Blasphemy: Protestant Pastor Uses Parable of the Sower to Encourage Abortion

By Jennifer Hartline
5/11/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

'Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is dangerous

Anyone unwilling to defend human life from the moment of conception has no pro-life theology. Rev. Matthew Westfox is stunningly deceived. His "reproductive choice" theology is not remotely pro-life. He is a mouthpiece for the culture of death.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - After I finished reading Rev. Matthew Westfox's article entitled, "Resurrecting Pro-Life", I couldn't shake an image in my head of the father of lies smugly patting himself on the back for this one. A very delicious deception, indeed.

Rev. Westfox begins, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" reminds me that Easter is a celebration of life itself and what Christians honor and revere about life. Easter reminds me of the respect and reverence for life that is at the core of my theology, that I am in my heart a deeply "pro-life" person."

That first paragraph left me with a vague uneasiness in my stomach, and the next paragraph got worse. A lot worse.

"Today most of us won't use that term because it has been co-opted by those who oppose reproductive choice and abortion access. In the spirit of Easter, I want us to resurrect that term, to re-claim a pro-life theology that is deeply supportive of reproductive justice."

Westfox, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, serves the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice as their Field Services National Coordinator. A perusal of RCRC's website reveals it to be little more than a pro-abortion platform, complete with all the usual euphemisms and standard pro-abortion arguments about women's health, safety, and right to "privacy" and "control." The site condemns laws that attempt to restrict abortion, require parental notification, and the current wave of state efforts to pass Personhood laws. There's no denying their loyalty to abortion.

Continuing on with Westfox's article: "To be pro-life, after all, means to honor life and to cherish it. But do we honor life, or do we honor a heartbeat?" And with that, Westfox howls through the last shred of pretense and bares the wolf fangs behind his fluffy wool.

"Life, after all, is the ability to LIVE, to connect with other human beings, and for Christians, life is among other things the ability to experience the presence of Christ through those connections. To live is to use our God-given conscience and power of moral decision-making. It is to act as a truly free person with control over one's own body, sexuality, and reproduction."

Westfox denies any inherent value of human life, instead parroting the abortion rationale that a human being only becomes a person of value after the select criteria of independence has been achieved. He wraps it in Christian-speak to make it sound noble and himself credible, but it's the same regurgitated bile so typical of the culture of death.

He insists that God gives the conscience but not the heartbeat. Whatever god Westfox preaches, it is not the Living God; not the Incarnate God who took on human flesh. Was Christ not quite human, not really alive in Mary's womb?

He goes on to twist Jesus' teaching in the parable of the sower to fit the pro-abortion theology of "choice." He says, "In the parable of the sower, Jesus reminds us that seed alone does not bring about new life - that all aspects of the conditions into which the seed are cast must be suitable to sustain life.the story reminds us that respecting and honoring life means doing all we can to create the conditions that will allow life to flourish - while at the same time respecting and accepting that some conditions are not suitable to sustaining life. We do no service by trying to force life into places where the ground is not right."

Westfox is actually saying we have a duty - based on Jesus' teaching about seed falling on good ground - to abort all babies who may be born to mothers who are unfit ground or whose present circumstances are not suitable. To not kill those babies would be to ignore the lesson Jesus was teaching, and therefore, to not follow Christ.

He borrows another common pro-abortion tactic (in which pro-lifers are mocked for supposedly considering an individual sperm or egg to be a living human being, minus conception) by equating a new human soul with a seed. He again denies that God is the Creator and Giver of life by implying that life depends on the soil and the conditions, rather than having inherent, God-given value by virtue of being His creation.

He continues, "Similarly, living out a pro-life theology means ensuring that those who want to create new life or parent a child never feel they cannot because the ground they stand upon is not suitable. It also means that no one should ever be coerced into bringing new life into a situation they do not believe is ready to sustain it."

Those who want a child can go about creating new life themselves, and those who do not want a child must not be "coerced" into bringing new ...

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1 - 10 of 53 Comments

anthony uk
2 years ago
This guy is no man of God. What a waste of space. He proves that satan has infiltrated our Church. Pray for him, thats the only way. We Catholics have no other choice but to pray for devilish fools like him. Yuck!

ALL LIFE IS SACRED. God bless.

