A PRO-LIFE GOD

Christianity--the word has defining characteristics. It is not just a word anyone can use to mean anything. Christianity has stood for a set of beliefs. We can read the doctrines of those who followed Jesus as Messiah by looking at the New Testament as well as historical documents. There we can discover just what being a Christian meant to Christians as well as what outsider thought of Christians--how outsiders defined them.

It is easy for a Christian to read the New Testament and see how the Jesus, Paul and the Apostles defined Christianity. Even though we may argue theology, there are some basics we all agree on. The first century Christians believed Jesus was the fulfillment of the Hebrew scripture Messiah, that Christians were to behave in a moral way and not eat meat sacrificed to idols and with the blood left in it. That is defining laws set forth by the first council of Christians in Jerusalem, recorded in the book of Acts.

The first century document, Didache also states clearly what the early Christians believe. This was written while the Apostles were still alive and was a recording of what they taught. The early Christians were defined by their love for each other, their morality, their Communion Service/The Lord’s Supper, their baptism and by their stand against abortion and infanticide. I encourage you to read the document. Here is the excerpt from the Didache:

Chapter 2. The Second Commandment: Grave Sin Forbidden. And the second commandment of the Teaching; You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty...you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born.

For three hundred years the church would be debating the nature of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity and what books were considered “holy” and should be read in church. It would be three hundred years before the books of the Old and New Testaments would be finally decided upon and put together to form the first Bible. But there was something that was never debated, no heresy sprung from people who thought it was acceptable. From the moment there was the first Christian group, they were vocally pro-life.

When Seventh-day Adventists do not take a stand against abortion, it is not I who stands in judgment of them, it two-thousand years of Christianity. It is they who take themselves away from the very defining doctrines of Christianity.

Seventh-day Adventists point their finger back to Genesis to try and prove a ubiquitous sabbath command for the entire world. Yet if you follow that finger back you will not find a Sabbath commandment but a statement from God that he rested the seventh day. But if you look you WILL find a commandment. The very first commandment recorded in scripture and the first commandment for ALL humanity. God very first commandments to mankind was, “be fruitful and multiply.” God is pronouncing that HE is PRO-LIFE.

There is nowhere in scripture that suggests God would want us to kill our offspring. If fact He tells us that children are our reward, our blessing.

When Adventists do no state that they are pro-life, yet claim to be Christian, it is not anyone else condemning them but the very defining characteristics of Christianity. They have excluded themselves from the very heart and doctrine of what it means to follow Christ.

The Theological Big Bang...

There is a nightmarish horror in finding out your deepest values and beliefs are untrue.

For many, our righteousness was melodiously sung into our hearts as our mothers rocked and cradled us in her bosom. Our god was taught to us by sweet-faced and smiling teachers. Our values embedded into our characters through hours of zoned-out gazing at black and white television training us with laugh tracks. Those tender, trusting, innocent years of eagerly absorbing our environment and our instinctive confidence of what larger people told us.

Our eyes and ears, our taste and smells were sharpened and dulled according to what we were taught. The very way we perceive reality was sculpted and contoured around what those in authority told us. The meaning of words became uniquely imprinted upon our psyche. We became what we believed.

That is why, most people cannot absorb realities that contradict their own. Facts that don’t fit with our worldview are not just consciously dismissed---they never even reach deep enough in, they slide off our mental screen and are rejected because the unconscious sees them as a threat.

To accept that something we believe (theologically) is a lie, to look it straight in the eye and admit that we were wrong is equivalent to psychological suicide. It takes a willingness to accept the death of a piece of ourselves--a large piece. That is why very few people do it.

We must also add to that a Christian element. Many denominations teach that to even look at other theologies is equivalent to touching the forbidden apple. You will be deceived by Satan. As I have heard numerous times, “you will study your way out of the church.”

Scary. No, terrifying.....

So, many of us live or lived with cognitive dissonance. The world was warped and we were told that it would never actually be clear because of sin. We didn’t even know there were different glasses we could put on to make life a little less blurry.

We cling to our comforting lies. We escape into our little world of who we think God is or isn’t and we become more and more suspicious, sometimes even paranoid of those who think differently.

You see, living with the idea that you have to be right theologically (especially if you fear losing your relationship with Christ) restricts your ability to actually know Him.

Knowing Him is dangerous to theology. Knowing Him is shattering....

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