Part II of the Doctoral Dissertation

1
Part II of the Doctoral Dissertation

• From Pro-life to Pro-Choice The Dramatic Shift
  in Seventh-day Adventists Attitude Towards
  Abortion
• By
• Dr. Nic Samojluk

2
Reasons Behind my Doctoral Program

• Values acquired while growing up in Argentina
• The John Stevens article shock
• The LLU church bulletin shock
• The Adventist Review disappointment
• The Spectrum Adventist Today discovery

3
My Basic Aim? To Save One Life
4
Or perhaps More?

• To save more than one!

5
I. The Broken Blueprint

• How the Original Blueprint Envisioned by Ellen
  White John Burden was Derailed by Percy Magan
  Arthur Daniels

6
Reason Behind the Blueprint

• The reason behind the blueprint was the sad
  experience of an extremely ambitious and selfish
  man named John Harvey Kellogg

7
Reason Behind the Blueprint

• The Kellogg Battle Creek experiment
• A mammoth size medical institution
• A strong desire to compete with the world
• The search for worldly accreditation
• A Heavy indebtedness by J.H. Kellogg
• A tremendous financial loss
• No major benefit to the rest of the world
• The net result? The total loss of two
  institutions to the church

8
The People Behind the Blueprint

• The people behind the blueprint were Ellen G.
  White and John Burden, the man who placed the
  initial 1,000 dollars down payment for the Loma
  Linda property

9
Elements of the Original Blueprint

• No mammoth size medical institutions
• No major trauma medical centers
• No attempts to compete with the world
• No expensive buildings and equipments
• No attempts to seek accreditation
• No expensive medical treatments

10
Elements of the Original Blueprint

• No medical institutions within major cities
• No medical institution in Los Angeles
• Short medical training for medical evangelists
• Limited number of Adventists seeking degrees from
  non SDA institutions
• Strong emphasis on medical missionary work

11
Elements of the Original Blueprint

• Natural remedies free from drugs
• Small sanitariums around the world
• Purchase of land around our institutions
• Placement of our schools and sanitariums away
  from the crowded cities
• Simple treatments coupled with the teaching of a
  healthful lifestyle

12
How the Blueprint was Derailed

• Following Ellen White's death, Percy Magan and
  Arthur Daniells
• got rid of John Burden,
• pushed aside the blueprint,
• sought the accreditation of the school,
• replaced the use of natural remedies with drugs,
• were forced to hire non-Adventist teachers and
  physicians,
• incurred heavy financial indebtedness,
• and began the extremely expensive long journey of
  competition with the world. There were no funds
  left for building the lifestyle sanitariums
  around the world envisioned by E.G. White
• The Broken Blueprint, www.sdaforum.com/page187.htm
  l

13
The Heavy Price of Accreditation

• Accreditation did not come cheap, either
  financially, morally, or doctrinally.
• It almost bankrupted the church
• Expensive buildings had to be erected
• AMA forced the hiring of non-Adventists
• Non-Adventists introduced evolution
• Drug prescription replaced natural remedies
• The Pro-life stance of SDA pioneers was replaced
  with therapeutic abortions including a mental
  exception
• Morality took second place to expediency profit

14
Two Heartbroken Men

• "Like John Harvey Kellogg,  He Arthur G.
  Daniells Was sold on the Spirit of Prophecy
  until the turn of the century, but, like Kellogg,
  he began thinking he could improve over the
  blueprint which God, through her Ellen White,
  was presenting to the church ... It was Daniells,
  more than any other single man on a church
  executive level outside Loma Linda, who rammed
  through its accreditation. But, just as Percy
  Magan later wept, so did Daniells. ... One
  evening, a medical student found him walking in
  the hallway. Daniells was weeping. Turning to the
  young man, in an agony of voice Arthur said,
  'Obey the Spirit Of Prophecy. I didn't and paid
  the price!'"
• Vance Ferrell, The Broken Blueprint

15
II. A Pro-life Beginning

• Were the early SDA pioneers Pro-life or
  Pro-choice?
• Did they justify elective abortion?
• Did they condone therapeutic abortions?
• Did they believe that Jesus died to grant us
  freedom of choice regarding abortion?
• Did they allow for the mental health exception?

