For the Bible tells me so ?
So, I was at the ACE hardware store yesterday. I picked up what I needed (noxious weed killer), and wandered back towards the check-out.
The good Clerk at the-check out asked
“Can I help you to find something sir?” “No”, I replied “I’ve found it”, showing her the spray bottle of weed killer.
Then came my tongue in cheek afterthought. “Maybe you could help me to find the meaning of life”.
The customer ahead of me said “it’s all in the Bible”.
I grimaced inwardly, but said nothing. After all, I was in a hardware store.
But as I drove home I remembered the song we sang in my fundamentalist Sunday School.
“The best book to read is the Bible
The best book to read is the Bible
If you read it every day, it will help you on your way
Oh, the best book to read is the Bible”
I wondered about this as I drove home. I came to the conclusion that the Bible is a very dangerous book.
It sanctions and encourages what we would call “ethnic cleansing” (see below).
It says that rape is appropriate in the conquest of other nations (again, see below).
It has been translated perversely. For instance, the word “homosexual” is never to be found in the Hebrew or Greek texts. (That word was not created until the 19th Century!)
When translators of the Bible into English use the word “homosexual”, they are revealing a personal bias, and not strictly translating the original texts.
So how are we to understand these sacred texts? (Here I move into personal opinion)
The Roman Catholic view is that only the Church may interpret the texts.
The Protestant view is that Biblical texts are a matter of personal interpretation.
I believe that both views are half-right, and entirely wrong.
The Roman Catholic is half right in its affirmation that Scripture should be understood within the context of a Christian community.
It is more than half-wrong when it asserts that the Christian community is identical with the (male) ordained Priesthood. (That has to do with corporate power).
The Protestant Church is half-right when it affirms that scripture is the “peoples’ book”.
It is more than half-wrong when it asserts that any person may come to her/his personal interpretation of Scripture. (That has to do with individual tyranny).
I stand, all proud and assured, in some middle ground.
Scripture is wonderful, blessed
and dangerous.
I dare not trust some hierarchy to
tell me what it means.
I dare not trust some individual to
tell me what it means.
I will try to understand scripture in
dialogue, argument,
disagreement, understanding
and scholarship.
I will not “stand over” Scripture as an ordained Priest.
I will not “stand under” Scripture as an individual believer.
I will “stand alongside” Scripture in community with other Christians.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Num 1 1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people."
3 So Moses said to the people, "Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the LORD's vengeance on them. 4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel." 5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.
7 They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. 11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, 12 and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
15 "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. 16 "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

Religious Grounds:
Some passages in the Hebrew Scriptures condemned people to death if they followed a different religious or spiritual path. Quoting from the King James Version of the Bible, Jehovah required the state to execute a person:
 for following another religion: Exodus 22:20 states: He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. See also and Numbers 25:1-15.
 for a stranger entering the temple: Numbers 1:51 states (in part): ...when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. See also Numbers 3:10, 18:7 and 17:13.
 for proselytizing: Deuteronomy 13:1-10 states that a person who tries to convince an Israelite to convert to another religion must be killed.
 for communicating with the dead: Leviticus 20:27 calls for the execution by stoning of all mediums and spiritists (aka spiritualists), both male and female.
 for black magic: Exodus 22:18 states: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. This is a mistranslation. The passage has nothing to do with Wicca or other forms of Neo-paganism, which are the only types of Witchcraft that are practiced today in North America in significant numbers . The original Hebrew word is translated "sorceress" in most other versions of the Bible. A more accurate phrase would be "women who engage in black magic, harming others by the use of spoken curses." Men are left off the hook.

