THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT IS particularly annoying to have ministers quoting Leviticus as proof that God finds homosexuality an 'abomination' when they conveniently ignore other "teachings" of Leviticus.
Are you clean-shaven? It's forbidden in Lev.19:27! Do you eat shellfish? Forbidden as an abomination in Lev.11:10! Wear clothing of a wool and linen blend? Forbidden in Lev.19:19! If you curse, you shall be stoned to death (Lev.24:15-16). If you commit adultery, you shall be put to death (Lev.20:10).
Many of these 'rules' in the Old Testament have fallen by the wayside as civilised people have learned more about the world. Our food supply has gotten cleaner (prohibitions against pork are no longer necessary, for example). We accept that terrible human injustices like slavery, condoned by the Old Testament, can no longer be accepted by Christians who live by the New Testament life of Jesus Christ. We also know more about the genetic component of homosexuality than the writers of the Old Testament did.
Jesus came to change the messages of the Old Testament. He went from a God of vengeance to a God of love, from "an eye for an eye" in the Old Testament to "turn the other cheek" in the New Testa-ment. Any preacher who preaches from the Old Testament to bolster his own prejudices misses the point of Jesus's life.
Jesus spoke out against many things he felt were wrong. If he had felt strongly about homosexuality, he would have preached against it. Gays do not threaten heterosexual marriage. Heterosexual adultery is far more destructive of the sanctity of marriage than gays and lesbians who commit to each other.
Picking and choosing over which passages from the Bible to follow is religious hypocrisy.
I am, etc.,
LORELEI KRAFT
loreleikraft@hotmail.com
Ocho Rios and
Park Rapids, MN, USA
