I am writing this article with a heavy heart. A heavy heart because I love my church.
I truly believe the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the Remnant of Revelation and is tasked with the important mission of carrying the Three Angels’ Messages to a sin-sick world.
Present Truth is a precious gift that God—through the Holy Spirit—has entrusted to our church. But being a responsible vessel for the proclamation of Present Truth comes with some responsibilities and obligations. One of those non-negotiable responsibilities is being committed to the truth in all aspects of our public witness.
And that brings me to why I am writing this response piece today. I am not writing this in the spirit of argumentation or divisiveness. I do not think the mission of the church should be bogged down by political questions and divisions. But when our denomination’s flagship publication prints something on the verge of slander and libel towards a barely 18 year old young man I have to speak up.
The article in question is entitled Wisconsin, Georgia, and Virginia vs. Our Emotions, by Christopher R. Banks. The article makes some good points that I think all Adventists can agree on, about the trials of the killers of Ahmaud Aubrey and the trials of the white supremacists from Charlottesville. On these cases, I believe our court system ruled justly.
In the former case, Aubrey’s killers were all three convicted on all counts, and in the latter case victims were awarded compensation from some of the white supremacists. I have no problem with that aspect of the article.
The Second Amendment
One thing that jumped out at me—as Second Amendment supporter and a responsible gun owner—was some of the falsehoods presented about firearms. An AR-15 was referred to as a “military assault rifle”. This is inaccurate. An AR-15 (the most popular firearm in America) is actually just a semi-automatic rifle which was created for civilian use. I comment on that simply because it’s a falsehood and I don’t think a church committed to truth should be in the business of printing falsehoods.
Seventh-day Adventists can disagree on the morality of gun ownership, that is not a salvation issue. But regardless of our position, we should tell the truth. But, this gun issue was not my primary concern with the article.
My biggest concern with the Review article was in the characterization of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18 year old young man from Kenosha, Wisconsin. A jury recently cleared Kyle of all charges in the deaths of two attackers and injuring one attacker.
If you were to take the Review article at face value you would assume that the jury had committed a grave act of injustice and that Kyle Rittenhouse was a white supremacist murderer in the same vein as the men who murdered Ahmaud Aubrey, a point the author of the article makes,
“Now, let us be clear on this point: one doesn’t ever have to agree with any of these acts committed by Rittenhouse, the alt-right in Charlottesville, or the three White men who killed Aubrey.”
Now it’s true, a person can have questions about the wisdom of a 17 year old kid being in the middle of a riot with a rifle, and voice those questions. I get that. But to insinuate that someone is on par with cold-blooded murderers or white supremacists is a heavy charge, and should not be made lightly. So let’s look at the facts.
Unlike what was widely reported, Kyle Rittenhouse was not an outside agitator stirring up trouble in a town he had no stake in. His father lived in Kenosha.
Contrary to many early public reports, shared widely around social media still, Rittenhouse did not cross state lines with a gun-the gun was always in Wisconsin, in a gun safe belonging to his friend’s step-father.
While Rittenhouse was initially charged with a firearms violation for being a 17 year old openly carrying a gun, the charge was dropped because in Wisconsin 16-17 year old’s are allowed to possess a gun as long as it is a long barrel.
In regards to the killing of two men and the injuring of a third, we have the entire scenario on camera footage, and Rittenhouse only shot while trying to retreat but being attacked. These are facts. They are truths. The jury saw these facts too.
As a church, if and when we comment on news items in the broader community, we must be crystal clear on the facts and be dedicated to truth.
Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”
[NOTE: If you believe that the flagship journal of the Seventh-day Adventist Church should not be printing such slanted material, feel free to send a letter to these individuals,
Review Editor: letters@adventistreview.org
General Conference President: president@gc.adventist.org]
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Joey lives in southwest Michigan and enjoys reading, and deep conversations. He is currently studying psychology.
