Take Another Look At Your Good Book

[Kalish]

I received an angry response to my recent column on gay marriage. The caller exploded with outrage that a minister of the Gospel would dare to endorse such a sinful lifestyle.

"Haven’t you read about the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Don’t you believe the Bible is the Word of God? What kind of minister are you?" She didn’t allow me to answer. She hung up.

snip

Homosexual behavior was not a big issue for the biblical writers. It is referred to only seven times in all of Scripture and nowhere in the four Gospels is it even mentioned. Not a single sentence from the lips of Jesus.

snip

We should be honest and give up the hypocrisy of claiming, "I am a biblical literalist," when really everyone is a selective literalist, especially those who swear by the anti-homosexual laws of the book of Leviticus and then feast on barbecued ribs and delight in watching the Super Bowl. For the literalist, the book of Leviticus says it is an abomination, not only to eat pork but merely to touch the skin of a dead pig.

http://www.sodomylaws.org/history/history10.htm

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Love those hit n run calls. She clearly didn't want a dialogue on the

subject. Her mind is already made up.

[arcane1]

2. I love that quote at the end

"When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and discharged me for loving one." William Sloan Coffin

[CJCRANE]

3. I'd like a "Meta-Bible" -

feed all the world's holy books into a supercomputer which synthesises all the good bits and leaves the rest out.

[Tux]

4. Mmmm

Neat project. Maybe DUers could do that and sell it through CafePress.

[tocqueville]

5. sodomy bad, incest good

"And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him.... And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father." Gen.19:30-36

[knitter4democracy]

6. That's part of the problem with people interpreting it themselves.

They pick and choose what they want to read and emphasize. It's enough for me that Jesus didn't talk about it when He surely knew of it--same as abortion. Given all the women he was friends with and all the men he spent time getting to know very well and all, you'd think He'd have said something if they really bothered Him.

[Enraged_Ape]

7. "Old Testament Christians"

That's my new term for these people. I was inspired by another thread today to use this term from now on.

"Old Testament Christian" is about as much an oxymoron as "Compassionate Conservatism" or "Excellence in Broadcasting", yet it describes these nuts to a T. Their brand of Christianity bears absolutely ZERO resemblance to the teachings and life of Jesus. It's like they've entirely torn the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John out of their Bibles. They've selectively picked little passages out of the Old Testament to fit their diseased little world views. It's sad.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

8. I call them Old Covenanters

My understanding is that on Maudy Thursday at the Passover Supper (the Last Supper) a new covenant was implemented with the Apostles.

This is when Jesus commanded us to love God above anything else and to love our neighbor's as we love ourselves. I call myself a NEW COVENANT CHRISTEN.