Links for Adventist Abortion Information
This page keeps a record of links to important material concerning the history of abortion within the Seventh-day Adventist church. Due to expiring or broken links this page is updated regularly as needed. Please contact me if any of the following links no longer work. Thank you.
PIONEERS INFO
Seventh-day Adventists Pioneers Anti-abortion History
http://www.hewantsfruit.com/blog/seventh-day-adventists-pioneers-anti-abortion-history
ADVENTIST WOMEN MINISTRY FOR WOMEN WHO HAVE HAD ABORTIONS
https://www.facebook.com/themafgia
https://www.mafgia.com/
GAINER REPORT AT LLU 1988
Research report presented at the Loma Linda University International Conference on Abortion held November 14-16, 1988 at Loma Linda University, under the auspices of the Center for Christian Bioethics. "The Wisdom Of Solomon? Or The Politics Of Pragmatism: The General Conference Abortion Decision 1970-71" by George Gainer here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JEWzK9SsZLWC2t3S3xh3tud-OmB4yfr7/view
PIONEERS INFO
Seventh-day Adventists Pioneers Anti-abortion History
http://www.hewantsfruit.com/blog/seventh-day-adventists-pioneers-anti-abortion-history
ADVENTIST WOMEN MINISTRY FOR WOMEN WHO HAVE HAD ABORTIONS
https://www.facebook.com/themafgia
https://www.mafgia.com/
GAINER REPORT AT LLU 1988
Research report presented at the Loma Linda University International Conference on Abortion held November 14-16, 1988 at Loma Linda University, under the auspices of the Center for Christian Bioethics. "The Wisdom Of Solomon? Or The Politics Of Pragmatism: The General Conference Abortion Decision 1970-71" by George Gainer here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JEWzK9SsZLWC2t3S3xh3tud-OmB4yfr7/view
| the_wisdom_of_solomon_by_george_gainer__retyped__1nov16.pdf |
Ministry magazine published an abridged version of Gainer's report in August 1991
"Abortion: history of Adventist guidelines"
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1991/08/abortion-history-of-adventist-guidelines
Historia de las Pautas Adventistas Sobre el Aborto (Spanish version of Gainer's article)
El Ministerio Adventista, Septiembre-Octubre 1992
"Abortion: history of Adventist guidelines"
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1991/08/abortion-history-of-adventist-guidelines
Historia de las Pautas Adventistas Sobre el Aborto (Spanish version of Gainer's article)
El Ministerio Adventista, Septiembre-Octubre 1992
| historia_de_las_pautas_adventistas_sobre_el_aborto_2_george_gainer_spanish.pdf |
Adventist Review January 26, 1989 covered the LLU conference and mentions quite a bit from Gainer but omits the incriminating history of secrecy and the the on-demand practice in many hospitals. This tactic is known as LIMITED HANGOUT.
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19890126-V166-04.pdf
RESOURCES TO RESPOND TO GENERAL ABORTION ARGUMENTS
great resource here for secular prolife arguments https://secularprolife.org/index/
EPM (Eternal Perspective Ministries) helpful summary here https://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Feb/18/39-major-prochoice-arguments-and-their-refutations/
1992 GUIDELINES
Liberty Magazine report on 1992 Annual Council vote on abortion guidelines. "After spirited discussion, including moves to jettison the section containing the phrase “serious jeopardy to her health,” the guidelines were accepted, with only five dissenting" (my emphasis), page 11, report by Dr. Martin Weber:
https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-412782/liberty-january-1-1993
See Dr. Weber's 2018 article in the Gleaner here
https://nwadventists.com/news/2018/06/adventists-and-abortion archived here
At 1992 Annual Council Dr. Weber cited danger of caffeine to unborn children from this article: "Caffeine: is it so harmless?" August 1986 Ministry " as little as two cups of coffee can decrease placental blood flow by 25 percent."
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1986/08/caffeine-is-it-so-harmless
1992 Annual Council minutes, Abortion decision, October 12, 1992
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1992-10b.pdf
1992 Annual Council in attendance October 6, 1992
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1992-10a.pdf
Our Abortion Guidelines Are Too Good To Replace!"
https://spectrummagazine.org/views/2019/our-abortion-guidelines-are-too-good-replace
1992 Guidelines
https://web.archive.org/web/20170618085755/https://www.adventist.org/en/information/official-statements/guidelines/article/go/-/abortion/
LIBERTY MAGAZINE RESPONDS TO ROE 1973
Reaction of SDA leadership to Roe vs. Wade. Elvin L. Benton Liberty and the Law, The Unborn in the Court of the Living, Liberty magazine May June 1973 page 29
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19730301-V68-03.pdf
Liberty magazine editor commentary -- Abortion: Point and Counterpoint page 32 November/December 1973, "if the Supreme Court is to be condemned, let it be for its alleged failure to protect society from the civil crime of killing its citizens rather than for failing to stamp out ecclesiastical sin."
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19730601-V68-06.pdf
PROLIFE MOVEMENT
The Partisan Trajectory of the American Pro-Life Movement: How a Liberal Catholic Campaign Became a Conservative Evangelical Cause, by Daniel K. Williams
https://www.mdpi.com/96540
“How the Evangelical Church Awoke to the Abortion Issue” https://www.reformation21.org/articles/how-the-evangelical-church-awoke-to-the-abortion-issue-the-convergent-labors-of.php
GENERAL CONFERENCE PRESSURES FACEBOOK TO SHUT DOWN PROLIFE GROUP
Facebook Removes ‘Adventists for Life’ Page After Infringement Complaint, By Debra Cassens Weiss, February 1, 2011,
https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/facebook_removes_adventists_for_life_page_after_infringement_complaint
(dead link) https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/undergod/2011/01/adventists_pressure_facebook_to_dump_pro-life_group.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20190214061537/https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/undergod/2011/01/adventists_pressure_facebook_to_dump_pro-life_group.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20181231164928/https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/2011/01/30/adventists-pressure-facebook-to-dump-pro-life-group/2505
DR. LAWSON PAPER 1993 PUBLISHED ONLINE 2018
PRO-WHAT? Seventh-day Adventists and Abortion Research paper by Dr. Ronald Lawson Presented at the Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion https://ronaldlawson.net/2018/05/02/pro-what-seventh-day-adventists-and-abortion/
also https://web.archive.org/web/20240419014220/https://ronaldlawson.net/2018/05/02/pro-what-seventh-day-adventists-and-abortion/
| pro-what-seventh-day-adventists-and-abortion_pdf_by_ronald_lawson.pdf |
ALLRED
Edward Allred documentation
https://bit.ly/edallred
Edward Allred performing abortion at 10:17 of silent scream video
https://youtu.be/dEZGzvoASW4?t=617
WASHINGTON POST ARTICLES
Abortion Opponents Picket Two Hospitals
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/10/06/abortion-opponents-picket-two-hospitals/8ff8a71d-ac76-4b2d-8402-7e18fc232615/
Adventist Church gets called out in 2011 by WaPo for supporting abortion while opposing Catholics because they do not support it.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110127042918/onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2011/01/adventists_and_abortion.html
Adventist challenges Md. official's backing of Holy Cross to build hospital in northern Montgomery
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/06/AR2011010605951.html
MISC:
1971 Abortion Guidelines posted at EGW Estate:
http://drc.whiteestate.org/files/5103.pdf
Dr. Peter Landless gives Dr. Gerald Winslow an award (Winslow was the "architect" of the pro-abortion 1992 guidelines)
https://web.archive.org/web/20210129065844/https://adventistbioethics.org/adventist-bioethics-conference/2019-adventist-bioethics-conference
Pew Research
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/03/a-closer-look-at-seventh-day-adventists-in-america/
https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-denomination/seventh-day-adventist/
http://pewrsr.ch/39IwmKY
Amidst Growing Criticism Adventist Church is Revisiting Abortion Position
https://spectrummagazine.org/news/amidst-growing-criticism-adventist-church-revisiting-abortion-position/
Adventist Church works to clarify its stance on abortion
https://adventist.news/news/adventist-church-works-to-clarify-its-stance-on-abortion
Adventist Leadership at General Conference file amicus brief with Supreme Court defending legalized abortion
http://www.hewantsfruit.com/blog/adventist-leadership-at-general-conference-file-amicus-brief-with-supreme-court-defending-legalized-abortion
That GC leadership knew about the brief, see Review July 6, 1989 Gary Ross promotes Boothby and Nixon’s brief on Webster as “instructive”
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19890706-V166-27.pdf
Graphic video partial birth abortion
https://web.archive.org/web/20170801070709/http://www.mrctv.org/videos/warning-graphic-partial-birth-abortion-filmed
The 2020 deleted protocol of the General Conference Health Ministries. (Also attached as a document to this blog post, see below) https://bit.ly/3bLVxeR
2019 Annual Council: October 14, 2019 - Monday PM discussion on abortion
https://www.youtube.com/live/VfQeurP2X0o?si=SbuHdcx8B2_8U1a1
discussion starts @2:32:46 https://www.youtube.com/live/VfQeurP2X0o?si=a-a10uk2BVNfcrXi&t=9166
| principles_of_caring_in_pregnancy_and_its_anomalies_deleted_protocol.pdf |
NEAL WILSON STATEMENT 1970
Religious News Service statement by NAD President Neal Wilson Tuesday, March 17, 1970
PAGE -16-
MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD STANCE ON ABORTION SEEN BY ADVENTIST
By Religious News Service (3-17-70)
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) -- Neal C. Wilson, president of the North American Section of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, predicted here that when the denomination meets at Atlantic City in June it will steer a middle-of-the-road course on abortion.
