I prefer not to delve in to personal beliefs on homosexuality or other people's personal beliefs on it. Believe whatever you want. I do have a problem, however, with people taking things out of context and trying to rationalize their personal beliefs that way.
On the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur, in the afternoon service, we read from Leviticus, Chapter 18. This is the section of the Torah (part of the old testament to Christians) that is most often quoted as showing what G-d thinks about homosexuality and how we should act towards it. Clearly the rabbis thought this was a very important section since it is read on such a holy day. The line that specifically speaks of homosexuality is:
18:22 Do not lie with a male as you would with a woman, since this is a disgusting perversion.
This clearly doesn't leave my wiggle room. Now, on the surface, it seems that what all of those preachers on TV are yelling about is correct, but look at the rest of the paragraph and you'll see that this sentence cannot be read alone. I'll highlight a passage I think is very interesting:
18:19 Do not come close to a woman who is ritually unclean because of her menstruation, since this is a sexual offense.
This verse is also very clear and gives very little wiggle room. I have never heard of any preacher disallowing this. How can someone be so incredibly passionate about one sentence and yet ignore other sentences just before it? It seems like those who preach so strongly against homosexuality need to either start preaching against sex during a woman's period until she has ritually bathed or they need to start viewing the bible as an entire, cohesive book. You cannot pick out the pieces you are passionate about and throw out the rest.
Now, I'm not saying I obey all the laws in the bible. VERY far from it. What I'm saying is that if you're going to use the bible as justification for ostracizing and hating a group of people, you need to also listen to everything else it has to say -- if not in the whole thing, at least take entire sections. Cherry picking sentences that fit your needs while ignoring others only shows a desire to prove ones point, not a desire to follow what you believe is the will of G-d. I know there are other passages that also speak of homosexuality, Wikipedia has an entire article on the topic, but this seems to be the one most often referenced and used.
Also, an interesting note: This passages specifically mentions men, not women. Like always, just something to think about. If I'm way off base here, tell me in the comments and I'll post updates and changes as necessary. I'm not a religion expert, just a casual observer.
1 comment:
In short, I agree. However, I think it is interesting that you don't see wiggle room in 18:22. I see the passage as incredibly vague. To be clear, I understand it in the way it is usually interpreted. However, I find it interesting that this passage is the one most often cited in arguments, because a literal reading of the text doesn't work; it is physically impossible to "lie with a male as you would with a woman" (unless we're talking about butt sex, but thats another issue...).
Also, you probably know this already, but I was told last week that the laws regarding sex apply to men not women, with I think only 2 exceptions. And so lesbians are completely ignored.
Well, now I feel like this whole comment sounds really dumb, even though I was all excited by your post. We've been discussing this, the vote, etc... a lot at work lately, so it has been on my mind quite a bit; I just seem to have done a very poor job of conveying those thoughts here...oh well!
Hope all is well with you. I'm in Dallas Monday night through Thursday morning, if you're around.
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