Is It Time for Pro-life Adventist to Start Voting with their Tithes an

[Nic Samojluk]

Is It Time for Pro-life Adventist to Start Voting with their Tithes and Offerings?

Given the recent prolonged Adventist silence on an issue which is so dear and sacred for pro-life Adventists and the recent action by the General Conference legal department which resulted in the demise of the “Adventist for Life” web page owned by Mark Price, I have been wondering whether the time might not be ripe for pro-life Adventists to start voting with their tithes and offerings instead of their feet, as some individuals I know have done in the past and as some are planning to do right now.

This might seem sacrilegious at first thought by many, and it seemed that way to me for a long time, but it should not look that outrageous given the fact that some SDA members for whom abortion is abhorrent have been considering voting with their feet instead; in fact I know several leading members of our church who have left the Adventist Church over this issue—some of them even going as far as joining the church of Rome. This means that their tithes and offering are now enriching the coffers of non-Adventist churches including the Catholic communion of faith. Perhaps we can avoid this, and I have a plan for this to happen.

In view of the above, it seems to me that voting with one’s tithes and offerings is less damaging to the Adventist Church than voting with ones feet! I am a second generation Adventist, and the product of Adventist education from elementary school through college, and I understand the minds of Adventists regarding the sacredness of our tithes and our voluntary offerings. Nevertheless, the knowledge that our financial contribution is going to a church which condones the slaughter of innocent human beings in some of our Adventist hospitals is rather painful—especially if we are talking about elective abortions.

One former Adventist expressed that she and her husband could no longer bear the thought that their hands might be stained with the blood of innocent unborn babies sacrificed on the altar of convenience in the name of Adventism. I felt the same way when I read the report filed by Gerald Winslow, one of the main architects of our “Guidelines on Abortion” and published by Spectrum magazine, stating that a survey of Adventist hospitals revealed that five of our hospitals were offering elective abortions to their patients.

Said revelation prompted me to write an allegory which I published in one of my pro-life web pages. You can read it free of charge at the following Internet address. It reveals my pilgrimage of faith which led me in the direction of what I am now suggesting to other pro-lifers as a possible solution to a serious moral dilemma. Here is the link to said literary production of mine. In the event you read it, I would like to hear your reaction to it. One lady who read it wrote the following comment: “After reading it, I felt that my hands were stained with the blood of innocent babies.” You will need to scroll halfway down to locate the story.

“A Stigmata Case in Loma Linda”http://letsfocusonlife.com/?s=A+Stigmata+Case+...&x=38&y=18

If you share our concern for what has been taking place in some of our hospitals but think, like I did, that our tithes are too sacred to divert them to other worthy causes, remember the example set by Ellen G. White in his respect. She wrote that when she discovered that some of the Adventist pastors wives were working alongside their husbands full time without remuneration, she diverted some of her personal tithes in order to partially compensate said women for their services to the cause of the church.

I have been doing this for sometime now. If you are wondering where you can send a portion or all your tithes to, let me offer some suggestions: There are countries in the world where the Adventist Church is still pro-life. I had in my office several SDA leaders of the church who stopped for a visit who assured me that the church in the country I grew up in is still pro-life like our Adventist pioneers. I have been sending a portion of my tithes there through our Adventist channels. I have a retired friend who is currently living in Germany. He assured me that when he was in charge of our medical work in South America, Europe, and Africa, the hospitals under his care were not allowed to offer abortion services to their patients.

Then we have many Adventist independent ministries engaged in the proclamation of the gospel like The Quiet Hour, 3ABN, and many others. I have been sending a portion of my tithes and offerings to them. I still have one web site which might become the target of the General Conference legal department displeasure because it contains one of the legally protected names. In the event the GC were to shut said web page down like they did with “Adventist for Life,” I will probably stop sending my tithes and offerings to the SDA church altogether, and channel them to other worthy ministries.

One word of caution: If you send tithe money to any independent Adventist ministry and identify said funds as tithe, your check will probably come back to you. This is the reason I no longer make this mistake. I simply identify the funds as donation, knowing full well that the money will be used for the preaching of the gospel. As you can see, there is a way of voting with our tithes and offerings instead of our feet without violating our conscience and without feeling guilty for supporting a church which tolerates the offering of elective abortions services to our hospital patients.

I am planning to write to some of these independent ministries and ask them a very simple question: “Do you agree with me that the Adventist Church should get out of the abortion business—especially the elective abortion business?” If I receive a negative response from them, I will cease sending my contributions to them. This is a good way of voting with our tithes and offerings instead of our feet, I believe. What do you think?

By the way, I have repeatedly sent pro-life donations to my local church and the General Conference. Each time I received my check back with the following note: “The church has no pro-life program.” This is quite telling. As a church, we do have a program designed to kill innocent unborn babies, but not a pro-life one. Do you see my point?

Internet Link: http://letsfocusonlife.com/?p=4601&cpage=1#comment-2582comment-2582

[doug yowell]

I assume you are targeting the SDA church in N.America? Giving t/o to the Church in Belgium or Kenya is still giving to the church,right? What if the majority in your local US church is pro-life? What if your local pastor is openly prolife? Just wondering?

[Stan]

this forum is not a place to start treason.