Commenting on the recent law easing abortion in Hawaii, reputedly the most liberal in the U.S., Mr. Wilson said he was sure other states would follow its lead.
Admitting that Seventh-day Adventists have not delved into the abortion controversy as have other denominations, Mr. Wilson added that "we are not unmindful of social problems and our responsibilities to meet them."
(more)
-17-
TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 1970
He said the denomination would have a difficult time assuming a hard-and-fast position, since it is active in 220 different countries.
"The Church deplores anything that would contribute to declining morals and would steer away from anything which would encourage promiscuousness, "he said. "Therefore, we would not feel it our responsibility to promote laws to legalize abortion... nor oppose then.
"Though we walk the fence, Seventh-Day Adventists lean towards abortion rather than against it. Because we realize we are confronted by big problems of hunger and overpopulation, we do not oppose family planning and appropriate endeavors to control population."
He said that Adventists have no position against sterilization and might favor abortion in some instances (rape, or mental or physical illnesses in the mother or in cases of probable severe illness in the fetus). But, he added, the Church would resist any abortion program that encouraged sexual promiscuousness or didn't demand consultation by approved medical authorities.
-0-
PDF copy of Neal Wilson's statement here:
Religious News Service statement by NAD President Neal Wilson Tuesday, March 17, 1970
PAGE -16-
MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD STANCE ON ABORTION SEEN BY ADVENTIST
By Religious News Service (3-17-70)
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) -- Neal C. Wilson, president of the North American Section of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, predicted here that when the denomination meets at Atlantic City in June it will steer a middle-of-the-road course on abortion.
Commenting on the recent law easing abortion in Hawaii, reputedly the most liberal in the U.S., Mr. Wilson said he was sure other states would follow its lead.
Admitting that Seventh-day Adventists have not delved into the abortion controversy as have other denominations, Mr. Wilson added that "we are not unmindful of social problems and our responsibilities to meet them."
(more)
-17-
TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 1970
He said the denomination would have a difficult time assuming a hard-and-fast position, since it is active in 220 different countries.
"The Church deplores anything that would contribute to declining morals and would steer away from anything which would encourage promiscuousness, "he said. "Therefore, we would not feel it our responsibility to promote laws to legalize abortion... nor oppose then.
"Though we walk the fence, Seventh-Day Adventists lean towards abortion rather than against it. Because we realize we are confronted by big problems of hunger and overpopulation, we do not oppose family planning and appropriate endeavors to control population."
He said that Adventists have no position against sterilization and might favor abortion in some instances (rape, or mental or physical illnesses in the mother or in cases of probable severe illness in the fetus). But, he added, the Church would resist any abortion program that encouraged sexual promiscuousness or didn't demand consultation by approved medical authorities.
-0-
PDF copy of Neal Wilson's statement here:
| religious_news_service_neal_wilson_1970.pdf |
TED WILSON ABORTION STATEMENTS:
February 26, 2019
3ABN: Ted Wilson talks about abortion at 3ABN @51:45 3ABN Today Live - “Ted and Nancy Wilson: World Church Perspective” (TDYL190006) Feb 26, 2019 https://youtu.be/y0AXY9xgcUI?si=QJ1iix-OsWhBtxxb&t=3105
March 3, 2019
ANDREWS UNIVERSITY: Your Questions Answered. Mission. Unity. Church. Pastor Ted Wilson will answer questions in conversation with Dr. Andrea Luxton, President of Andrews University. March 3, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/PastorTedWilson/videos/409114666515631 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1YUwVrFPyN/
February 26, 2019
3ABN: Ted Wilson talks about abortion at 3ABN @51:45 3ABN Today Live - “Ted and Nancy Wilson: World Church Perspective” (TDYL190006) Feb 26, 2019 https://youtu.be/y0AXY9xgcUI?si=QJ1iix-OsWhBtxxb&t=3105
March 3, 2019
ANDREWS UNIVERSITY: Your Questions Answered. Mission. Unity. Church. Pastor Ted Wilson will answer questions in conversation with Dr. Andrea Luxton, President of Andrews University. March 3, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/PastorTedWilson/videos/409114666515631 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1YUwVrFPyN/
GC Session in 1930 sends memorial favoring temperance legislation to USA President Hoover. Found on page 237 (page 13 of PDF) here
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19300619-V107-36.pdf
"We trust that the noble experiment of minimizing the 'evils of the liquor traffic by governmental regulations and prohibition under the Eighteenth Amendment may meet with success under your administration"
“Globally, 73% of abortions were obtained by married women in 2010–14 compared with 27% obtained by unmarried women.” Abortion incidence between 1990 and 2014: global, regional, and subregional levels and trends Volume 388, Issue 10041p258-267July 16, 2016 Lancet
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)30380-4/abstract
DEATH PENALTY
"Adventists believe that violence and capital punishment have no place within the Church. In other words, it is not the task of the Church to take human life"
"we would recommend that church members do not get involved in any campaign promoting death penalty. The mission of the Church is not to promote death but to announce life and hope."
https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/articles/death-penalty-an-opinion
RAPE AND INCEST:
Just 1% of All Abortions
"Reporting to public health authorities could mean just telling an abortion clinie," said Mr. Johnson. "Pennsylvania used to allow funding for abortions where the pregnancy was due to rape or incest, and pro-abortion groups made it an open invitation to assert that you'd been raped if you wanted an abortion.
"Last year, when the Pennsylvania Legislature modified the law to say it only covered rape or incest reported to law-enforcement authorities, the number of publicly funded abortions dropped from 35 a month to 3."
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/13/us/rape-and-incest-just-1-of-all-abortions.html
“A recent survey by the Elliot Institute for Social Science Research found that 73 percent of rape victims who conceived chose to give birth to their babies. Dr. Sandra Mahkorn found in 1981 that 75-85 percent of rape victims chose to carry the baby to term”
Sandra Kathleen Mahkorn, Pregnancy and Sexual Assault, in THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ABORTION 53, 58 (David Mall & Walter F. Watts eds., 1979) [hereinafter PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ABORTION]. This study was comprised of 37 women reporting to have become pregnant as a result of sexual assault. Id.
David Reardon, in a study of 164 pregnant rape victims, found that 73 percent chose to carry their pregnancies to term
https://thetech.com/issues/121/18
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Tech, Friday April 13, 2001, Volume 121 Number 18, Page 5, Catherine Santini
IVF PROBLEM AT LOMA LINDA
LLU IVF 29 children gone missing from just one patient! --- Multiply this by 30+ years!
https://lomalindafertility.com/used-an-egg-donor/
https://archive.md/FDC3g
Vice President Dr. Ted Hamilton 2022 Bioethics conference video: https://youtu.be/hf3fzqVdUcY
UNITING WITH EVANGELICALS AND CATHOLICS
Adventist General Conference unites with Catholics in 303 case:
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/303-creative-llc-v-elenis/
video interview with 303 https://youtu.be/j3vyja7NKrM
the amicus brief here
Adventist leaders unite with other faiths for religious protection of students
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-lankford-colleagues-move-to-safeguard-students-freedom-of-faith-and-association-on-college-campuses
Ellen White calls for Adventists to unite with Evangelicals and Catholics on temperance:
Review and Herald February 14, 1888, pages 107-108
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH18880214-V65-07.pdf
"People believe everything they ought not to of us. How axe we going to undeceive them unless by associating with them? You say they are going to carry this question right along with the Sunday movement. How are you going to help them on that point? You have an opportunity to show them that you are the most earnest temperance people in the world and yet you are not improving the opportunity offered you in regard to the temperance question. How are you going to let your light shine to the world without uniting with them in this temperance question? You can do it. You have ideas they never thought of, and this places you on vantage ground. If you engage with them in this work, you will find there will be an opportunity to speak of the truth. We can do no better work than to interest ourselves in helping others to a knowledge of the principles of temperance reform. When you do that, you are blessing them, and their hearts will be open to receive the truth."
