BY ROB RIGGLE
BERRIEN SPRINGS—Despite the fact that a booking error sent Dr. Nahill Kholar, from the New York University Department of Medical and Molecular Parisitology, to the last meeting of the Berrien Springs Adventist Forum instead of Dr. A. Gregory Schneider, from the Pacific Union College Religion Department, Forum members reported being stimulated and enthralled by the presentation last Sabbath.
Dr. Kholar gave a lecture on the life cycle of Dracunculus medinensis, commonly known as the Guinea Worm, that resonated deeply with the personal experience that many Forum members have had with the Adventist Church. Without any prompting, implications, or obvious connections on the part of Dr. Kholar, members instantly read numerous parallels that applied to their lives.
"He pinpointed the problems of the huge Adventist bureaucracy so well when he talked about the surprising length that female worms can grow to," said Shawn Wong, a longtime member of the Berrien Springs Forum. "When he talked about how the worm then migrates subcutaneous tissues, I got mad, thinking of the pain that the Adventist church has caused me. Dr. Kholar has such a way of expressing my views."
Other members report being deeply touched by the segment of the lecture in which Dr. Kholar talked about the diagnosis of dracunculiasis, the technical name for the disease caused by Guinea Worm infection.
"The part about the open lesions on the legs so well summarized how I feel about the way our church squashes all those who question official policy," said Francisco Ricardo, another longtime Forum member, who declined to elaborate on either the origin or further significance of his parallel. Such was also the case for Devin Foreman, who found much significance in the practice of winding the worm out with a stick and how that related to the amount of power conservatives have in the Adventist Church.
Forum members were eager listeners during the lecture, but it was in the question and answer session that things really came alive.
“Given what you shared with us, what are your thoughts on the failure of the Adventist Administration to adapt to lifestyle and demographic changes of the time, and instead insist on condemning those who wish to seek new methods of making faith relevant, and I’ll provide a few examples if you give me a minute,” asked LeAnne Watts, who went on to provide seven examples over the course of the next five minutes.
Many more questions followed, the majority along the lines of Ms. Watts’, as the meeting contained many experts in field who were more than willing to share their views in response to Dr. Kholar’s presentation.
“Every month I keep on talking and talking about the ineffectiveness and redundancy of our educational system. I know many more people like me are saying the same things. And yet nobody up top listens. Could you comment on that?” asked Nancy Kim, before qualifying her question with a ten-minute-long stream-of-conscious lecture and personal testimony.
The most enthusiastic questioner, however, was Marlin Segal, who recited word-for-word his last posting on the Spectrum Blogs as a lead-in to a question about the Adventist church’s stance on homosexuality.
Dr. Kholar said that he didn’t realize the booking error until the meeting was over. He had been scheduled to deliver his lecture to friends and families of the Andrews Biology Department, as part of a fundraiser to benefit a parasite-fighting charity in Ghana.
“The sense I get is it doesn’t really matter who the speaker is or what he or she says,” commented a mystified-looking Dr. Kholar. “The Forum appears to be a venue that a certain group uses to give voice to everlasting grievances. But they did give our foundation a generous donation, so I’m not complaining.”
