(no subject)

I'm not entirely sure how many Christians who would argue against homosexuality are reading this. However many I have, though, I'd like to give a small but very important piece of advice. Even if you don't believe in condemning homosexuality, you might want to pass this on to other Christians you know who might.

Please, please, please, do *not* quote Leviticus!

Yes, I know it's nice and convenient. But there is a very good reason for this. And the reason is - mildew. I'm sure there are other examples, but mildew is the easiest to pick on. In this day and age, we have much better ways of dealing with mildew than tearing down the entire house and burning the ground it stood on. However, the same justification you use to say that homosexuality is wrong, from Leviticus, can equally be used to say that this ought to be done to mildew. (The shellfish thing that most people quote doesn't hold up half as well, but that's another story entirely.)

It's not as if there isn't anywhere in the New Testament to quote. Try 1 Corinthians 6:9 for a start. I'm convinced there's another one there somewhere too, but I haven't had time to dig it out quite yet. And it's not just that the Leviticus argument undermines the credibility of the argument against homosexuality - when people use it, it undermines the credibility of the entire Christian faith - if people are so easily refuting one part of it, they are less likely to believe anything else they're told.

The trigger for all this ranting is a magazine I read. It's called Third Way, and claims to be for Christians who want to engage with real-world issues. I've only had three issues of it, and so far mostly they've been just as obsessed with trying to deal with sexual sin at the expense of thinking about all the economics of sharing that Jesus advocated, but that's not quite what I'm moaning about. They had an interview with a gay rights activist, who said that he was a Christian but then went on to say that it was more of an attitude than thinking that Jesus actually did exist (annoyance number 1 - they didn't really pick up on this), and asked him what he thought about the biblical prohibition of homosexuality. Now, I expect fairly reasoned debate from this magazine, so I was expecting something along the lines of 'translation errors' or 'cultural context' to be claimed, but no. He trawled out the tired old 'people quote Leviticus at me, but don't obey all the other outdated rules in it, so I'm going to treat this as an outdated rule too' argument. And they let him get away with it, as if there was nowhere else in the Bible it was mentioned! Hence the rant.

If you can think of anywhere else that I could usefully post a version of this rant, please say...

(no subject)

After the comments to my last post, I feel I ought to clarify things.

I am *not* saying that the verse in Leviticus is irrelevant. I'm just saying it's far too easy for people to pick holes in it, so it's not the best starting point for a discussion. A discussion with another Christian, or someone who wants you to go into more depth about it, should include that verse, yes. But it shouldn't be your starting point - because it's so easy for them to point at something else in Leviticus and say 'well, you don't do this any more, surely it's the same thing?'. It's possible for them to do that with some of the stuff in Paul's letters (to fend off another criticism :-) ), but not as easy. Yes, you can probably explain why the things in Leviticus that don't need to be done any more don't, but it eats away at your argument.

I'm just fed up of seeing people dismiss the objections in Leviticus and not go on to deal with all the other places the Bible objects to it.