Posted on 03/06/2014 9:14:17 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Chris Oyakhilome, charismatic pastor of 30,000-member Christ Embassy church in Lagos, Nigeria, has sparked an online debate after insisting that it is "never mentioned anywhere in the Bible to keep a child from a woman who was raped!"
Christ Embassy Naples in Italy shared on its Facebook page remarks reportedly made by Pastor Oyakhilome during a question-and-answer segment during a church service on Sunday, March 2.
Considering the question, "Can a baby that is a product of rape be aborted?" Oyakhilome was said to have responded:
"No child should be brought into this world by force, if a lady has been raped, it is left for her to make a decision of whether to keep the baby or not. If you have never been raped or someone close to you haven't [sic], you may not agree with this statement.
"It is never mentioned anywhere in the Bible, to keep a child from a woman who was raped!"
Vanguardngr.com, the popular online portal of the Nigeria daily newspaper, reports that Pastor Oyakhilome's comments have been trending on Facebook after various responses were posted online "swinging in and out of his favor."
Among the nearly-200 responses to the news item were comments from Nigerians expressing disagreement with the Christ Embassy founder, usually referred to as "Pastor Chris," that the Bible was silent on victims of rape who conceived having to keep the baby.
"If really Pastor Chris made such [a] response, then it's just unfortunate. The Bible is clear on murder — abortion irrespective of how the pregnancy came about is a murder," wrote Fred Otone Olomuro.
"Wicked as rape may be, it CANNOT be a valid ground for abortion. Beware of human rationalisation. If we accept this, I can assure you that there will be a sea of human reasons why we will be committing murder in the name of abortion," added another commenter named Valentine.
There were others, like Stanley Chukwu, who agreed with Pastor Oyakhilome's assessment.
"It is perfectly the best thing to do. Pastor Chris is absolutely right, keeping a baby conceived out of rape is morally reprehensible," wrote Chukwu.
Another commenter, perhaps speaking from personal experience, said she "totally agreed with Pastor Chris," and added, "If you are not been rape(d), shut up your mouth."
Although the Bible does not specifically address the issue of abortion, the intentional termination of a pregnancy, Christians, which amount to 40 percent of Nigeria's population, often cite passages like Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13-16, and Exodus 21:22-25 to argue against the act, even in cases of rape. The Roman Catholic Church, which claims nearly 19 million adherents among Nigeria's 168 million residents, also cites passages like Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 139:15 in its doctrinal position on abortion as a "moral evil" in all cases when a life has formed.
In Nigeria, ranked as the second-most religious country on WIN-Gallup International's "Religion and Atheism Index," abortion is only legal when the mother's health is threatened. The Guttmacher Institute, which reported in 2004 that rape accounts for 1 percent of all abortions in the U.S., also revealed in a 2008 study that there are at least 760,000 abortions carried out yearly in Nigeria, most of them illegal and resulting in the deaths of thousands of women.
Pastor Oyakhilome, whose Christ Embassy is ranked as Africa's 10th largest church by the Leadership Network, is considered controversial due to his prosperity teachings and faith-healing claims. The Nigerian minister was compared to a "false prophet" and a "charlatan" in a 2012 opinion post by journalist and author J. Lee Grady. Grady cited Oyakhilome's ministry's alleged "cult"practices, gnostic-like "New Creation" theology and connections to T.B. Joshua, another popular and controversial Nigerian minister and self-declared prophet.
According to Grady, "Oyakhilome already has 16 churches in the U.S., mostly attracting African immigrants in cities such as Dallas, Houston, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. He has 39 churches in the United Kingdom (where many Nigerians live) and 18 in Canada, and his daily devotional books called Rhapsody of Realities are supposedly available in 70 languages."
“In the end I think we will have to conclude a child is a gift from god whether he or she is the product of rape or not.”
A great many victims of rape have conceived a child, and have chosen to nurture and sustain it’s life, and to love it. May God bless them.
Pro-choice is a morally neutral term, its objective consequence depending entirely on the nature of the act that is chosen. Advocates of legal abortion abuse it to shield their evil intent.
“It is never mentioned anywhere in the Bible, to keep a child from a woman who was raped!”
Sola Scriptura.
More nonsense.
You’re using an obvious false teacher of God’s word to attack followers of Christmas. Shame on you.
Nonsense,
Heretic
Abortion is not an eraser.
Ever.
“You would make a woman walk around for 9 months pregnant and force her to raise a rapists child?”
First, you would murder the innocent baby because the baby’s father was a rapist?
Second, no one is telling a “woman she has to spend the next 18 years raising a child she didnt want.” She can place for adoption. . .the innocent baby lives, a loving family has a child and the biological mother knows she is not a murderer.
RE: Do Protestants consider the Didache: Sacred Scripture?
Based on my conversations with Protestant Scholars, they consider the Didache a good SUMMARY of what Scripture teaches.
I was hoping my sarcasm wouldn’t need a tag.
“Why does the baby have to pay the ultimate price for the sin of its father?”
As a man and someone who will never be in this predicament, It’s hard to know the right answer to this. However, consider this:
In cases where the rape involved a physical assault, clearly the woman is justified in taking the life of the rapist to prevent the rape. If the woman is raped and conceives the child of the rapist, is the pregnancy not a continuation of the assault? One could argue that it is, since he left part of himself inside of her and it is growing as the cells divide.
That said, why would she NOT have a right to terminate the assault using deadly force?
I specifically said a physical assault. There are many kinds of rape.
My point is simply that relying solely on Sacred Scripture opens up these challenges based on rationalization and justification.
In order to defend what you think is obvious Christian teaching on abortion, you are forced to rely on Christian Tradition and Teaching found in sources other than Sacred Scripture.
If a person will not obey scripture, what makes you think he will obey what Christian Tradition teaches?
Interesting thought, but consider the implication. . .using your logic, the child can be killed post-birth because the child is the result of an ongoing assault. Sins of the father onto the son kind of thing.
“have you ever considered the hundreds of thousands wanting to adopt a child?”
Very few people (including blacks) will adopt a black baby.
No need to rely on tradition. God has commanded us to not murder.
Pretty simple. Unless of course a person seeks to use it as disinformation to attack followers of Christ.
You would kill a defenseless baby?
No.
One could argue that it is, since he left part of himself inside of her and it is growing as the cells divide.
Once again, No.
The child is not the father, it is not the mother, it is it's self. The baby is not a clone even if it was it is not "him" but it's self.
Genetic guilt is a superstition that should be discarded.
This is the same argument that a woman has the right to abort because the child is her. It is morally and scientifically wrong.
Agreed. It’s a hard thing, but adding murder to rape doesn’t make it easier. That child has done nothing wrong. That child is the neighbor we’re supposed to love as ourselves. There are waiting lists for adoption.
“using your logic, the child can be killed post-birth because the child is the result of an ongoing assault”
Nope, once the child is born the assault has ended. The woman would also not be justified in killing the rapist after the fact.
I guess that is my point, this pastor is obeying Scripture.
He is using it to defend his position. What can any Protestant do to stop him? He is using Scripture to formulate his “Christian” teaching. Sure, they will scoff at him and call him names, but they are missing the point. According to him, he is obeying Scripture.
This is the problem with Sola Scriptura and why we have so many Protestant Denominations, each teaching whatever they read or don’t read in Scripture.
Surely, this isn’t what Christ intended for his Church. There has to be an Authority here on earth to preserve, protect and provide the True Teachings of Christ to each and every generation. This Authority can only come from Apostolic succession. Otherwise, the True Teachings of Christ will continue to be distorted by subjective interpretation.
yes I love killing defenselss babies!!
idiot
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