HOBBY LOBBY
Adventist Church admits to supporting & providing abortion drugs, paid for by tithe money. Adventist Church 'encouraged' by Supreme Court’s ‘Hobby Lobby’ decision (by NAD)
https://web.archive.org/web/20180227120847/http:/www.nadadventist.org:80/article/1073742776/news/current-newspoints/june-30-2014-adventist-church-encouraged-by-court-s-hobby-lobby-decision
https://adventist.news/news/adventist-church-encouraged-by-supreme-courts-hobby-lobby-decision
https://web.archive.org/web/20250121011911/https://old1.adventistreview.org/news/adventist-church-encouraged-by-courts-hobby-lobby-decision/
404 https://adventistreview.org/the-adventist-church-and-the-hobby-lobby-decision
https://web.archive.org/web/20170603073738/https://adventistreview.org/the-adventist-church-and-the-hobby-lobby-decision
"it does NOT close the door" President Jackson admits Section (6) is loophole for abortion 2019 Year-end Meeting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuBq_3gdc-I&t=1278s
Adventist leaders say members "are being led astray by Evangelical narratives", church in danger, but admit pioneers opposed USA government, “abolition” opposed slavery, defended the defenseless “least of these” etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-mU0w-z8sE
Ted Wilson called this man a spineless "Coward"! "he had no backbone"
https://web.archive.org/web/20171006065051/https://adventistreview.org/church-news/story4445-%E2%80%98stand-for-the-right%E2%80%99
Nic Samojluk websites:
https://adventlifebooks.wordpress.com/
https://adventlifebooks.wordpress.com/murder-in-paradise/
https://adventlife.wordpress.com/
Nic's Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@nicsamojluk6734/videos
Nic's Disqus comments here https://disqus.com/by/nicsamojluk/
Loma Linda University discussion about partial birth abortion
https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/update/article/1048/&path_info=v12_n4_December_1996.pdf
Clifford Goldstein publishes article in Liberty arguing that legislation against abortion is not a violation of the Establishment Clause. See pages 30-31 in January/February 1991 issue here:
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19990101-V94-01.pdf
This is odd as Goldstein as editor ran articles attacking Dobson, Falwell, etc. as enemies of a woman's right to abortion
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19940201-V89-02.pdf
Dobson was allowed to respond here
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19940501-V89-05.pdf
Clifford Goldstein tells Adventists to support Evangelicals and Catholics' anti-abortion efforts. Please see pictures below from page 58 of his book The Saving of America published by Pacific Press in 1988. On page 53 he also equates abortion with infanticide and says these are good laws, regardless if passed by Caesar or the USA.
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19300619-V107-36.pdf
"We trust that the noble experiment of minimizing the 'evils of the liquor traffic by governmental regulations and prohibition under the Eighteenth Amendment may meet with success under your administration"
“Globally, 73% of abortions were obtained by married women in 2010–14 compared with 27% obtained by unmarried women.” Abortion incidence between 1990 and 2014: global, regional, and subregional levels and trends Volume 388, Issue 10041p258-267July 16, 2016 Lancet
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)30380-4/abstract
DEATH PENALTY
"Adventists believe that violence and capital punishment have no place within the Church. In other words, it is not the task of the Church to take human life"
"we would recommend that church members do not get involved in any campaign promoting death penalty. The mission of the Church is not to promote death but to announce life and hope."
https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/articles/death-penalty-an-opinion
RAPE AND INCEST:
Just 1% of All Abortions
"Reporting to public health authorities could mean just telling an abortion clinie," said Mr. Johnson. "Pennsylvania used to allow funding for abortions where the pregnancy was due to rape or incest, and pro-abortion groups made it an open invitation to assert that you'd been raped if you wanted an abortion.
"Last year, when the Pennsylvania Legislature modified the law to say it only covered rape or incest reported to law-enforcement authorities, the number of publicly funded abortions dropped from 35 a month to 3."
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/13/us/rape-and-incest-just-1-of-all-abortions.html
“A recent survey by the Elliot Institute for Social Science Research found that 73 percent of rape victims who conceived chose to give birth to their babies. Dr. Sandra Mahkorn found in 1981 that 75-85 percent of rape victims chose to carry the baby to term”
Sandra Kathleen Mahkorn, Pregnancy and Sexual Assault, in THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ABORTION 53, 58 (David Mall & Walter F. Watts eds., 1979) [hereinafter PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ABORTION]. This study was comprised of 37 women reporting to have become pregnant as a result of sexual assault. Id.
David Reardon, in a study of 164 pregnant rape victims, found that 73 percent chose to carry their pregnancies to term
https://thetech.com/issues/121/18
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Tech, Friday April 13, 2001, Volume 121 Number 18, Page 5, Catherine Santini
IVF PROBLEM AT LOMA LINDA
LLU IVF 29 children gone missing from just one patient! --- Multiply this by 30+ years!
https://lomalindafertility.com/used-an-egg-donor/
https://archive.md/FDC3g
Vice President Dr. Ted Hamilton 2022 Bioethics conference video: https://youtu.be/hf3fzqVdUcY
UNITING WITH EVANGELICALS AND CATHOLICS
Adventist General Conference unites with Catholics in 303 case:
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/303-creative-llc-v-elenis/
video interview with 303 https://youtu.be/j3vyja7NKrM
the amicus brief here
Adventist leaders unite with other faiths for religious protection of students
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-lankford-colleagues-move-to-safeguard-students-freedom-of-faith-and-association-on-college-campuses
Ellen White calls for Adventists to unite with Evangelicals and Catholics on temperance:
Review and Herald February 14, 1888, pages 107-108
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH18880214-V65-07.pdf
"People believe everything they ought not to of us. How axe we going to undeceive them unless by associating with them? You say they are going to carry this question right along with the Sunday movement. How are you going to help them on that point? You have an opportunity to show them that you are the most earnest temperance people in the world and yet you are not improving the opportunity offered you in regard to the temperance question. How are you going to let your light shine to the world without uniting with them in this temperance question? You can do it. You have ideas they never thought of, and this places you on vantage ground. If you engage with them in this work, you will find there will be an opportunity to speak of the truth. We can do no better work than to interest ourselves in helping others to a knowledge of the principles of temperance reform. When you do that, you are blessing them, and their hearts will be open to receive the truth."
HOBBY LOBBY
Adventist Church admits to supporting & providing abortion drugs, paid for by tithe money. Adventist Church 'encouraged' by Supreme Court’s ‘Hobby Lobby’ decision (by NAD)
https://web.archive.org/web/20180227120847/http:/www.nadadventist.org:80/article/1073742776/news/current-newspoints/june-30-2014-adventist-church-encouraged-by-court-s-hobby-lobby-decision
https://adventist.news/news/adventist-church-encouraged-by-supreme-courts-hobby-lobby-decision
https://web.archive.org/web/20250121011911/https://old1.adventistreview.org/news/adventist-church-encouraged-by-courts-hobby-lobby-decision/
404 https://adventistreview.org/the-adventist-church-and-the-hobby-lobby-decision
https://web.archive.org/web/20170603073738/https://adventistreview.org/the-adventist-church-and-the-hobby-lobby-decision
"it does NOT close the door" President Jackson admits Section (6) is loophole for abortion 2019 Year-end Meeting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuBq_3gdc-I&t=1278s
Adventist leaders say members "are being led astray by Evangelical narratives", church in danger, but admit pioneers opposed USA government, “abolition” opposed slavery, defended the defenseless “least of these” etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-mU0w-z8sE
Ted Wilson called this man a spineless "Coward"! "he had no backbone"
https://web.archive.org/web/20171006065051/https://adventistreview.org/church-news/story4445-%E2%80%98stand-for-the-right%E2%80%99
Nic Samojluk websites:
https://adventlifebooks.wordpress.com/
https://adventlifebooks.wordpress.com/murder-in-paradise/
https://adventlife.wordpress.com/
Nic's Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@nicsamojluk6734/videos
Nic's Disqus comments here https://disqus.com/by/nicsamojluk/
Loma Linda University discussion about partial birth abortion
https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/update/article/1048/&path_info=v12_n4_December_1996.pdf
Clifford Goldstein publishes article in Liberty arguing that legislation against abortion is not a violation of the Establishment Clause. See pages 30-31 in January/February 1991 issue here:
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19990101-V94-01.pdf
This is odd as Goldstein as editor ran articles attacking Dobson, Falwell, etc. as enemies of a woman's right to abortion
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19940201-V89-02.pdf
Dobson was allowed to respond here
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19940501-V89-05.pdf
Clifford Goldstein tells Adventists to support Evangelicals and Catholics' anti-abortion efforts. Please see pictures below from page 58 of his book The Saving of America published by Pacific Press in 1988. On page 53 he also equates abortion with infanticide and says these are good laws, regardless if passed by Caesar or the USA.
