Support Your Local Pharisee

 

I Wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper, published Sunday, regarding the lack of real mention (except  Leviticus) of either Homosexuality and abortion in the Bible, as a way of addressing the "Christian Voter Guides" being handed out at some churches. Two letters were printed this am attacking my point of view. The expanded text of my original letter has already been posted on my blog here previously and this expanded today:

                        

My response to these (which I am sure will not be printed) is below.

        Letters to the Daily Sun of 10/16/2012 exemplify  exactly that of which I  was critical in my letter of 10/16/.  None of the abjurations against "murder" in the Old Testament  can be linked to abortion except by implication on the part of the biased reader.  This is a modern interpretation to suit one's predetermined point of view, which is the same procedure by which slavery was "justified by scripture" in the antebellum period, while others used scripture to condemn it. By the same leap of illogic, these same persons assume that if someone points out lack of specific  writing against a point of view, they must favor that point of view, again an error of illogic.

      No ethnologist  or cultural anthropologist would argue that pregnancies have not been intentionally terminated by various means from the beginning of time.  My point was that if this was a moral issue for the Hebrews, it seems  it should be  specifically addressed in scripture, since  every other aspect of human existence is.  It is not.

    Similarly, I correctly stated that references to homosexuality were absent from most of the Bible- a true statement. Where the "death penalty" is referenced in Leviticus, there are numerous other prohibitions,  which modern Christians ignore (killing those who work on the Sabbath, selling daughters into slavery, for example). This "pick and choose" approach implies other reasons which the reader is trying desperately to justify, using religion to legitimize the prejudice. The one writer who mentions homosexuality in the New Testament, as I made clear, was the  Apostle Paul and he refers negatively to "homosexual prostitution" using  an archaic Greek  word, but in the same letter condemns prostitution generally.  At  no time did I  imply that the Bible  is pro homosexuality, since I write factually.  I said it was mostly silent on the subject, which indicated the same lack of real concern on the matter as is the case with abortion.

            As to my original comments regarding the lack of concern shown for the poor and disadvantaged in these voter guides. One writer actually included two verses which, according to him, imply that it's ok to help the poor, but only if you want to.

     This is a prime example of the "have it both ways" approach to the Bible as practiced by the Evangelical Right. I find it ludicrous that an obscure passing reference in Levitcus should become law in the eyes of these people while  topics which receive  much more textual consideration should be ignored. I wait for the day when James Dobson, Donald Wildmon, Fred Phelps and the rest of the lunatic right command the true believers to follow Hebrew dietary law, stone adulteresses, sell their daughters, sacrifice goats, and all the rest of the law, which by the way, if you are a Christian, you should probably believe was superseded by Jesus' teachings anyway. I leave the literalists with these:

1 John 3:17 But if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won't help him--how can God's love be within him ?

 1 John 3:18 Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions.

 1 John 3:19 Then we will know for sure, by our actions, that we are on God's side, and our consciences will be clear, even when we stand before the Lord.

And especially for the zealots who eschew all others, believing  that Paul is the real voice of Christianity check these out:

1 Tim. 6:17 Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

 1 Tim. 6:18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them.

 1 Tim. 6:19 By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven--it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well.

And finally, quoted from Jesus:

Luke 14:12-14 He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Luke 11:39-42 Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God.

So take the voter guides and support your local Pharisees.