Baptists, Fundamentalists, and Birth Control

[John81]

Fort Worth seminary official defends comments on birth-control pills
By ANDREW CHAVEZSpecial to the Star-Telegram


FORT WORTH ? A Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary official is trying to clarify controversial comments he made this month at a chapel service when he compared birth control pills to murder during a sermon.

The Rev. Thomas White said he has received e-mails and phone calls from people inside and outside the seminary since his remarks were publicized by a local TV station and a national wire service over the past week.

White is the school?s vice president for student services and communications and teaches systematic theology, according to the school?s Web site.

He said during an Oct. 7 chapel service that the third function of birth control pills, which he said prevents the egg from implanting on the uterine wall, represents a form of murder because the soul has already entered the egg.

White also told those gathered at the service that his wife had taken birth control in the past, but that was because of his own selfishness, and he doesn?t want anyone to make the same mistake.

"I made the mistake," White said during the service. ".?.?.?I don?t want you to make the mistake because of lack of knowledge."

In a blog post Thursday, he emphasized that he was only opposed to what he called the "third function" of birth control, which prevents a fertilized egg from implanting on the uterine wall after seven days. "The seventh day is seven days too long, and it?s murder for the life," he said in the sermon, which was posted on the seminary?s Web site. "When the egg and sperm meet, you have life."

Hormones in the pill prevent a woman?s ovaries from releasing eggs, which prevents pregnancy because there?s no egg to join with the sperm. The hormones also prevent fertilization by thickening the woman?s cervical mucus, which blocks sperm from joining with an egg, according to information on Planned Parenthood?s Web site.

Some say, as White said, that the pill also prevents fertilized eggs from attaching to the uterine lining. But, according to the Planned Parenthood site, there is no proof of that.

He continued to defend his position Thursday.

".?.?.?[T]his function is what I referred to as murder. I am opposed to abortion, the morning after pill and the third function of most birth control pills," he wrote. "This is part of what I attempted to communicate in my sermon."

White said that he doesn?t officially speak for the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary but that his views are consistent with the institution?s confessional statement.

The Rev. Dwight McKissic, pastor at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, called for the seminary to distance itself from White?s comments.

McKissic said he appreciated the thrust of White?s message ? that children are a blessing from God ? but disagreed with White presenting his position as "the inerrant and infallible Word of God."

"He preached this message as if it was a mandate from God or a position in Scripture, that to take birth control pills is absolutely wrong for all Baptist believers," McKissic wrote in a blog post. "That, to me, is an extremely problematic, over simplistic, and unscriptural position.

"I am concerned that this great Baptist seminary is slowly degenerating into a Fundamentalist indoctrination camp," he wrote. "These views represent a radical shift in Baptist life in the past few years."


I am concerned that this great Baptist seminary is slowly degenerating into a Fundamentalist indoctrination camp."

The Rev. Dwight McKissic,
in a blog post

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/994894.html

[Salyan]

"Degenerating into Fundamentalism..."

:verymad:

[Danny Carlton]

There;s alwasy been a battle between Conservatives and Liberals at SWBTS, even when I was there 17 years ago. There are a lot of Liberal, Baptist churches in Texas and it galls them that their largest seminary remains firmly in the hands of Conservatives.

[JerryNumbers]

>

Liberals sure don't like anyone who is a Fundamentalist, do they? In reality they would not like Jesus nor His 12 either, they were big on Fundamentals.