Needed: A Whole-Church Response by Editor Bill Knott interviews Dr. Peter Landless.03 Feb 2020
https://adventistreview.org/magazine-article/needed-a-whole-church-response/
https://web.archive.org/web/20220517082520/https://adventistreview.org/magazine-article/needed-a-whole-church-response/
https://adventistreview.org/magazine-article/needed-a-whole-church-response/
https://web.archive.org/web/20220517082520/https://adventistreview.org/magazine-article/needed-a-whole-church-response/
- Admissions: "Some Adventist hospitals had a checkered history with abortion (practicing elective abortion), particularly in the ‘70s and ‘80s. There were issues, there were problems, with the numbers of abortions being performed at certain locations. Accountability in some entities was lacking. This is unacceptable."
- "We’ve also now moved from a time of selective disclosure to full disclosure, aided by trust and respect."
- Promised that protocol was for " rare and very difficult circumstances. This isn’t at all the same as offering what has become known in the public mind as “choice.”" but then included "mental health" language.
The NAD PARL department has published a policy manual explicitly claiming that Caesar and the government have a God given legitimate authority to regulate civil society. This of course is a contradiction to the claim that abortion is a religious freedom. Quote "That civil government is ordained by God; that its divinely appointed function is to protect individuals in the legitimate exercise of their rights"
https://www.religiousliberty.info/local-church-religious-liberty-manual.pdf
Religious liberty article by Nicholas Miller (pages 16-19) – full of errors and propaganda. He claims that opposition to abortion by Catholics and Protestants represents a push "for greater government support for religion and religious viewpoints" and that the "real ancestors of the Adventist church-state view" "opposed this practice. He then falsely asserts that this "true" history "is increasingly overlooked, even by Adventists." This is easily disproven by the well documented fact that the Adventist pioneers, just like Evangelicals and Catholics today, openly called for abortion to be illegal and praised the efforts of the American Medical Association to make abortion illegal. Adventist leaders and historians in the NAD/GC are notorious for citing early Adventist history advocating "for social moral issues such as abolition of slavery...and the prohibition of alcohol" while conveniently ignoring their opposition to abortion. Here Nicholas Miller not only follows this trend but, in overlooking this history, does exactly what he accuses others of doing.
Miller claims that the "absolutism" on abortion by Evangelicals should be abandoned for a "fine-grained analysis" that "highly values life" but simultaneously also allows for legalized abortion using the exact same life and "health of the mother" language of Roe v. Wade (and Doe). Unsurprisingly, nowhere does Miller provide any objective "matrix" or "analysis" to accurately justify when it's okay to destroy children for purposes of "justice" and "dignity." Typical of Adventist absurdity he claims that "abortion on demand and as a method of birth control could be restricted" but this is not only redundant (abortion on demand is birth control) but also a contradiction since he defined abortion as a spiritual/religious issue, not civil. By definition, any action that is spiritual/religious cannot be restricted. Not yet finished, just a few sentences later Miller argues to limit the rights of homosexual marriage precisely because of the "rights of children" to benefit from heterosexual parents. In other words, you can't give children to homosexuals because children have rights but it's okay to kill them in utero. Again "Other moral issues, such as gambling, marijuana and drug use, and violence and sex in the media, could be restricted, even outlawed; based, again, not on scriptural injunctions, but on studies showing the harmful effects of these things on communities and children." So according to Nicholas Miller and the Review it's okay to make anything illegal that hurts a child but the intentional act of violently dismembering a child should remain legal and if you think otherwise you are a dangerous "absolutist" who has overlooked our true history and abandoned the "biblical moral framework."
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH20130117-V190-02.pdf
In a video online Miller again argues falsely @1:29:00 onwards that abortion is an issue of separation of church/state. He tries the typical Adventist rhetorical trick of claiming Adventists don't support abortion on demand but also we are not absolutists. He says some pro-life state have "gone too far" but can't explain why in any detail. Just like the 2013 article he says "we need to be careful about how absolutely we draw that line" but fails to provide any objective tool to draw any line at all. [note: when leaders speak like this as them: If true, why not condemn partial birth abortion? If true, why did the GC claim it's okay for mental health? Why no criticism of the GC? Why no criticism of Allred? Why no criticism of Adventist lawmakers who legislated unrestricted abortion?]
Streamed live on Jun 9, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/@ThePastorsRoundTable
https://www.youtube.com/live/NUl5IcRKYOk?si=0oRgvuhMEv1hSSvt&t=5175
Adventist Review: Drinking coffee can kill an unborn child…what a wild contradiction “For mothers-to-be, coffee decreases blood flow to the placenta by 25 percent, thus reducing fetal oxygen supply. One cup of strong coffee a day, or three cups of weak coffee, can nearly double a pregnant woman's chance of spontaneous abortion”
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19890914-V166-37.pdf
These Times July 1, 1977, special 10 page feature on abortion
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/WM/WM19770701-V86-07.pdf
PROOF THAT ABORTION WAS NOT A DIVISIVE ISSUE IN EARLY AMERICA
In the 19th century the USA was terribly divided on slavery but not abortion. The 2022 Supreme Court Dobbs decision that overturned Roe stated the following "In this country during the 19th century, the vast majority of the States enacted statutes criminalizing abortion at all stages of pregnancy." What is very interesting is to look at the actual voting record of many of the states and notice that, in both slave and free states, there was nearly unanimous support for anti-abortion legislation.
Michigan 1867: Senate 22-1, House 78-0;
Minnesota 1873: Senate 37-0, House 55-1;
Nevada 1869: Senate 17-0, Assembly 32-0;
Alabama 1894: House 26-0, Senate 83-0; 1911: Senate 18-0;
Arkansas 1875: House 86-3, 70-1, Senate 19-0;
District of Columbia 1872: Council 7-0;
Illinois 1867: House 63-0, Senate 24-0;
Indiana 1859: House 77-0, Senate 33-7;
Iowa 1858: Senate 27-0, House 63-1; 1882: Senate 40-2, House 79-2;
Kansas 1874: Senate 21-2, House 65-3,
Kentucky 1910: House 84-0, Senate 27-0;
Maryland 1867: Senate 15-2, House 34-11, 49-7; 1868: House 49-0, Senate 15-0;
New Jersey 1849: Assembly 44-0, Senate 14-0; 1872: Assembly 34-0, Senate 18-0; 1881: Assembly 34-3, 31-1, 3 1-0, Senate 16-0;
New York: 1869: Senate 20-0, Assembly 85-0; 1872: Assembly 98-0, 81-0, 85-0, Senate 10-0, 10-0; 1875: Senate 20-0, 20-0; Assembly 85-0;
South Carolina 1883: Senate 15-8 etc.
