Black Book
Monday, September 3rd, 2007
“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.” – Deuteronomy 22:23-24 (Moses imparting God’s laws) ESV
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” – Matthew 5:17 (Jesus speaking to a crowd of people) ESV
I realise this will completely rankle a modern Christian but it is designed to make a point. A Christian will likely say “It’s still a sin but Jesus did away with the punishment side of things”.
That makes sense. But if it’s not about the punishment then what about working on the Sabbath, harvesting up to the edge of a field, stealing, tripping up a blind person, mixing two kinds of seed in a field, having sex with a slave, eating rare meat, or trimming your beard? (All these from Leviticus 19). Most Christians would agree with the Sabbath one, the stealing one, the tripping one and the sex one but would probably ignore the others. Why? How do you choose which to obey and which to ignore?
If you are a Christian do you genuinely believe that mixing seeds in a field or trimming your beard is a sin? If not, why not?
The photo above is of a real woman about to be stoned to death somewhere in the Middle East. Does this make you feel ill? How could anyone believe that a benevolent God could ever say that stoning was a great solution for adultery or for working on the Sabbath? What kind of contortions does your mind have to make to allow you to believe that the God of the Old Testament is anything less than a petty tyrant?
The morals contained within the Bible are only as relevant as the person who picks and chooses the ones they like.
