Dear Major,
Some questions for you as I can believe you have thought this over.
If used as a “litmus test” how universally should/would this be applied or mandated?
When framed as a spiritual divide then would it apply to all the congregation or just those individuals in the public view or consciousness?
In the U.S., the Government has to adhere to certain guidelines concerning separation of church and state, does the church (scripture) have give guidance on any church reciprocality?
Should this question be the only question of morality and adherence to Gods commandments to be asked be before being eligible for a complete ministering?
Maybe too many questions, but these and a few more occur to me. Also, please don’t infer I am pro-abortion by these questions, I am cautious however when man seeks to separate the flock into those who are worthy and those who are lacking.
Thank you and God Bless you.
Thank you for asking. I am/was a Southern Baptist. So, it is very hard for me to think that they would use a litmus test. Several years ago....(15 I think) there was a push to identify Masons and that went no where. I for one do not think that the SBC has the gumption to do such a thing. Some of the pastors will rant and rave and condemn.....but no one will actually do anything because it will damage the giving.
I think personally it would apply to everyone in the congregation. When we vote for a political leader who is pro-abortion, we are also for abortion.!
Proverbs 24:11-13 clearly convicts those people who vote for pro-abortion leaders........
"If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; 12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?"
I for one have brought this up at every communion service and said that if you are convicted and angry at what I just said......then you are not angry with me but at God because YOU have placed your political position above the Word of God.
Now......I do not think anything personally of your questions one way or the other. They are perfectly acceptable! Please understand that I am an Old Fashioned country boy blessed by God all his life and all my life I have not shied away from controversial issues. Because I speak the word of God without apology I have certainly ran off some people but........they needed to go somewhere else and God always multiplied their leaving!
IMHO this is not about me separating the flock but I do with all my heart believe that it is an issue that God is going to use to seperate Believers from MAKE BELIEVERS.
A woman who is a Christian now and had an abortion in her past can be and will be forgiven of that sin when it is confessed, but she can not continue in doing it or voting for those who do IMHO.
The word here to use I think is "Carnal Christians" who trust in Jesus for salvation, but they still think, act, and react like the world. Often, they are new to the faith or simply have not allowed the Holy Spirit free access to every area of their hearts. They are trying to live the Christian life in their own strength, while still being heavily influenced by the world’s way of thinking.
The carnal mind has not been fully renewed by the Word of God and still seeks compromise with the world. Carnal Christians allow the persuasive viewpoints of the ungodly to sway their opinions on many things, including abortion and homosexuality! Spiritual growth requires us to shed our old ways of thinking as we become more like Christ. We begin to see things the way God does, and the closer to Him we become, the less we agree with the world’s system.
If a person continually refuses to allow the Word of God to transform his thinking, chances are great that he is not really a Christian.
It is my personal opinion that we are living in the days right before the Rapture and God the Father is right now in the process of "culling out or separating" the real from the un-real and abortion i one of those along with homosexuality that will do the defining!
Thank you so much for such an excellent thought out question!!!!!
