The bible and sin. Let's first of all talk about what sin is. Sin is not a list of do's and don'ts. Sin is basically doing anything that you feel is against God's will. It is a personal conviction and not necessarily constant from person to person. Also, God would be the ultimate judge of mankind and would have no need of a militant enforcement group to do his bidding in a hateful and mean spirited way. I have located 11 verses in the bible that supposedly reference homosexuality. 7 of these verses are located in the old testament and anyone who understands anything biblical would have to admit that the old testament is basically the wild west of religion and if you believe in Jesus, you would further understand that the new testament and the messiah being born cancels and voids the old testament and the contract written in it. It is not really possible to cling to a single point or cluster of verses without embracing them all. That would include clinging to a required way of living that no man could ever live up to. The new testament verses are the following...Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:8-10 and Jude 7. I have not included any translations because you might want to do your own research as well. What I observe in these is that these scriptures group together behaviors for the most part. There seems to have been some liberties taken with the translations from the original language with a particular mindset or outcome in mind. There can also be a case made that there is no big sin or little sin and that hypocrisy is very prevalent when the people who worry about homosexual behavior are themselves guilty of the other sins mentioned...enslavers, liars, perjurers,unholy and profane, those who strike their fathers and mothers, murderers, the sexually immoral,who worship idols, or commit adultery,or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or that cheat people. The religious right wing of politics is filled with people who are guilty and would be condemned by the same list. I would also offer another old testament verse for all who insist on using it to bash people. Psalms 82:3- Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. In the case of the Duck people, can you please tell me who the weak or poor or oppressed is? I can assure you that it's not the wealthy family of television stars who use the bully pulpit to extract fame and fortune from their followers. Let's just be very careful before we condemn others and use any religion to further hatred or bigotry. The same excuses were made originally for slavery. There are at least 100 bible verses that deal with slavery and as just 1 example consider Titus 2:9-10- Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. In the same way that the church had to change on the issue of slavery and racism, it may also find itself at a similar crossroads with homosexuality. Only the future will tell.
The Southern Donkey 2013
