Life and more importantly, living itself should not be that of hate. For when we spend our time living in hate, no matter how we justify or even deny it, we lose that which separates us from evil… compassion and love. In today's world, we have many different groups of people that believe in a great many things. Most of the time, these beliefs do not amount to any hatred or anger towards others but all too often, one specific area of beliefs do turn to hatred shrouded in the notion of civility, morality and peace.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere." Today's world is vastly different from that of just 50 years ago. For the most part, our schools are not segregated, we do not have separate restrooms or drinking fountains, the right to vote is not denied to someone because of the color of their skin, and yet we still have injustices that continue to go on, even in the face of what some have called the modern version of the great Civil Rights movement. A movement that brought us great persons such as Dr. King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Rosa Parks, and all the other greats who gave their sweat, blood, and even their lives for the advancement of peace and compassion. I know there are some who may fear this new movement, some who believe it is against the laws of nature, or against the word and the grace of God; just as there were those who feared it in the sixties.
They pull out their scriptures, whether it be the Torah, Qur'an, or even the Bible, telling us how God hates this group and their actions condemn them either in this life or in a version of Hell. Some tell us that they pray for these "sinners", others simply quote Leviticus as the basis for their hatred and disgust. For it is within this book of the Pentateuch that states "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination," (Leviticus 19:22) and later describes the punishment as "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them" (Leviticus 20:13). It is these simple words that have caused so much suffering and hatred towards our fellow mankind, even though their hatred derides that which their faith is based. For Christians, we must focus more on the teachings that come later in the Bible, such as First Corinthians where we are told to abide by three things: Faith, Hope and Love with the greatest of these three being Love (I Corinthians 13:13). For love, even in the face of conflict or the great unknown is more difficult to manifest than hate, yet it is love and compassion that we must aspire to.
It is not up to us to enact a punishment on these individuals who are seeking the same civil rights as everyone else for even Leviticus, which was written by man, can be wrong or interpreted to mean something else. It is not up to us to interpret the teachings of God for them, whether you side with the narrow-mindedness that uncovered itself with the recent passage of a hate filled law, or if you side with compassion, love, and doing the right thing. For those who take such an obdurate stance on this issue, holding on to the Bible as your justification, I ask you this: How can you be so sure and set in your ways when the Bible states "as for prophecies, they will pass away, as for tongues, the will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect," (I Corinthians 13:8-9)? Our interpretation cannot be perfect for only God is perfect. Let us work towards bettering this place in this lifetime and let the judging and final determination on the morality of this great issue be decided by the only one that will get it right, God.
Salus Nobis Totus… indeed.
4 comments:
This was beautifully written, Sir. I can tell you put a lot of thought and effort into this. Thank you for writing it and sharing it with me. It means a lot.
I always enjoy reading your blog, it gives good food for thought.
I have a small disagreement with something you say in this particular blog entry: "It is these simple words that have caused so much suffering and hatred towards our fellow mankind."
Numerous passages in the bible tell us that witchcraft is an abomination, with the most famous being the line: "Suffer not a witch to live". Yet we do not see religious hate groups going out to kill witches, probably because we no longer fear witches or witchcraft.
I believe that the reason we continue to see the blind, vicious rhetoric from the religious community about gay marriage is because they fear homosexuality, and sexuality in general.
This is epitomized by the numerous commercials that were run to frighten people about what their children would be taught in school. Clearly a tactic to spread the fear they feel.
The good news about all of this is it brings out an excellent opportunity for us as a community to grow, and to nurture great leaders such as Dr. King, Rosa Parks, etc.
The sad news is that we continue in this day and age to have second class citizens.
Jack,
I agree with you 100%. What I was trying to hint at in the line you mentioned and throughout the post is that the anti-gay rights religous groups use Leviticus as their justification, even though that there are other passages that we no longer feel the need to uphold, for example, Exodus 35:2 teels usthat if anytone works on the sabbath shall be put to death. The reason we do not go by these and the many other examples of extreme notions in the Bible is that society changes. Your underlying faith in God and the general teachings in the Bible does not. Why is it that there are those who are willing to overlook some of the extreme notions while holding on to Leviticus' detailing of homosexuality? Fear, I imagine plays a huge role in that. My closing example from the Bible is just one of the examples that shows we are imperfect. Our knowledge and prophicies are imperfect.
Beautifully written.
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