NOT CATHOLIC:
The Supreme Court in Dobbs also cited the work of law professor Joseph Dellapenna whose book notes the Catholic “Church largely remained silent on abortion in the nineteenth century” and “Catholics generally were not involved in legislate efforts to craft legal prohibitions on abortion.” Dellapenna pg. 416-417
EVERYONE IN 19th CENTURY SUPPORTED ANTI-ABORTION LEGISLATION
"All recognizable social groups in society-doctors, lawyers, clergy, journalists, feminists, and on and on-opposed abortion; only the emerging class of professional abortionists defended the social propriety of the procedures." Dellapenna pg. 412
Witherspoon's research cited by SCOTUS https://commons.stmarytx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1842&context=thestmaryslawjournal
Dellapenna's book is expensive on Amazon but can be found at the internet archive https://www.amazon.com/Dispelling-Abortion-History-Joseph-Dellapenna/dp/1531026753
Dobbs decision https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
DISFELLOWSHIP
Ellen White called for pro slavery church members to be disfellowshipped:
There are a few in the ranks of Sabbathkeepers who sympathize with the slaveholder. ... The wrath of God has slumbered, but it will awake and be poured out without mixture of mercy. 1T 358.1
Some have been so indiscreet as to talk out their pro-slavery principles—principles which are not heaven-born, but proceed from the dominion of Satan. These restless spirits talk and act in a manner to bring a reproach upon the cause of God. I will here give a copy of a letter written to Brother A, of Oswego County, New York: 1T 358.2
“I was shown some things in regard to you. I saw that you were deceived in regard to yourself. You have given occasion for the enemies of our faith to blaspheme, and to reproach Sabbathkeepers. By your indiscreet course, you have closed the ears of some who would have listened to the truth. I saw that we should be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. You have manifested neither the wisdom of the serpent nor the harmlessness of the dove. 1T 359.1
“Satan was the first great leader in rebellion. God is punishing the North, that they have so long suffered the accursed sin of slavery to exist; for in the sight of heaven it is a sin of the darkest dye. God is not with the South, and He will punish them dreadfully in the end. Satan is the instigator of all rebellion. I saw that you, Brother A, have permitted your political principles to destroy your judgment and your love for the truth. They are eating out true godliness from your heart. You have never looked upon slavery in the right light, and your views of this matter have thrown you on the side of the Rebellion, which was stirred up by Satan and his host. Your views of slavery cannot harmonize with the sacred, important truths for this time. You must yield your views or the truth. Both cannot be cherished in the same heart, for they are at war with each other. 1T 359.2
“Satan has been stirring you up. He would not let you rest until you should express your sentiments upon the side of the powers of darkness, thus strengthening the hands of the wicked, whom God has cursed. You have cast your influence on the wrong side, with those whose course of life is to sow thorns and plant misery for others. I saw you casting your influence with a degraded company, a Godforsaken company; and angels of God fled from you in disgust. I saw that you were utterly deceived. Had you followed the light which God has given you, had you heeded the instructions of your brethren, had you listened to their advice, you would have saved yourself and saved the precious cause of truth from reproach. But notwithstanding all the light given, you have given publicity to your sentiments. Unless you undo what you have done, it will be the duty of God’s people to publicly withdraw their sympathy and fellowship from you, in order to save the impression which must go out in regard to us as a people. We must let it be known that we have no such ones in our fellowship, that we will not walk with them in church capacity. 1T 359.3
“You have lost the sanctifying influence of the truth. You have lost your connection with the heavenly host. You have allied yourself with the first great rebel, and God’s wrath is upon you; for His sacred cause is reproached, and the truth is made disgusting to unbelievers. You have grieved God’s people, and despised the counsel of His ambassadors upon earth, who labor together with Him, and are in Christ’s stead beseeching souls to be reconciled to God. 1T 360.1
JOHN HARVEY KELLOGG CALLS TO DISFELLOWSHIP PROABORTION MEMBERS
"Every woman who commits or attempts to commit this horrible crime, and every husband who encourages it or even assents to its performance, ought to be treated as a criminal, and ostracized from society. So long as the act of abortion is looked upon as an offense so trifling as to be easily condoned, and hardly worthy of censure, its frequency will increase. Every pulpit in the land ought to send out in stirring and unmistakable tones, warnings against the gross immorality of this practice, drawing vivid pictures of its cruelty and unnaturalness, and pronouncing anathemas upon its perpetrators. The crime should be considered a just cause for church action to disfellowship, and the nature of the crime should not induce those who may have knowledge of it to keep it secret. The crime must be made odious, and the perpetrators condemned in unstinted terms." Ladies Guide In Health And Disease by J.H. Kellogg, (1893). pages 365-366 here
https://archive.org/details/ladiesguideinhea00kell/page/364/mode/2up
https://religiousliberty.tv/unsurpassable-worth-tony-brandons-sermon-abortion-adventist-hospitals-transcribed/
PARALLELS WITH SLAVERY
The arguments for slavery (as documented by Birney) are the same as arguments for abortion:
1. It will distract and divide the church. We must have diversity of opinion, must have unity
2. Abolitionist papers cause dissension, disturbs peace and harmony…
3. Matter of conscience, can’t coerce people
4. Slavery is a right
5. Slavery is no evil
6. Infidels and fanatics oppose slavery
7. Slaves were sold as support for missions!
8. Slavery had been along time with no divine reevelation, bible silent, without revelation it’s not wrong
9. You must obey general conference or you are bad
10. it was more important to be liked by slaveholders than to put away sin and increase righteousness!
The American churches the bulwarks of American slavery by Birney, James Gillespie (many versions available at archive.org)
https://archive.org/details/americanchurchesbirn
https://archive.org/details/americanchurches01birney
my video: https://youtu.be/4U_3hoVnYl4
LEADING FEMINISTS OF 19th CENTURY OPPOSED ABORTION
Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth C Stanton, Matilda Gage, Victoria Woodhull, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-abortion_feminism
https://www.priestsforlife.org/library/2748-the-founders-of-womens-movement-all-opposed-abortion
Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth C Stanton, Matilda Gage, Victoria Woodhull, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-abortion_feminism
https://www.priestsforlife.org/library/2748-the-founders-of-womens-movement-all-opposed-abortion
California Medicine September 1970
A New Ethic for Medicine and Society
The process of eroding the old ethic and substituting the new has already begun. It may be seen most clearly in changing attitudes toward human abortion. In defiance of the long held Western ethic of intrinsic and equal value for every human life regardless of its stage, condition or status, abortion is becoming accepted by society as moral, right and even necessary. It is worth noting that this shift in public attitude has affected the churches, the laws and public policy rather than the reverse. Since the old ethic has not yet been fully displaced it has been necessary to separate the idea. of abortion from the idea of killing, which continues to be socially abhorrent. The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra- or extra-uterine until death. The very considerable semantic gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not often put forth under socially impeccable auspices. It is suggested that this schizophrenic sort of subterfuge is necessary because while a new ethic is being accepted the old one has not yet been rejected.
TEXT: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/new-ethic-for-medicine-and-society-12120
PDF: https://speakerforlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/California-Medicine-entire-article.pdf
Adventist Church tells Norway government to keep abortion legal to 12 weeks
Originally published on official Norway government website, now returns 404
https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/horing-nou-2023-29-abort-i-norge-ny-lov-og-bedre-tjenester/id3018742/?uid=ddb531f0-a2cb-4839-ae18-f9098ee11b86
Statement also published on Church's website here:
https://www.adventist.no/nyheter/horingssvar-pa-abortlovutvalgets-utredning/
This statement to the government is a serious problem because contradicts the official statement on abortion approved by the West Nordic Union in December 1989 and published in the February 1990 issue of Adventnyt. Of the many problems the 1989 statement explicitly condemns the killing of children within the first 12 weeks while the 2024 statement calls for it to be legal in the name of "freedom."
Translation 1989 statement (from Danish)
ADOPTED
1. From our understanding of Scripture, life, given by God, begins at the union of the egg and sperm, and that which is thus conceived therefore constitutes an independent human being, and 'we have a moral obligation to preserve it.' (Seventh-day Adventists Believe... A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines, page 75.) To take its life would be a violation of the 6th commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." We cannot therefore advocate abortion, even in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy.
2. We have the greatest compassion for women who are victims of incest and rape, with the grief, anguish, humiliation and deep despair that this almost always results in. The church must communicate its care, love, understanding and support to these in an active way, both collectively and through individual members. It is the church's duty and privilege to show God's love to people in need.
3. Because God created man in his image, human worth is not determined by physical or psychological conditions, but by man's unique relationship with God. For this reason, all people from conception to the grave are of equal value. We cannot therefore advocate an induced abortion even if prenatal examinations indicate that the child may be born physically or mentally disabled.
4. If a situation arises during pregnancy where continuing the pregnancy will result in death for the mother and thus also for the fetus, the life that can be saved must be saved.
Originally published on official Norway government website, now returns 404
https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/horing-nou-2023-29-abort-i-norge-ny-lov-og-bedre-tjenester/id3018742/?uid=ddb531f0-a2cb-4839-ae18-f9098ee11b86
Statement also published on Church's website here:
https://www.adventist.no/nyheter/horingssvar-pa-abortlovutvalgets-utredning/
This statement to the government is a serious problem because contradicts the official statement on abortion approved by the West Nordic Union in December 1989 and published in the February 1990 issue of Adventnyt. Of the many problems the 1989 statement explicitly condemns the killing of children within the first 12 weeks while the 2024 statement calls for it to be legal in the name of "freedom."
Translation 1989 statement (from Danish)
ADOPTED
1. From our understanding of Scripture, life, given by God, begins at the union of the egg and sperm, and that which is thus conceived therefore constitutes an independent human being, and 'we have a moral obligation to preserve it.' (Seventh-day Adventists Believe... A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines, page 75.) To take its life would be a violation of the 6th commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." We cannot therefore advocate abortion, even in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy.
2. We have the greatest compassion for women who are victims of incest and rape, with the grief, anguish, humiliation and deep despair that this almost always results in. The church must communicate its care, love, understanding and support to these in an active way, both collectively and through individual members. It is the church's duty and privilege to show God's love to people in need.
3. Because God created man in his image, human worth is not determined by physical or psychological conditions, but by man's unique relationship with God. For this reason, all people from conception to the grave are of equal value. We cannot therefore advocate an induced abortion even if prenatal examinations indicate that the child may be born physically or mentally disabled.
4. If a situation arises during pregnancy where continuing the pregnancy will result in death for the mother and thus also for the fetus, the life that can be saved must be saved.
Dr. Gerhard Pfandl article
https://www.perspectivedigest.org/archive/28-3/the-issue-of-abortion
In 2023 Pfandl published an article in the journal for the Adventist Theological Society (ATS). His article contains several problems:
1. He claims "it seems difficult to determine biologically the moment when human life begins." This is absurd.
2. He publishes the 1970 guidelines but labels them as coming from the "March 1971 issue of Ministry." This later became a huge scandal as the church had two positions from both 1970 and 1971 but the 1971 position was kept a secret for over a decade. It's amazing that in 2023 Pfandl has managed to make such a huge error in reporting on this history which is already published in.....Ministry magazine! https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1991/08/abortion-history-of-adventist-guidelines
3. Later in the article Pfandl again makes a serious error by saying "The reasons given are the same as those in the 1971 statement" but he never accurately referred to the actual 1971 position.