Anthony Uk
Penny
2 years ago
What about the behavior that creates unwanted pregnancies? I agree that abortion is wrong. All life is precious. If two like minded people are married and in love then a pregnancy is looked forward to and welcomed. If it is a less than welcome situation such as incest, rape, or a one night stand for example, then the pregnancy is not so welcome and may even be despised. Sexual promiscuity and putting sexual desire above the rights of others is the real problem. The situation of unwanted pregnancies arises from lack of charity toward each other. Why are there unwanted pregnancies at all? What behavior is creating all these unwanted pregnancies? To be honest, it is too late to find a focus once the baby has been conceived. The crime of lack of charity has already been committed nine months before. Sex is for procreation and is for married people to enjoy with each other ONLY, as God instructed us. It is the depraved desires of man who thinks people are here for his pleasure. Not treating each other as spiritual beings and not listening to God's Words again gets many into trouble. I doubt highly that Protestants are the only ones practicing this behavior. Good Catholics, sweep your own doorstep first. As far as the ability of a person to support the child after it is born, things change over time. Most parents feel incompetent when they are looking into the eyes of their newborn. Supporting new parents, especially those single parents who feel all alone (both already having been abandoned by the child's other parent) is very important. Why hold it against the parent who stuck around and tried, even if it appears to most that the job being done is less than perfect? Lack of charity already occurred in this situation, why rub salt into the wound by downing single parents? Does one case of lack of charity justify the other? ANY time sex occurs out of wedlock, No matter what the circumstance, it is not condoned by God. So, if any of you here have never sinned then I invite you to pick up that stone and throw it first. Until then, clean up your own house, Forgive and Help those that suffer due to their own actions or the actions of others, and if we are lucky God will forgive us for our trespasses too. Oh my Jesus, have Mercy on us, forgive us our sins, take all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of thy Mercy. AMEN
Kayla
2 years ago
Jennifer, it was very grieving to read about this sinful twisting of Scripture. Thank you for your stand. There is never an excuse for abortion. If I were to use my own opinion, I would be wrong because the Lord alone is always right (Romans 3:4). I'm adamantly against this preacher's views because of his twisting of God's Word about a topic irrevelant to the value of human life (the "seed" is not human), and because of his ignorance of other Scriptures about life beginning at conception (Job 31:15; Psa. 22:10; 127:3; 139:13; Luke 1:44). Also, based on Scripture (John 14:6), I know this preacher's view of salvation to be wrong.
As far as the Jehovah's (false) Witnesses discussed earlier, I know that they do not believe in Christ's Deity and therefore are not really turning people to Him.
I pray that the Lord convicts people with these beliefs and leads them to repentance so that they know Him in truth and will not continue to bring a bad testimony to Christians--and ultimately, to Christ.
vance
2 years ago
Emil, thank you for a great post. You are a good example to follow.
JeanCatherine
2 years ago
Emil
God Bless you brother. Glad your home.
Emil
2 years ago
Those who live unrepentant sinful lives and call themselves Christians are committing scandal and being used by Satan to lead souls astray. This man is a good example, as I was when I lived a homosexual lifestyle and still called myself Catholic. After praying that God show me the way, through his precious Son, Jesus Christ, I left that lifestyle behind, went to confession and haven't looked back for eleven years, only when briefly tempted -- but then I pray and move on. If we say we're Christian, we must not embrace sin in our personal lives and continue unrepentant. We must live our Chrisitianity.

God bless you all,
Emil
JeanCatherine
2 years ago
Dan and others will be praying for you. Thanks for your witness. I to have been from a long line of Protestanism in my family. My Irish Grandmother is intrumental through my Father for me being Catholic otherwise I would have been raised probably Methodist like my other Grandmother and Mother. Or if my father was Protestant in his faith. Looks like the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways. Thank you my Lord Jesus Christ. May His Mother look over me. God Bless and praying for everyone.
Denny
2 years ago
Life starts at conception. I am Pro-Life. My entire family is pro-life. I read the sernon, and do not agree wit it. Then what should I expect in these times. Paul wrote that Statan and his followers know the scripture well. They have even seen the Lord. They will sit in Church with you, twist the scripture, and decieve many.

Make sure you accept Jesus as your Savior. He died on the Cross to save all Humanity. Including you and me. All we have to do is accept him as our Savior. My life changed after I accepted him as my Savior.
Dan
2 years ago
Christopher, Bulbajer, and anyone else in the conversation over the evil or good of Protestantism. I don't think anyone is calling all Protestants evil. Personally, my wife, many family members, and best friend are all Protestants. They are good people, in so far as anyone can be good, but that's not the point. The issue is with protestant doctrine. Protestantism is protestantism because, and only because, it rejects certain parts of the one true Faith given to us by our Lord through His Apostles, the Catholic Faith. It is, therefore, a moral evil. That does not mean that protestants are all bad people; it means that they have been deceived by the devil. You can sugar coat it any way you want, but to maintain a more positive attitude towards protestantism is to reject the Council of Trent and the Magesterium of the Church, something we as Catholics are not at liberty to do. I love my protestant wife, brothers, mother, and friends, but I pray for their souls and for their conversion to the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic faith.
Christopher J. England
2 years ago
First of all, thank you Jennifer for the article, this man who I will not call Reverend even in quotations is preaching the word of Satan, not God, and thanks to Catholic Online for this website, without which I would not hear about most of these things.

For those of you defending Protestants and saying they should not all be lumped together, I thank you. Some of us, while not seeing eye to eye on all issues with the Roman Catholic Church, still try to be faithful Christians.

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