For a huge part of the world, the Bible is revered as a holy book, as the direct word of God. A large number of people in the United States claim to believe this, that the Bible is to be fully obeyed and lived by. This includes politicians, teachers and educators, clergy, policymakers, and citizens, all throughout the world and country. Unfortunately, a majority of this group have not read the book in full, or even at all. If they had, they might realize that this claim, that every word of the Bible is true and to be obeyed, is an extremely bold statement.
What does the Bible say about being gay?
Leviticus 20:13
“If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.”
As a whole Christianity is not fond of homosexuality. This is, however, with good reason. Right? The scripture is very clear. God has a plan for us when it comes to marriage, family, and love, that he describes to us in the Bible. Homosexuality, and sodomy, and those types of sexual morals are not in God’s plan for us.
Deuteronomy 22:23-24
“If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.”
Ephesians 6:5
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.“
Homosexuals are obviously not the only ones the Bible condemns. This kind of sexism, and this attitude towards slavery were typical of the cultures in which the Bible was written. This is not a reflection of God, but of society and the men it is composed of. Today, much of the homophobic population uses the Bible to justify their opinion of homosexuality, yet would be appalled to read the two passages above. This is so, because religion has very little to do with God. It is an expression of the culture, beliefs, and people which practice it.
Exodus 31:14
“‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.”
Let’s imagine a real world execution of this claim that the Bible is what God wants of us. We’ll start by executing everyone guilty of crimes which the Bible states are to punished with death. I’ll use some of the crimes compiled here.
– adultery
– blasphemy
– cities where a majority is not Christian
– cursing one’s parents
– ignoring the sentences of a judge or priest
– uncircumcised men
– sex during menstruation
– going to church whilst in a state of uncleanliness
We just executed most of the people on earth, maybe even every one of them. I, and perhaps you are as well, am dead, but we’ll keep going. We’ll continue by looking at some of the other things banned by the Bible. In this new system, we’ll have strict laws to prevent any violation of God’s wishes. In the new world, bacon is to be reviled, and the horrors of things like bacon vodka will be past occurrences one shudders when thinking about. Sex will be fiercely regulated: pulling out, condoms, or sex without the intention of creating life are to be prohibited. Third party participation, or large scale surveillance may be necessary. No more tattoos, shrimp cocktails, or gold earrings.
The Bible is a big book. But, making the laws and rules for our new society will be easy, because God’s word, as represented in the Bible, is perfect….right?
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”
Ecclesiastes 1:18
“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”
First Corinthians 1:19
“For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
I believe that calling it as such is blasphemy, but this is a blatant contradiction. To accept each as truth is fallacious.
When one looks closer at the Bible, it is full of contradictions. When one looks at it’s history, it has been used by humans to justify their crimes and evil countless times. It has also been used, however, by countless men and women as inspiration for self-improvement, generosity, and for selflessness. I call for all Christians to read the Bible at once, and see what messages it contains.
If God, whoever or whatever he is, is behind this text, I am certain that he is not the vengeful, jealous, hypocritical, misogynistic, hateful, murderous, racist bigot he is described to be. These adjectives hit the mark exactly when describing not God, but humans.
This stems back to the nature of religion: religion is not faith or God, but the way humans deal with these concepts. Just as the Bible was composed of the ideas, biases, and thoughts of men, so come religions and their teachings and organisations from the same human minds. God is a personal and mystical thing, deeper and more profound than human texts, institutions, and representatives.
Let us then definitively state: wherever, whatever, whoever God is, he is not represented by people, their words, and most of all, their hate and fear of others. That is not God. That which God created, he loves and cherishes exactly as they are.
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