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Flyinglady
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Username: Flyinglady

Post Number: 2558
Registered: 3-2004


Posted on Saturday, May 27, 2006 - 6:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

One of my patient's is a former SDA who still has strong SDA leanings. He is a very intelligent man who has done many things and has a number of degrees. In therapy yesterday I asked him, he knows I am a former SDA, how he could play music in various clubs as an SDA. His reply was that his SS teacher told him it was not what he played in the clubs, it was did he partake of the alcohol and do the other things that SDAs disapprove of. He told me they used the tithe to help poor families. I cannot remember what all he said. I told him how I was raised,i.e., paying tithe even when very little was earned, not dancing(except at family parties), following EGW. He was very surprised at my brand of Adventism I had growing up. It was so different than his.
Just wanted to share this with you.
Diana
Colleentinker
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Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 4051
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Saturday, May 27, 2006 - 8:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Diana, interesting. I've met people such as your patient. I'm quite convinced that geography has something to do with it. Adventists in Californiaóespecially So Cal, for example, tolerate much more liberal behavior than do those in the Northwest, for exampleówhere they are sometimes very historicóbut also sometimes "evangelical" and more open than are Adventists in the midwest, etc. And so on.

The fact that your patient is a musician is part of the reason his brand of Adventism was "different", I believe. As an Adventist musician, I loved the old story of violinist Virginia Gene Shankel Rittenhouse who played with (I forget which) symphony orchestra when she was young. She was a conservative Adventist and would not rehearse during Sabbath hours.

After one concert which they played for the king of a Scandinavian country, he offered refreshments for the orchestra (so the story went). He offered to serve whatever they wantedóhe had the best wines, etc., and he was offering the best he had. "So, what will it be?" he asked.

Someone spoke up and said, "We will take what the first violinist has." The king turned to Virginia Rittenhouse and asked, "What will you have, Madame?"

"Lemonade," she replied. Shocked, the king quickly composed himself and ordered his cooks to begin squeezing lemons.

This story was told to illustrate that even musicians could play with worldly people and perform in all types of venues. What mattered was their "example", their faithfulness to their Adventist standards. It sounds as if your patient, Diana, had learned a similar rationale. He could play anywhere as long as he didn't do the "worldly" stuff.

Of course, I see a big difference between playing in clubs and playing in a symphony. But the internal rationalizing is similar, I believe.

Colleen
Riverfonz
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Username: Riverfonz

Post Number: 1711
Registered: 3-2005
Posted on Saturday, May 27, 2006 - 8:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What is the difference between clubs and symphonies? (smiley)

Does anyone remember Herb Blomstedt, conductor of the San Franciso Symphony orchestra? He is an SDA who somehow managed to have the concerts only on Saturday nights, but in San Francisco, it would have been difficult to guard the edges of the Sabbath, because the sun sets pretty late up there.

Stan
Randyg
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Username: Randyg

Post Number: 188
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Saturday, May 27, 2006 - 11:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Symphonies play wonderful music. Clubs are used to assault a golf ball!

In 1985 I was playing a solo on my flugelhorn at the San Francisco Central SDA Church for special music. Guess who was sitting in the 5th row from the front. As if I wasn't nervous enough already!

Thank-you Stan, for helping to bring that repressed memory back to haunt me yet again.

Randy
Seekr777
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Username: Seekr777

Post Number: 521
Registered: 1-2003


Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 6:55 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Randy who was sitting there? I'm not prophetic. :-) <grin>

Richard

rtruitt@mac.com


Colleentinker
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Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 4054
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 7:04 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm thinking it was Herb Blomstedt?

That would have terrified me, too!

Colleen
Randyg
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Username: Randyg

Post Number: 189
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 11:31 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Colleen you are correct.

Richard, google Herbert Blomstedt, and you will understand my angst.

It would be like teaching physics and recognizing Albert Einstein in the 5th row, or performing Hamlet and spotting Shakespeare in the audience.

Richard, you may have never claimed to be a prophet, but if others refer to you as such, who are you to argue! (I'm sorry, I couldn't help it! smiley!)

Enjoy the day!

Randy
Susan_2
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Username: Susan_2

Post Number: 2229
Registered: 11-2002
Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 2:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have a friend here in California who is a born and dedicated Catholic. She says the only Catholics the pope likes less than the American Catholics are the California Catholics. I've heard the same holds true for the General Conference of SDA's.
Dennis
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Username: Dennis

Post Number: 728
Registered: 4-2000


Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 3:28 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Susan,

Many, very conservative Adventists claim California as their home as well. I am thinking about places and names like Weimar College, Herbert Douglass, and Doug Batchelor. My guess is that even some folks from southern California would delight in a campmeeting at Weimar (smile).

Dennis Fischer
Jeremy
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Username: Jeremy

Post Number: 1307
Registered: 10-2004


Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 3:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, very historic SDA Pastor Larry Kirkpatrick (who runs www.greatcontroversy.org) is the Pastor of the Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church in southern California (in the Loma Linda area).

Jeremy

(Message edited by Jeremy on May 28, 2006)
Colleentinker
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Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 4057
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 4:40 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Absolutely, Dennis and Jeremy. The proximity of Mentone with Loma Linda is amazingóprobably between 5-10 milesóbut Larry Kirkpatrick is devoted to teaching Adventism according to Ellen. The name of his website tells the story.

Colleen
Seekr777
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Username: Seekr777

Post Number: 523
Registered: 1-2003


Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 11:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Colleen, I have a cousin who I know was a member of the Mentone church. He and his family might still be but I don't know since I've not spoken to him for years.

Is Mentone still as conservative as it was in the past???

Richard

rtruitt@mac.com


Colleentinker
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Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 4064
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Monday, May 29, 2006 - 12:00 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Uh--yes.

Colleen
Javagirl
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Username: Javagirl

Post Number: 250
Registered: 6-2005
Posted on Monday, May 29, 2006 - 6:42 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I grew up in the Mentone church. Guess that would make me historic in background?! -- That and maybe three generations on both sides of SDA pastors and teachers and professors and missionaries.....

The folks from Mentone that my parents keep in touch with are definetely conservative.

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