4. He then references the new 2019 position and says "no guidelines are given for hospitals and doctors as in the previous 1971 and 1991 statements" but this is patently not true as the Health Ministries published a protocol to interpret the 2019 language.
5. Pfandl admits that Roe v. Wade adopted "a very broad definition of “health,” which includes social and psychological, as well as purely medical conditions, the Court in effect allowed abortion up to the very moment of birth, if the woman desired it, and the physician was agreeable." What Pfandl failed to do is point out that all positions of the Adventist Church (1970, 1971, 1992) contained the exact same health clause. Futhermore, the 2020 protocol published by the GC Health Ministries contained the same health clause, see above for links.
https://www.perspectivedigest.org/archive/28-3/the-issue-of-abortion
In 2023 Pfandl published an article in the journal for the Adventist Theological Society (ATS). His article contains several problems:
1. He claims "it seems difficult to determine biologically the moment when human life begins." This is absurd.
2. He publishes the 1970 guidelines but labels them as coming from the "March 1971 issue of Ministry." This later became a huge scandal as the church had two positions from both 1970 and 1971 but the 1971 position was kept a secret for over a decade. It's amazing that in 2023 Pfandl has managed to make such a huge error in reporting on this history which is already published in.....Ministry magazine! https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1991/08/abortion-history-of-adventist-guidelines
3. Later in the article Pfandl again makes a serious error by saying "The reasons given are the same as those in the 1971 statement" but he never accurately referred to the actual 1971 position.
4. He then references the new 2019 position and says "no guidelines are given for hospitals and doctors as in the previous 1971 and 1991 statements" but this is patently not true as the Health Ministries published a protocol to interpret the 2019 language.
5. Pfandl admits that Roe v. Wade adopted "a very broad definition of “health,” which includes social and psychological, as well as purely medical conditions, the Court in effect allowed abortion up to the very moment of birth, if the woman desired it, and the physician was agreeable." What Pfandl failed to do is point out that all positions of the Adventist Church (1970, 1971, 1992) contained the exact same health clause. Futhermore, the 2020 protocol published by the GC Health Ministries contained the same health clause, see above for links.
Loma Linda University scholarship for Dr. Edward Allred
Scope magazine
Vol 54, No. 1 Spring 2019 page 40
https://issuu.com/lluh/docs/2019-spring-scope?fr=sZjY5NjYzMDQyOTc
Dr. Ron Du Preez
du Preez, Ron (1990) "The Status of the Fetus in Mosaic Law," Journal of the Adventist Theological Society: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 2.
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/jats/vol1/iss2/2/
https://www.atsjats.org/the-status-of-the-fetus-in-mosaic-law.pdf
https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/Journal_of_the_Adventist_Theological_Society/1990/1990_02.pdf
Dr. Remwil Tornalejo
Tornalejo, Remwil R. (2013) "The Status of the Unborn and the Seventh-day Adventist Abortion Guidelines" Vol. 16: Iss. 2, pages 117-126
https://journals.aiias.edu/jaas/article/view/759
https://journals.aiias.edu/jaas/article/view/759/691
ABORTION CRIME IN COMMON LAW BEFORE FOUNDING OF USA
Joseph Dellapenna in his massive “Dispelling the Myths of Abortion History” documents that abortion had already been prosecuted as a crime in common law with records as far back as the 13th century. For example, Rex v. Scharp 1276 a husband was charged with a “man's death” for killing the unborn child of his wife and just a few years later in 1281 Rex v. Code three men were convicted and imprisoned for the felony of killing an unborn child "age of one month" gestation. The belief that the abortion was a crime in common law remained consistent for centuries. See Dellapenna (2006) p. 138-140.
Dr. Earl M.J. Aagaard Question:
“What moral principle distinguishes a baby born two months prematurely from a seven-month fetus, making it a crime to kill the first but merely an exercise of personal freedom to destroy the second?”
Professor Emeritus of Biology. B.A., Pacific Union College, 1969; M.A., Pacific Union College, 1971; Ph.D., Colorado State University, 1982.
Letter to editor Pacific Union Recorder February 1, 1993, page 31
Nancy Pelosi is asked the "Aagaard question" on video https://youtu.be/IlHFekMs-7I according to ABC News the reporter who asked the question was John McCormack, a reporter with the Weekly Standard
The Abortion Controversy - Will A Free America Survive? - John V. Stevens
1990 version - with notes by Andrew
| john_stevens_abortion_controversy_1990_text_with_notes3.pdf |
CAN'T LEGISLATE MORALITY
When an Adventist says "you can't legislate morality" just share the following four quotes and it will keep them busy for a while trying to figure out how to argue against their own church leaders:
"The last six commandments deal with relationships among people in society and are, Adventists believe, proper subjects for legislative action." Adventist Review May 11, 2006, page 20
“the second table of the law has always been the subject of civil law, despite the familiar adage that "you can't legislate morality." Actually, you can, and we do.” Liberty magazine, May/June 2005, page 26
The Establishment Clause “has no more to do with abortion, homosexuality, or teen sex than it does with the speed limit.” Liberty magazine Jan/Feb 1999, page 31
"Though it's often said that "you can't legislate morality," the truth is that you can. In fact, law is nothing but legislated morality...Also, because morality is inevitably tied to religion, in a democratic and predominantly "Christian" country like the U.S., it's only natural that churches, pastors, and Christians in general should be involved in formulating law." Ministry, December 1997, page 7
References:
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH20060511-V183-13.pdf
https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/the-two-tables-of-the-law May June 2005 https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM20050301-V100-03.pdf
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19990101-V94-01.pdf
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19971201-V70-12.pdf
2005 (Reinach) "This division between the first and second tables of the law roughly corresponds to the distinction between legislating religion and morality...However, the second table of the law has always been the subject of civil law, despite the familiar adage that "you can't legislate morality." Actually, you can, and we do. The debate is never really about whether to legislate morality, but to what extent and from what source"
Secular nation article “The laws of every society reflect certain moral presuppositions. The law prohibits, allows, or promotes certain behaviors based upon what that society deems right or wrong.”
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19990201-V94-02.pdf
In this issue the Editors of liberty say “there is a clear right if not obligation for Christians to be allowed to voice their moral concern” but this is not practiced in Adventism ever
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM20010501-V96-05.pdf
CAESAR CAN LEGISLATE LAST SIX:
1909 https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19090701-V04-03.pdf
1916 same article https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19160101-V11-01.pdf
1918 -- The Decalogue constitutes a complete system of legislation pertaining to this dual relationship. The last six precepts enjoin one's duties to his fellows. They may be re-enacted or enforced by the state, in so far as citizenship is concerned, without violating religious obligations or rights of conscience. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19180101-V13-01.pdf
1920 - https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19200101-V14-01.pdf
1921 - The first four commandments, including the Sabbath commandment, regulate one's du- ties to his God, and the state has no right to legislate concerning them. The last six commandments tell of one's duties to his fellows as well as to God, and in so far as they can be enforced they are proper subjects for legislation https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19210101-V16-01.pdf
1921 - When man invades the rights of his fellows, then the civil magistrate has not only a right but a duty to step in and protect the rights of that man, but the civil authorities cannot of right control a man's conduct toward God so long as in exercising his religion he does not invade the equal rights of others. A failure to recognize this distinction in the past has led to a union of church and state and to all the cruel religious persecutions of the past. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19211001-V16-04.pdf
1925 https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19250701-V20-03.pdf
1926 We agree with Roger Williams that the civil magistrate by right has no authority to enforce any of the first four commandments of the decalogue, which regulate and prescribe exclusively a man's duties toward God. The civil government can only legislate upon the last six, on the second table, which relate to man's proper relationship to his neighbor or fellow man. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19260101-V21-01.pdf
1927 https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19271001-V22-04.pdf
1931 https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19310701-V26-03.pdf
1937 There are civil duties embraced under the last six of God's ten commandments, on the second table, which pertain to man's duty to his fellow man, which civil government may and should enforce. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19371001-V32-04.pdf
1940 The last six man owes to man and to God, but Caesar can deal only with man's offenses against man, and not with the offenses against God. A failure to make this distinction is the root cause of all religious legislation, religious persecution, and a union of church and state. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19400101-V35-01.pdf
1942 The last six have to do with man’s relation to and to ward his fellow man. The first four commandments pertain to worship. Any legislation involving them would be definitely religious, and as such, would be a violation of the First Amendment to our Federal Constitution, and would in effect be a union of church and state.
