Abortion
Abortion is never an act of little moral consequence. The dual responsibility of protecting prenatal human life while also preserving a woman’s freedom of choice is not easy.
What position does the Seventh-day Adventist Church take on this issue?
Abuse
It has not been easy for Christians to recognise that abuse exists in their churches and in the community. Since Christianity emphasises high moral standards, close fellowship and mutual trust, surely churches should be safe places without exception.
How are Seventh-day Adventists making their church a safe place?
Church-State Relations
Jesus showed the best way of maintaining a relationship between church and state. He defined their separate roles and functions. If anyone had the right to force others to worship a certain way, it was Jesus. But He never did.
Seventh-day Adventists believe governments must guarantee freedom of conscience. But what does this mean?
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is damaging. It results in long-term, distorted perceptions of self, family and God. Seventh-day Adventists believe to remain indifferent and unresponsive to reports of domestic violence is to condone, perpetuate and potentially extend such behaviour.
How is the Adventist Church addressing domestic violence?
Environment
God made “the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water” (Revelation 14:7, NIV). He also made people in His image, placing them within this creation to manage the environment in a faithful way.
Are we taking this responsibility seriously?
Euthanasia
Euthanasia is difficult to define. Some say it is the intentional taking of a person’s life when they see no hope of recovery. This is most commonly known as “mercy killing”. Others say it is the withholding of medical care artificially extending someone’s life.
Is there a difference between the two?
Gambling
Gambling is a curse because the cost of associated crime, victim support and family breakdown damages the quality of life.
Is winning at the expense of others an appropriate form of entertainment and a legitimate means of raising money?
HIV/AIDS
AIDS is spreading so rapidly that Christian churches in many countries of the world will soon include at least one member who has a friend or relative with the disease.
What positive action is the Seventh-day Adventist Church taking?
Homosexuality
Jesus Christ affirmed the dignity of all human beings and reached out compassionately to them. He offered caring ministry and words of solace, while differentiating His love for sinners from His teaching about sinful practice.
Is the Seventh-day Adventist Church able to mirror this attitude?
Marriage & Family
The increasing complexity of society and the stress this places on relationships leads to crises within many families. Lives and relationships are broken, dysfunctional or characterised by mistrust, conflict, hostility and estrangement.
How do Seventh-day Adventists view marriage and family life?
Peace
We are living with a heightened sense of vulnerability and fear because human beings have developed the means to destroy each other. We try to defend ourselves against violence and terror, but it solves nothing.
So, what are the options?
Pornography
Author Norman Cousins says the trouble with pornography “is not that it corrupts but that it desensitises; not that it unleashes the passions but that it cripples the emotions . . . Prowess is proclaimed but love is denied. What we have is not liberation but dehumanisation.”
As Christians, what should our focus be?
Racism
One of the world’s worst evils is racism, the belief or practice that treats certain groups as inferior and therefore the object of domination, discrimination and segregation. The consequences of racism are devastating because they easily become institutionalised and legalised and can lead to persecution and ethnic cleansing.
What do Seventh-day Adventists practise? How does faith overcome barriers of diversity?
Smoking
Cigarette smoking is the greatest preventable cause of death in the world. The tobacco industry flourishes despite decades of research providing evidence of the hazards of cigarette smoking.
How can we work toward a cigarette-free future?
Stolen Generation
The report of a 1997 national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from their families reminded Australians of regrettable aspects of their history.
The removal of these children– the so-called “stolen generation”– undermined individual identity by destroying language, culture and relationships. This is producing devastating flow-on effects.