16
These SDA Pioneers Were Pro-life!

• James White, J. N. Andrews, John Harvey Kellogg,
  Ellen White, John Todd, others were all
  Pro-life individuals.

17
The Opinion of James White

• many a man, who has as many children as he
  can support, instead of restraining his passions,
  aids in the destruction of the babes he has
  begotten. The sin lies at the door of both
  parents in equal measure for the father,
  although he may not always aid in the murder, is
  always accessory to it, in that he induces, and
  sometimes even forces upon the mother the
  condition which he knows will lead to the
  commission of the crime.
• James White. Solemn Appeal (Battle Creek,
  Michigan Stem Press, 1870), 100.

18
Ellen G. White Opinion

• Was also Pro-life, in spite of never have used
  the term abortion.

19
Ellen G. White Opinion

• If the father would become acquainted with
  physical law, he might better understand his
  obligations and responsibilities. He would see
  that he had been guilty of almost murdering his
  children, by suffering so many burdens to come
  upon the mother,
• White. Selected Messages, Vol. 2 (Washington,
  D.C. Review and Herald Publishing Association,
  1958), 429-430.

20
Ellen G. White Opinion

• All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life
  . . . or any passion that leads to injurious acts
  towards others, or causes us even to wish them
  harm . . . all these are, to a greater or less
  degree, violations of the sixth commandment.
• White. Patriarchs and Prophets (Washington,
  D.C. Review and Herald Publishing Association,
  1958), 316.

21
Did Ellen white talk About Abortion?

• Mrs. White never used the term abortion.
• She rather talked about almost murdering the
  unborn.
• What is the difference?

22
The Opinion of Uriah Smith

• Uriah Smith, long-term editor of SDA
  publications, did not address the abortion issue
  directly, but he stated

23
Should the Church be Silent on Abortion?

• You show me a church that fails to take a stand
  on political issues that involve moral
  principles, and Ill show you a church that is
  spineless, irrelevant, and morally bankrupt. . .
  . No issue is too controversial for us to address
  and honestly in pages of our church paper.
• Uriah Smith. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald.
  Quoted by P.A. Lorenz. Adventist for Life News,
  Vol. III, Issue 3. (n.d., Heritage Edition) 3.

24
Chapter II Statistical Analysis
25
III. A PRO-LIFE HERO
26
The Man Who Refused to Kill

• Desmond Doss, the man who saved others
• The man who dodged enemy bullets
• The man who got almost court martialled
• The man who refused to act in self defense

27
Was Awarded

• The Congressional
• Medal of Honor by
• President Truman

28
IV. THE LEAST OF THESE

• The following statement made by Jesus, inspired
  Curt Young to write a book about abortion.
  Chapter IV deals with this material.
• Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the
  least of these . . . You have done it unto me.
• Curt Young. The Least of These What Everyone
  Should Know About Abortion (Chicago, Illinois
  Moody Press, 1983), 1-220.

29
Do These Qualify as the Least
30
The Declaration of Independence

• Slide
• Template

31
Includes the Following Statement

• "We hold these truths to be self evident, that
  all men are created equal, that they are endowed
  by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,
  that among these are Life, Liberty and the
  Pursuit of Happyness."
• --Men then meant human beings!
• --Do the unborn qualify as human beings?

32
Did Slaves Women Qualify?

• Common sense would suggest that if all men are
  created equal, and entitled to
• life then this right to life should include
• the unborn, because the term men is a generic
  term for humans, and includes women and children.
  Besides, the term created seems to imply
  development which starts at conception.

