Abortion and baptism

[Surfah]

No worries. the part about the woman raises an interesting point. In my mission, We asked both genders whether they had been a party to an abortion. So, in other words, the guy would still be accountable even though he technically did not have an abortion or "perform" the abortion.

We had to be very specific about how we phrased the questions because the Bolivians were crafty. They would bust out their Websters dictionaries and flip to the definition of the word, "lie".......

This was my experience as well. We would phrase the question if they had been party to an abortion? So if they had one, paid for one, or in any way otherwise supported an abortion.

[Surfah]

The MP didn't care to thrust in his sickle and learn the language, eh?

I was stateside Spanish speaking.

[Solon]

All right. I'll back off.

Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't come up with a logical answer. I assume it's because baptism could be denied to a woman, and I don't know what that situation would be. I don't ask it to imply voluntary abortion isn't a big deal. My question remains.

Don't take his shit. It's a good question. Abortion is not an obvious "sin" to many people.

I don't know what a baptism interview is like in France.

[FN Phat]

Yup. I had a guy confess a Brokeback experience to me. Having to interpret for an MP who didn't speak Spanish was awkward.

LOL. That must have been such an uncomfortable situation.

[UtahDan]

I'm not sure if you're mocking, but I've had this question for about eight years now. The only answer I've ever gotten is "because." Literally. So, thanks for pointing out I'm idiot enough to miss the obvious answer.

You are growing on me.

[SoCalCoug]

I once reached this point in the interview and the dude let me know that the church's position on homosexuality was one of the things that attracted him to the faith. He went on to tell me how his marriage had ended when he came home early one day to find his wife in bed with another woman. Baptismal candidates say the darndest things.

That story would have been so much better if you substituted "position on homosexuality" with "history of polygamy"

[Shaka]

I had abortion come up all the time in interviews. When I called the MP about it he said he couldn't fly up from Cape Town every time this came up and that I had to make the call. At first I was freaked out to have to make that kind of call but I got used to it.

[wuapinmon]

In 1993-95 Costa Rica, we asked about abortion, rape, murder, child abuse, homosexuality, drug addiction, and alcoholism (to make sure they had really stopped drinking).

It pains me to think about how sickened I was inside by someone's confession of a homosexual experience. He never knew my reaction, and he spoke to the MP, and never got baptized, but I definitely was weirded out by it at the time.

Now, I wouldn't even care. I wonder if he would've been allowed to be baptized now. He was chaste at the time.