talk about a life of brotherly love, show me someone who knows how to live it

Posted: April 12th, 2007 ˑ Filled under: religion, society, touched by his noodly appendage ˑ  2 Comments

This blog post is a fantastic comment on something very mysterious: why so many Christians spend so much time ranting and raving about homosexuality and abortion, which are barely mentioned in the Bible, and so little time doing something about the central challenges identified in the New Testament, such as poverty, and ignoring other major themes (such as prohibitions on materialism and lending money for interest) altogether.

The writer concludes that it’s easy to validate oneself and one’s beliefs by pontificating about issues which are essentially impossible to address in a practical manner – it’s much harder to tackle a problem like poverty or pervasive materialism from the comfort of your suburban palace (financed by the money lenders, no doubt).

A less generous way of putting it might be that humans as individuals are happy to dictate how others should behave, but are unwilling to contemplate changing their own behaviour.



2 Comments

  1. djm wrote:
    April 12, 2007 at 5:03 pm

    Make sure you read the comments on the post, some of them are scary hilarious.

  2. Paul wrote:
    April 12, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    Wow, no kidding, especially this guy Carl D. Thompson:

    Leviticus 20:13 “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death. Their blood will be upon them.”
    First Corinthians 6:9 “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
    There you have it.
    What part of ‘they must be put to death’ do you not understand?
    True Christians speak out against homosexuality in response to the militant homosexual lobby, which
    attempts to normalise their perversion by portraying it as normal and acceptable.
    This must be opposed by all who live by God’s law.

    Scary stuff. Luckily we have this guy Matthew to sort things out:

    Carl D. Thompson I have decided to ‘Live my life according to God’s Law and I agree it is absolute. Thank you for the two verses. Know I understand.

    When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 20:13 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws of God and how to follow them in this day and age:

    When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

    I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

    I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness – Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

    Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to The Pacific lslands, but not to New Zealand. Can you clarify? I’d prefer white slaves.

    I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

    A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don�t agree. An abomination is an abomination as far as I can tell. Can you settle this?

    Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is that as absolute as the shellfish thing?

    Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

    I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Should we lobby the AFL to make the players wear gloves?

    My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (a cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? – Lev.24:10-16. Couldn�t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

    Carl: I can see from your post that you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help with these questions. I often think it might be simpler to just follow Matthew 22:34-40,

    �Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. ”

    but then the homosexuals escape and so does my neighbour who defies God’s will every Saturday.

    Champagne bigot debunking…