As you're probably aware, many christians tend to take a dim view of homosexuality, often citing Leviticus 18:22 "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman
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That is a beautifully written letter - the author is a master of their craft!
I asked my Dad about this sort of stuff being in the bible some time ago. He's a minister with a Masters in Theology and a reasonable sense of humour, so I thought he might have an idea.
He suggested that there are 2 issues to consider. Firstly, that Leviticus is a legal tome of Orthodox Jewish law circa 4000BC. The 'New Covenent', forged by the Messiah did away with that, and there has never been the suggestion that christians of any mainstream denomination practice rabbical law - if so, no christian would eat bacon! Ergo - the laws in Leviticus should be considered by non-jews to be in the bible in their historical context only. For a start, most of the book refers to hygiene practices commensurate with a travelling people in a hot climate with no form of refrigeration.
Secondly, that rabbinical law was written by men. In the same way that many churches (some until quite recently) found it unacceptable for women to attend unless wearing hats, that is a rule or custom of organised religion, and is nowhere to be seen in the Bible. The same could be said for wearing a hijab in Islam - it's not in the Qu'ran, it's an ancient arabic tribal custom that has spilled over into religion.
If you want to really confuse the issue and play devil's advocate (and this is my Dad's favourite debating point when people get a little aggressive with their views) - homosexual people and homosexual acts are not the same thing - the bible talks about homosexual acts being forbidden, but Jesus calls upon us to love homosexual people - so therefore homophobic religious extremists are breaking their own God's laws.
Charley, I did wonder what response you'd give to this as you're a bit more knowledgable about this than me, mainly down to your dad. I did notice a lot of the bits about being "unclean" seemed to read like an ancient health & safety manual ;) Unfortunately, the view that this was over-ridden by the "New Covenant" isn't really followed by many of the fringe religious nutters who are all very good at their selective quoting of verses to suit their needs.
Yup - Leviticus is named after the Livites (they were literally the lawyers!). Ancient Hebrew law was solely religious law, and it does read like a Health and Safety manual. My Dad reckons that nearly everything in there has an explanation which makes a lot of sense given the time period, people involved and the location.
The Jewish people had been wandering in the wilderness, and had lost many people to slavery and the hardships of nomadic life. This would explain the negative attitude to homosexuality and masturbation (yup, there's rules in there about that, too!) as anything not geared to procreation did little to strengthen the race's survivability.
If you look at the rules concerning childbirth and menstruation in the context of field hygiene for a nomadic people in a hot climate, they make a fair amount of sense.
Ditto Kosher law. The main areas of keeping a Kosher diet (pork and shellfish) are two of the riskiest foodstuffs in a hot climate. Shellfish can be fatal if not perfectly fresh, and pork in many hot countries can be infected with a parasitic worm that is hard to kill even when cooking the meat well, for which there was no cure back then. That said, the same worm still kills people in third world countries today. I ay not be jewish, but I don't eat pork and shellfish outside western Europe and the USA even now.
The harsh punishments for crimes reflected most civilisations of the time (and much later), and the sacrificial rules would reflect most early religions.
It's interesting from a historical perspective, but it is around 6,000 years old. Jesus taught an end to a great majority of the law (which is what got him in so much hot water with the religious authorities of the day!), saying that there should be two rules:
1) Love the Lord your God 2) Love your neighbour as yourself
If you follow those, then you have to keep what we class as the laws of the land. If you love your neighbour, you won't steal from him, kill him, etc.
Of course, fringe religious nutters wouldn't like the idea that, by persecuting homosexuals ( or anyone else for that matter), they are disobeying God's commandment to love their neighbour. But then, they're nutters! Wow. I remember more than I thought I did!
I asked my Dad about this sort of stuff being in the bible some time ago. He's a minister with a Masters in Theology and a reasonable sense of humour, so I thought he might have an idea.
He suggested that there are 2 issues to consider. Firstly, that Leviticus is a legal tome of Orthodox Jewish law circa 4000BC. The 'New Covenent', forged by the Messiah did away with that, and there has never been the suggestion that christians of any mainstream denomination practice rabbical law - if so, no christian would eat bacon! Ergo - the laws in Leviticus should be considered by non-jews to be in the bible in their historical context only. For a start, most of the book refers to hygiene practices commensurate with a travelling people in a hot climate with no form of refrigeration.
Secondly, that rabbinical law was written by men. In the same way that many churches (some until quite recently) found it unacceptable for women to attend unless wearing hats, that is a rule or custom of organised religion, and is nowhere to be seen in the Bible. The same could be said for wearing a hijab in Islam - it's not in the Qu'ran, it's an ancient arabic tribal custom that has spilled over into religion.
If you want to really confuse the issue and play devil's advocate (and this is my Dad's favourite debating point when people get a little aggressive with their views) - homosexual people and homosexual acts are not the same thing - the bible talks about homosexual acts being forbidden, but Jesus calls upon us to love homosexual people - so therefore homophobic religious extremists are breaking their own God's laws.
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Charley, I did wonder what response you'd give to this as you're a bit more knowledgable about this than me, mainly down to your dad. I did notice a lot of the bits about being "unclean" seemed to read like an ancient health & safety manual ;) Unfortunately, the view that this was over-ridden by the "New Covenant" isn't really followed by many of the fringe religious nutters who are all very good at their selective quoting of verses to suit their needs.
Reply
The Jewish people had been wandering in the wilderness, and had lost many people to slavery and the hardships of nomadic life. This would explain the negative attitude to homosexuality and masturbation (yup, there's rules in there about that, too!) as anything not geared to procreation did little to strengthen the race's survivability.
If you look at the rules concerning childbirth and menstruation in the context of field hygiene for a nomadic people in a hot climate, they make a fair amount of sense.
Ditto Kosher law. The main areas of keeping a Kosher diet (pork and shellfish) are two of the riskiest foodstuffs in a hot climate. Shellfish can be fatal if not perfectly fresh, and pork in many hot countries can be infected with a parasitic worm that is hard to kill even when cooking the meat well, for which there was no cure back then. That said, the same worm still kills people in third world countries today. I ay not be jewish, but I don't eat pork and shellfish outside western Europe and the USA even now.
The harsh punishments for crimes reflected most civilisations of the time (and much later), and the sacrificial rules would reflect most early religions.
It's interesting from a historical perspective, but it is around 6,000 years old. Jesus taught an end to a great majority of the law (which is what got him in so much hot water with the religious authorities of the day!), saying that there should be two rules:
1) Love the Lord your God
2) Love your neighbour as yourself
If you follow those, then you have to keep what we class as the laws of the land. If you love your neighbour, you won't steal from him, kill him, etc.
Of course, fringe religious nutters wouldn't like the idea that, by persecuting homosexuals ( or anyone else for that matter), they are disobeying God's commandment to love their neighbour. But then, they're nutters!
Wow. I remember more than I thought I did!
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