“You’re Doing Christianity Wrong” says the Atheist

The demon-possessed rambling crackhead named Jordan Peterson has been making the rounds lately by telling us Christians how we could operate the Church better. I want to weigh in on the utter stupidity of taking advice on how best to worship God from somebody who believes He doesn’t exist, but am handicapped by insufficient patience to parse through his word-salad videos.

This written article by an untenured, untethered feminist on how Christians are wrong and the Bible is actually okay with abortion, will scratch that itch by proxy.

What the Bible actually says about abortion may surprise you

h ttps://theconversation.com/what-the-bible-actually-says-about-abortion-may-surprise-you-186983

By Melanie A. Howard, Associate Professor of Biblical & Theological Studies, Fresno Pacific University, 20 July 2022

What the Bible actually says about women teaching men may surprise Melanie. Should we tell her, now that she’s trying for tenure on that exact topic, or wait to see the expression on her face when she finds out for herself?

Hmm, might be a long wait. Shut up, Melanie… and that’s Biblical.

In the days since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,

You childless, murdering skank-hos have completely lost your shit.

…which had established the constitutional right to an abortion…

Sigh.

…some Christians have cited the Bible to argue why this decision should either be celebrated or lamented. But here’s the problem: This 2,000-year-old text says nothing about abortion.

One, most of the Bible is much older than 2,000 years. And two,

Segue

Ezekiel 20:31-33

When you offer your gifts—the sacrifice of your children in the fire—you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. Am I to let you inquire of me, you Israelites? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will not let you inquire of me.

“‘You say, “We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.” But what you have in mind will never happen. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will reign over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath.”

Emphases mine. And here we are today, with a pro-child-sacrifice woman who  made a career out of inquiring of God and now arrogantly claims that “God” wants us to calm down and kill children. One who claims to be a professor of Bible Studies, no less.

End segue

As a university professor of biblical studies, I am familiar with faith-based arguments Christians use to back up views of abortion, whether for or against. Many people seem to assume the Bible discusses the topic head-on, which is not the case.

Oh, of course it’s not the case. Ezekiel only talked about sacrificing children in the fire, not in the vacuum hose. That’s totally different! /sarc

Technology changes. Humans don’t.

Abortions were known and practiced in biblical times, although the methods differed significantly from modern ones…

QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM, WITCH! She goes on to discuss ancient Greece, not ancient Israel.

In other words, the Bible was written in a world in which abortion was practiced and viewed with nuance. Yet the Hebrew and Greek equivalents of the word “abortion” do not appear in either the Old or New Testament of the Bible. That is, the topic simply is not directly mentioned.

This is a classic blunder on the part of atheists trying to thump the Bible for themselves. “If it’s not stated in the Bible then it cannot be Biblical.” They see Scripture as a list of arbitrary rules to be obeyed… for the virtue-signaling, perhaps. As if anybody suffers for God because it feels good.

But we know the truth. Scripture is a critical element of our belief in God… but God is not the Bible. We believe in a Person, not a Book, and anybody whose concept of God is limited to the Law never knew Him:

Segue

Romans 4:13-16a

It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham.

End Segue

So then, what’s “Biblical”? Is it just the Covenant rules, or is it men learning to become like Christ? Atheists nagging Christians to obey the Bible better is analogous to the Pharisees trying to re-kill Lazarus because dammit, his death certificate is ON FILE! He’s got no business being alive again! The rules say he DAID!

They look at us changing from mere rules-followers into children and heirs of God, but what they see is the chance to word-spell at us:

What the Bible says
The absence of an explicit reference to abortion, however, has not stopped its opponents or proponents from looking to the Bible for support of their positions.

Abortion opponents turn to several biblical texts that, taken together, seem to suggest that human life has value before birth. For example, the Bible opens by describing the creation of humans “in the image of God”: a way to explain the value of human life, presumably even before people are born. Likewise, the Bible describes several important figures, including the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah and the Christian Apostle Paul, as having being called to their sacred tasks since their time in the womb. Psalm 139 asserts that God “knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

Also consider Genesis 9:6, which applies the death penalty to murder because humans are in the image of God. The statement is not artistic sophistry. Our lives are valuable in ways that animal lives are not.

However, abortion opponents are not the only ones who can appeal to the Bible for support. Supporters can point to other biblical texts that would seem to count as evidence in their favor.

But of course. It is a poor devil who cannot twist a Bible verse.

Exodus 21, for example, suggests that a pregnant woman’s life is more valuable than the fetus’s. This text describes a scenario in which men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and cause her to miscarry. A monetary fine is imposed if the woman suffers no other harm beyond the miscarriage. However, if the woman suffers additional harm, the perpetrator’s punishment is to suffer reciprocal harm, up to life for life.

There are other biblical texts that seem to celebrate the choices that women make for their bodies, even in contexts in which such choices would have been socially shunned. The fifth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, for example, describes a woman with a gynecological ailment that has made her bleed continuously taking a great risk: She reaches out to touch Jesus’ cloak in hopes that it will heal her, even though the touch of a menstruating woman was believed to cause ritual contamination. However, Jesus commends her choice and praises her faith.

Stretch Armstrong says hello to that exhibition of “my body, my choice”. Did Jesus praise her faith? Yes. Did Jesus commend her for touching him? No. And what’s this about her conduct being something that would have been shunned? Luke 8 describes many people pressing against Christ as he moved through a crowded area. I don’t know much about female problems but they aren’t on the rag for years at a time.

Similarly, in the Gospel of John, Jesus’ follower Mary seemingly wastes resources by pouring an entire container of costly ointment on his feet and using her own hair to wipe them – but he defends her decision to break the social taboo around touching an unrelated man so intimately.

No, witch. That was not a sexual moment. Neither did Christ condone any violation of a social taboo. The complaint was she’d wasted money, not that she’d copped a feel.

Beyond the Bible
In the response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Christians on both sides of the partisan divide have appealed to any number of texts to assert that their particular brand of politics is biblically backed. However, if they claim the Bible specifically condemns or approves of abortion, they are skewing the textual evidence to fit their position.

Which is it? Is abortion not a big deal or is abortion a big deal? “Both sides make points that fit their positions” or “What God wants regarding the killing of the unborn can be figured out, and we better not figure wrong”?

Of course, Christians can develop their own faith-based arguments about modern political issues, whether or not the Bible speaks directly to them. But it is important to recognize that although the Bible was written at a time when abortion was practiced, it never directly addresses the issue.

Abortion was practiced in ancient Israel in the form of Molech/Baal worship, which Almighty God hated and carefully informed us that He hated. Melanie would have us normalize that behavior on the grounds that modern tools are used instead of bronze idols, and the children are killed before they even have lungs to scream in pain with.

But the root problem is even worse than murder: it’s female rebellion against men. The only power women have over men is sex, and the ultimate expression of that power is sitting in judgment of whether our children get to live. That’s why even vaxxed & sterile old prunes like Melanie are upset at Roe getting overturned. They don’t even care about the loss of human life. They care about losing power over men.

That’s why the wicked are desperate to continue abortion by any means possible.

Meanwhile, society will uphold either a conservative definition of human life, or a convenient definition of human life. We who fear God the Creator, and His demand that the murderer be put to death, will never accept a convenient definition. Why risk eternal damnation when we could simply not fornicate instead? Oh look, that IS literally what the Bible says to do!