The Christian Right likes to quote the Bible to justify their homophobia.
A few days after the passage of Prop 8 I wrote a letter to the LDS Church resigning my membership. I asked for a letter confirming that my name had been removed from the membership rolls. I'm still waiting. I decided that I no longer wanted to be part of the LDS Church not because I'm gay, I'm not, but as a matter of principle. I fully expect my bishop and other elders of the church to pay me a visit to try and talk me out of leaving the Church. At which time the fur is going to fly. When they start flinging Bible verses at me I intend to fling some right back at them. I'm actually looking forward to this confrontation and am using this diary as a way to gather my arguments.
I pretty much know what their argument will be.
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22
Fine and dandy. But the Bible says a lot of things. Including...
If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. Deuteronomy 22:22
If a man commits adultery with another man's wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
Leviticus 20:10
So when can I expect the Church to start donating money to a fund to make adultery a capital offence? You believe that the Bible is the Word of God, right? I don't see any wiggle room here. Adulterers must die. End of story. Not only that but....
Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. Mark 10:11
And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery. Mark 10:12
Now, my ex is the one who filed for divorce, and I never remarried, so I'm off the hook. But she's gotta go. It's the Word of God. We'd best start collecting the names of everyone who ever divorced their spouse and remarried. They's a lot of killing to be done and we'd best get to it. But I'm not off the hook quite yet, and I'm not alone.
You have heard that it was said, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY"; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28
HOLY SHIT! Oh well, with a good lawyer I believe I can beat that rap. I mean, let 'em try to prove it. The irony is that gay men may be the only ones innocent of this charge. After the rest of us are executed, they'll be the only ones left. What else does the Bible say? I'm almost afraid to look.
If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity," then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. The girl's father will say to the elders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you. Deuteronomy 22:13-21
Sorry girls, but if you weren't a virgin on your wedding night, YOU DIE !
If you are going to argue that the Bible is the Word of God, and that you must support Prop 8 because God demands it, then you must also support legislation that puts adulterers and promiscuous young girls to death. Otherwise you are a hypocrite.
Of course I'm guilty of cherrypicking the Bible myself. In fact I've condensed the whole Bible into one verse. It is how I try to live my life.
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 19
I am a true believer. My loyality is to no religion, church, or book, but to God. As such I am obligated to stand up for what's right against all comers, including the bishops, high priests, and elders of the Church. Bring it on. I'm ready.