Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A False Teacher Condones Abortion with a Parable of Jesus

"Reverand" Matthew Westfox of the "Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice" (as long as your religion isn't Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, or Hinduism. Or Wicca, even) tries to twist one of the parables of Jesus (Luke 8:5-9a) into a convoluted argument for abortion. Here is the actual Biblical text:

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.


And here's where Westfox goes with it:

In the parable of the sower, Jesus reminds us that seed alone does not bring about new life — that all aspects of the conditions into which the seed are cast must be suitable to sustain life. If there is not enough light or too many weeds or other circumstances that make the ground unfit, the seed will not grow…. We do no service by trying to force life into places where the ground is not right.

Similarly, living out a pro-life theology means ensuring that those who want to create new life or parent a child never feel they cannot because the ground they stand upon is not suitable. It also means that no one should ever be coerced into bringing new life into a situation they do not believe is ready to sustain it. A truly pro-life theology means… we never force life into a situation that lacks one of the most fundamental ingredients of healthy ground — parents who are ready to love and welcome the child.

Any Christian (or even literate member of any other religion or irreligion) can see how lame an argument this is.

1. Jesus specifically tells His disciples that the seed in the parable is the Word of God. : 11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop." (Luke 8:11-14)

2. The fact that anybody would use an argument that lame to justify doing evil is forseen in the Epistles. "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3)

3. Even if you held the Bible sideways and squinted your eyes just right so that you could argue that the seed is an unborn child, Jesus would be saying that if the womb (ground) was unsuitable, the baby (seed) won't grow. He doesn't in any way imply that it should be pulled up and discarded.

4. How in the world are we supposed to interpret, "Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." Her womb would be absurdly full to the point of rupture if the one unborn child reproduced into a hundred babies.

I would admonish anybody who claims to be a brother or sister in Christ not to embrace this kind of distortion. The Bible warns against calling an evil good:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Isiah 5:20).

Jesus Himself encountered Satan quoting Scripture as an attempt to tempt (Matthew 4:1-11) during his period of fasting in the desert. Do not let anybody use Scripture to entice you into doing wrong.

As for those who use Scripture to turn people away from trusting God:

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves ( 2 Peter 2:1).


False teachers are going to be in a world of hurt when God runs out of patience. Repent now and turn toward Truth.

(HT: Jill Stanek)

3 comments:

Kathy said...

Speechless! Wow.

Anonymous said...

Except the seed is no longer a seed once it has begun germinating, just as potential becomes actual once fertilization occurs. Amazing the mental gymnastics and Biblical cherry picking they go through to attempt to justify their position. He must have missed the hundreds of scriptures on the shedding of innocent blood. Oopsie. He must have also missed the Great Commission-kinda hard to make disciples of all nations when they're being whacked before they get the chance. Sick.

Amy Rose said...

Wow, what a jerk. He completely missed this . . . " Jesus turned to them and said, "Women of Jerusalem! Don't cry for me, but for yourselves and your children. For the days are coming when people will say, 'How lucky are the women who never had children, who never bore babies, who never nursed them!' That will be the time when people will say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, ' Hide us!' For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23.28-31)
If that doesn't scream "Abortion is wrong!!" then those so-called "religious" guys are completely blind, deaf . . . and dumb.