LIFE COMES FROM?
There are many questions asked, but few truthful answers given. Of all people on Earth, God's Church should have correct understanding when these sobering questions arise. In order to expect an answer that rises above personal opinion, the Source of Life must be consulted - otherwise all these issues become moot.
The morning of February 16, 2001 a 94 piece exhibit featuring black contemporary photographers opened in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Included in this exhibit was the work of a black female photographer, Renee Cox, that surely must come close to the ultimate blasphemy! Capitalizing on Leonardo da Vinci's 15th century classic "The Last Supper," Cox's most disgusting mural bore the title, "Yo Mama's Last Supper." This brazenly depicted 12 black men as the 12 apostles in the traditional "last supper" setting with a NUDE Renee Cox as Christ!
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was outraged to the point of considering taking the matter to court as he did in 1999 over this same museum's exhibition of the "virgin Mary" who was portrayed with a dollop of elephant dung on one breast. In response to Mayor Giuliani"s indignation over her photograph, Cox said, "Get over it! Why can't a woman be Christ? We are the givers of life!"
Why can't a black woman be Christ is too absurd to dignify a response. However, there are likely many millions who believe women are the "givers of life". But, are women the "givers of life"? Most emphatically, they are not! Women give birth, women do not give life! There is a vast difference between giving life and giving birth and ignorance of this difference is the root cause of those who favor abortion. Their twisted reasoning denies a human being exists until live birth is given. Refusing to recognize that life is imparted by the father and begins the instant of conception, provides an easy way out for those who want to legally murder their own babies!
Herbert W. Armstrong understood more truth than probably any man since the first century. He strove for understanding until the day of his death with a hunger and thirst equaled by very few.
In his late eighties, Mr. Armstrong's understanding of human nature was still not complete. He was perplexed with the question of how and when an infant comes to have what we commonly label - human nature. He understood that a little baby is not capable of expressing the traits attributed to human nature, yet is every bit a human. Such human emotions as envy, jealousy, avarice, ambition, lust, hatred, etc. simply are unknown in the cradle. These, he understood, were acquired or developed as a result of the influence of the Devil and effect of those nurturing the very young. He knew a society cut off from God can only produce evil fruits and these fruits are instilled in the infant beginning at a very early age; even a few months!
Toward the end of his life, Mr. Armstrong began to realize HOW "human nature" is acquired. He knew that every human is a descendent of the first human father, Adam. Since Adam never acquired the nature of God, he was left with the natural - and neutral - human nature created in him by the Creator; a nature which was capable of developing either in a positive or negative direction as chosen by the individual. He further understood that this nature of man came from the original parents through inheritance, but the how it had come down had eluded him for decades.
Herbert Armstrong was a thinking man and without doubt, imbued with the capacity of those who are awarded the highest degrees by universities. As he considered the matter, the Eternal finally gave him the understanding that had escaped him for so many years. He remembered the basic law of biogenesis; life can only come from pre-existing life. He knew that life in the human ovum has a brief existence and will be discharged in a matter of hours - unless - it is fertilized by the human sperm. He knew that it is the male sperm that imparts life to the ovum; life comes only from the father. He realized that all human life had been bequeathed - generation upon generation - from Adam through the sperm cell!
Now it was clear to him. It was in this same manner that a human being thousands of years from Adam is endowed with "human nature", or Adam's nature! Human nature is imparted from one generation to another through the sperm cell at the moment of conception; the same time life is imparted.
Human nature is actually "neutral", neither positive nor negative. It is capable of acquiring any characteristic the individual chooses. Unfortunately Satan is the God of this world - "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" ( 2 Cor. 4:4) - and his influence pervades every culture in every age; no one is secure from his perverted sway. But, there is a way of escape for those whom the Father selects in every age.
"Having predestinated us unto sonship by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. In Whom we have redemption through His blood [life], the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. ... you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, ..." (Eph 2:5,7,13-14).
The Holy Spirit is the Divine Sperm of God the Father as is borne out in the inspired Greek. "Whosoever is begotten from God does not practice sin; for His seed (sperm, Greek, sperma )- remains in him, and he does not practice sin because he has been begotten out of God" ( 1 John 3:9, NKJ ).
It is important that the People of God know the truth regarding one of the greatest lies of Satan. Satan relishes witnessing the murder of a helpless infant in the womb and will let nothing deter him from infecting the minds of millions with his poison. His greatest accomplishment would be in persuading a member of God's Church that abortion - under certain circumstances - is right for the mother. If he can convince the world that it is the mother who gives life, it is just a small step to convince the world that the mother alone has the say in whether the baby in her is to live or die.
No, Renee Cox, Your Statement, "We are the givers of life" is just as absurd as your question, "Why can't a woman be Christ?"
Just as it is impossible for a woman to be the SON of her father, it is impossible for someone to impart life who lacks the capacity to impart life. Much to the disillusionment and frustration of liberals like Renee Cox and all women who live in the ignorance that a developing child in the womb is not yet a human being - only a father can "father" a child!
Reprint from April 2001, “Prove All Things”