Well, it’s time to wrap up the Brock-related portion of our program. Ready?
1) About a week ago, Brock Sund, an acquaintance, posted that Leviticus 20:13 taught that homosexuality was a sin. I took him to task for this, using context, language, and logic to demonstrate that:
– the verse in question never uses the word sin
– the term the verse does use, “abomination,” refers to ritual uncleanness
– the verse itself, in context, is part of a bizarre Levitical holiness code levying strange restrictions on diet (ixnay on the impshray … and no pork, either), personal appearance (no clothing made of two fabrics, and no tatoos), and labor (no travel, work, or baking on Saturday).
As a code, it must be embraced or rejected completely; if we are to be consistent, honest, and responsible students of the Scriptures, we cannot base conclusions on one or two verses, yanked out of context.
Confronted with the truth about Leviticus 20:13, Brock continued to insist homosexuality was sinful — but failed to produce any Scriptures to support and prove his claim. Instead, he concluded:
I do agree with you that people read into scripture differently.
I’d take this a step further, Brock. To be more precise:
– Some people actually read the Scriptures … in context, with a goal of discovering as much as possible about what the Scripture actually says.
– Others, as Brock so aptly phrased it, “read into [the] Scripture” what they want to see there. This is either out of ignorance (some people wouldn’t know what context was if it walked up and bit them on the bottom) or by design (all to many people have drawn their conclusions, they’ve got an agenda, and they’re only looking for Scriptures that will confirm their conclusions).
To Brock’s credit, I think (based on conversations with his friends and our private email messages) that his heart is in the right place. Unfortunately, Brock and, in all likelihood, his church and the seminary he hopes to attend are very much in the second camp.
So what to take from this encounter? These things, I hope:
Be aware of the difference between Scripture and Scrapture. Folks reading Scripture will talk about about context, about what a passage meant to the original audience, about language and culture, and how a particular passage might be read with widsom and compassion.
By contrast, folks reading Scrapture (tiny pieces of Scripture, cobbled together) will state their claims and then site verses (or even fragments of verses) out of context to suppot those claims. They will suggest that “the Bible says what it says” and “anyone can understand the plain language of the Bible” as a way of suggesting that history, language, culture, and scholarship have no light to shed on the Scriptures. (They have to do this, because they know little or nothing about language, culture, or scholarship.)
In one of Brock’s posts, he worried that my talk of Scrapture was blashpemous. Nah — I’m just calling something what it is. The blasphemy, Brock, is in the doing.
Be aware that “taking the Bible at face value” can cause problems. Anyone who denies he or she interprets the Bible as he or she reads it is either ignorant or dishonest. Anyone who insists every word of the Bible should be taken literally and obeyed without concern for context should go read Mathew 27:5 (“And Judas went away … and hanged himself”) immediately followed by Luke 10:37 (“…go thou and do likewise”).
Be wary of anyone who wants to manage your relationship with God for you. Your spiritual status is yours and yours alone to manage. What Brock thinks about it, what I think about it, and what your Pastor thinks about it doesn’t matter one whit. Jesus warned religious leaders of his day to get out of the business of “guarding the doors of the kingdom” … and wise men follow this advice today. No human being has any business critiquing anyone’s spiritual standing … except his or her own. (And that should keep you busy enough!)
Food for thought. Meantime, if, as a result of reading this, you’re better equipped to handle the next person who steps up and tries to whack The Gays over the head with Leviticus 20:13, then I’ll feel our investment of time and energy has been worthwhile.
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