MAKING GOD'S WORD

Part 1

Growing up in a Christian home, I believed that the Bible was made up of God's very words, and as such was perfect and sacred in every way. Yet at the same time, I knew the Bible was actually written by humans, not God. Being the inquisitive kid that I was, I often tried to imagine how this transfer of information between God and humanity worked. Did God speak from Heaven with a booming voice, telling the authors what to write down? Or did God speak in the authors' hearts to instruct them on exactly what to say, and the authors, being especially righteous, just had a good ear for hearing God's voice within them (which unfortunately I never had)? Or did the authors merely write these works themselves through their own will, and the Holy Spirit was just working in them to produce inspired scripture without them even knowing it?

In my adult life my religious views changed, but my inquisitive nature never did, and I am still interested in understanding how the Bible came to be written as we have it today. But even setting aside unanswerable questions regarding the inspiration of the Bible, I have realized the simple question "how was the Bible written?" is even more complicated than I could have thought. Not only do we not know who originally wrote most of the Bible, there is also substantial evidence that much of it has been anonymously edited for centuries after its original texts had been written.

What Is Religion?

The term "religion" gets thrown around a lot in books, TV shows, everyday conversations, and blogs (including this one!). But what does the term "religion" actually mean?

This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. If we ask our friend Merriam-Webster, we find three definitions of religion:

1. the belief in a god or in a group of gods

2. an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods

3. an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group

While these three definitions may look similar, they are quite different. Definition 1 defines religion as a mere belief; Definition 2 defines religion as a system of beliefs, practices, AND rules; and Definition 3 defines religion as either an interest, belief, OR activity. So which is it?

The answer, of course, is it can be all three, depending on how a person uses the word. The subjective nature of religion can be seen by the fact that certain traditions are considered a religion by some, and not by others. For this article, we will be looking at one such contested tradition, Theravada Buddhism, to see how it lines up with our three example definitions above.

God With Us

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
2015

"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, “God is with us.” 

(Matthew 1.23)^[1]

Upon hearing this familiar verse, most Christians immediately recognize who Emmanuel really is. If not for hearing it dozens of times around Christmastime, the conceiving virgin bit is a pretty good clue that we are talking about Jesus Christ. While this seems obvious enough to most Christians, if we stop a moment to reflect upon what we just read, we may realize that there is something kind of odd about it. Sure, according to Matthew and Luke, a virgin named Mary becomes pregnant by the Holy Spirit and births a child, but she names her child Jesus, NOT Emmanuel.

Is it really that odd? After all, Jesus is known by many things in the New Testament: Son of God, Son of Man, Lord, etc. Could it be that Emmanuel is just another title Jesus was commonly known as? Probably not. In fact, there is only one mention of Emmanuel in the New Testament, and it is quoted above from Matthew 1.23. No other passage in the New Testament ever calls Jesus "Emmanuel."

To understand why Jesus became equated with Emmanuel, we must explore what the author of Matthew is quoting: Isaiah 7.14. However, when we look at this verse, we see that it reads a little bit differently from Matthew's quote. The part of Isaiah 7.14 that Matthew quotes is italicized below:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 

This raises even more questions. What kind of sign is Isaiah referring to? Why does Isaiah call Emmanuel's mother a "young woman," while Matthew calls her a "virgin"? Why was this verse included in Matthew to begin with?

This article will explore why Emmanuel became commonly associated with Jesus of Nazareth. First we will look at why Matthew 1.23 reads slightly differently than Isaiah 7.14, and then look at the historical context of both verses to get a better understanding of the relationship between Jesus and Emmanuel.

Lovers, Not Lawyers

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE?
Part 7

[[Okay, so let me get this straight. You have concluded the following things:

(Part 2) the creation account in Genesis is really 2 creation stories that contradict one another

(Part 3) the Bible never identifies homosexuality as the sin which caused Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction

(Part 4) Christians are often incredibly inconsistent with the laws in the Torah that they choose to apply to their lives

(Part 5) Jesus said nothing on homosexuality, nor offered a definition of marriage

(Part 6) Paul's views on homosexuality were informed by an outdated understanding of the natural world, and were responding to homosexual practices that were often associated with pedophilia and prostitution

That's all well and good, but where in the Bible does it say that homosexuality is okay?]]

It doesn't. There are no verses in the Bible that explicitly support homosexuality, even in marriage. For those solely interested in the historical contexts of the Bible verses frequently used in the Christian debate over gay marriage, this is where I leave you. I have shown to the best of my ability that the Bible was not written with gay marriage in mind, and as such did not speak for or against it. Do with this information what you will.

However, I find that when I read blogs about controversial topics such as this, I want more than just the cold facts. I want help making sense of them. So for this article, I will do exactly that. This is a controversial topic within Christianity, so I will forgo my usual academic perspective, and instead write from the perspective of my own tradition. I will switch my point of view from the third-person to the first, no longer merely describing what "Christians" do, but will rather comment on what I would like to see "us" do as Christians.

