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Discussion Forums
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| Today, the Adventist community is discussing church history and theology like never before. Thanks to the Internet, many SDA forums have appeared online, and many more are starting up all the time. |
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Official NAD Forum
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| One of the earliest and most successful Adventist Forums was founded on July 5, 1994. It was an official project sponsored by the NAD and the White Estate that was managed by the late Ralph Blodgett. It soon became the most popular site at that time with more than 3,500 registered members and 13,000 regular visitors.
Unfortunately, the church leaders were not pleased with the online discussions. They did not like questions directed at management, nor did they want to encourage open theological debate. So on June 15, 2000, they shut down this very successful Forum, and the disappointed Mr. Blodgett took an early retirement.
Listen to Dennis Hokama as he writes about this incident in this article, "Death in Cyberspace: Adventist Online Forum To Shut Down:"
"Many had come to think of it as home, including 3,666 registered members and 13,000 regular visitors as of March 31. Its participants were not only English speaking members of North America. Paul Pabon, the Spanish section moderator lamented that Spanish language participants had been writing in regularly from countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Paris, Portugal, and Africa. "
"Many viewed the forum as a gigantic unending Sabbath School class in which members could discuss and debate any subject, from theology, to church politics to their hearts content. Although other Adventist oriented online forums exist, this was unique in that participants could expect that decision makers in the General Conference were listening in on their discussions." (Read the full Article)
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AToday Forum
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| After the demise of this official church Forum, many continued their discussions at other sites. In fact, another forum began called "AToday" or Adventist Today. AToday forum quickly came alive with so much participation that it soon became the new online venue for theological discussion and debate.
The church leaders were not happy wit the success of AToday. They did not want the Adventist community to openly discuss the corruption of church officials, or to bring up historical events like 1888 or Glacier View. This is why they had closed the official CompuServe forum in the first place. So there was still trouble in cyberspace.
Within a short time, the AToday forum was crowded with discussion and theological debate. People were busy studying various issues and pondering the problems. Even some of the brightest theologians, like Dr. Ford, dropped in, via an online interview, to participate. But the leaders disliked such open discussion. They thought they were above criticism and refused to participate in the discussion. Moreover, the leaders warned the AToday management that if the discussions were not better controlled and censored, the forum would be totally shut down.
Although Bill Johnsson, Editor of the Review, had agreed to come on line and answer some questions from Tom Norris, Mr. Johnsson quickly backed out when he realized that he would be asked about the AToday Interview with Dr. Ford. Although the Review played a leading role in Glacier View, the editor was hesitant to try and defend this questionable theology or to comment on anything controversial.
In Addition, the Review Editor didn't want anyone else to speak about these issues. So he worked behind the scenes at AToday and managed to silence this open forum just like the leaders had previously done to the CompuServe forum. Hence, another Adventist forum was shut down in effort to censure and control the members. In February of 2002, the vibrant and successful AToday forum was silenced. |
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| But it was too late to stop the discussions now. The Adventist Community was starting to find its voice and think for itself. It appeared that the more the leaders tried to censor the discussions, the more determined the people became to exercise their freedom of speech, and their right to read, study, and debate the Word. In short, the online Adventist community refused to let the hierarchy censor their discussions or to manipulate them in any way.
This Protestant attitude resulted in the creation of yet another Adventist forum. Thus as a result of the demise of the AToday Forum, Atomorrow.com was born. This is where the serious discussion would still be held, and this is where all SDA's could speak their mind without fear. This site is fully independent and not connected to the Church in any way. |
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| As the AToday forum was being phased out, many worked hard during the final days so that they could preserve some of the debate. Such topics as "Historic Adventism", "Studies on Tithe", and "Clifford Goldstein & The Investigative Judgment" were preserved from AToday and then reposted to the new ATomorrow site.
Today, ATomorrow.com is the leading forum for Adventist discussion and Reform. Here is an open and free site that has over 20,000 posts, many filled with information and references for further study. Thanks to JR and many others at ATomorrow, there is a safe place to discuss the issues. A place where the leaders have no power to censor and manipulate the discussion.
Adventist Reform encourages the SDA Community to join in the discussions at ATomorrow or at any of the other Forums that are now available. It is time for the Adventist people to think, study, and question. And going online is one of the best ways to do this.
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J.R. at age 20 |
JR Layman, owner of ATomorrow and former Atoday moderator.
"It is the mission and objective of ADVENTIST for TOMORROW to provide a medium that will assist THOUGHTFUL individuals in forming accurate, balanced opinions with respect to current events and issues within and without the church." |
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