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19421001-V37-04.pdf
1944 https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19441001-V39-04.pdf
1952 ...or the last six of the commandments, deals with man's relationships with his fellow men. The Bible commands obedience to both civil and ecclesiastical authorities,… https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19520101-V47-01.pdf
1958 A man is responsible to God as well as to the state when he commits murder, but the state cannot administer justice for any violation of spiritual principles involved in the act. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19580301-V53-03.pdf
1962 The state shares with the church the responsibility of regulating man's relationship to man. The Ten Commandments themselves are divided into two tables, as if to emphasize the demarcation..... https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19620601-V57-06.pdf
1999 (irony of Hegstad writing this) “The first four commandments, which refer to our relationship with God alone, are not concerns of civil government; but the principles of morality in the last six are. They espouse norms of civility with out which society could not function. Even Communist governments incorporated their principles in civil law as a "social contract?'…https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19990501-V94-05.pdf
2005 (Reinach) "This division between the first and second tables of the law roughly corresponds to the distinction between legislating religion and morality...However, the second table of the law has always been the subject of civil law, despite the familiar adage that "you can't legislate morality." Actually, you can, and we do. The debate is never really about whether to legislate morality, but to what extent and from what source"
https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/the-two-tables-of-the-law May June 2005 https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM20050301-V100-03.pdf
2006 (Reinach) "while the second table of the law–the last six commandments—define our civil obligations." https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/state-acknowledgement-of-god and https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM20060401-V101-04.pdf
2009 (Morgan citing AT Jones) "it was the last six of the Ten Commandments, having to do with how humans treat each other, that delineated the proper scope of civil government’s jurisdiction" https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/a-clash-of-millennialisms-on-capitol-hill https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM20090601-V104-06.pdf
2016 Charles S Longacre (Reprint from 1939) "It was well understood by the Puritans that the first table of the Decalogue embraced the first four commandments, and the second table, the last six commandments. Roger Williams pointed out that the first four commandments of the law of God enjoined purely spiritual and religious duties which the individual owed to God, and that the violation of these four commandments—….and the last six, a man’s duties toward his fellow man. Therefore, Roger Williams contended, the civil magistrate, who rightfully could deal only with civil matters, had no authority in justice to enforce the commandments upon the first table of the Decalogue. If the civil magistrates and legislators had always recognized this line of distinction between the first and second table of the Decalogue, there never would have been formed a union between the church and the state, and religious persecution would have been impossible.The failure to recognize a line of demarcation between the duties we owe to Caesar and the obligations we owe to God has been the root cause of all religious persecutions, as well as of bitter experiences which have come to religion." https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/the-holy-commonwealth
ELLEN WHITE TALKING POINTS:
1. Ellen White defined the unborn as living human children. (e.g. 2SM 428.1, RH, July 18, 1899, par. 1)
2. Ellen White described negligence resulting in harm towards the unborn child as murder. {2SM 429.3} {SA 119.1} {RH, July 18, 1899 par. 5}
3. Ellen White specifically said that ingestion of harmful poisons without intent to hurt the child is still a sin. (Abortion is the deliberate, intentional act of killing the child.): “Every drop of strong drink taken by her to gratify appetite endangers the physical, mental, and moral health of her child, and is a direct sin against her Creator.” {MH 373.1}
4. Ellen White displayed deep concern for the well-being of the unborn child and promoted the necessity of positive prenatal care. (e.g. Chapter 43 Adventist Home)
5. Ellen White condemned the use of tight fitting clothing and fashion that caused miscarriages. “The very many miscarriages that now occur may generally be traced to fashionable dress” and “dressing fashionably had put out the life of her child.” RH October 31, 1871. See also statement on hoops Letter 16a, 1861. (To the Church in Roosevelt, New York, August 3, 1861.) {5MR 379.1}
6. Ellen White was surrounded by leaders publicly condemning abortion as a terrible sin yet not once did she ever rebuke them or tell them to stay silent.
7. Ellen White was surrounded by nation wide efforts of the American Medical Association to make abortion illegal in statutory law. Ellen White never said or even suggested that such efforts were dangerous or a threat to liberty.
8. Adventist leadership used official church journals to publicly support anti-abortion legislation and praised the work of the American Medical Association. Ellen White, who possessed the gift of prophecy, never once issued any rebuke, correction, or warning.
9. Contrary to the claim that "you're-not-alive-til-you're-born" Ellen White applied the "breath of life" to living children in the womb (citing Psalm 139:15-16). Ministry of Healing p. 415, also 13LtMs Ms 92 1989 par 7
STATISTICS:
Pew Research
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/03/a-closer-look-at-seventh-day-adventists-in-america/
https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-denomination/seventh-day-adventist/
http://pewrsr.ch/39IwmKY
"Our articles on abortion have touched a sensitive nerve. We are receiving more mail on this subject than on any other recently published
article. The letters are running 10 to 1 in favor of the church adopting a stricter standard." Ministry July 1988
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19880701-V61-07.pdf
Sahlin says "There is a growing opinion among some North American Adventists that we should take a position against abortion,"
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19891001-V62-10.pdf
Leo Schreven says he has lost souls because of this issue "In evangelism I have lost at least a dozen souls because of this inconsistency."
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19911201-V64-12.pdf
%65 of new clergy oppose abortion on demand "While a clear majority of the respondents (65 percent) take a pro-life, antiabortion stance on item 4, a substantial minority (24 percent) are pro-choice, with another 11 percent uncertain."
(my note: "abortion on demand" and "exceptions for therapetuic abortion" in Adventist language mean the same thing)
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19930601-V66-06.pdf
MISC:
Liberty magazine reports Harold O.J. Brown starting Protestant specific prolife organization
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19750601-V70-06.pdf
Article in Liberty: “The right to life is not a "Catholic” issue but rather a basic human right, without which no claim to rights has validity.”
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19760201-V71-02.pdf
Liberty editor Hegstad in March/April 1989 argues
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19890201-V84-02.pdf
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19950101-V90-01.pdf
Compilation of Adventist Church Statements and Guidelines
https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780840056122/page/102/mode/2up
J. David Newman wrote "The right to live and the right to free choice are both principles. In the development of a hierarchy of values one must take precedence over the other.You cannot exercise the right to free choice unless you first have been allowed the right to live." Ministry, March 1988
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19880301-V61-03.pdf
Another reminder from the Adventist leadership that we are not to remain silent when the innocent are killed. This here is Elder Bill Knott, former editor of the Adventist Review. For over 16 years under Knott's leadership there was zero calls for Adventists to stop supporting the bloodshed of the innocent. https://twitter.com/KeepingFaithDC/status/1618939496866922496 https://x.com/KeepingFaithDC/status/1618939496866922496
4:19:55 "everyday that these [Covid/vax] statements remain out on the website regular church members who are entirely innocent are paying a terrible price." https://youtu.be/omeHexnw-yg Religious Liberty Weekend | Sabbath Services Conrad Vine [my note: everyday that the Adventist Church affirms abortion in its official statements the genocide continues with our official, public support!]
"Sacrificing to Molech is such a serious crime that if the people, knowing what the person did, fail to punish the sinner, the Lord will punish him." Rodriguez, Angel M. "Transfer of Sin in Leviticus." In The Seventy Weeks, Leviticus, and the Nature of Prophecy. Edited by Frank B. Holbrook. "Daniel and Revelation Committee Series," Volume 3 Washington, DC: Biblical Research Institute, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1986. Chapter VI, page 175
Pastor John Anderson of the Mentone Church reacts to the Dobbs decision overturning Roe. https://youtu.be/6Exdk1cV_Uo?si=TGggis5ldoKC_Y7o
“abortion is murder” May 1931 page 27 The Watchman magazine published monthly by Southern Publishing Association edited by Robert Bruce Thurber
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/WM/WM19310501-V40-05.pdf
Liberty magazine reports Harold O.J. Brown starting Protestant specific prolife organization
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19750601-V70-06.pdf
Article in Liberty: “The right to life is not a "Catholic” issue but rather a basic human right, without which no claim to rights has validity.”
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19760201-V71-02.pdf
Liberty editor Hegstad in March/April 1989 argues
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19890201-V84-02.pdf
- We have no pope, not everyone agrees
- We shouldn’t badmouth other’s different views
- Tacitly admits a problem with hospitals but runs cover for them
- “my church keenly respects religious liberty”
- “I believe it's important that you know Seventh-day Adventists respect religious liberty even in regard to abortion. To be sure, we also respect life..” duality deception, neutrality posing
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19950101-V90-01.pdf
Compilation of Adventist Church Statements and Guidelines
https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780840056122/page/102/mode/2up
J. David Newman wrote "The right to live and the right to free choice are both principles. In the development of a hierarchy of values one must take precedence over the other.You cannot exercise the right to free choice unless you first have been allowed the right to live." Ministry, March 1988
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19880301-V61-03.pdf
Another reminder from the Adventist leadership that we are not to remain silent when the innocent are killed. This here is Elder Bill Knott, former editor of the Adventist Review. For over 16 years under Knott's leadership there was zero calls for Adventists to stop supporting the bloodshed of the innocent. https://twitter.com/KeepingFaithDC/status/1618939496866922496 https://x.com/KeepingFaithDC/status/1618939496866922496
4:19:55 "everyday that these [Covid/vax] statements remain out on the website regular church members who are entirely innocent are paying a terrible price." https://youtu.be/omeHexnw-yg Religious Liberty Weekend | Sabbath Services Conrad Vine [my note: everyday that the Adventist Church affirms abortion in its official statements the genocide continues with our official, public support!]
