Let me spell it out so you can see the claims:
Equal abominations before the Lord:
1. Shaving Lev. 19:27
2. Shrimp Lev. 11:10
3. Tattoos Lev. 19:28
4. Work on Saturday Lev. 19:30
5. Polyester Lev. 19:19
6. Bunnies Lev. 11:6
7. Hamburger Lev. 17:10
8. Vegetable Gardens Lev. 19:19
Now, let's look at them individually:
1. Shaving is an abomination before the Lord. Proof -- "You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard." There you have it. God hates shaving. Wait! I'm looking, I'm looking ... no, nowhere do I see anything in this passage that says God detests ... anything. Leviticus 19 does not address abominations; it addresses laws. This, of course, will have a ripple effect on many of the following assertions. The claims regarding tattoos, working on Saturday, polyester, and vegetable gardens are all referenced to Leviticus 19 which does not once contain the term "abomination". Further, it is not "shaving" in reference here, but a particular look -- rounding off the hair at the temples or beard. This, according to many biblical scholars, is a reference to something we no longer understand. It is believed to have been a particular look intended as a worship to a particular idol of the day. It is suggested that Israel knew what it was because of their years of slavery in Egypt. Thus, it was idolatry that was forbidden and, by no stretch of the imagination, a blanket law against "shaving".
2. Shrimp is an abomination before the Lord. I will attempt to be fair and conclude that the intent was "eating shrimp" as opposed to merely "shrimp". First, it is true that Leviticus forbids Israel from eating shellfish. We'll all agree on that point. From there we spiral into a crash on this point. The "abomination" in Leviticus 11 is not "to the Lord", but to Israel. Israel should detest it, not God. And the New Testament declares all food clean, removing entirely the problem of "unclean food". And there it hits bottom. Throw this one from the train.
3. Tattoos are an abomination before the Lord. Referring back to Item 1, nowhere in Leviticus 19 do we find a reference to "abomination". Please delete this claim, then, from the list in your mind. Further, the notion of adorning oneself with tattoos was unknown at the time. Tattoos were performed as a ritual for idolatry, a body mark for worship. It is not general "tattoos" in mind here, but the acoutrements of idolatry being forbidden.
4. Working on Saturday is an abomination before the Lord. Again, the term "abomination" doesn't appear in this passage. Further, it is not "Saturday" in view, but "Sabbath". There is no doubt that God commands no work on the Sabbath, but there is nothing in the command that links it to an "abomination".
5. Polyester is an abomination before the Lord. I'm hoping that people are laughing at this, since polyester didn't exist at the time. Further, we're still in Lev. 19 which carries no reference to "abomination". And, finally, what was meant by the term "mixed material" is not really known. The original Hebrew word is obscure. The intent is equally obscure. Most believe it is a reference to a particular type of material that is showy, such as Joseph's "coat of many colors".
6. Bunnies are an abomination before the Lord. I like this. Bunnies are detestable to the Lord. Good stuff. Of course, I'm sure it's a reference, again, to eating bunnies, not bunnies themselves. And, of course, it's a lie. What does Leviticus 11:6 actually say? It says that eating rabbits is not to be done because they are among the "unclean" animals. Further, this, according to Lev. 11:10, is not a matter of being an abomination to the Lord, but something that Israel should detest. And, again, the New Testament declares all foods clean, so this requirement from the Old Testament was no longer in effect in the New, and the point is moot.
7. Hamburger is an abomination before the Lord. The prohibition of Lev. 17:10 is a rule against eating blood. I would guess that, providing the broadest amount of charity to the argument, the suggestion is that there is blood in hamburger. Now, since there is no more blood in hamburger than there is in any other meat, this seems ludicrous. God allowed, nay, commanded the priests to eat meat. It had to be cooked. So, we might allow the stretch of going so far as saying it is a sin to eat raw hamburger, but we should all agree that it's not only a sin -- it's stupid. But the claim here is that eating a hamburger is an abomination before the Lord. Odd thing ... I find no reference to any such thing. Eating blood is forbidden, but nothing in the passage says "abomination". Unless we simply conclude that all sin of all variety is an abomination to God, we would be wise to avoid making such claims on an individual topic recklessly.
8. Vegetable gardens are an abomination before the Lord. This argument belies the arguer's intent. The goal here is not to offer a valid argument. The goal here is to offer a foolish argument. It is intended to be an emotional argument, not a rational one. The real hope here is that no one actually looks at the claim, but simply reacts. To deny this is a violation, according to the argument, of "common sense". And with only the briefest of examinations, one sees that this claim is devoid of common sense. The prohibition here in Lev. 19:19 is not against vegetable gardens. The prohibition is against mixing seeds. Indeed, this is common sense. Trying to grow two different kinds of crops in the same field is foolishness. It is suggested by many that the entire context of the verse is not in reference to specifics, but the general idea that "My people will be set apart." They suggest that the intent of this prohibition is specific to Israel for the purpose of living lives that demonstrate purity, without mixture. Whatever the intent, there is, again, no mention in Leviticus 19 that any of this falls to the category of "abomination to the Lord".
