Pick whatever biblical passage suits your fancy

John D. Stec of Covington is typical of religious people, particularly Christians, who cherry-pick the Bible to support their opinions (“When will the attack on the family end?” Sept.  5 commentary). Cherry pickers read the Bible, Old and New Testaments, as the inerrant source to prove certain ideologies developed to judge other people.

Cherry pickers do read the Bible, but precious few of them study it or the myriad scholarly studies by experts who read the texts in their original languages. History relative to the Bible is viewed often as an obscenity by cherry pickers.

Stec sees homosexuality creeping into every aspect of human life. He condemns gays’ right to marry. He quotes passages from the Bible that could be interpreted as condemning homosexuality, such as “honoring one’s mother and father.” Great idea if Mom and Dad are worthy of honor.

How about this: In Deuteronomy, it says if my kids talk back and are disobedient I can kill them. According to the Bible, God’s OK with that.

Oh, and in Genesis, if a mob is about to harm my guests, I should offer the mob my daughters to be gang raped. Lot, who did just that, was protecting angels, but, hey, it’s OK to rape his daughters. Is God all right with that? Says so in the Bible. (And, let’s not even look at the incest perpetrated by Lot’s daughters that produced children — Moab, progenitor of the Moabites, and Ben-Ammi, father of the Ammonites — all sanctioned by God.)

The Bible is, perhaps, the poorest empirical source anyone can use to support a belief or ideology. The Bible is not history; it was never intended to be. (Read any of acclaimed biblical scholar Bishop John Shelby Spong’s essays on the Bible.) The Bible is a repository of myths that are extremely important in defining our culture, but like all myths, should never be used to govern the lives of people.

If one believes the Bible to be inerrant, then we should all have fought with the Confederate States of America because slavery is all right with God; says so in the Bible.

The empirical and measured truth is that no one chooses his sexuality. Resources proving that are legion.

But common sense would say how inadvisable, or stupid if one needs candor, it would be to wake up one morning and decide to be gay. “Today, I will henceforth be gay and go out and be vilified by the Stecs of the world.” Brilliant.

Gays are gay in the womb. Neither God nor the Bible has anything to do with it. God — if he, she or it exists — is very much like any sitting U.S. president and blamed for everything that happens.

Finally, I make two points: I am not gay, if you wondered; and to the Stecs of the world — one’s sexual orientation is none of your business. It does not impact anyone except gays.

Acceptance of homosexuality does nothing to attack families or disrupt heterosexual marriage. And, God probably could not care less. What more do you want?

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