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We began to stir against slavery. Hearts grew soft, here, there, and yonder. There was no place in the land where the seeker could not find some small budding sign of pity for the slave. No place in all the land but one—the pulpit. It yielded at last; it always does. It fought a strong and stubborn fight, and then did what it always does, joined the procession—at the tail end. Slavery fell. The slavery text remained; the practice changed, that was all.”
– Mark Twain
Here we are again, the church at the tail end of a fight for human rights, human dignity, and tolerance. The president came out in support of gay marriage. In response, a pastor in his pulpit declares before a cheering crowd that parents should punch young boys who exhibit feminine traits. From another pupit, a pastor suggests a final solution to homosexuality by keeping gay men and women in electrically fenced ghettos. And this week – the coup de gras: a pastor in front of his entire church called for the United States government to execute all homosexuals per Leviticus 20:13.
How, in any way possible, is this OK?
Just because the Bible said it, doesn’t make it right. I wish Bibles came with a warning label: “READ WITH EXTREME CAUTION. REQUIRES THE USE OF CONTEXT AT ALL TIMES. INTERPRET ONLY IN GROUP SETTINGS. IF DISCERNING THE MIND OF GOD BY USING THIS BOOK, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN PERIL.”
The Bible contains a lot of horrifying stories and precepts for which, if we practiced them today, we’d be incarcerated. Let’s consider Jepthah, who made a rash promise to God to make a burnt sacrifice of the first thing he saw if he returned from battle victorious. Unfortunately for him, he saw his daughter first. Unfortunately for her, he kept his promise.
Or Tamar, who is left a widow and childless – meaning certain starvation unless a male from her husband’s family is willing to take her into his home. No one steps up. So she becomes a prostitute, tricks her father-in-law into sleeping with her, becomes pregnant by him, and is almost burned to death for whoring around. That is until she reveals the father of the baby. And then it’s OK. Riiiiiggggghhhhttt—–
There are more offensive stories that I care to explain in the Old and New Testaments about women thrown out to marauding crowds as sex bait, prophets calling she-bears out of the forest to eat insulting children, and couples killed instantly by an angry apostle for not giving all their money to the church.
At the time these stories were recorded, they made perfect sense. There are cultural, societal, and historical contexts from which these stories come and in which they are understood. But when we read them in our day and our age, they don’t seem to apply. And yet….
The Bible is the rule of the Christian faith. As a church, we decided to make it such in the fourth century. The Bible contains stories, poems, and edifications that connect our tradition together. We share them and claim them as our own, across different cultures and many centuries. The job of scriptural interpretation is to unlock the meaning of scripture in its time and place so it can be applied in our time and place. A passage that may seem obvious in meaning to anyone who can read, isn’t so obvious when placed it the context from whence it came.
Such is the case with the much-maligned Leviticus – or any of the seven Biblical passages that specifically deal with homosexuality. The context for all of these passages suggests something other than two men in a loving committed relationship such as we have today. (Women are never mentioned.) The context suggests rape, pedophilia, temple prostitution, and idolatry. But you’d never know that just by reading the verses. All the important stuff that color these words are locked away in the context. One has to dig.
Sadly, there are folks who find digging and discovery a distraction from how the church has traditionally interpreted scripture. It’s not just laziness, it’s fear and that fear is dangerous. Fear of the stranger, the other, the different one has landed the human race in more trouble than I can broach here. Think Japanese internment camps, McCarthy witch hunts, race riots, violence against women, and the AIDS epidemic.
The church also has a long history of using scripture to justify exclusion, enslavement, repression, and marginalization for self-serving purposes. Similar scriptures were used to support and encourage slavery. They were used to bolster Jim Crow. Scripture was waved with the American flag to oust Native Americans from their territories and take their land. It was and is still used as an excuse for women to endure abusive husbands, give up control of their reproductive abilities, deny their skills and talents, and opt out of participating in our democracy.
Yes, I have trust issues with the church. My faith is the foundation upon which I base my life and in which I place my hope. So, I have a right to take issue with anyone who speaks for God in selfish and hurtful ways. And because I have the tools, I have an obligation to dig when they won’t.
I don’t pretend that I’ll convince those who disagree with gay rights to change their minds. I could prove the scriptural context is misunderstood. I could show the Greek and Hebrew translations are misinterpreted. I could point out that there is no reference at all in the Bible to lesbianism. I could even demonstrate the hypocrisy for applying context to passages only a few verses away which deal with menstruation, eating shellfish, shaving a beard, and ordering a steak medium-rare – while at the same time not applying it to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. But it would do no good. I cannot create love and acceptance in anyone’s heart. Only God can do that.
I can but tell my story. I once believed homosexuality is a sin. Then at a profound time in my life, I was given a tremendous gift of grace and a second chance to fulfill my calling. I was broken, divorced, female – and I was shocked to discover that God wanted me anyway. If God can create something out of the nothing I was – who am I to question the miracle of grace in anyone else’s life? And because my heart had been splayed for everyone to see, I was open to all the amazing potential and possibilities God creates for us all. Suddenly faith wasn’t about following rules anymore. Rules are easy. Faith demands so much more. Faith is always and only and evermore will be about learning to love.
In my experience I’ve found that the only thing people need to survive is to belong. The only thing that lasts is relationship. And the only way to create either is to love. If we can but look at our scripture through a lens that clear, we’ll find it’s meaning somehow. “For God is love and those who abide in love abide in God.” Anything less is a lie.
The Bible is the rule of our faith. Its text will remain. But let us change our practice. Let us love one another as God first loved us.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I read this and I almost wept! I have had “issues” for a number of years about this modern concept of “Churchianity” and have expressed MY opnions and beliefs that closely parallel your own. You have spoken on this topic that is so dear to my OWN heart in a more eloquent fashion than I have been able to voice!
Hi Terry – another great post; thanks for your care with words. I do think, though, that the death of Ananias & Sapphira in Acts ch.5 does not come simply from “not giving all their money to the church” but from not doing what they had promised they would do. I think that makes a difference. Either way, though, I wouldn’t preach on that text during Stewardship Week….
Yes, your interpretation of Ananias and Sapphira is a common and perfectly supported one. But I was coming from the context of the previous verses in chapter 4, specifically 32-27. The text infers that when joining this little band of Christ-followers it was expected that you sell everything you’ve got and turn it all over to the disciples. When A & S didn’t do as expected, and then LIED about it, they dropped dead. My interpretation is a bit more cynical I realize, but it kind of plays that way in today’s media church. In its time, this story was understood in a much different light than it is today. But it still won’t preach well in September…..
just read the above and shared it. not sure how to share it through e-mail with out sharing all my friends e-mail, so am not sharing there.
thank you terry for such an insightful post!!!
Thanks Terry,
The bible is a wonderful reference tool for justifying virtually any action on earth. I think that the worst thing that happened to the bible was marking the chapters and verses so that people could quote just a bit.
Jesus, taken in context is solely about love and forgiveness. It’s all about personal faith, getting the log out of our own eye (I know, I’m quoting verse!), not casting a stone at someone else. He never said anything as absurd as ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’. He preached love of every person. That is ALL OVER the gospels – not just one little passage.