33
Chief Justice Roger Taneys Opinion

• They the slaves had for more than a century
  been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and
  altogether unfit to associate with the white
  race, either in social or political relations
  and so far inferior, that they had no rights
  which the white man was bound to respect and
  that the negro might justly and lawfully be
  reduced to slavery for his own benefit. He was
  bought and sold, and treated as an ordinary
  article of merchandise and traffic, whenever a
  profit could be made by it.
• Curt Young. The Least of These What Everyone
  Should Know About Abortion (Chicago, Illinois
  Moody Press, 1983), 7.

34
Abraham Lincoln Disagreed

• The result was the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and
  Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,
  which specifically forbade slavery, granted
  former slaves the right to vote, and declared
  that no person would be deprived of life
  without due process of law.
• The term person was designed to include all
  humans, and it was supposed to prevent any future
  attempt to deprive certain groups of people of
  their inalienable rights.

35
And Thanks to One Determined Man

• The black slaves became members of the human
  race overnight.

36
Then in 1973 Nine Unelected Justices

• Slide
• Template

37
Of the U.S. Supreme Court

• Did what the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and
  Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
  were supposed to prevent
• They deprived a new group of human beings of
  personhood
• The unborn ceased to be members of the human race.

38
Two Bad Legal Rulings

• The similarity between the Roe v. Wade and the
  Dred Scott became unmistakable Just as Taney
  decreed that citizens in the Constitution did
  not include blacks, Blacknum decided person is
  en exclusive term as well, applying to everyone
  except the unborn.
• Curt Young. The Least of These What Everyone
  Should Know About Abortion (Chicago, Illinois
  Moody Press, 1983), 16.

39
A Mysterious double Standard!

• If the pregnant woman wants the unborn baby, the
  baby is protected. If not she is free to destroy
  the unborn.
• Examples
• --Lacy Peterson
• --Jessie Davis
• If abortion is not murder, why is it double
  murder when the pregnant woman is killed?

40
Single or Double Murder?
41
Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

• 1. All persons born or naturalized in the
  United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
  thereof, are citizens of the United States and of
  the State wherein they reside. . . . nor shall
  any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
  property, without due process of law nor deny to
  any person within its jurisdiction the equal
  protection of the laws.

42
Two Basic Legal Question

• Is it fair to deprive the unborn of legal
  protection because they were not born yet?
• If Yes, then are we free to take the life of
  illegal immigrants who were not born nor
  naturalized in the U.S. either?
• If No, then why did we declare an open season
  for the killing of the unborn?

43
Planned Parenthood

• Planned Parenthood, who in 1964 had printed a
  pamphlet which stated, Abortion kills the life
  of a baby, once it had begun, suddenly reversed
  their attitude and argued that abortion would
  prevent the raising of unwanted children, and
  would help in population control.
• Curt Young. The Least of These What Everyone
  Should Know About Abortion (Chicago, Illinois
  Moody Press, 1983), 14.

44
Abortion for Population Control?

• The same argument (population control) was used
  by Neal Wilson in 1970, then president of the
  North American Division and later on president of
  the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists,
  to justify the provision of elective abortion
  services in SDA hospitals.
• The same reasoning was mirrored by LLU graduate
  Edward Allred, owner of over 20 California
  abortion clinics.

45
The Hippocratic Oath Thrashed

• This required the thrashing of the Hippocratic
  Oath which stated
• I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who
  asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to
  this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman
  an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will
  guard my life and my art.

46
Adventist Eschatology Abortion

• Jesus stated that our destiny will be determined
  by the way we have treated the least of these.
  Matt. 25 31-46
• Question We teach that the way we treat the
  Sabbath will determine our destiny. Is this what
  Jesus said about Judgment Day?

47
A Lesson from History

• The Pharisees and Sadducees killed the Author of
  life and hurried to keep the Sabbath day.
• We took the initiative in sanctioning the killing
  of the least of these but made sure we kept the
  Sabbath holy!
• Can the Sabbath be holy if we profane the
  injunction forbidding the shedding of innocent
  blood?

