacy. Oh, by the way, I do commissions sometimes if you ask nicely ;-)

(and just for the record, the Energy Information Administration had nothing to do with this image, just in case anyone asks)

Ted N. C. Wilson Holds the Keys to the Kingdom?

Ted Wilson has done all sorts of interesting things - lived in Abidjan, been president of something large and significant in Moscow, and received a Ph.D. in Religious Education from New York University. To some astute GC watchers, this puts him next in line for the presidency of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists once current president Jan Paulsen leaves the post. And to further drive the Ted-Wilson-as-president buzz, this official picture from the GC website has Wilson at the front of the line of current vice presidents ahead of Ella Simmons, who looks awfully lonely floating amid the veep sea of men. And what is with the creepy right-eye motif?

Of course from another perspective, the picture above has Ted Wilson as far away as he can be from current president Jan Paulsen, indicating that Wilson is least likely to become the next Prez. Some folks have hinted that Mark Finley (who for some strange reason reminds me of Kermit the Frog) might be next in line.The truth of the matter is that all this guesswork about who might be the next leader of the Free SDA World is premature. Jan Paulsen is doing a fine job of presiding, and until the conclave with its grey smoke and white smoke, the speculation will just have to sit patiently like a kid in church.

Hiram Edson sees the light

On October 23, 1844, the day after the Great Disappointment, Hiram Edson purportedly saw a vision while standing in a grain field that changed the Advent movement forever.

Queen Sarah the Palin Comparison

Sarah mania strikes America, and the new Queen strikes back...with requests for prayer for America's soldiers who are doing a task that is from God in Iraq. Seriously. And praying for pipelines in Alaska. But it won't matter if Alaskans' hearts are not right, she says.

Watch this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4LjsfWbZLA
See also "Hocky mom pitbull with lipstick"

Or was it attack dog?

Editoon - Essence of Adventism

For Spectrum (click image to enlarge).

Rajmund Dabrowski

A while ago I got a request for Rajmund Dabrowski (please call him Ray). Director of Communication for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. You can find out much more about Ray Dabrowski including a podcast interview he did with Alexander Carpenter of Spectrum Magazine here.

Ray owns one of the top five most caricatureable Adventist faces of all time!

Obama Biden 2008 [Miami Vice President]

Barack Obama and Joe Biden recently lit up the Denver mile-high sky with rousing speeches and the "yes we can" squad at the Democratic National Convention. Now the party is over. Turn those fireworks into work for those who were fired! Then America will be fired up and ready to go.

McCain and Palin [Beauty and the Beast]

The Internet is all abuzz with the news that John McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential running mate. With McCain for President and Palin for VP, the Republican Party hopes to attract fans of a classic tale we've heard before.

~With Apologies to Disney

Garrett Caldwell - new PR for GC says ANN

The Adventist News Network reported today that the General Conference tapped Garrett Caldwell to take the job of PR Director for the Adventist Church. I've been tapped before, and being tapped isn't really comfortable. I hope he's alright!

His mug goes up here primarily because he has a wonderfully caricatureable face, and no wonderfully caricatureable face should go uncaricatured. But if you want to know all the juicy details about how he got tapped and why, read the ANN article here.

Just for Fun

The Fighting Continues (UPDATED)

The topic of Gay Marriage has become a religio-political tennis ball being whacked back and forth between various Adventist groups.

First, there was an article on Spectrum Magazine by Jared Wright about "Why Adventists Should Consider Supporting Gay Marriage." It laid out several reasons why Adventists might want to vote against the Marriage Amendment in California.

Then came a rebuttal on Spectrum by Janine Goffar with some friendly one-upmanship in the title, "Why Everyone Should Oppose Same-sex Marriage." Janine did her best to counter the points made by Jared Wright.

Around that time, the North American Religious Liberty Association (NARLA), a Seventh-day Adventist organization came out with an endorsement of the Marriage Amendment saying, "Seventh-day Adventists have an important contribution to make to the public debate about marriage."

Their contribution was to endorse

this initiative, known as the Marriage Amendment, [which] will appear as Proposition 8. The Church State Council, a ministry of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, is the oldest public policy organization in the southwestern United States devoted exclusively to issues of liberty of conscience and religion, and the separation of church and state.

The Church State Council’s endorsement of the Marriage Amendment is predicated on two primary factors: 1) the importance of marriage to the social fabric of our nation; and 2) the reality that gay marriage is the most serious threat to religious freedom in the nation today.

That loud, yammering call to arms from the Church State Council and the invitation to all Adventist pastors to support the Marriage Amendment fired up Seventh-day Adventist Kinship, an Adventist fellowship "supporting and advocating for gay Adventists since 1976." They wrote a Religious Liberty Alert on their web site where they say, "Our religious liberty [is] at stake."

Kinship continues, saying that "Although Adventists have traditionally believed in religious liberty for all, including those with whom they disagree, it appears that prejudice against homosexuals is so great they are willing to reverse this stand."

On top of it all, Adventist authors, theologians and ethicists recently wrote a book called Christianity and Homosexuality: Some Seventh-day Adventist Perspectives, which has been circulating among pastors and church leaders around the world.

Man oh man. That is sooooome ping pong (or tennis if you please) match the church has got going on. And it all provides some excellent action for us to watch from the grandstands, cheer about, and make cartoons about.

********UPDATE*******
Now there's another web site for people living in California who oppose Proposition 8. It's called Adventists Against Prop 8. Will the fun never end?

What brings the world HERE

Dear viewer,

I know all about you--where you come from, how long you stay, what city you live in, and even your IP address. That's the beauty of today's stat counters. They also reveal what you're looking for, which is telling...and pretty funny sometimes - a window into your soul. I've compiled a list of some of the popular search terms that have brought people to this blog.

