Why yes, the Bible does say that male-to-male buttsex practitioners ought to be put to death. However, according to the rather horrifying legal code expressed in Leviticus, practically everyone ought to be put to death. This was swiftly pointed out to him:
But I fear that it didn't do too much good. Believing that millions of people ought to be killed--let alone for the spurious reason offered here--is really not the sort of thing that one can be argued out of. Which is to say that if the thought of committing a crime that exceeds the Holocaust by at least an order of magnitude does not dissuade you from your position, then rational debate is unlikely to, either.
But it does raise an interesting point: the verse in question clearly says that male-to-male buttsex practitioners ought to be put to death. That is undeniably what is actually written, right there in black and white for the world to see:
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.One last time so that we're absolutely clear: according to this verse, those who commit male to male sex acts should be killed. No exceptions, no wrangling, no ambiguity, that is what it says.
So here's a question for anyone who likes to quote the verse against gays: do you believe that everyone who commits male to male sex acts ought to be killed?
If you do, then you're advocating genocide.
If you don't, then your beliefs stand in direct contradiction to what the verse clearly and unambiguously says.
That being the case, you should probably stop quoting it.
It amazes me how advocates of scriptural innerancy find ways to justify or wiggle out of the horrific Levitical laws.
ReplyDelete"If you don't, then your beliefs stand in direct contradiction to what the verse clearly and unambiguously says."
ReplyDeleteWell - isn't it quite possible that what you are quoting has been so distorted from the original as to be completely unrecognizable to the original thought?
So much of what we think of as the Bible falls unfortunately falls into that category and thus, the message of loving is covered up by the garbage of centuries of human misinterpretation and misrepresentation.
@anonymous:
ReplyDeleteyes and no.
the Bible was written by a lot of different people over a very long time. They had a lot of different perspectives, and the concept of God undergoes a clear evolution from the earlier writing to the later. with any compendium of texts so large, you can twist it into supporting nearly anything that you want it to, especially if you aren't too worried about consistency. aside from twisting, though, the Bible really does say some pretty nasty stuff. so while i do think that on the whole it is a valuable book, and while i certainly like jesus, i certainly don't agree with everything that it actually says, much less any given interpretation.
my point with this particular question is to hammer on the inconsistency of the homophobic position. the verse says that a) homosexual dalliance is an abomination and b) those who practice it should be killed.
accepting B leads us to horrors, so most people will reject it. but if we reject it, why mayn't we reject A as well? that's where I was going here.
I understand what you were getting at and agree completely that one has to read the Bible with a very critical eye toward sanity. There is so much in both testaments that is clearly written by those captivated in their own self-will and desire for power that it's important to filter everything through the words that ring true. Those, at least in my understanding, are the words of love and connection with others be they friends or enemies, human, animal, plant or "inanimate".
ReplyDeleteThe intolerance that is exemplified by those that are homophobic (or choose to separate themselves from any other population of being) is simply incompatible with the spirit of Jesus (and many other great teachers over the millenia).