48
Which Acts Offend God the Most?

• Killing the innocent is one of the most offensive
  acts for God
• This is where the pre-flood generation failed
• This is where King Pharaoh erred when he ordered
  the drowning of Jewish children eventually
  perished by drowning
• This is why the prophets condemned the shedding
  of innocent blood
• This was Herods great sin he was eaten by
  worms
• This is where the Jews failed when they crucified
  their Messiah
• This was Hitlers worst morally detestable act
• This is where our church failed when it led the
  way for the legalization of abortion

49
Protection for Newborns Denied!

• Following the death of Infant Doe, President
  Reagan had the Human Services issue regulations
  requiring federally funded hospitals to post a
  notice asking for any person having knowledge of
  a baby being denied medical care to call the
  Handicapped Infant Hotline.
• The American Academy of Pediatricians initiated a
  lawsuit, and Judge Gerhard Gessell determined
  that said regulation was arbitrary and
  capricious, and affirmed that newborns could be
  stripped of all legal rights to life on the basis
  of the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

50
Protection for Newborns Denied!

• What this Pro-life president designed for the
  protection of the just born was nullified by an
  unelected judge.

51
Dietrich Bonhoeffers Appeal

• Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves,
  for the rights of all who are destitute. Prov.
  318 NIV
• This verse was quoted by Dietrich Bonhoeffer when
  he opposed Hitlers extermination of the Jews.

52
Martin Niemoeller summed up the Germans response

• In Germany they came first for the Communists,
  and I didnt speak up because I wasnt a
  Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I
  didnt speak up because I wasnt a Jew. Then they
  came for the trade unionists, and I didnt speak
  up because I was not a trade unionist. Then they
  came for the Catholics, and I didnt speak up
  because I was a Protestant. Then they came for
  me, and by that time no one was left to speak
  up.
• Curt Young. The Least of These What Everyone
  Should Know About Abortion (Chicago, Illinois
  Moody Press, 1983), 199.

53
V. THE GREAT CONTROVERSY I

• This great controversy title for this chapter
  was chosen because the battle between good and
  evil was fought and is being waged right now not
  so much about the Sabbath, but rather about the
  right to life of the unborn, and the death decree
  has been already issued--it was issued back in
  1973--but the victims are not those who worship
  God on the Sabbath, but rather those waiting for
  the privilege of being allowed to jump through
  the loop.

54
Source Material for Chapter V

• The material for this Chapter and the next one
  was gleaned from the pages of Ministry, the
  international journal of the Seventh-day
  Adventist Ministerial Associationone of the most
  authoritative publication of the SDA
  denomination.

55
This is Where the Abortion Battle was Fought

• All the articles and readers comments dealing
  with the issue of abortion were examined and the
  authors were labeled as Pro-life, Pro-choice, or
  Pro-abortion.

56
A Ministry Readers Comment

• I am much saddened by George Gainers article
  on abortion (August 1991). It is not pleasant to
  note that for 20 years the overarching ethic that
  determines policy for our health-care
  institutions is money. . . . As a health-care
  worker I have worked in a Catholic hospital.
  Their stand on abortion has been firm all along.
  They are not going under because of their stand
  on abortion. Long ago the servant of the Lord
  wrote, The greatest want of the world is the
  want of men--men who will not be bought or sold.
  (Education p. 57) . . . Surely, as a church we
  carry a heavy load of guilt for our participation
  in abortion on demand.
• Joseph L. Story, Letters Ministry (Apr.
  1992) 2.

57
In Defense of Autonomy

• In 1988 Ministry published an article written by
  Gerald Winslow entitled Abortion and Christian
  Principles.
• Winslow was a professor of Christian Ethics at
  Loma Linda University at the time of his writing.
• Gerald Winslow, Abortion and Christian
  Principles Ministry (May 1988) 12-16.

58
Gerald Winslow Argument

• We admit, argued Dr. Winslow, that the early
  stages of human development we do not have a
  person in the full sense of the word, and not
  even immediately after birth nevertheless, the
  destruction of a fetus after the point of
  viability should raise serious concerns. To this,
  we must add that the established human life
  should take precedence over the prepersonal human
  life and we should not forget the value of
  personal autonomy.
• Gerald Winslow, Abortion and Christian
  Principles Ministry (May 1988) 12-16.

59
Questions for Dr. Winslow

• Does this mean that no serious concerns would
  have been raised if Mary had aborted Jesus before
  he reached the point of viability?
• Autonomy means self law. Is Winslow suggesting
  that humans have the right to replace Gods Law
  with self rule?

60
A Readers Reaction

• Dr. Gerald Winslows article on abortion (May
  1988) presents many biblical principles (often
  with great skill and clarity), but offers as its
  bottom line and decisive principle a total
  unbiblical ultimate of personal autonomy. . . .
  These biblical terms do not defend personal
  autonomy, but condemn it, including autonomy over
  what one does with one owns body Do you not
  know that your body is a temple of the Holy
  Spirit . . ., and that you are not your own? For
  you have been bought with a price grace
  therefore glorify your God in your body
  freedom (1 Cor. 619,20 NASB).
• Richard Fredericks, Letters Ministry (Sept.
  1988) 26.

61
Is it Fair to Execute the Innocent?

• According to what I read, the Seventh-day
  Adventist Church considers it all right to kill
  an unborn baby if the babys father was a certain
  kind of sinnera rapist or a child molester. It
  is also considered right to kill an unborn baby
  if its mother became sexually active when very
  young. Why should an unborn baby be put to death
  for its fathers or mothers sins?
• Thomas Hamilton, Letters Ministry (Mar.
  1988) 2.

62
A Call to Ignore Profit

• I say amen to Richard Fredericks article Less
  than Human? in the March issue. . . . For a
  church whose beliefs are entirely based on the
  Bible and nothing but the Bible, the issue seems
  patently clear--abortion is murder and should be
  clearly recognized as such. The risk of loosing
  some popularity with the majority and loosing
  some of the business in our medical facilities
  are not reasons enough to renege on an issue that
  has such a humane and Christian answer.
• Glen L. Wiltse, Letters Ministry (July 1988)
  30.

63
Abortion the Hottest Ministry Topic

• Our articles on abortion have touched a
  sensitive nerve. We are receiving more email 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. While
  many simply complain, others are doing something
  positive to help those wrestling with the
  decision of whether or not to have an abortion.
• J. David Newman, First Glance Ministry (July
  1988) 3.

64
Abortion Guidelines Criticized

• I commend Ministry for . . . listing the
  abortion guidelines voted by General Conference
  officers in 1971 for Adventist medical
  institutions. However well intentioned, the
  guidelines unfortunately are flawed with
  euphemisms, vagueness, and lack of logic. The
  simple impairment of health qualification could
  be used to justify abortion for a woman who is
  experiencing depression because she is pregnant
  again or who is so under less-than-ideal
  circumstances.
• Ken Blake, Letters Ministry (May 1988) 2,
  27.

65
The Two Versions of Pro-Abortion

• The proponents of abortion on demand have two
  almost identical versions of their Pro-abortion
  agenda. One is called Pro-abortion, and the other
  Pro-choice.
• Like Mexican enchilada, their main ingredients
  are the same.
• The main difference is that with Pro-choice, you
  embellish the program with the value of human
  life but end with abortion on demand as well.
• The end result is the same a dead innocent baby!

66
Chapter V Statistical Analysis
67
VI. THE GREAT CONTROVERSY II

• I cant but think of Mary. Still a teenager, not
  married, very poor, she declared she was pregnant
  by the Holy Spirit. What we would do with such a
  case today in our society that has become so
  permissive about the sacredness of life? Would we
  find her guilty of teenage sexual promiscuity?
  Would we diagnose her a schizophrenic with
  religious delirium? Would we find her too young,
  too immature, too poor, to raise a child
  properly? If because of her situation society
  told her to get an abortion, would we as a church
  remain silent? Could this abortion be carried out
  in an Adventist hospital? Could Christ, our Lord,
  be born in the cities of America?
• Dennis Fortin, Letters Ministry (Sept.
  1988) 27.

