Thread by @Christ_Kindness

1/ As the only Baptists in an Interfaith Bible Study, we were asked to clarify some issues.

We assumed we could provide answers.

But, we could not.

So, we asked clergy for aid and we were soundly rebuked; our membership in a #SBC church was jeopardized.

#SBCtoo #churchtoo

2/ As a Study member exclaimed:

"Seriously? They'll disfellowship you for asking questions?

That's bizarre! How else can you learn?

You need better pastoral care!"

Probably. 😞

So, seven difficult #SBC theology questions. 👇

Trigger Warnings!
#Sexualabuse 🚨 #Abortion 🚨

3/ Question 1: Does this passage in Numbers 8:11-31 depict a forced ceremonial #abortion, which kills the fetus in order to quell a husband's suspicion of his wife's adultery?

biblegateway.com/passage/?searc…

4/ #Classics scholars describe this as a ritualized abortion through the wife's forced ingestion of "bitter" temple dirt (or scroll's ink) likely laced with an herbal abortifacient.

[This bitter herb, in common use and depicted on coins, is now extinct.]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium

5/ Whether or not the wife survived this process, the fetus would probably perish.

Why do this?

Early Hebrews believed a man's semen (his "seed") contained the entire, incipient human.

The wife was merely a vessel, receiving the seed, as the earth received the seeded grain.

6/ If an adulterer inplanted his seed within the wife, the adulterer and his seed were housebreakers, intruders into the husband's household and lineage.

Thus, the adulterer's seed (the fetus) must be rightly and forcibly expelled by the husband through this priestly ritual.

7/ But, what of the innocent fetus?

Early Hebrews believed that a person was ensouled only after the first breath, just as God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man [hā·’ā·ḏām] became a living soul." [lə·ne·p̄eš ḥay·yāh] (Gen. 2:7)

biblehub.com/interlinear/ge…

8/ In the Jewish view, this (frankly barbaric) ritual was not the "murder" of a fetus.

The fetus, not possessing a soul, was not a person.

Thus, even if the fetus were the husband's seed, he must reject it to ensure the purity of his lineage and the security of his household.

9/ Question 2: What Scripture contradicts or supersedes the Genesis narrative (which describes ensoulment as concurrent with the "breath of life") and teaches, instead, that conception (the union of the egg and sperm in the zygote) is the genesis of ensoulment and personhood?

10/ This rite has troubling implications.

Question 3: Does this Scripture sanction forced abortion at the husband's will?

If so, what is the Biblical basis for describing all abortions as "murder" - as the #SBC @ERLC has declared to the US Supreme Court?

11/ A Jewish man was required to protect his family's lineage for the sake of the Seed promised to God's chosen people. (Gen. 3:15)

For Christians, that Seed, the Messiah, has already come.

Question 4: Is this rite superceded by Christ's promised birth?

biblehub.com/genesis/3-15.h…

12/ Equally troubling, does #SBC theology require women to carry every fetus to term - even cases of rape or incest?

Is this not contrary to God's example?

For, God did not rape Mary: Even God asked permission and received consent.

See Luke 1:26-38

biblehub.com/kjv/luke/1.htm

13/ Mary consented, making a covenant with God:

"And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."
Luke 1:38

Question 5: What does #SBC #abortion theology view as justice in cases of incest or rape, esp. by clergy?

biblehub.com/interlinear/lu…

14/ In Genesis 3:20, Adam enshrined Eve as the "mother of all life."

God ensouled Eve's children in partnership with her:

"And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceiveth and beareth Cain, and saith, 'I have gotten a man[child] by Jehovah." (Gen 4:1)

biblehub.com/interlinear/ge…

15/ Question 6: Therefore, shouldn't the primary responsibility and privilege of birthing children belong to the woman, for it is she, the daughter of Eve (and, for Christians, Mary), who covenants and partners with God to bring forth life?

biblehub.com/interlinear/ge…

16/ In a Christian marriage, the Holy Spirit sanctions the union - thus, the two becomes one.

Therefore, the wife and husband share the duties of care and responsibility.

Ultimately, though, it is the woman who covenants with the Creator, even if she is unmarried.

17/ Question 7: For this reason, should not *every* mother be honored and welcomed because of her sealed covenant with the Creator to birth new life - whatever the child's parentage or the circumstances of that birth?

Thank you for reading.
Good faith responses welcome.

†††

Guys? Help here? 🙏

@SBCExecComm @ERLC @edlitton @jdgreear @BruceFrank1
@albertmohler @DannyAkin @jasonkeithallen @JamieKDew @AdamGreenway @Jeff_Iorg
#SBTS #sebts #MBTS #NOBTS #SWBTS #GatewaySeminary

If not, responses from other denominational thinkers, lay & clergy, welcome.