In contrast to all of the above, we find Leviticus 20 with a series of rules about sexual sin. Adultery is punishable by death. Incest is punishable by death. Bestiality is punishable by death. There is a list of sexual sins they were commanded to avoid and the penalty for committing them. And then we get to Lev. 20:13 -- If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. None of the previous sexual sins in this passage are referred to as "an abomination". None of the sexual sins that follow it are referred to as "an abomination". Only this one. Why is that? Could it be that this one falls in a category of its own in God's perception?
7 comments:
Another excellent post. I am reading the book "Captured by Grace" by David Jeremiah and I was shocked (though I should not be) when he was addressing the SINS of the past that are now labeled other things such as "compulsive personality types," "unproductive personal habits," or "behavioral disorders," etc. We have sugar coated sin and made it something for which a person is not responsible or more of an incovenience than a sin. And I am a firm believer that until we come to grips with how utterly SINFUL we are, we cannot embrace the Lord's grace.
For me, I had been deluded believing I was a Christian for a lot of years, when I realized that my heart had never truly chose Jesus as Lord. I was taking a relaxing bath when God opened my eyes to see my sin the way He did and I wept almost inconsolably, except that as I felt complete sickness at my self and cried out for the the Lord to rescue me from my self, that is when I was comforted by His grace. And viewing my sin as it truly was and His grace as it truly is...I was more than glad to REPENT (turn away from abiding in sin and turn towards abiding in Christ). Grace changed my view and my life. I could not embrace grace without changing in a major way.
As to the mixing of seed, I was always told that was in reference to hybrids. What say you?
Wait! So you mean I can dig up my old polyester shirts and start wearing them again? Hot dang! :D
If you quit wearing them because you thought God considered them an abomination, yes, you can. If you recognize the fact that most people consider them abominable today, maybe not. =)
So I can have my steak tartare and can probably still wear my polyester. I can sodomize my gay lover too, but we stay standing.
Since ambiguous passages can be altered to suit a particular Christian paradigm, sure, I'll allow you that sodomy is wrong. In bed, at least.
"Ambiguous passages"? Absolutely ... if you're intending to read them that way. If you start out with the presupposition that the Bible is hard to read, that Scripture is unclear, and that sodomy is okay, then it's obviously ambiguous. If you start out with the presupposition that the Bible is true, inspired by God, a whole thought, then it isn't ambiguous in the least. That is, if you want to deny that the Bible considers sex between same genders as sin, then it's ambiguous. If you want to actually know what the Bible says on the subject, it isn't. Even those who argue that homosexual behavior is okay admit this and then try to work around it. (Note that the Bible addresses all that other stuff as well ... without ambiguity.)
In other words, your complaint that it's unclear is simply your smokescreen to avoid the question.
At the end, in Leviticus 18:29, it says "all these abominations." Is that what they are referring to when they use moral equivocation to minimize the homosexuality as abomination? How do you respond to that?
Also, I have arguments with Christians who say that there are "Gay Christians" who are spirit filled, yada yada. I can't seem to get through to them that just because other people are doing something doesn't mean it's right, but they have short circuited their logic boards beyond repair. Do you have a way of getting through to them?
Michael,
Part of my answer is in this post. Another part of my answer would be shown in the penalty applied. There are laws about what to eat and tattoos and the like. The penalties for violating these laws vary from "being unclean" to requiring atonement. But the things labeled "abominations" typically include the penalty of death. This suggests a difference between "I want these things to be done this way" and "I despise these things" -- the idea of "abomination".
Do I have a way to get through to them? Don't I wish?! The Bible tells me that humans in general "by their unrighteousness suppress the truth". That is, it's not that the truth isn't known. It's that it is suppressed in favor of engaging in unrighteousness. This is "disordered". It is, to be most clear, insane. It is irrational. That's why, in the later stages of degenerating sin, Paul says, "God gave them up to a debased mind." Sin makes us irrational. Indulged sin makes us crazy. It's one of the primary reasons that Paul makes a basic appeal to "be transformed by the renewal of your mind." According to 2 Corinthians, "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers." So what we're dealing with isn't misguided thinking; it's irrational, blinded thinking. The way to "get through", from my perspective, is to continue to maintain the truth, to "preach the Word in season and out of season", to speak the truth in love. The task of unblinding and reordering the insanity of sin, then, falls on God ... who is much better at that than I am.
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