Do as thou wilt pt1

Today I want to talk about intolerance and ignorance. There is a great deal of it in the world and it comes from people around the world that follow many different religions. From what I have seen the biggest amount of intolerance comes from Christian and Islamic teachings.  I am not as familiar with Islam. So for now the discussion will primarily revolve around Christianity.

During the time that I was a Jehovah's Witness, and indeed for several years afterwards, I spent many hours reading and cross-referencing passages in the Bible. I have read it from cover to cover and have a better memory of and understanding of it than most people that I have met and talked to.

There are Christians, a great many of them in fact, who believe that if you are not following the whole Book down to every last letter and detail that you are not a true follower of God and that you are going to end up in a not so pleasant place after you die. Most of those people have no idea what is in their Bible, at least not anymore than whatever their local preacher tells them on Sunday.

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. -- Deuteronomy 21:18-21

Been to any good stonings lately? What about a woman defending her man?

Deuteronomy 25:11-12.

"If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity."

Did you know that wearing a polyester/cotton blend was a sin?

Leviticus 19:19 reads, "You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together."

There are literally dozens more examples just like this. In the interest of conserving both time and space I will just list a few of the other things that the Bible prohibits.

Tattoos, shaving your beard, fortune telling, divorce, and eating bacon are all no-nos. All of these things are in the Bible. Do you know any adult Christian who stones their bad children, wears no clothing made of two different types of fabric, has no tattoos, doesn't shave, has never been divorced and won't eat bacon?

I hate to say it, but from my perspective it seems like the man lovers and the bacon lovers are going to the same place. Sin isn't about personal preference, about what you are comfortable with. According to the Bible sin is about what God is or isn't okay with. You don't get to pick and choose what is or isn't a sin. It is all there in black and white.