Scriptural teaching. Really?

        As a preface, this was posted to facebook as a response to an article by a fine young man urging gay bashers to stop using the Bible while,  of course,  using the Bible to justify his position. This was my response:

Another, perhaps even more rational, approach would be to simply put all Biblical issues in the context of the oral tradition (writ much later) of a relatively small group of Semitic tribesmen, which has no more or less relevance to the modern world than the Ramayana, the Analects, the Avesta, Dhamapada, or the Book of Mormon (just kidding on the last one).  This is to say that every significant sized  group of like minded people have evolved guidelines for civil coexistence. Almost all have a creation myth, although Christianity smugly calls theirs the Creation Story! Most of these groups have also evolved oral traditions (if they lived pre-writing) some of which include a supernatural "enforcer" to make sure everyone behaves.  This ranges from the God of the Hebrews who blithely  orders or suborns (among other atrocities): cannibalism ( De 28:53), slavery (Ex 21:5-6), Hatred of parents (Luke 14:26), Mass murder (numerous, notably Sam 6:19 and Josh 8:1),  and  abortion (num 5:1-25) to the great flood in Gilgamesh (probably the source of the Hebrew flood "story." 

               I know, I know, but all that changed with Jesus. Yes, the tone did, but the reality of oral tradition, written many years (45 at the earliest, more like 100 plus) later is that much of what is attributed to the actual words of Jesus can't possibly be. Who took notes in the Garden of Gethsemane? The apostles were sleeping, remember?  Much of the mean spiritedness toward women derived by the early Church and justified as being "scriptural" is merely the dogma of Paul, not the philosophy of Jesus.
                The simple truth (far too simple for those who need  their religion with a touch of hocus pocus, fire, brimstone, judgement  and magick) is that you  can believe in the supernatural nature of your religion if it gets you through the night; or you can look to the logic of these general rules for group behavior and coexistence if that floats your boat.  After all, the "Golden Rule," of which Christians are so proud and possessive  appears in the Analects of Confucius at least 650 years before Christ. Heck, a version of it even appears on the remnants of Hammurabi's code of laws ca 1600 BCE.  Buddha's fingerprints are also all over it.
                Here's a hot  flash:  neither the  Buddha or Jesus is ever quoted or attributed as even having an opinion on sexuality, other than the Buddha's abjuration against forced sex and advocacy of equality for women. Mary Magdalene, in several of the Nag Hammadi Gospels (the ones the Council of Nicaea decided you shouldn't be allowed to  read)  is referred to as " the one (of the apostles) Jesus loved the best"  and the "one he kissed on the mouth."   So any real "Christian" point of view on sexuality, is dogma, derived from Paul  the misogynist and the old men who seized power in the late 300s AD after Christianity became sponsored by the Roman Empire.

                So if you still hate gays for "scriptural" (Old Testament) reasons, be prepared to swallow a lot of unpleasant things  that go along with it. Don't work that Sunday shift, sell your daughter into slavery, kill your neighbor if he mows the yard on Saturday, dash an infant's brains out (Psalms), don't eat the shrimp or lobster on the seafood buffet and the biggest laugh of all for all you nose picking, semi literate, cousin marrying members of the Westboro Baptist fan club - Lay off the ribs, because the Devil's in the pork. The other option, of course is be a rational human being and use the brain you've evolved. And I do believe that's all I have to say about that.