AFTER A WEEK OF ADOLESCENT SUICIDES, THIS IS THE WAY I SEE IT... Through a Glass DarklyI grew up in a family where The Holy Bible was handled with special reverence. Other books or magazines or papers were never placed on top of the Bible. Care was taken not to drop it. I can say honestly that I love the Bible. I like to read it. It is an absolutely amazing collection of writings.
BUT THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, as Desi famously said to Lucy, has “got some ‘splainin’ to do.” How do we explain to someone outside the Christian community why church pastors and lay people do not loudly proclaim their disagreement with the “laws of God” found in the Bible which call for outrageous, horrible penalties like stoning? How can they step gingerly around those issues? It is not so difficult to explain Fred Phelps to people outside the Christian community because he so obviously irrational; but how do we explain the vocal preachers in the fundamentalist camp continuing to insist that a major test of faith is belief that THE WHOLE BIBLE, every word, every jot and tittle, is the inspired Word of God to be followed to the letter of the law? Do we assume, as non-Christians surely do, that the people who represent Christianity actually read and understand the texts? How do we explain that more than half the Christians in the world believe there is no error in Scripture? What kind of mental trick are pastors playing on themselves and passing along to their congregations that makes it possible for them to say with straight faces that compliance is demanded by God?
I am guessing that the majority of the people in America who call themselves Christians don’t actually know what Old Testament laws require. The directions, the dos and don’ts, are very clear. For example, the Bible says that if a woman fails to bleed onto a white bed-sheet on her wedding night, she should be stoned to death. And if it happens that the man she married simply doesn’t like her, and it can be proven that she actually was a virgin when they married, he is required to pay a fine to her parents for falsely accusing her, and he must take her back, and she is required to continue to be his wife.
“If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity," then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. The girl's father will say to the elders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. --Deuteronomy 22: 13-21
Skipping church (or, actually, working on the Sabbath (Saturday?): Exodus 35:2... “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death.”
Adultery: Leviticus 20:10... If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife--with the wife of his neighbor-- both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
Some of the other offenses that require the death penalty: Bestiality (Exodus 22:19); Blasphemy (Leviticus 24:10-16); Defying the Law of God (Numbers 15: 30-31); defying parents (“Anyone who attacks his father or his mother must be put to death. Exodus 21:15); eating fat or blood (Leviticus 78:22-27); false prophets (Deuteronomy 13:1-18); homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13); Idolatry (Exodus 22:20, Leviticus 20:1-6); Incest (Leviticus 20:11-12, 14, 17, 19-21); Kidnapping (Exodus 21:16); Murder (Genesis 9:5-6 Exodus 21:12-14, Leviticus 24:17,21); Rape (Deuteronomy 22:25-27); Sex during Menstruation (Leviticus 20:18); Wizards and Witches (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 20:6, 27).
The majority of Christians pay little attention to most of the Old Testament codes for living in community, but they continue to treat the troublesome passages with reverence because they are part of the Bible. Some Christians single out something like homosexuality and declare it to be an important “law of God” which must be obeyed while ignoring other prohibitions. Some Christian scholars make an attempt to understand and explain the laws in their historical context. A few folks insist that a Christian must obey “a law of God” no matter how egregious it may seem, and some others believe that reverence for the whole Bible as absolute truth is an absurd response to absurd laws.
So what does the responsible person do? Regardless of what the Bible says should be done, how about trying the “do no harm” rule, the “do unto others” ideal that Jesus seems to have promoted. For example, how about encouraging people not to say or do anything that may reinforce a gay person’s loathing and fear of his own nature. Don’t remain silent and avoid doing what should be done to stop bullying. Don’t ignore the self-loathing of any person, especially any adolescent. Be conscious of the fact that a gay kid may become convinced that God hates him/her because of the way the church and parents tacitly signal their belief in the rightness of the Levitical “law of God” regarding homosexuality. Be aware that if he/she commits suicide, the church is culpable and all of who embrace it are culpable. If any person becomes lost in despair because the church implies that the “law of God” as described in the Old Testament is God’s wish for mankind, then the church is culpable. The pastor or other church leader who declines to declare that the Biblical law condemning homosexuals makes no sense is culpable.
I continue to expect the church to be the moral compass for the community. When it is not, it has lost its reason for being.
3 comments:
Wow, I have to brush up on my old testament, that's some crazy stuff.
Lots of "stoning" and "put to death" going on.
I would have loved to have read your posts concerning the....um....indiscretions, of some of the Catholic priests (63 in my area) that were in the news a few years ago.
The phenomenon of Bullying is such an evil part of human tendencies. Some people, both male and female, just feel the need to attempt to elevate their own status by stepping on weaker persons or those perceived "different" from the "norm".. I had some of that experience in elementary school as a poor kid from a broken home. I had no male to help me figure things out. Any efforts to stop bullying are a good thing. As usual, parents are often at the root of the problem.
RD
Now my question is this: What goes into helping a person be compassionate rather than hateful and judgmental? Whether it is in the field of religion or politics or science, does education help or is it something of the spirit that has nothing to do with education?
DA
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