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Aussie Salvo says "Don't blame the Bible"

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OutPentecostal
 
Joined in 2006
November 16, 2007, 06:56

by Jason Davies-Kildea


Some thoughts on using the Bible to maintain prejudice…

I love the Bible. I know how that sounds, but it’s true. In the first couple of years after I became a Christian, I read the Bible from cover to cover three times and the New Testament an extra four times for good measure. I’m now quite a few years older, have studied the scriptures formally at a post-graduate level (in Greek and Hebrew) and I still immerse myself in the Bible for hours every week.


So, although I know that I shouldn’t, I can’t help but be somewhat annoyed when people try to tell me what ‘the Bible says’ – particularly when it’s to try and bolster their own prejudices.


Unfortunately, our holy scriptures have been used in this degrading way for centuries. The crusaders used them to justify violence against Muslims. The Bible was quoted to justify ‘divinely-appointed’ slavery for black people only a few decades ago. Scripture is still used in many churches to keep women subordinate to men and to justify discrimination and vilification against gay and lesbian people.


Let’s look at the some of the problems with using the Bible to justify homophobia as an example…


The first problem with using the Bible in this way is that it usually doesn’t take into account the literary or cultural contexts of the text. For instance, I would agree that the story of Sodom’s depravity in Genesis 19 is a shocking one – but not that it reflects any kind of biblical mandate about homosexuality.


In this story, the men of the city of Sodom come to Lot’s door demanding that he hand over to them two male guests from his house; the story is about the evil of gang rape, not about sexual orientation. And if you think that’s twisted, consider Lot’s response: offering the mob his two virgin daughters instead of his houseguests. This isn’t the kind of story that translates easily into modern western culture and it’s certainly not one that we can use to exemplify patterns of moral behaviour.


We know that the biblical authors wrote with a vastly different scientific understanding than what we now possess. We no longer presume a three-tiered universe where heaven sits just above the clouds and hell can be reached if you dig deep enough into the earth. We also recognise that homosexual orientation is not simply the result of moral recalcitrance.


The Salvation Army’s own positional statement reminds us that a ‘disposition towards homosexuality is not in itself blameworthy nor is the disposition seen as rectifiable at will’. As far as we can tell, a person’s sexual orientation is, in most cases, something they are born with – whether homosexual or heterosexual.


The Bible continues to speak deeply to many of us about humanity’s ongoing struggle to understand life in the light of an experience of the divine. However, we cannot expect the ancient communities that produced our scriptures to comment transparently on every modern issue, regardless of the distance in time, culture and knowledge.


In addition to condemning male homosexual behaviour (nowhere in the Bible is lesbian behaviour condemned), the book of Leviticus prohibits the eating of any kind of pig’s meat, enforces the social exclusion of people with skin problems like eczema and tells us that both sex and menstruation make us ritually unclean before God. We need to be aware of the temptation to pick and choose what we want to believe from the Bible.


The fact is that the Bible says less about homosexuality than it does about wrongdoing in heterosexual relationships, and it says less about sex altogether than it does about much more significant issues like the abuse of power, the oppression of the poor and the miscarriage of justice. If we are really serious about Christian morality, we need to be very careful about how we use the Bible.


So, if you must continue your prejudice, admit what it is for yourself – and don’t blame the Bible.


Article may be read in context online at http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/brunswick/theological_forum_5.asp



cam_from_aus
 
Joined in 2007
November 16, 2007, 17:13

Well, there you go, the Bible is nothing more than a book of different men’s points of view.


I’m curious, are there passages anywhere which do encourage love and possibly sex between two people of the same sex? Or would it have been censored in the middle ages by queen Victoria?


I personally place no faith whatsoever in the bible, because, word of God or not, it was written by men. Bigotted, angry, biased men.



OutPentecostal
 
Joined in 2006
November 16, 2007, 17:45

well cam, we’re certainly each entitled to a point of view. as long as we are not bigoted, angry, biased men then we can live respecting one another’s rights.


i think you’ve made a great point. by the time people put their own bias into bible translations, it could seem to say anything at all.



cam_from_aus
 
Joined in 2007
November 16, 2007, 17:52

well cam, we’re certainly each entitled to a point of view. as long as we are not bigoted, angry, biased men then we can live respecting one another’s rights.


Too right. I’m not religious and don’t understand people who are devout, but I would never ever disrespect them for that. They’d need to give me a real reason to think they were a twerp. hehehe



OutPentecostal
 
Joined in 2006
November 16, 2007, 18:03

lol. i’d love to meet you some time. sounds like you’ve got a lot of experience to share. 🙂



Sandy
 
Joined in 2007
November 16, 2007, 18:10

There are three sides to every story, your side, their side and the truth. – Anon.


Applies to the biblical story more often than not too.



cam_from_aus
 
Joined in 2007
November 16, 2007, 18:16

Sadly, some people think that their side and the truth are the same.


Lets face it, for all we really know, Jesus was just a madman with a cult following. Of course, I guess that if that were so, he’d have been burned at the stake or something…. Wait a minute… Wasn’t Jesus crucified? mmmm… interesting…. 😛



Sandy
 
Joined in 2007
November 16, 2007, 19:33

well of course people believe their side of the story is true… The very definition of belief dictates that you consider something to be truth, I bet you can’t think of one thing that you belive that you dont necessarily think is true.



cam_from_aus
 
Joined in 2007
November 16, 2007, 19:37

Well…… no, I can’t. LOL.



Sandy
 
Joined in 2007
November 16, 2007, 20:29

😆 I love it when people admitt I’m right, doesn’t happen a whole lot on this site.


I think the anon quote is good to have in the back of your mind anyway, it has prevented me from getting up on my soapbox many a time. Though the other 645 345 282 times my auidence was not so lucky.


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