Another abortion-promoting sermon delivered by Rebecca Todd Peters, a Presbyterian minister and member of Planned Parenthood’s clergy advocacy board, is making the rounds… but this one argues that God lied to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden — and somehow, this makes abortion an acceptable and moral act.
Protestia reported that Peters delivered a guest sermon at the First Presbyterian Church of Mankato in Minnesota, in which she spoke about reading the Bible in light of ‘feminist theology.’
“As a feminist theologian, one of the things that gives me joy is reinterpreting texts that have been used to hurt or control people, because the God that I know is full of light and life, the God that I know holds me in my grief and walks with me in my pain. I know that the sacred word of God is not a weapon, nor should it ever be used to harm or shame people,” she said. “Despite two millennia of misogynistic interpretations of Genesis and Eve, there have always been other ways to read this story. I love the story of Eve in the garden.”
She continued by saying that she loves the story of Eve, because in it, God “lies,” and in choosing to eat of the forbidden fruit, Eve paved the way for women to have abortions. Not only that, but this supposedly Christian minister praised Satan for leading Eve into sin (emphases added):
Have you ever noticed that God lied to Adam and Eve?
While the serpent plays the role of the foil here; he’s meant to set Eve up for her role as the bringer of wisdom and moral agency to the human community. The set-up for this action that she takes is that God lied to her. God told the first couple, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you will die.’ And the serpent really knows the truth. You won’t die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
And here we get to the real heart of the story: the verse in which Eve acts on behalf of all humanity.
In fact, the moment at which Eve not only exercises her own moral agency, but she chooses that very trait which defines our humanity, that knowledge which makes us moral creatures: our ability to know good and evil. So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her.
Evidently, we are meant to find it kind and loving that Eve led Adam into sin with her. Peters continued (emphasis added):
When we say that we need to trust women to make the critically important decision about whether to continue a pregnancy, it is rooted in a reinterpreted understanding of the story of the garden of Eden, that recognizes and affirms the moral agency of the wisdom that Eve chose in the garden for all of us.
Peters continued by saying that this reinterpreted version of the Genesis story explains why abortion is good in God’s eyes.
“Politicians and judges are acting to force the disobedient daughters of Eve to bear children,” she said. “Rejecting our moral agency, imposing state control over our bodies and our childbearing. The problem lies not with the daughters of Eve, but with those who seek to use the tools of the state to police morality, and codify a minority religious belief as law of the land. The fault lies not with Eve, or her daughters.”
Follow this logic: Presbyterian Pastrix claims because it was GOOD for Eve to eat the fruit in the garden, we can trust her to make other GOOD choice like aborting babies. Check out this astonishing bible twist. https://t.co/G2nwp4uGcJ pic.twitter.com/bT9rOGYSEO
— Protestia (@Protestia) October 14, 2023
That someone claiming to be a Christian minister would not only uplift the serpent (the enemy whom Jesus Christ was promised to defeat — Gen. 3:15) as a positive force in a story which involved leading someone to sin, but also claimed that God is a liar is — to say the least — heretical.
There are numerous instances in the Bible which put it plainly: God cannot lie, because God is Truth. Numbers 23:19 states clearly that God cannot lie, and in John 14:6, Jesus — who is God come in the flesh — says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Psalm 119:160 says, “All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.” Hebrews 6:18 says, “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.”
Meanwhile, to answer Peters’ assertion that God somehow lied about the consequences of eating the fruit — it is accepted by many scholars that, had Adam and Eve not eaten of the fruit, they would have lived forever. By eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (until this point, they had only known good) they had broken God’s one requirement of them, and were therefore banished from the garden of Eden — which contained the tree of life — so that they would not live eternally in a condemned state. Spiritual death had come to mankind — separation from God. Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ was born and died on the cross and was resurrected, redeeming mankind and offering salvation (a right and restored relationship with God) to those who would believe in Him and His work on the cross.
Peters’ simplistic interpretation seems to be that, since Adam and Eve did not instantaneously physically die the moment the fruit touched their lips, that must mean that God lied. This reveals a very shallow understanding of Scripture, not a deep or scholarly one. Not only that, but Peters argued that the serpent — which is meant to represent the devil himself — worked to enlighten and empower Eve. With the serpent’s urging to break God’s law, according to Peters, Eve is better off, as are we as a human community. And the “why” for Peters revolves around abortion; essentially, because Eve followed Satan and not God, women should not only be permitted to have abortions, but it should be seen as a good and moral thing.
For any sort of “Christian” pastor to argue such a thing is mind-boggling.
But this is not the first time Peters has made such outlandish claims. In another sermon given this summer, Peters spoke of her own two abortions. “I, too, feel that I am known by God in these ways, as a woman who has borne two children. I can affirm that I felt something sacred happening in my gestating body during those pregnancies,” she said. “I can also attest that I felt God’s presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies and I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin.” She further added, “A forced pregnancy or birth is not holy.”
In truth, humans cannot force conception to occur, as many who struggle with infertilty are aware. It is God who is the Author of life. Once a life is created, it will continue through its natural development unless it is halted by miscarriage or by force — as in abortion. In other words, the only “force” involved is in the ending of a life that has already begun. Homicide is not holy.
Additionally, Peters argued that the Christian narrative about abortion has “colonized our minds, traumatizing many people with its toxic theology and shaping a culture of stigma and shame.” She also complained that too many Christians have “internalized” the idea that abortion is a sin, while claiming that the Bible does not mention abortion at all.
Yet Proverbs 6 notes that “hands that shed innocent blood” are some of the “things the Lord hates.” Exodus 23:7 and Matthew 5:21 condemn murder — the intentional taking of a human life — while numerous Bible verses speak openly about the humanity of the preborn. Psalm 139 famously reads, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb,” while also speaking of God knowing “my unformed body.” Luke 1 mentions John the Baptist “leaping” in his mother’s womb; the book of Job includes tracing his life to his very conception.
It’s hard to tell what God is being worshipped in Peters’ sermons. But as a member of Planned Parenthood’s clergy board, it seems clear that she is not worshipping the Christian God of the Bible, but instead, worships the false god of abortion. The only question that remains is how many supposed Christians will continue to follow and believe such a hollow and deceptive philosophy.
Live Action News made numerous attempts to contact the Presbyterian Church (USA) for comment on Peters’ sermon and received no reply. If a statement is given, this article will be updated to include it.
