Category Archives: Definitions

Legitimate Rape?

Posted on by
Reply

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


What Do You Think? Wednesday
As a strong black woman I have had my own notions on what I believe should be: I believed that I would never get an abortion but others should have a right to one in all circumstances and that people should be able to express their sexual love to whomever they want. As I studied the Bible more my convictions changed. Now, as a recovering strong black woman, I no longer believe women should be able to have an abortion in all circumstances or that people should be able to express their sexual love to whomever they want. You can read in detail my views on abortion and homosexual here and here. Though my views are considered conservative, what I like to believe is that they have not been developed 1) based on my emotions or 2) to promote a political agenda by any means necessary. These two reasons—emotions and political agendas—seem to be the impetus behind liberals who seek to change the historical definition of marriage to include homosexual unions and conservatives, specifically Rep. Todd Akin and Republican vice presidential nominee, Rep. Paul Ryan, attempting to redefine rape.

When asked about his views on abortion in an interview Sunday on a local television interview, Akin, the Missouri congressman, said, “First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” What? He has since said that his remarks were “off the cuff” and that he “misspoke.” His latter statements are hard for me to believe when he and Ryan co-sponsored a bill in Congress to redefine rape as “forcible rape” when it relates to abortion. This was done to limit federal funding for abortions for rape victims. What? Ryan, the congressman from Wisconsin, has since said in an interview on a local CBS affiliate that “(r)ape is rape. Rape is rape, period. End of story.” His new view is hard for me to believe when he still says “I’m proud of my pro-life record, and I stand by my pro-life record in Congress,” which includes his ‘forcible rape’ legislation.

Rape, by definition, is forced and illegitimate. The developed phrases ‘forcible rape’ and ‘legitimate rape’ are by no means misspoken language. You misspeak when you say something “in a way that is inappropriate, inaccurate, or unclear” (Encarta Dictionary, emphasis mine). The term forcible rape suggests brutal rape, which suggests the term rape by itself is not brutal, and the term legitimate rape suggests some rape is appropriate or the violation has the right characteristics to be classified by using the word rape. There is no appropriate, accurate or clear way to express the ideas behind forcible rape and legitimate rape. These redefinitions of rape are intentional, malevolent and shameful. Yes, I am disgusted but certainly should not be surprised.

Humankind as an entity more concerned with its own agenda than God’s agenda will always espouse some view just as horrible as what Akin and Ryan have. Akin and Ryan’s language make clear that we need a nonpartisan, non-human agent, to arbitrate for us so we stay consistent in calling good ‘good’ and evil ‘evil.’ God, the only perfect and all-wise being, defines for us what is good and evil. When we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, one where we seek to please Him and not our strong black woman or any other human notions, we will work to steer clear from redefining what is clearly wrong and leave language up to the Ultimate Linguist.

You’ve read what I think. Please, tell me what you think about what Rep. Todd Akin and Rep. and Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan have said.

Let’s Do This!

Posted on by
Reply

Sometimes we don’t do what we know to do because we just don’t know how. Last year I presented a framework to help Christian women to go from calling ourselves strong black women (SBW) to some other name that reflected God. I didn’t have the name at the time, but I have since recognized that the acronym is still SBW, which stands for strong biblical women. I want to revisit that framework in this post because I recognize its structure is universal. You can use it to stop doing whatever wrong you’re doing and replace that with something righteous. Continue reading →

Freedom in Christ

Posted on by
Reply

There has been a lot talk about freedom this week. From rescuing Haitians from the ravages of their country to examining the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., freedom rings in my ears. Even though this freedom talk has been on a global scale, I haven’t been able to keep from thinking about what freedom means to me personally.

On Sunday, I couldn’t go to church. Joshua was sick. He had a cold and a hacking cough so we were homebound, keeping the church free of his germs. I was disappointed. I love my children and would do whatever I can to give them proper care, but this morning I wondered if my mothering had taken its toll, yet again.

I remember the poem I wrote and can now see that my focus has been on my strength instead of God’s strength to mother, and I realize this is so much larger than my failure to mother God’s way, but it is a failure to follow the freedom of Christ.

This is real freedom, when you lose your will and way and follow that of Jesus Christ. I once thought I was free when I was a rebel, saying and doing what I wanted with little regard to how others felt. I had loosed the will and ways others, but found I was lonely with this behavior. With friends not as daring, I was often alone with my maverick ways. Then I got older, and I realized that my choices of freedom always impacted someone else’s choices of freedom, often limiting them. Freedom has its limits. But if freedom has its limits, is freedom what it is designed to mean? Can there truly be self-determination, lack of restrictions, autonomy, or sovereignty when what we do and say restrict others, even ourselves?

    It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).

