Here is the latest:

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"Print Email
Last Update: Monday, October 18, 2004. 6:38pm (AEST)
Pitcairn accused to remain free for months
There has been a surprise twist in the sex abuse trials now under way on the tiny Pitcairn Island, in the Pacific.

All the seven accused will remain free at least until the New Year.

The seven Pitcairn men are being tried on a range of rape and sexual assault charges.

The court is due to deliver its verdicts next week but has already said it can not send any of the men to jail before another court hearing.

That matter is to be heard in Auckland next year and will decide if Britain failed to publicise or police its laws on Pitcairn.

Prison wardens from New Zealand were about to leave for Pitcairn in case any of the men were sentenced to jail.

They have now been told to stay at home for at least a few months."
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Also, a second person has pled guilty to some charges.

This URL will tell you what Ford has actually said:

http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/news/releases/news30--07-23-03.shtml

The news media has reported the six men have been convicted, and sentencing will probably take place tomorrow.

Great, now we have a "leading member" of the Adventist church in the South Pacific essentially defending under-age sex as "natural." That's just pathetic and sad.

No wonder people tend to assume the worst in cases like this.

Larry

What happened on the island just illustrates the fact that just because people are called SDA doesn't mean they are practicing and believing Christian SDAs in accordance with the Bible and with the Spirit of Prophecy. It also illustrates the fact that too many people are baptized in the church without having a firm foundation in the truth as it is in Jesus and without giving evidence that they truly believe this truth. We're too often baptizing the dead and that is no doubt part of Satan's plan to populate the church with his followers rather than with disciples and followers of Jesus Christ.

...or alternatively it illustrates that despite our best efforts to create the illusion of being a unique and peculiar people, fundamentally we are really no different than any other group of Christians. Part of that illusion is that because we have a few different doctrines and beliefs that those beliefs are what should make us better behaved people with higher morals that would translate into improved human interaction and relationships. Actually, none of the Adventist distinctive beliefs really directly impact moral character anyway; the character formative beliefs are generally what we hold in common with most all other religions.



Tom

I guess I haven't met this group of people that believe Adventists are morally supieor. I have met a lot of judgemental Adventists but I have met a lot of judgmental Lutherans, Baptists and Pentecostals too.

I think this just shows that the wheat and the tares will grow together until the harvest.