Four decades ago, I was immersed in baptism at a Southern Baptist church. At about the same time, the Southern Baptist Convention was passing a resolution that will shock you just as it shocks me.
Today, the red line that religious conservatives have drawn most firmly is the line against abortion rights. Many evangelicals, including myself at one point, would not even consider voting for a candidate who was pro-choice. Abortion is murder. What could be more obvious? And for what does government exist if not to prevent the murder of its most vulnerable subjects?
So imagine my surprise when I recently learned that the evangelical consensus just one generation ago was pro-choice, not pro-life! The most surprising piece of history for me was the 1971 Resolution of my own Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Keep in mind that this was a resolution adopted after much prayer, listening for God’s Spirit, etc., as such resolutions always are. This is what the Southern Baptists felt God was leading them to proclaim.
RESOLUTION ON ABORTION
June 1971WHEREAS, Christians in the American society today are faced with difficult decisions about abortion; and
WHEREAS, Some advocate that there be no abortion legislation, thus making the decision a purely private matter between a woman and her doctor; and
WHEREAS, Others advocate no legal abortion, or would permit abortion only if the life of the mother is threatened;
Therefore, be it RESOLVED, that this Convention express the belief that society has a responsibility to affirm through the laws of the state a high view of the sanctity of human life, including fetal life, in order to protect those who cannot protect themselves; and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we call upon Southern Baptists to work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother. [emphasis mine]
Did you catch that? The Southern Baptists just 41 years ago urged their members to work for pro-choice legislation, even allowing for abortion in the case of likely “emotional damage” to the mother (i.e., if having the baby would be just too stressful). That’s pretty darn close to abortion on demand.
They have since repudiated that position. You can trace the evolution of their position in the series of resolutions that are assembled here or on the SBC’s own Website here.
I’m not here to argue about abortion, or even about religion. I just want to share my emotional reaction when I learned that my own conservative denomination once proclaimed that God had led them to say the opposite of what he supposedly leads them to say today. It’s a lead-in to the post I promised on why I left evangelical Christianity.
First, I felt, “That’s it. These people no longer have any moral authority whatsoever with me. None. What they’re now urging on me as The Truth From God’s Unchanging Word is the opposite of what it was just within my own lifetime. They obviously have no clue. For better or worse, I’m going to have to figure stuff out on my own.”
[Edited to add:] Second, I felt surprise that I evidently had still been getting moral guidance from evangelical Christianity. I thought I had let go of that after my study of slavery in the Bible and evangelicals’ excuses for it. I felt a little sad as the last thread broke. Or at least I think it’s the last thread.
The third feeling was a little indignation that evangelical pastors have not been forthcoming about the profound shift in the evangelical position on this issue. If they had been, then their congregations (a.k.a. voters) would be more humble and maybe the country would be less polarized.
Fourth, it became more clear than ever that we cannot count on God to grant prayers for wisdom, even when we think he has. How could God lead one Bible-believing, God-honoring, prayer-filled group of Southern Baptists in 1971 to call on their members to “work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion” in the case of “emotional damage” to the mother, and then lead another prayerful group in 2003 to “lament and renounce statements and actions by previous Conventions and previous denominational leadership that offered support to the abortion culture”?
And what prayer would God answer if not a prayer for a wisdom about protecting innocent, human life? In fact, the Bible promises that God will answer such prayers generously.
This is a special case of the inefficacy of prayer, which is one of the reasons I left evangelical Christianity. More on that in my next post.
Perhaps the god they are serving and praying to isn’t the God of the Bible. Perhaps they (the leaders/ organization) simply use him as Laben used Jacob. It is not uncommon for people to use one of higher authority to establish their position though the source they use may totally disagree. After all, Benjamin said, “Beer is proof . . .” so use beer to prove all things.
I understand what you are saying and it thoroughly upsets me as well.
Obviously in any polarized debate in which people express their position as backed by the same authority, something has to be wrong.
Either one is wrong and the other right, or they are both wrong. By wrong I mean it could be that the person is lying about his authority, misunderstood the authority actual position or has been misled by the authority.
The authority can be all things, from the bible, to god’s revelation to one’s parents or some scientific writing. People are people after all, no matter who they are and it is always for the best to search for knowledge for oneself and not blindly follow others who claim to have answers.
Pingback: Kirche heute, 26. November 2012 « Moment Mal
Pingback: Why I Left Evangelical Christianity, Part 2: Worthy Prayers | Path of the Beagle
I’m not sure where to begin or to begin at all… but here I go as foolish as it might be.