With the freedom of Christ, we are no longer obligated to develop processes and strategies but are free to follow in the path set before us. Walking outside of the freedom of Christ throws us back to the bondage of slavery—being a slave to ourselves and others, working hard against man’s intrinsic selfishness and rebellion that challenge our “freedom.” Freedom in Christ allows us the privilege of Jesus fighting for us when people come against our choice to serve Him (Romans 8:31).

Though I wonder if the definition of freedom needs to be altered the way we many times use it, I know that the freedom that Christ offers is unchanging. Our challenge—my challenge—is to give up our way to freedom and allow the freedom of Jesus Christ to have its way. Then and only then can we truly be free.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

The Favor of Humility

Posted on by
Reply

Many of us want to be blessed and highly favored, but just saying those words doesn’t mean that we are. God chose Mary, but the only way she was able to receive her blessing was because she submitted to God. And the only way she submitted to God was because she was humble. God has many blessings in store for us, but sometimes we forfeit them because we lack humility. I believe God wants to use us for singularly spectacular missions so that we can truly say we are blessed and highly favored beyond our position in Jesus Christ. But the only way God can use us is if we are humble like Mary:

We must 1) acknowledge God’s greatness and 2) understand His process like Mary did. In Luke 1:46-55, Mary acknowledged that God
1. is mighty
2. is holy
3. keeps his promises; and
she understood something about how he chooses people to bless beyond his daily mercies. In Mary’s own case, she said God regarded her low estate. She observed that he
4. debases the mighty;
5. exalts those of low degree;
6. is merciful to those that fear him;
7. helps those who serve him;
8. gives good things to the needy; and
9. denies those who are not in need.

I think seeing what Mary saw about God will guide us so we don’t expect God to bless us because we think we deserve it. The two main requirements for blessings from God that I see in this passage are humility and fear of the Lord. When we are humble, we will exalt God. When we fear God, we want to please him so we exalt Him. If we are truly humble and have fear of God, we can expect blessings because that’s what God promises (James 4:10). But doing what looks like humility and fear of God (to try to receive blessings) will only get us called out (Acts 8:9-23). As we know, we look at the outward appearance of things, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). So let’s take a lesson from Mary that we might humble ourselves, fear God and allow God to perform the details of giving us blessings. I believe there will be a lot more of us who will truly be able to say they are blessed and highly favored.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Blessed and Highly Favored, Part 2

Posted on by
4

In this day of social media, so many have begun to attract friends, fans and followers to promote themselves and their messages. In a more traditional way, telling people that you’re “blessed and highly favored” is about self promotion. We want people to look at us or to ask us questions to understand why we’ve used that phrase. But the term is almost exclusive and makes me wonder if we should use it at all.

In Scripture, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the only person who is called this because of the special grace shown to her to give birth to the Savior. And the only group of people who is called this is referring to Christians (Ephesians 1:6). So I believe to say this word about yourself because of how well things are going in your life is misplaced because the type of grace given to Mary to do what she did won’t happen to anyone else. I also think this phrase is empty because it applies to all Christians, conveying our position in Christ and not how we are doing (i.e., how we feel).

Whether or not we use the term “blessed and highly favored,” I still want us to consider the conditions surrounding Mary’s blessing that I believe we need to ponder when we receive “blessings.”

• God selected Mary (Luke 1:30).
• God chose the type of blessing she would receive (giving birth to Jesus, the Savior of mankind; Luke 1:31-32).
• God chose the method to administer the blessing (through the Holy Ghost; Luke 1:35).
• God decided when Mary should broadcast the blessing (after three months; Luke 1:56).
• God told her what her blessing was for (Luke 1:32-33).
• God did the work (Luke 1:37).

If we believe that God has selected us to receive a blessing, I think we ought to be clear that God indeed did select the type of blessing; that we allow Him to give it to us the way He wants to give it to us; that we should allow Him to tell us when and with whom to share it; that we make sure we handle the blessing the way God intends; and that we allow Him to bring our blessing to pass without interfering.

Many times we claim something we believe will make us “blessed and highly favored” that God has not chosen us to receive. But once we recognize the blessing that will come from Him, let’s not dictate to God how we want to receive the blessing (i.e., specifying the “perfect” time for it or how it—or he—should look) let alone start to pursue the blessing when He didn’t tell us to. Once we get the blessing, let’s make sure we share it with those that He tells us to, particularly those who can rejoice with us (Romans 12:15). And, finally, we need to make sure we handle the blessing the way He wants us to. Just because He gives us money doesn’t give us license to spend it how we want. We must seek God and not simply rest on being “blessed and highly favored.”

Remember, the material gain and positions you have or see others with may not be blessings from God but enticements from Satan to do his bidding (Luke 4:1-12). Everybody claiming to be “blessed and highly favored” is not “blessed and highly favored.” Just because fruit is born doesn’t mean that the fruit has come from the right tree (Matthew 7:17, 12:33). “Blessed and highly favored” was the mantle given to Mary because of her humility, and humility always brings exaltation (1 Peter 5:6).

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith