Advocating for our beliefs
“Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” —1 Timothy 6:12
The apostle Paul needs to attend to his ministry in the province of Macedonia, and so he decides to leave his young co-worker Timothy to address the challenges of the church at Ephesus. Ambitious, elitist members of the church, false teachers, are teaching some strange beliefs, causing problems with the worship life of the church, its structure and leadership, and its ability to provide for the truly needy of the community.
The internal difficulties of the church are adversely impacting its well-being, stability, and witness to the world. As Paul sits at his desk writing a letter to his young co-worker, he decides to underscore throughout the letter God’s love, grace, and redemptive will for all of humanity — “God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4; see also 1:15; 4:10; 6:13-16). He also instructs Timothy to confront the false teachers by guarding the gospel entrusted to him and to “fight the good fight of the faith” (6:20, 12).
Paul’s exhortation for Timothy to guard, contend, and advocate for the gospel within the fractured church reveal an important truth: what a church believes will shape how it lives.
Timothy must contend for the authenticity of the gospel, proclaiming the wonders of God’s love and grace for all of humankind — what a church believes — so that the church might be united in love and thereby actualize its missional calling to the world — will shape how it lives.
Loma Linda University was founded in 1905 with the purchase of an empty sanitarium atop Mound Hill in the city of Loma Linda. Notwithstanding the financial challenges the purchase would bring to the Southern California conference, Seventh-day Adventist Church co-founder Ellen White said: “We must have this place . . . The Lord has not given us this property for any common purpose” (The Impossible Dream: Railway to the Moon, 19).
Throughout its history, from time to time, LLU has faced numerous problems and challenges that have threatened its well-being and even survival. Nonetheless, through all these difficulties, there has been a core belief that God has providentially led our university and continues to do so through our motto, mission, and vision (our beliefs) that inform our missional calling to the world (shape how we live):
Motto: To Make Man Whole
Mission: to continue the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ
Vision: Transforming lives through education, healthcare, and research
At LLU’s centennial celebration in 2005, Dr. Lyn Behrens, then president of LLU, noted how our core beliefs have shaped how we live: “Today, as we look back through the decades, we are very conscious of the way in which God’s hand has been evident in Loma Linda’s protection and empowerment through the decades. And I would invite you . . . to remember that we are stewards of His place. We have a divine calling and responsibility to move out from this place as rays of light and love to touch a hurting world . . . Loma Linda is a place that began locally but from the beginning accepted a global mission, so that today, its mission and service encircle the planet.” (Ibid, v - vi).
Inspired and empowered by God’s providential guidance of LLU’s illustrious history, may each one of us embrace, contend, and advocate for its core beliefs so that this remarkable health science university may continue to actualize its Christ-centered mission of missional service throughout the world.
—Leo Ranzolin, ThD, is dean of the School of Religion.
