Monday, July 18, 2011
DESMOND CYRIL
The first instance they give in the bible is John 8:7, that, “……He that is without sin let him be the first to cast a stone at her”. This in other words for them, means homosexuals should be given a room to live a free life.
My response to this obnoxious and deficient interpretation of the bible is that Jesus did prevent Mary Magdalene from being stoned, but it doesn’t mean he condoned her sin, Jesus told her, “go and sin no more”. ‘This should be clear to any student of the Bible that Jesus didn’t condemn her but obviously frowns on her sins. Jesus did not create a platform for her to continue her evil ways as how these so called churches who have started ordaining gay priests and solemnizing unions have sought to create.
Perhaps Luke 15:7 was referring to this churches (I’m not saying this as a matter of fact but a mere suggestion as a student of the Bible) when it said “you hypocrites, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you….. These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me, their teachings are but rules thought by men”.
Further, they (those Christians who espouse homosexuality) argue that most of the castigations and apparent detests against homosexuality were instances in the Old Testament of the Bible. In essence, according to them, if certain practices like an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a woman caught in an of adultery should be stoned to death etc. are no more tenable, then it’s prudent to suggest that homosexuality is acceptable since Jesus himself said he had redeemed us from the curse of the Law. They quote incessant scriptures to buttress their point, which I’ve painstakingly researched and listed below.
- DEUTERONOMY 22:13-21
If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately. - DEUTERONOMY 22:22
If a married person has sex with someone else's husband or wife, the Bible commands that both adulterers be stoned to death. - MARK 10:1-12
Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments, as is remarriage of anyone who has been divorced. - LEVITICUS 18:19
The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman's period. If they disobey, both shall be executed. - MARK 12:18-27
If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir. - DEUTERONOMY 25:11-12
if a man gets into a fight with another man and his wife seeks to rescue her husband by grabbing the enemy's genitals, her hand shall be cut off and no pity shall be shown her.
They cite these quotations as evidence that the above practices, though in the Bible are presently unacceptable reiterating Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, stating , “Christ has redeemed us form the curse of the Law”(Galatians 3:13).
Indeed their arguments are somehow sound, and logically deductive. Their fundamental flaws on these issues are their inability to deduce the interrelationship between the Old Testament and New Testament. Facts being that any law in the Old Testament, which was no longer necessary were adequately “amended” by Jesus, he talked about vengeance, swearing, adultery, murder etc. In those instances where instant justices were meted out, Jesus clearly showed a way. For instance Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, he should be forgiven unlike the Old Testament's teaching of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye.
Never in the Bible did Jesus affirm the perversely, illicit and stupendous act of Homosexuality. He provided we sinners the option to change and offered himself for our ultimate salvation; he loved sinners but hates sin. He never condoned any act of sin.
Apparently, Homosexuality not by my own convictions but based on the Bible is just not right. It’s wrong and needs to be corrected. This is not a matter of human rights. Should it then be that people who are predisposed to commit adultery, rape, incest, arm robbery and all soughts of unscrupulous behaviors be allowed because it’s an instinctual characteristic of them? If such are not allowed, then why do we condone this attitude of homosexuality even in churches to the extent of ridiculous same sex marriages?
I do not subscribe to chasing them out or sacking them from the churches, (of course Jesus didn’t condemn Mary Magdalene but offered her the option of salvation) rather, such people should be counseled to eschew their “unnatural instincts” and reprimanded. Indeed in Luke 17, the bible says “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come but woe to that person through whom they come…….if a brother sins, rebuke him and if he regrets, forgive him”.
To be contd..........in part 3..................................................................................