*************************************

"adventist logo controversy old new"
"jan paulson sda infiltrator"
"art blog caricature famous Adventists"
"neil nedley pride"
"Doug Batchelor scandals"
"doug batchelor in Chicago"
"Adventist Women Pioneers"
"Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi Jesuit"
"shawn johnson tiny"
"clifford goldstein sda blogspot"
"WALL-E Justin Wright (1981–2008)"
("benjamin carson" OR "ben carson") "johns hopkins" -adversity -poverty -journal –book

"Marvin Moore SDA" is the most popular search this week.

Hyveth Williams [Adventist Women]

Thoroughly [Post]modern Clifford (UPDATED)

Clifford Goldstein is quite a character. An avowed atheistic Jew, he gave up everything (that is, swallowed a bit of pride) to become an Adventist, he says. Now, Goldstein is the church's foremost apologist as editor of the adult Sabbath School Quarterly (re-dubbed Adult Bible Study Guide). He also writes books. About dragons and graffitti in the Holy of Holies.

The full title is Graffiti in the Holy of Holies: An impassioned response to recent attacks on the sanctuary and Ellen White. Huh?

Recently, Clifford Goldstein did an interview with the Adventist Church's Centre for Secular and Postmodern Studies (re:frame.info). Now can I just note something that strikes me as ironic? Goldstein was a secular Jew, though I doubt he was ever thoroughly postmodern. But reading his stuff and listening to the guy talk, you get the sense that he would not feel very at home within ten miles of a real-life postmodernist, even though it seems he reads postmodern writers in order to disagree with them.

While he has a loosened tie and messed up hair giving the impression that he's going for the postmodern look, Goldstein is a modernist, through and through. He says so in his interview.

While studying secular and postmodern people is laudable (and it's about time the Adventist Church did so!), Sorry to tell you guys, but Cliff doesn't qualify. So far, the attempts at being edgy and current seem to have amounted to traditional Adventist talking points dressed up with a postmodern hairdo.

But we have to start somewhere.

Screen shots from Cliff's thoroughly [Post]modern interview with re:frame

---------------------------------------------

**UPDATE

Cliff fired back with this email, posted by permission:

Love your stuff, even when you make fun of me. My only complaint is that who has made me the SDA voice for post modernism? Certainly not me. And, yes, I have never claimed to be post modern. Though aspects of it I like, even very much—I reject its foundation premise (if post modernism can have one) which is a rejection of any meta-narrative. Yes, I’m not a post modern but wonder where you got the idea that I was or ever claimed to be, however much I enjoy reading it (and I don’t read it to refute it; I read it to get what I can out of it while rejecting what I don’t agree with) Your stuff is funny, if not exactly unbiased.. Cliff

New Banner!

I finally got around to changing the banner at the top of the blog. It took a while to get something that not only looked decent, but also grabs attention in the most appropriate way possible, while still retaining the fun-ness of the blog.

If you want to know why I had to remove the other banner, click here for a tale of intrigue including lawyers from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and more!

It was a sad day when I took down the old banner, and Old Banner, just because you're not at the top of the page doesn't mean I have stopped loving you! I will never forget you, Old Banner. You still have a place in my heart!

Have a look at the banners I had to choose from, and drop me a comment below letting me know which one I should have used (or just let me know that it doesn't really matter which banner I use because I will never be able to do justice to Adventism's first couple anyhow).

Kendra Haloviak [Adventist Women]

Kendra Haloviak, Ph.D., is a professor of Greek and New Testament studies at La Sierra University. She completed a doctoral thesis in Apocalyptic Literature (focusing on Revelation) at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She pastored at the Kettering Seventh-day Adventist church in Ohio, the All Nations Church at Andrews University, and the Sligo Adventist Church in Tacoma Park, Maryland.

And get this: Haloviak was the first woman since the days of Ellen White to have an entire week of Spiritual Emphasis and the Sabbath Sermon at a General Conference session! She is a dynamic preacher and a scrupulous scholar.

Shawn Johnson - Beijing 2008 Olympics

More images of the Beijing Olympic Games, 2008. U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson has won multiple medals during games of the XXIX Olympiad. And her large, toothy grin and tiny but muscular body (she stands at 4'9" and weighs 90 lbs.) make for a terrific caricature!

Michael Phelps - Beijing 2008

Taking a brief break from caricature art to catch the Olympic Games in Beijing and catch up on a few other projects. Seeing the phenomenon that is Michael Phelps in his quest for an Olympic record 8 gold medals inspired this caricature, taken from the 4 x 100 relay. Jason Lezak was the hero of that event with a world record time to beat the French team by the tiniest of margins. Which meant another gold for Phelps.

Editoon - George Bush and the Evangelist

For Spectrum Magazine

Jaime Jorge [work in progress]

Andy Hanson

Andy Hanson is a professor of Education at California State University, Chico, and graduated from Pacific Union College in 1963. Hanson is a blogger most famous for his regular reviews of Adventism's major periodicals including the Adventist Review, Adventist Today, and Spectrum Magazine. Hanson shares his perspectives at Adventist Perspective (that's the name of his blog) and claims sole responsibility for what is posted there. I think that is because he is the only one who posts there.

But that is not the only place he posts - Hanson also contributes to Re-inventing the Adventist Wheel and Spectrum Magazine. And for some reason or another, he's wearing Hawaiian shirts in nearly all photos of him. Most importantly, Andy Hanson shares an appreciation for the lighter side--he posts cartoons regularly that have religious, sometimes Adventist, themes. Hooray for humor!

*Look closely at the image - you'll see that it is a digital painting. What you won't see is that I made it with Microsoft Digital Image Pro (that's only because I can't afford professional grade digital drawing software right now...but some day!).