Psych prof claims God lacked Mary's 'consent'

A live Nativity re-creation in Stuart, Florida (photo by Joe Kovacs)

A Twitter user who profiles himself as an associate professor of clinical psychology and sexuality studies from Minnesota and lists interests as "cats" and "Poe" tried to apply the contemporary "#MeToo" movement to the New Testament story of the virgin birth.

Eric Sprankle claimed the "virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powerful deity impregnating a human teen."

"There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario," he said.

"Happy holidays," Sprankle wrote.

The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powerful deity impregnating a human teen. There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario. Happy Holidays.

— Eric Sprankle, PsyD (@DrSprankle) December 3, 2018

Sprankle refused to cede the point when other Twitter users pointed out to him that the Bible, in Luke, "states clearly that the angel communicated God's plan for Mary and in verse 38 she agreed. Whether you believe or disbelieve, it helps if you actually read the text."

"The biblical god regularly punished disobedience. The power difference (deity vs mortal) and the potential for violence for saying 'no' negates her 'yes.' To put someone in this position is an unethical abuse of power at best and grossly predatory at worst," he added.

The biblical god regularly punished disobedience. The power difference (deity vs mortal) and the potential for violence for saying “no” negates her “yes.” To put someone in this position is an unethical abuse of power at best and grossly predatory at worst.

— Eric Sprankle, PsyD (@DrSprankle) December 4, 2018

At the Twitter news aggregating site Twitchy was the comment: "One thing we see a lot of on Twitter is trolling of Christians; plenty are willing to jump into the comments to make fun of their 'invisible friend' and pass judgment on just how Christian they really are (after all, Jesus certainly was no Republican)."

It continued, "But there's really not much to say about this tweet from associate professor Eric Sprankle, aside from the fact that Christians have heard it plent of times before, and it's not that clever and certainly not 'edgy.' No, the best part is Sprankle's Twitter bio."

That includes his self-described "sex workers' rights, cats, secularism, Poe, Manson, Ave Santanas."

Senzuran pointed out it was, "The entire modern left in one bio."

A contributor posting under "I'm a woman, and I'm mad as hell," said: "Aaaaaand THERE it is. Your annual 'The Christ Child is a rape baby' analogy from Woke Blue Check Twitter."

Posidonius said, "The intellectual equivalent of running into a room, screaming gibberish, and running out of it before anyone rebuts it."

"Even though Mary did give her consent, she really had no choice as God is all powerful and fond of punishment, so it wasn't really consent," snarked Twitchy.

Benjamin Sanchez wrote: "A psych degree does not equal Biblical competency. First, Mary consented to becoming the mother of Jesus. Second, no early Christian believed the Holy Spirit had physical relations with Mary. The emphasis is Jesus, the incarnation of the eternal Son of God, has only one Father."

Joseph Ronaldson explained the character of the attack on Christianity: "The fruit of all your education: getting it wrong & being insulting about it."

Another commenter wanted more: "So courageous. Now do Mohammed."

Bryan Holt said, "I'm always happy to get a lesson in theology and biblical studies from a secularist."