The trial of Marcus Wesson began in March in Fresno, California. Adventist members may face questions about the trial from friends and co-workers. Marcus is the man accused of murdering nine family members last year.

At least one family member identified Marcus in the media as a Seventh-day Adventist. In fact, Marcus appears to have been reared in a Seventh-day Adventist home, attending church often with his parents.

However, as an adult, Marcus had few contacts with the Adventist church. He purchased food and books at an Adventist Book Center. He worked as a janitor during an Adventist campmeeting. But he rarely, if ever, attended an Adventist church service or fellowshipped with a local Adventist community. His name has not been found on any church membership list. While he apparently urged some family members to be baptized in Adventist churches, he never encouraged them to participate in local congregations.

He preferred, instead, to live in isolation with his family, where his own unique views would not be challenged by the counsel of others. This allowed Marcus to misuse Scripture, Ellen White, and a mixed bag of teachings from other denominations to justify his own actions, including "marrying" several women, even some of his own children. His unbalanced life reflected "pick and choose" Christianity. Create your own religion, but wrap it in a Christian shroud.

What's an Adventist to think? Perhaps the most appropriate response is that the Adventist life, like any Christian life, needs to be characterized by balance.

We read the Adventist Review, and Newsweek.

We go to church, and to community softball games.

We believe Jesus is coming very soon, and we believe we should help provide pure water to people in isolated Sarawak's longhouses.

We believe God loves us no matter how we behave, and we believe our behavior matters.

We believe in careful stewardship, and profligate generosity.

Those are not contradictions; they are the balance of Adventist life. So how does balance reflect itself in your life? What produces balance?

Try three things.

Attend church regularly. Marcus virtually never was part of the fellowship of Adventist believers. Hebrews tells us not to "forsake the assembling of ourselves together." The community of Adventists keeps us from jumping into the ditches on either side of the road.

Share your faith. Talking with non-members reminds us what is important. Arguments over interpretations of Daniel 11 won't be as important to us when telling non-members God has a plan for their lives. Nothing keeps us more balanced than active faith-sharing.

Learn the value of diversity in thinking. Read the Bible every day, and read a newspaper. Talk with Adventists and Hindus. Talk with Adventists from California and Indonesia. Balance your insider's viewpoints with regular contact with other's thoughts. Then test things by Scripture, and hold fast to that which is true.

That balance was missing from Marcus' life, and a horrible tragedy followed. As you hear news of the trial and of possible connections to the Adventist Church, recall the importance of balance in your relationships with God and the church.

Kermit Netteburg is the Sligo Church pastor for administration and communication in Takoma Park, Maryland.