“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; “(Psalms 139:14a NASV)

When God inspired  King David to write this verse, there was no asterisk or conditions attached. God said each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made.

It doesn’t matter what our family life was like. It doesn’t matter if you were born out-of-wedlock or conceived by rape, your circumstances do not decide your value. All of us are full of potential.

Therefore, it should not surprise us that the 2014 Miss Pennsylvania winner, Valerie Gatto, told the world she was conceived as a result of her mother’s rape. Ms Gatto, 24, will be participating in the Miss USA competition to be held on Sunday, June 8, 2014.

In an interview with Today.com, Miss Gatto said:

“I haven’t just been preparing for Miss USA for five months. It’s been my entire life. Being a child of a rape, not knowing who my father is, not knowing if he’s ever been found, most people would think it’s such a negative situation.

“I grew up with my mom and my grandparents. They never looked at it as something negative. I have a loving, supportive family who told me I could be the president of the United States.”

When Gatto’s mother, 19, was leaving her job in Pittsburgh, a man with a knife attacked and raped her. Fortunately, nearby traffic scared off the man dressed in black before he could inflict additional harm.

The abortion industry would consider Gatto’s mother a prime candidate for abortion, but God puts value on the human life no matter the circumstance of conception or background.

When as a young girl, Gatto asked about her father, her mother said:

“Something bad happened to me. A very bad man hurt me but God gave me you.”

Today, Valerie believes God has called her to share a message of hope:

“I believe God put me here for a reason: to inspire people, to encourage them, to give them hope that everything is possible and you can’t let your circumstances define your life.”

Was King David conceived in adultery?

But Gatto is not alone.

Psalm 139, cited at the beginning of this post, was written by King David. He wrote this verse with full knowledge of his own questionable birth.  In Psalms 51:5, David describes the circumstances behind his conception:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5 NASV)

While many use this verse to show man’s original sin nature, I don’t think this is what David was referring to. (I believe in original sin as many verses support it, Psalm 51:5 is just not one of them.)

When David says, “in sin my mother conceived me,” we need to take it literally — David was conceived through an act of sin, probably adultery. David’s father Jessee could have also had sex with another woman after his wife died, but other verses suggest adultery was the more likely reason.

While most Christian commentators use this verse to explain man’s sinful nature, many Jewish commentators say it describes the sinful circumstances of David’s conception. In Old Testament culture, this would have put a cloud over David’s life. But despite this David was God’s choice for King of Israel (1 Samuel 16).

The fact David was born through an act of sin explains many of the unusual circumstances in David’s life — read: King David’s big, dark secret.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if we were conceived through rape, adultery or out-of-wedlock, our value does not change in God’s eyes.

 

Read more:

• A ‘product of rape,’ Miss USA hopeful now educates on sexual assault: Today.com
• King David’s big, dark secret: Opentheword.org