Nothing New, Just My View

This isn't anything new to the Internet, but getting it emailed to me a couple of weeks ago by a high school friend brought it back into my mind, and the death of Jerry Falwell just kept it there so I thought I would spout off about it a bit.

There has been an open letter on the Internet for about the last six years in response to comments that Dr. Laura Schlessinger made during one of her radio talk shows about homosexuality. No, I'm not going to debate whether homosexuality is right, wrong, or indifferent. Frankly, I believe humans are sexual. End of story. None of us are heterosexual, bi-sexual, or homosexual. We are ALL merely sexual. That is why we have managed to populate nearly every region of this planet.

But, people like Dr. Schlessinger, Mr. Falwell, and a host of others, love to bring up Biblical "proof" that homosexuality is evil and a sin. I can't debate that the Bible says it. It does, right in Leviticus where they say it does. But the Bible says a great deal on a great many subjects, not just homosexuality. Taken literally, as the never changing "Word of God," which must be done to come to the conclusion that these folks come to on homosexuality, the Bible is not something many of us in the 21st century would be much interested in living by, literally. How would you like to be morally obligated to stone your wife to death? Or your neighbor for mowing the grass on Sunday? The Bible dictates a retributive system of justice, nearing vigilantism. You want to live in a society such as that today? I don't see many people immigrating to the Middle East right now.

The fact is, there is two ways to view the Bible. It is either the never changing Word of God, or it is a more fluid living text open to interpretation and refinement as our social values are refined. But many seem to want it both ways, and it just isn't possible. You cannot pick and choose which parts of the Bible are open to interpretation and which aren't. I know there isn't an answer to this dilemma, and that people will still be using the Bible to justify whatever social soapbox they happen to be upon at the time years from now. But just once, I wish one of them would open their ears when they are talking, or listen to a recording of themselves, and actually stop and think about how absurd most of their "Biblical proof" stances really make them sound.

Now, I am not saying that the Bible is useless, far from it. It is, and always has been, a collection of great allegorical tales and lays a pretty firm moral foundation for any society. The trouble is, it wasn't written in stone, and I don't believe it was ever meant to be. The tales and morals within it's cover have guided human societies for thousands of years, and they will continue to do so. Over that time, they have been interpreted in numerous ways, and there are new interpretations waiting in the wings. But at some point, societies have to decide if it is the Word of God or open to that interpretation.