By Peyton Majors
Christian Action League
January 27, 2023
A North Carolina resident sparked a lively Internet debate in recent days when he suggested, in a letter to the editor, that state Attorney General Josh Stein should read his Bible before disagreeing with Christians on the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.
The letter to the editor by Gastonia, N.C., resident Rick Slate was published by the Gaston Gazette under the headline, “NC Attorney General Josh Stein should read his Bible.” It led to dozens of comments around the web on sites that re-posted it.
Slate said he was responding to remarks by Stein, a Democrat who said in a Jan. 18 news release that he was running for governor. “Some politicians want to tell you who you should hate, when you’ll be pregnant, and who you can marry,” Stein said.
“I agree with Mr. Stein, no politician should tell people what to do in these areas,” Slate said. “The only person qualified to instruct here is the One who created all people — God.”
Slate, in his letter to the editor, then discussed what the Bible says on life and marriage.
“[T]he question is, ‘What does God say about pregnancy?’” Slate wrote. “To the prophet Jeremiah, God said, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations’ (Jeremiah 1:5). God ascribed personhood to Jeremiah ‘before’ He formed him in his mother’s womb — ‘I knew you’… ‘before I formed you.’ And in addition to God taking full credit for having ‘formed’ Jeremiah, He goes on to say He gave Jeremiah his call to be a prophet while he was in his mother’s womb — ‘before you were born’ – which indicates the sanctity of a child in his/her mother’s womb.
“So, Mr. Stein,” Slate wrote, “God assumes authority over ‘when you’ll get pregnant’ and affirms the unborn as humans to be cherished and protected, not discarded and aborted. Your beef is not with a politician who affirms this position but with God who ‘forms’ every unborn child (Psalm 139:13).”
Slate then discussed the Bible’s teaching on marriage.
“To your second point, ‘What does God say about marriage?’ Jesus is very clear — ‘From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave His father and mother and the two shall become one flesh…’ (Mark 10:9),” Slate wrote. “Jesus taught that marriage is between two distinct genders — male and female. Again, you are directing your criticism to the wrong person on this issue. Jesus explicitly states ‘who you can marry.’”
If Attorney General Stein has a problem with what Christians believe about abortion and marriage, then the A.G. should take it up with God, Slate asserted.
“When you say, Mr. Stein, some politicians tell a person who he/she should hate and follow this with comments about pregnancy and marriage, what you are saying is people who affirm the sanctity of the unborn and disagree with marriage between a male and female are promoting an agenda of hatred toward those are pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ,” the Gastonia resident wrote. “Read your Bible. What you are really saying is what the Bible and Jesus say about abortion and homosexual marriage is hate speech.”
Slate concluded, “Jesus was explicit. ‘If you love Me, you will keep My commandments’ (John 14:15). If you don’t affirm and keep Jesus’ commandments and assail those who do, what does this say about how you feel about Jesus? Or to use your term, do you love Him or ‘hate’ Him?”
Dr. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina, applauded Slate for his letter to the editor, saying it’s the “kind of cultural engagement that is needed by citizens of faith” in order to stand for what’s right.
The letter was applauded in online forums, too.
“Thank God for you and for bringing the Word of God to this situation,” one commenter on the Newsbreak app wrote. “God is never wrong,” another person wrote. “Read the Bible and believe it.”