68
The Overcrowding Argument

• The Christian View on Human Life Committee
  appointed by the General Conference met in
  Washington on April, 1989 to discuss the need of
  official SDA guidelines on abortion. One scholar,
  Dr. Carsten Johnsten, argued for an absolute
  position against abortion . . . Others responded
  by stating that our planet is already
  overcrowded, and that it is irresponsible to let
  children be born whose chances of suffering
  deprivation and abuse is undeniable.

69
How to Solve Overcrowding?

• If our planet is overcrowded, how about killing
  the guilty instead of the innocent. Wouldnt
  killing the adulterers, fornicators, and rapists
  make more sense than killing the innocent?
• Since when the mission of medical institutions
  has become killing instead of healing those who
  suffer, or rather killing those we think might be
  subject to suffering in the future?

70
Elective Abortion in SDA Hospitals

• When I first heard and then confirmed that the
  hospitals of the Adventist Health System in North
  America were performing hundreds of abortions
  each year, my response was stunned disbelief. I
  was certain that the hospitals and physicians
  involved must be acting outside General
  Conference policy guidelines. I was wrong.
  Criterion No. five of the 1971 guidelines states
  that abortion is acceptable when for some reason
  the requirements of functional human life demand
  the sacrifice of the lesser potential human
  life.
• George Gainer, Letters Ministry (May 1988)
  27.

71
Opening the Door to Elective Abortions

• Criterion No. fives some reason not only
  rendered superfluous the first four guidelines,
  and the principles on which they are based, but
  it tragically opened the door to elective
  abortion (i.e., on demand) in Adventist hospitals
  two years before the United States Supreme Court
  Roe v. Wade decision. The time has come to
  change the guidelines.
• George Gainer, Letters Ministry (May 1988)
  27.

72
A Non-Adventists Reaction

• It does not surprise when a liberal mainline
  denomination like my own advocates a policy
  against life, but the Adventists--the paragon of
  healthcare, concern for others, adherence to the
  Scriptures? What about Thou shalt not kill?
• Timothy Jessen, Letters Ministry (Sept.
  1988) 26.

73
The Product of Rape

• I know a person who is not a victim but the
  product of rape. This person is a child of God, a
  Seventh-day Adventist Christian. I wonder how
  this person feels, thinking that it was Gods
  will that he should have been aborted? . . . I
  think the Devil has pulled a fast one on us
  ethical Christians. Abortion has become our
  Achilles heel.
• Letters Ministry (Sept. 1988) 27.

74
A Double Standard on Life

• We, as a church, take the stand that it is
  wrong to take anothers life. For this reason we
  strongly urge our young people to stay out of the
  military. We base this position on the
  commandment that states, Thou shalt not kill.
  Yet we dont seem to apply this same commandment
  when it comes to abortion. Isnt it strange that
  we can see clearly the application of this
  commandment to those already born but not see how
  it could possibly apply to the unborn?
• Terry C. Grimm, Letters Ministry (Nov. 1988)
  30.

75
For the Sake of Profit?

• I read the preliminary Seventh-day Adventist
  statement on abortion (July 1990) and dont think
  much of the document. It is very weak. . . . Our
  institutions should be at the forefront of
  institutions that refuse to kill the unborn.
  Guidelines will be subject only to the economic
  concerns of doctors who perform life-terminating
  procedures in our institutions.
• Hugo Meier, Letters Ministry (Nov. 1990) 29.