Unnatural Intercourse

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE?
Part 6

There may not be a Jesus card available to play in the debate over gay marriage, but there are a few different Paul cards to choose from. Indeed, there are three common passages attributed to Paul in the New Testament that speak against homosexual intercourse, and all three are frequently quoted as evidence by Christians who believe homosexuality is a sin.

Each of these passages are found in what are known as the Pauline Epistles. An "epistle" is simply a Greek word for "letter," and is generally used nowadays to refer to books in the New Testament that are formatted as letters sent from early Christian leaders to various churches or individuals. "Pauline" is an adjective used to describe epistles that are thought to have been written by Paul. These epistles were written for various reasons, usually addressing problems that a particular church was facing, correcting doctrinal errors, and offering encouragement. There are 13 Pauline Epistles in the New Testament, but only 7 of them are widely accepted by scholars as being authentically written by Paul.^[1]

We find our passages on homosexuality in three different Pauline Epistles: Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 1 Timothy. This article will look at each passage, address why these verses were included in Paul's epistles, and analyze their relevancy in the modern Christian debate over gay marriage.

As a warning to my readers, the following article is more explicit in its descriptions of sexual intercourse than my previous articles. Paul uses specific terms to refer to specific homosexual acts, and such terms need to be addressed if we are to understand Paul's views on homosexuality. For those who are uncomfortable with reading about sex in a frank manner, viewer discretion is advised.

The Jesus Card

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE?
Part 5

As is the case with most theological debates among Christians, it isn't long before people start quoting Jesus to back up their views. I call this tactic "playing the Jesus card," and it is certainly not an invalid method of arguing. For Christians, Jesus is seen as the top authoritative figure on Christian teaching, and so if you can show that Jesus agreed with you, your views earn stock in Christian communities.

It's not shocking, then, that Christians on both sides of the homosexuality debate try to play the Jesus card when arguing their position. However, this can be awkward since the gospels never mention Jesus saying anything about gay marriage or homosexuality.

Often times Christians who don't think homosexuality is a sin use Jesus' silence on the matter to their advantage. Many have argued that because Jesus didn't say anything on homosexuality in the gospels, he must not have considered it a sin. However, this argument of silence doesn't go very far by itself. After all, the gospels don't record Jesus teaching on many modern issues, such as alcoholism or pollution, but that doesn't mean he would approve of them if he was walking around with us today.

Other Christians who think homosexuality is a sin claim that while Jesus was silent on the matter, he wasn't silent about God's definition of marriage, which contradicts homosexuality. For evidence, these Christians quote Jesus' teachings on marriage found in Mark 10 and Matthew 19.

For this article, we will look at Jesus' teachings found in Mark and Matthew to see if they really define marriage in a way that excludes homosexuality, and determine if the Jesus card can be legitimately played in the debate over gay marriage. We will start by looking at what Jesus is saying in Mark 10 and Matthew 19, and then discuss what Jesus is not saying in those passages.

Unlawful Abominations

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE?
Part 4

Homosexuality is often called an "abomination" by those Christians who believe it is a sin. This term is applied to male homosexual intercourse two times in the Bible, both in the book of Leviticus. The first is Leviticus 18.22:

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

The second is Leviticus 20.13:

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.

To some Christians, though, it seems odd to quote Leviticus as adequate evidence against homosexuality (or anything for that matter). But why is that?

Leviticus is part of the Torah, which translates as "law" or "instruction." The Torah is made up of the first 5 books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In the Torah, we find extensive lists of laws that are believed to have been given to the Israelites directly from God. However, not all of the Torah is law. As we have seen, it also contains many narratives, such as the stories of creation as well as Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction. The lengthy legal sections of the Torah can be found in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy (although other laws can be found scattered throughout the Torah, such as the law of circumcision in Genesis). These laws are often not followed by Christians today, such as the prohibition of tattoos or trimming your beard. Many Christians view the laws in the Torah as outdated, and therefore see no reason to take its verses against homosexual intercourse seriously.

However, many Christians who consider homosexuality a sin believe that while many parts of the law are outdated, the Leviticus verses against homosexual intercourse are still relevant because they describe such acts as "abominations." To them, an abomination against God is just as relevant to Christians today as it was to the ancient Israelites.

But why would God consider homosexual intercourse an abomination for all peoples at all times? Generally speaking, Christians who believe homosexuality is a sin argue that marriage is a sacred institution established by God between one man and one woman. In other words, they think that the Torah labels homosexual intercourse as an abomination because it violates God's sacred rules for marriage.

Since we are trying to understand the historical context behind Leviticus 18.22 and 20.13, we will explore three things. First, we will look at the Hebrew word for "abomination" and see how it is used in the Torah. Second, we will look at the Torah's laws regarding marriage to see if most Christians today do actually consider them sacred. And finally, we will explore why these verses against homosexuality would have been included in the Torah.