There is only ONE godly answer and MANY ungodly ones. The “feelings” I may have believing it is a godly answer may be nothing more than trapped gas.
Man loves his sins… and God ALLOWS Man to choose whether or not Man will seek godly answers that he may or may NOT like or to hear/follow his own ungodly answers.
I think it may be correct to say many Christians make those types of mistakes as the mature in the faith and AFTER. What is important is realizing whatever we choose to do/follow we will individually stand before God and have a very interesting conversation as to why we chose this over that…
If one continues…. if one CHOOSES to continue and willing makes changes to stay in God will as it become known it will be the best that can happen for a true believer. One that is will be always adjusting their direction to stay on course to the will of God. NOT because God changes but because God gives us opportunities (YES THEY ARE OPPORTUNITIES) to confess we are off course and repent to get back on course.
Try this odd thought. If you were to ask a new believer, “Are you willing to give up (Fill in the blank) to follow God?” Some in their moment of passion may scream out YES I’ll give it all to God!!! Then when pushed a bit and asked… “But if gave up your life as a martyr and die for Him, who would care for your children, they may die of starvation. Would that be what God wants?”
Then there are others like myself, that question everything, just as you have been doing in your quest, that say…”Whoa, slow it down a bit, I’m not ready to die for the Lord, He wouldn’t ask me to do that” but as I grew more mature in my faith I now completely believe that is exactly the place where God is trying to get His followers to stand in obedience…
He is always allowing things to come in to each of our lives to help us grow in our faith and be willing to trust in Him regardless of our understanding.
If I HAVE grown in His knowledge and understanding due to bible STUDY not reading, NOT falling asleep during sermons, if “I”I have chosen to invest in HIM, I do come to a biblical understanding that He DOES love me and only wants the best for me and He shows that in what He allows whether or not I “think” He’s right in doing so, or it’s truly what’s best.
You do remember the conversation God had with Job whether He puts Job in his place by asking him… “Where were you when…”
Job questioned God and His reasoning/motives and ALLOWED God to set him straight. Job was off course and allowed God to redirect his thinking and step back to walking AND TRUSTING in God goodness. And yes, it’s NOT easy many times going through what God allows.
God loved me enough to let me make some STUPID and ungodly choices in my life. They cause me to endure very difficult consequences to MY choices. I see it now that God loved me enough to strengthen me to walk WITH HIM through all of them and come out the other side much, much stronger.
I could have just as easily taken the position (due to the lack of faith and belief and willingness to trust HIM { all MY choices }) and walked away blaming HIM, or at least no longer trust Him enough to continue following Him. Again, all of MY choices.
We foolishly think the pain and suffering in this world is all there is and don’t really understand why a loving God would allow such.
If we REALLY believed what is written in His word we would easily see we lived here on this spinning mud ball for less than 120 years… worse case scenario is, every year sucks worse than the previous year, BUT by walking in obedience even we “feel” lost, by trusting in His love for us even when it doesn’t “feel” like love, and if we ask for strength to endure all we can… EVEN IF WE FAIL though doing our best… God promises we will be with Him in heaven for ALL eternity, which is clearly longer than the 120 years of pain we may have gone through.
So… we either want what we want and may get some good times here now, or though difficult to grasp we go for the blessing of eternity with Him.
It really is OUR CHOICE as to how we suffer and God NEVER promised a fun ride here and now, in fact, as one studies the Word we can clearly understand being many of the first followers of the Way chose to go through EXTREMELY difficult times just to Walk with Jesus.
I’ll be the first to say, “It’s NOT going to be an easy trail to be in paradise with the Lord, BUT it WILL BE WORTHWHILE and though I still don’t understand many of the why’s and when’s of this life and investing a lot of my time studying both this faith and many others, or none, it makes the most HONEST sense to me.
We ALL will stand before God to explain why we did/chose what we did…
Lastly, I have no idea if this will ever be read, or read by the original poster, but my prayer is… if you are asking questions and honestly looking for answers, whether you are walking in obedience or stumbling and straying, God promises He will hear your prayers/concerns IF they are sincere (even if you SCREAM AT Him), and should ask Him for strength to get back on trail, He loves YOU enough to Love you back into His arms. A word of caution is needed here I believe… Finding your way back does NOT mean the tests and trials will be over and your path will be a bed of roses, in fact, like many of the Apostles it may just get more challenging… again, remember God’s promise, IT WILL BE WORTHWHILE!!!