The academic has accused God of not getting consent from the virgin Jewish teenager when he supposedly conceived Christ through divine intervention. Not surprisingly the claim by Dr Eric Sprankle on the cusp of the Christmas season, has sparked outrage across Christian America. Dr Sprankle, who Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology & Sexuality Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and an advocate for sex workers’s rights made the shocking claim on Twitter.
He said: “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 then signs off tongue-in-cheek: “Happy Holidays”.
Some sections of the Christian following were understandably outraged by the claims, with many saying that God is simply above the law.
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Dr Robert Jeffress , the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, told Starnes Country: “Dr Sprankle’s comments are nothing but blasphemous babble from a liberal who is completely ignorant of the Bible.
“Furthermore, a sovereign God doesn’t need ‘consent’ from any of us for anything He chooses to do.”
Dr Emir Caner, the president of Truett McConnell University, blamed modern education for Dr Sprankle’s ‘blasphemy’.
He said: “It comes as no surprise that a radical leftist professor with little knowledge of the Scripture would make such an imbecilic statement.
“Welcome to the modern university system, where statements easily demonstrated as false are now mainstream.”
However, Dr Sprankle hit back against the claims, particularly those who argued that the impregnation of Mary was ‘God’s plan’.
He wrote on Twitter: “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.”