"Sacrificing to Molech is such a serious crime that if the people, knowing what the person did, fail to punish the sinner, the Lord will punish him." Rodriguez, Angel M. "Transfer of Sin in Leviticus." In The Seventy Weeks, Leviticus, and the Nature of Prophecy. Edited by Frank B. Holbrook. "Daniel and Revelation Committee Series," Volume 3 Washington, DC: Biblical Research Institute, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1986. Chapter VI, page 175
Pastor John Anderson of the Mentone Church reacts to the Dobbs decision overturning Roe. https://youtu.be/6Exdk1cV_Uo?si=TGggis5ldoKC_Y7o
“abortion is murder” May 1931 page 27 The Watchman magazine published monthly by Southern Publishing Association edited by Robert Bruce Thurber
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/WM/WM19310501-V40-05.pdf
Historia de las Pautas Adventistas Sobre el Aborto
El Ministerio Adventista, Septiembre-Octubre 1992
(Spanish version of Gainer's article)
https://archive.org/details/historia-de-las-pautas-adventistas-sobre-el-aborto-2-george-gainer-spanish
El Ministerio Adventista, Septiembre-Octubre 1992
(Spanish version of Gainer's article)
https://archive.org/details/historia-de-las-pautas-adventistas-sobre-el-aborto-2-george-gainer-spanish
Colin & Russell Standish
"We are staggered by the unbelievable activism of the pro-abortion advocates in God’s church. Some have advocated it because they wrongly see it as a church/state issue. Some say it is a matter of choice; but so are murder of an adult, theft, and adultery....Some have said that the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy are silent on this topic. Even were this statement true, it would be a very poor basis indeed to support the destruction of the prenate. But in the past the crime of abortion was considered so gross that little needed to be said. Yet through our denominational pages there were strong warnings against this callous practice [cites article praising AMA and Dr. Storer efforts to outlaw abortion, Advent Review and Herald, June 25, 1867]" p. 208, Keepers of the Faith, Colin & Russell Standish. Hartland Publications, Virginia. 2002 edition. Again on p. 210 "We stand fully opposed to the large number of permissive abortions in some of our hospitals and call for our church and its ministry to take a true biblical stance against this grave evil."
"We are staggered by the unbelievable activism of the pro-abortion advocates in God’s church. Some have advocated it because they wrongly see it as a church/state issue. Some say it is a matter of choice; but so are murder of an adult, theft, and adultery....Some have said that the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy are silent on this topic. Even were this statement true, it would be a very poor basis indeed to support the destruction of the prenate. But in the past the crime of abortion was considered so gross that little needed to be said. Yet through our denominational pages there were strong warnings against this callous practice [cites article praising AMA and Dr. Storer efforts to outlaw abortion, Advent Review and Herald, June 25, 1867]" p. 208, Keepers of the Faith, Colin & Russell Standish. Hartland Publications, Virginia. 2002 edition. Again on p. 210 "We stand fully opposed to the large number of permissive abortions in some of our hospitals and call for our church and its ministry to take a true biblical stance against this grave evil."
ROLAND HEGSTAD, editor of Liberty magazine for 35 years (1959-1994)
“I believe it's important that you know Seventh-day Adventists respect religious liberty even in regard to abortion. To be sure, we also respect life..” Liberty, March/April 1989 [Andrew's note: Here Hegstad utilizes a common tactic of Adventist leadership: dualism and playing to both sides. They claim to do two things simultaneously, support abortion on demand as a religious liberty and also to respect life but this is impossible because there is no neutrality between life and death. You can't support freedom to kill while simultaneously protect those being killed. It's also impossible because the sixth commandment is civil in nature, not a religious issue. There is no basis whatsoever for the claim that murder is religious in nature.]
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19890201-V84-02.pdf
“The knock against Governor Reagan is his support of state-sponsored prayer in public schools, his sponsorship of tax aid for nonpublic schools while governor of California, and his commitment to an abortion amendment. Though not necessarily a religious liberty issue, an abortion amendment likely would come as part of a prolife, proprayer amendment, with broad backing from an evangelical-Roman Catholic coalition.” Liberty, November/December, 1980 page 3 [Andrew's note: here Hegstad makes a weird comment that abortion is "not necessarily" a religious liberty issue but that opposing abortion is still wrong because it might be lumped together with other issues. This is absurd.] https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19800601-V75-06.pdf
“Whether abortion is right or wrong is not a question Liberty seeks to answer. Its editors have opinions, as does the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which takes a “respect for life” position, but leaves the implementation of that ambiguity to the Scripture-enlightened conscience of its members.” Liberty Sept/Oct 1978, page 10 [Andrew's note: This is a preface to a pro-abortion article. Here again he has defined the killing of children as a "conscience" issue, a false and indefensible claim that would be repeated for the next 45+ years. The "respect for life" is completely false.] https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/LibM/LibM19780501-V73-05.pdf
"The seeming ambivalence in this statement [1992 Abortion Guidelines] is easily explained," according to Roland Hegstad, editor of the church's Liberty magazine. "On the one hand, we don't have a pope on the Potomac to tell us what we must do. On the other hand, we respect the Church member's right to make some very personal decisions." Adventist Today, May/June 1993, page 16 [Andrew's note: The "pope on the Potomac" comment is false and misleading because it's Ceasar's, not the Pope's, authority and duty. He is attempting to frame child murder as American/popish/theocratic situation rather than a civil issue. He then says that killing children is a "right" that is to be respected by the church.]
BRI published research paper on Abortion by Ekkehardt Mueller
Release #20 here https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/releases
"the biblical understanding of the unborn child as being fully human in each and every stage of development" page 39 (43 PDF)
“'Freedom of conscience does not include the right to physically harm, let alone kill, another human being.'… The church has the duty not to leave this issue open-ended. If the church through its teaching does not keep the delicate balance between the teaching of freedom of choice, which all humans have, and the proclamation of God’s clear will as expressed in His commandments, people may take any fuzziness in these matters as a license to do whatever they want to do, and to do this even in the name of the church. This would not only be detrimental to the individuals involved, but also to the church and her witness in the world.
Therefore, if in official documents the church speaks about freedom of choice, choice must be understood and explained in terms of how Scripture portrays it. There is personal and institutional choice, and there are clear limitations of that choice if we call ourselves Christians. Again, if choice as a concept is used in official documents but the limits of Christian freedom are not spelled out, then the concept may become misleading, because freedom of choice may—in the mind of the audience, influenced by the surrounding culture—become a license to do whatever our sinful hearts desire to do, independent of God’s will." page 36-37
BRI newsletter
“The Power of Choice and Life: A Short Theological Reflection” Frank Hasel. Reflections 67 (July 2019), 7-9.
https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/newsletters
Any claim to freedom or liberty that suggests license or a departure from fidelity to God’s moral law is false (Rom 6:15; cf. 2 Pet 2:19).
Release #20 here https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/releases
"the biblical understanding of the unborn child as being fully human in each and every stage of development" page 39 (43 PDF)
“'Freedom of conscience does not include the right to physically harm, let alone kill, another human being.'… The church has the duty not to leave this issue open-ended. If the church through its teaching does not keep the delicate balance between the teaching of freedom of choice, which all humans have, and the proclamation of God’s clear will as expressed in His commandments, people may take any fuzziness in these matters as a license to do whatever they want to do, and to do this even in the name of the church. This would not only be detrimental to the individuals involved, but also to the church and her witness in the world.
Therefore, if in official documents the church speaks about freedom of choice, choice must be understood and explained in terms of how Scripture portrays it. There is personal and institutional choice, and there are clear limitations of that choice if we call ourselves Christians. Again, if choice as a concept is used in official documents but the limits of Christian freedom are not spelled out, then the concept may become misleading, because freedom of choice may—in the mind of the audience, influenced by the surrounding culture—become a license to do whatever our sinful hearts desire to do, independent of God’s will." page 36-37
BRI newsletter
“The Power of Choice and Life: A Short Theological Reflection” Frank Hasel. Reflections 67 (July 2019), 7-9.
https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/newsletters
Any claim to freedom or liberty that suggests license or a departure from fidelity to God’s moral law is false (Rom 6:15; cf. 2 Pet 2:19).