Sexual grounds:
Other passages required people to be stoned to death or even burned alive for sexual activities:
 for adultery: Leviticus 20:10 states: And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. This is repeated in Deuteronomy 22:22
 for incest: Leviticus 20:11 states: And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death... See also Leviticus 20, verses 12 and 14. Verse 17 prescribe excommunication for incest with one's sister or step-sister.
The good Clerk at the-check out asked
“Can I help you to find something sir?” “No”, I replied “I’ve found it”, showing her the spray bottle of weed killer.
Then came my tongue in cheek afterthought. “Maybe you could help me to find the meaning of life”.
The customer ahead of me said “it’s all in the Bible”.
I grimaced inwardly, but said nothing. After all, I was in a hardware store.
But as I drove home I remembered the song we sang in my fundamentalist Sunday School.
“The best book to read is the Bible
The best book to read is the Bible
If you read it every day, it will help you on your way
Oh, the best book to read is the Bible”
I wondered about this as I drove home. I came to the conclusion that the Bible is a very dangerous book.
It sanctions and encourages what we would call “ethnic cleansing” (see below).
It says that rape is appropriate in the conquest of other nations (again, see below).
It has been translated perversely. For instance, the word “homosexual” is never to be found in the Hebrew or Greek texts. (That word was not created until the 19th Century!)
When translators of the Bible into English use the word “homosexual”, they are revealing a personal bias, and not strictly translating the original texts.
So how are we to understand these sacred texts? (Here I move into personal opinion)
The Roman Catholic view is that only the Church may interpret the texts.
The Protestant view is that Biblical texts are a matter of personal interpretation.
I believe that both views are half-right, and entirely wrong.
The Roman Catholic is half right in its affirmation that Scripture should be understood within the context of a Christian community.
It is more than half-wrong when it asserts that the Christian community is identical with the (male) ordained Priesthood. (That has to do with corporate power).
The Protestant Church is half-right when it affirms that scripture is the “peoples’ book”.
It is more than half-wrong when it asserts that any person may come to her/his personal interpretation of Scripture. (That has to do with individual tyranny).
I stand, all proud and assured, in some middle ground.
Scripture is wonderful, blessed
and dangerous.
I dare not trust some hierarchy to
tell me what it means.
I dare not trust some individual to
tell me what it means.
I will try to understand scripture in
dialogue, argument,
disagreement, understanding
and scholarship.
I will not “stand over” Scripture as an ordained Priest.
I will not “stand under” Scripture as an individual believer.
I will “stand alongside” Scripture in community with other Christians.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Num 1 1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people."
3 So Moses said to the people, "Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the LORD's vengeance on them. 4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel." 5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.
7 They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. 11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, 12 and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
15 "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. 16 "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

Religious Grounds:
Some passages in the Hebrew Scriptures condemned people to death if they followed a different religious or spiritual path. Quoting from the King James Version of the Bible, Jehovah required the state to execute a person:
 for following another religion: Exodus 22:20 states: He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. See also and Numbers 25:1-15.
 for a stranger entering the temple: Numbers 1:51 states (in part): ...when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. See also Numbers 3:10, 18:7 and 17:13.
 for proselytizing: Deuteronomy 13:1-10 states that a person who tries to convince an Israelite to convert to another religion must be killed.
 for communicating with the dead: Leviticus 20:27 calls for the execution by stoning of all mediums and spiritists (aka spiritualists), both male and female.
 for black magic: Exodus 22:18 states: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. This is a mistranslation. The passage has nothing to do with Wicca or other forms of Neo-paganism, which are the only types of Witchcraft that are practiced today in North America in significant numbers . The original Hebrew word is translated "sorceress" in most other versions of the Bible. A more accurate phrase would be "women who engage in black magic, harming others by the use of spoken curses." Men are left off the hook.

Sexual grounds:
Other passages required people to be stoned to death or even burned alive for sexual activities:
 for adultery: Leviticus 20:10 states: And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. This is repeated in Deuteronomy 22:22
 for incest: Leviticus 20:11 states: And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death... See also Leviticus 20, verses 12 and 14. Verse 17 prescribe excommunication for incest with one's sister or step-sister.
Hi, Michael,
ReplyDeleteA professor, John Townsend, used to say, Tradition without Spirit is dead; Spirit without Tradition is demonic.
Raymond Brown has some good things about bibilical interpretation in the last part of his "Community of the Beloved Disciple."
Love,
Pru