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 Jordan River Stones
Overgrown With Weeds
by Nic Samojluk
The other day I was leafing through the "Adventist World" magazine when an article written by Stephen Dumbar caught my attention, and I decided to read it. Suddenly, the following paragraph forced me to stop as I realized the implications of what the author was suggesting:
"I wonder if the Jordan stones of our church have been overgrown with weeds, and if for many, God's "mighty arm" is fading from view. Or have we, like second-generation Israel, merely grown dull to the miraculous? While some have chosen to abandon the experiences of our pioneers, to topple the altars, to cover the stones, many still stop to ask, "What do these stones mean?"
As I pondered the deep meaning of what I was reading, it dawned on me that there were some stones which we have recently allowed to be overgrown with weeds to the point that we have almost forgotten that they ever existed in our SDA denominational historical past. I am referring to our altered attitude towards the sanctity of human life. In fact, modern Adventists don't even know that our early SDA pioneers had a high regard for the value of human life, from conception till natural death. To be more precise, both James and Ellen White did condemn the practice of abortion in the strongest terms, and were not afraid to label it as "murder." Today, we treat said practice as "pregnancy interruption" and justify it under many circumstances, and some of our hospitals go as far as offering elective abortions.
This new attitude towards what was considered a terrible sin by our pioneers did bother me to the point that I decided to invest thousands of hours investigating this controversial moral issue, and the result was that I elected said topic for my doctoral dissertation in religion. The title is: "From Pro-life to Pro-choice: The Dramatic Shift of Seventh-day Adventists' Attitude Towards Abortion." What I discovered shocked me no end. I had a hard time believing that a former president of the General Conference publicly declared back in the 70's that the Adventist church was leaning towards abortion because there was "too much hunger and overpopulation in the world."
Once I was done reading Dumbar's article, my temptation to send back a comment of my own was almost overwhelming, and here is what I wrote to the editors of the magazine:
"I was impressed with Stephen Dumbar's "My Jordan Stones" article and his message got me wondering about one of the stones he did not specifically make reference to but which, I believe, has "been overgrown with weeds." I am thinking about our pro-abortion policy on abortion. Our SDA pioneers did condemn abortion in the strongest terms and labelled the practice as outright "murder,' while we justify the practice of killing unborn babies under many circumstances, including when the pregnant mother is underage, or when the unexpected pregnancy is adversely affecting her mental health. Don't we realize that any unwelcome pregnancy will mentally depress women? Besides, if we let the guilty rapist live, should we not let the innocent unborn live as well?
Are these good reasons to take the life of innocent human beings through dismemberment or by the use of poison? Doesn't the sixth commandment condemn the killing of the innocent? Isn't this the big mistake the Jews made when they crucified Jesus, an innocent human being, for expediency sake, and then hurried to keep the Sabbath? If what I am saying makes sense to you, please read my doctoral dissertation which deals with this issue: http://www.sdaforum.com/page13.html. "
If you think that I am the only SDA concerned about this moral anomaly, read what James Standish, from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, wrote on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling which legalized the killing of the innocents: http://www.religiousliberty.info/blog/?p=58
To read Dumbar's article, use the following Internet link: http://www.adventistworld.com/article.php?id=290
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