It's in the Bible....

courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/

Just for fun one night, I was reading the Bible.

I've often wanted to really read this Holy book, and more importantly read INTO it. True, part of my job as a Church choir director is to read the lectionary readings and plan music accordingly. I actually have my former pastors to thank for getting me into the rest of the Bible. Rich Holmes had a whole Bible study on the Book of Romans, for example, whereby I discovered my new favorite Bible verse, Romans 2:24. A little background: At the time, the Christian church in Rome was making a big deal about how their new converts were Romans; Gentiles; not Jews. They were asserting that the former pagans needed to be circumcised, before being baptized. Basically the book of Romans is Paul's way of saying, don't do that. He tells them that it's your actions, not the rituals that make you a Christian, and you don't need any kind of initiation into the church, you only need to follow Jesus. In admonishing the Roman Church, Paul writes Romans 2:24 (Roughly translated): "It is because of you that people talk badly about God." I've since written that on various websites devoted to "Christian" groups promoting very un-Christian things.

Pastor Twyla Boyer, (who's since been married, but I can't remember or, for that matter, spell, her new last name.) decided on a whim, that she was going to take three weeks and preach on the book of Titus. Because, quote, "Who the heck preaches on Titus?" Unquote. So, I read the extraordinarily small letter to Titus, which had to do with Church leaders practicing what they preached, and setting an immaculate example for their followers. This started my whole way of thinking when I read something in the Bible... What was going on at the time that someone needed to tell them this?

So, I read into some of the other books in the Bible. The verse that often gets quoted as justification for anti-gay sentiment is in Leviticus, so I thought I'd start there. See what's really in there. First of all, the entire book of Leviticus is a book of rules. There's a whole section devoted to rules for sexual conduct. (Leviticus 20.) It explicitly says... Don't sleep with your mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, your sister, or anyone of your own gender, or animals. (Again, what was going on at the time that people NEEDED to be told that?) Here's what I found hysterical... It then goes into punishments for this conduct. Sleeping with your mother is an abomination, punishable by death. Sleeping with your daughter is an abomination, punishable by death. However, sleeping with your sister... banishment. Interesting....

I close with two funny things.... An acquiantance pointed this one out to me... Deuteronomy 25:11 "If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his genitals, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity." I S#!^ You NOT! Again I am forced to ask... WHAT WAS GOING ON BACK THEN...???

And finally...I love this... Leviticus starts off with instructions on animal sacrifice. How to slaughter a goat to offer up to the Lord? It describes how to skin it, cut it up, throw its blood on the wall, etc. Each set of instructions ends with you throwing the meat of the animal onto hot coals, and it says "The odor of this is pleasing to the Lord." in other words.... GOD LOVES BARBECUE! It's in the BIBLE!