Minnesota State University (MSU) professor Eric Sprankle recently received his 15 minutes of fame when he  tweeted that God impregnated, Mary, the mother of Jesus, without her consent. Similar to many provocateurs, Sprankle sent the tweet out purposefully during the Christmas season.

In his tweet, Sprankle wrote:

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. Happy Holidays.

— Eric Sprankle, PsyD (@DrSprankle) December 3, 2018

Apparently, Sprankle considers himself as an expert on sexuality and leads the Sexual Health Research Team at MSU and now he claims to be an expert on theology and the Bible as well.

Well, let’s take a closer look at Sprankle’s tweet. He describes God as “all-knowing,”  In theological terms, God is “omniscient” which mean He knows everything, past, present and future.

So if God is all-knowing, would He know if Mary would consent to being impregnated?

Obviously yes.

And that is exactly what happened in the birth story found in Luke. An angel showed up declaring that God had chosen her to be impregnated with Jesus. And when Mary asked how that was possible since she was still a virgin, the angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come upon her.

Hearing this explanation, surprise, surprise, Mary consented saying:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38 NIV)

Further, Mary thanks God for choosing her:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
 of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹  for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
 holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
 from generation to generation. (Luke 1:46-50 NIV)

Now, God would hardly be all-knowing, if He didn’t already know this.

But apparently Sprankle didn’t fully understand the definition of “all-knowing” that he used in his tweet. Considering that anyone with a basic understanding of the English language knows what the term means, should we expect the same from university professors?

Because of Sprankle’s tweet, some took it a step further stating that God raped Mary which suggests they have a twisted definition of rape.

I am not sure where Sprankle falls politically, but this is the typical nonsense being spewed by left-leaning (often communist) university professors who tend to have a very anti-Christian bend.

Fox News columnist Todd Starnes summed it up with a statement from Truett McConell University president Dr. Emir Cane who said:

“It comes as no surprise that a radical leftist professor with little knowledge of the Scripture would make such an imbecile statement. Welcome to the modern university system where statements easily demonstrated as false are now mainstream.”

Sources:

• Professor says God did not get Mary’s consent: ToddStarnes.com
• Backlash ensues after Minnesota State University professor tweets God ‘impregnated’ Mary without consent: Christian News