From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Thu Jul 03 2003 - 18:16:19 EDT
In a message dated 7/3/03 4:27:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
jwburgeson@juno.com writes:
> I see the struggle for gay rights as a natural continuation of that
> activity, and that is why I write.
>
>
It is laudable to come to the aid of the oppressed, but then religion is
more than social service. Religion involves absolutes. The purpose of the
Levitical prohibitions is to preserve the continuity of the family from generation to
generation. All behaviors which promote family cohesion and reproduction are
observed, those that do not are condemned.
In the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 18, the Lord tells Moses that the
Israelites are not to conform to the institutions of Canaan or Egypt. The Lord then
introduces a host of sexual taboos, among them a prohibition against a man lying
with another man as with a woman. What is most interesting are not the
prohibitions themselves, but what the Lord says after he lists the prohibitions. He
says: ”You shall not make yourselves unclean in any of these ways, for in these
ways the heathen, whom I am driving out before you, made themselves unclean.
This is how the land became unclean, and I punished it for its iniquity so
that it spewed out its inhabitants. You, unlike them, shall keep my laws and my
rules: none of you, whether natives or aliens settled among you, shall do any
of these abominable things. The people who were there before you did these
abominable things and the land became unclean. So the land will not spew you out
for making it unclean as it spewed them out; for anyone who does any of these
abominable things shall be cut off from his people. Observe my charge
therefore, and follow none of the abominable institutions customary before your time;
do not make yourselves unclean with them. I am the Lord your God.”
We often gloss over words and phrases in the Biblethat upon later examination
take on added significance. Have you ever really thought about what “spewing
out” in these lines from Leviticus means? When you look at each of the sexual
prohibitions in turn, notice that engaging in any of these practices
dissipates the focus on family stability, procreation and childrearing and makes sex an
end for its own sake. A family, tribe, nation or race that lost the
disciplined focus on reproduction might logically expect its population to drop – quite
literally “spewing it out” of the land. Less and less of the group would
occupy the land with each succeeding generation until the group was threatened
and then extinct.
And my point is this: a family that lived a Christian life style and observed
the Levitical prohibitions would be preserving the 'vine.' They are the
custodians of ALL life coming from their loins. If they discipline themselves to
that end religiously, they would observe the levitical prohibitions.
“The Lord spoke to Moses and said, speak to the Israelites in these words: I
am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in Egypt where you once
dwelt nor shall you do as they do in the land of Canaan to which I am bringing
you; you shall not conform to their institutions. You must keep my laws and
conform to my institutions without fail: I am the Lord your God. You shall observe
my institutions and my laws: the man who keeps them shall have life through
them. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:1-5)
You've got to demonstrate a reverence for all life and achieve mastery over
the body to claim religiosity. A life style that makes the pleasure of the body
sacred is the antithesis of a life style that makes mastery of the body
sacred.
Why?
Because someone, somewhere would have to bear the responsibility for the
continuity of mankind and having done that and mastered the body abandoning it for
the sake of future generations wouldn't that someone, somewhere deserve the
distinction of being called truly"religious" if they bore the burden while
others celebrated the individual? Isn't that the argument for the sacredness of
martimony as a bond between a man and a woman?
Regardless of society's attitude toward homosexuality, heterosexual matrimony
must always enjoy a position head and shoulders above homosexual
relationships, not over the intrinsic worth of practicing homosexuals or to rob them of
dignity (let me be explicit before I am unnecessarily challenged) but for their
life "bearing" rather than life "barren" choice of expression. The truly
religious life must always transcend what is not truly religious. Championing
sexual behaviors that do not produce life is cannot be religious by any stretch.
Nothing is more obvious about all life than that it strives to reproduce and to
continue to live.
Our abandonment of the Levitical prohibitions is showing. The birth rate of
indigenous Americans is at an all time low - immigrants are replacing our
shrunken numbers. Homosexual activists are highly organized politically and have
just made a great inroad in their goal to take holy matrimony off its pedestal.
Have you ever thought about what "spewing out" in those lines from Leviticus
means?
And who will be left to struggle for holy matrimony? The religious...
rich faussette
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