76
Are SDA Priorities Out of Order?

• When physical or mental health takes precedence
  over life, our priorities are out of order. When
  the fetuss not measuring up to our standards of
  perfection is grounds for taking its life, our
  priorities are out of order. When the
  circumstances of conception (rape or incest) are
  the determining factor, our priorities are out of
  order. When it comes to life-or-life situation,
  then and then only with much prayer abortion
  should be considered. Jesus said, Father, if it
  be possible, let this cup pass from me
  nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. We
  say, Father, please remove this cup from me. If
  you dont, then I will.
• Van Ottey, Letters Ministry (Nov. 1990) 29.

77
Capital Punishment Out of Whack!

• It seems unbelievable to me that one person
  should be able to decide whether another living
  person shall continue to live or die. To my
  knowledge, our criminal justice system never
  gives the decision on capital punishment to one
  person.
• R. W. OFfill, Letters Ministry (Nov. 1990)
  29.

78
A Call for a Strong Stand on Abortion

• I think that the church should take a strong
  stand against abortion. And I definitely believe
  our hospitals should not be allowed to perform
  abortions. The churchs wishy-washy way of
  dealing with abortions is causing people--in and
  out of the church--to loose respect for the
  church.
• Sarah Endres, Letters Ministry (Feb. 1991)
  2.

79
The Testimony of an Ex-pro-Choice Dr.

• I believe the members of the committee should
  view ultrasonic pictures of a developing human
  being in the womb. It is this scientific
  development that led Dr. Bernard Nathanson, an
  atheist, head of one of the largest abortion
  clinics, to make the following statement I am
  deeply troubled by my own increasing certainty
  that I have in fact presided over 60,000 deaths.
  There is no longer serious doubt in my mind that
  human life exists within the womb from the very
  onset of pregnancy.
• Clifford Laurell, Letters Ministry (Aug.
  1991) 28.

80
Should Mental Health Justify Abortion?

• I call on all SDA pastors and laypersons who
  feel strongly that the slaughter of the innocents
  in our hospitals must end to move as God directs
  them and to petition current church leaders to
  repudiate the liberalized abortion guidelines (as
  amended in 1971), and to reject the Christian
  View of Human life Committees draft statement
  (Ministry, 1990) that would add the pregnancys
  adverse effects on a womans mental health as
  another justification for abortion.
• Kenneth B. Blake, Letters Ministry (Dec.
  1991) 2.

81
Anti-abortion Pickets at a SDA Hospital

• My head hangs in shame before all Christian
  leaders who receive Ministry. Are we not the
  remnant that keep the commandments? Is the sixth
  commandment less important than the fourth? In
  evangelism I have lost at least a dozen souls
  because of this inconsistency. Driving by
  Adventist hospitals and seeing anti-abortion
  picketers brings tears to my eyes. Especially
  sic when the Catholic or Baptist hospital down
  the road is known as a non-murdering
  facility.
• Leo Schreven, Letters Ministry (Dec. 1991)
  27.

82
An Incredible SDA Admission

• Although I do not adhere to Catholic theology,
  I applaud that Catholic churchs stand on
  abortion. I challenge my church leadership to
  abolish administering abortions in all SDA
  facilities--at the very minimum, abortion on
  demand.
• David F. Crawford, Letters Ministry (Dec.
  1991) 27.

83
Should Profit Determine SDA Theology?

• Upon reading the articles by Kis and Gainer, I
  didnt know what to think. Suppose during the
  past hundred years we had handled the fourth
  commandment from an economic standpoint, as we
  appear to be doing with the sixth now, would we
  have a Seventh-day Adventist Church today?
• Jeremiah Florea, Letters Ministry (Dec.
  1991) 27.

84
Are SDAs Sitting on the Fence?

• The Ministry editors middle ground
  approach to abortion reflects the Adventist
  Churchs concept of Christianity--the middle of
  the road, or sitting on the fence--a cowardly
  position that disgraces Christ and makes the
  church saltless in an ever-increasingly evil and
  immoral world.
• William L. Gutel, Letters Ministry (Jan.
  1993) 30.

85
Chapter VI Statistical Analysis
86
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