“The bill even goes so far to repeal original Oklahoma laws already on the books that allows abortion only to save a mother’s life.” —Open Letter from the BGCO to Oklahoma Baptists
ad hominem: marked by or being an attack on an opponent’s character rather than by an answer to the contentions made
This isn’t so much an argument against a straw man as it is an argument of straw against the man. Methinks it is a bit like complaining that your doctor doesn’t have the smallpox vaccine on hand anymore. This is no severe measure because the need for such severe measures are an anomaly. When such anomalies do occur, we don’t need legislation that can then be twisted to kill a child for the “health” of the mother. This very play was just run with abortion legislation in New York and celebrated with applause.
Doctors are trained to preserve life. They don’t need laws for that. This bill is not about killing mothers instead of babies. There is no draconian angle here that I’m aware of. The ambition is simply for life all around. Let’s go for all the life we can every time.
It’s this simple, no mothers or babies are to be harmed in the implementation of this bill. If the fire alarm goes off, our ambition should be to save as many lives as possible. If the fireman can’t save them all, we’ll cry both with him and the family for their loss and blame no one. But let’s not talk about legislation that could be used to validate arbitrary decisions not to try to save some. If we do, we’ll likely see arsonists signing up to be firemen. As we don’t wish to legislate for firemen when negligent homicide is permissible, neither should we tell doctors when they can get away with murder.
This objection is built like a cheese puff: there’s an initial flavor explosion, but it’s really mostly air with little substance. Whatever nutritional value can be gained from this puff supports very little life. You can’t argue against a heavy block of cheddar with a cheese puff. You can’t argue against the saving of thousands of lives with the saving of a few lives that would have been saved anyway.
If you are a member or a pastor of an Oklahoma Southern Baptist Church and disagree with the BGCO, consider signing this letter and requesting to join the Facebook group Oklahoma Baptists for SB 13.
No Other Boast 
I sent the following letter to the BGCO:
Hance Dilbeck
Executive Director-Treasurer
Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma
Dear Sir:
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8
I was shocked and dismayed at the open letter issued by the BGCO regarding SB13.
1. There was nothing about the letter that was based in scripture and there was no scripture to back any of the assertions.
2. It gave the appearance of speaking for Oklahoma Southern Baptist Churches which is neither your right nor your place.
3. The three principal points were either faulty, misleading or outright falsehoods. This last point can hopefully be explained as the result of an ignorance, on the part of the authors of the letter, of historical law.
IF the BGCO had truly wished to take a neutral stance on SB13, then it would have remained silent. Instead, it gave cover to continuing the idolatrous and Godless practice of abortion in the state of Oklahoma, spreading falsehoods, albeit in possible ignorance, as its reasoning. It gave cover to the three men stopping the bill, who are also either ignorant of scripture and of history or are the greatest of expedient liars. As we are instructed to test everything against scripture, the rationalizations failed. The leadership of the BGCO SHOULD know that in God’s world, there is only right and wrong – light and darkness. There is no fence sitting and no gray area. One is either WITH God and His holiness and holy ways or one is against God and His holiness and holy ways. (Matt 12:30)
It was jaw-dropping to read the BCGO’s soft defense of abortion “to save the life of the mother” when that is neither supported by scripture nor by the medical community!! There is NO situation where it is ok to murder an innocent person to save another person. Every doctor’s oath is to attempt to save every individual. In the case of a woman in distress during a pregnancy, the effort is always made to save her and her baby. For the BGCO to allude to protecting abortion law for any reason was shocking to the core. Either you cry out from the rooftops that sacrificing children is an abomination to the Lord or you admit that you have compromised God’s word to fit your human opinions. “They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it ever enter My mind.” Jer 19:5 Abortion is America’s high place to Baal where children are murdered and burned in the fires everyday. NONE of it is acceptable in God’s sight. It never even occurred to Him. HE demands that we tear down the high places no matter what the ramifications. HE is in control. Not us. We are simply to be obedient to His holy way.
Finally, the legal concerns stated were false and adolescent. The misleading statements showed a total ignorance of the history of state nullification regarding tariffs and freeing slaves in the early 1800s, as well as the battle of the southern states trying to KEEP federal laws regarding slavery, upheld THREE times by the SCOTUS, while the free states basically nullified them. It also showed an ignorance of the fact that just as recently as a few weeks ago, the states of New York, Vermont and New Mexico nullified federal law regarding late term abortions and live birth abortions. It is obvious that it never occurred to the BGCO authors that the state of Oklahoma has already challenged the federal government law and nullified it by passing legalized marijuana, an act totally against federal law, and in 2010 by nullifying Obamacare.
I would have hoped that the BGCO would have chosen to act in truth and right rather than in political expediency and human logic. Just as Daniel and his friends, Esther and Paul and others have done and in Nazi Germany, Iran, China, or North Korea, God’s people have submitted to the authority of government while never compromising God’s way or word in the doing. Submitting to the authorities does NOT mean that we sin in the submission. It means that we understand that in the submitting, when having to choose God over government mandate, there are consequences from the government to which we submit. Daniel faced lions. His friends faced a fiery furnace. Paul faced prison and death. Corrie Ten Boom faced a concentration camp. However, in each case, God was with them, strengthened them and used them to His glory. Oh, that you could have been like them. Instead, you became one of those who watched the Jews taken away, saying, “The Bible says we have to obey the government and so we can not intervene.” You are the ten leaders of Israel who would not fight Canaan because the obstacles were large and scary, unlike Joshua and Caleb who understood that “with God, all things are possible” and that “God can do immeasurably more than we ask or can imagine.”
I am ashamed but I can still call myself a Southern Baptist because you do not speak for me.
Sincerely,
Mary Beth White
Oklahoma
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