Going OT

Mr. Bowen is questioning all the capital punishments in the OT

I know that when Christ died on the cross that much (if not all) of the old law was done away with. But what parts of the Old Testament are part of law and which are not? These are three very troubling Old Testament verses to me.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

One key difference between the OT and the NT is that the Hebrews of the Mosaic era had an autonomous theocracy, while the early Christians were a minority within the Roman empire. There are a few hard cases that would like to recreate some sort of Christian theocracy, but they're in the minority.

However, many of those things that were capital offences in the Mosaic law are still wrong. Here are three verses from the New Testament that come to play for same-sex activities; Romans 1:22-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:8-11. They don't call for the death penalty for homosexual behavior, but clearly come against it.

Exodus 22:18

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

In Acts 19, magic was considered evil; the former magicians burned their scrolls when they converted. Once again, no visit to Ol' Sparky.

Psalm 137:

8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

That one I don't have a clue about.

Either these verses no longer apply to us or else we as Christians should feel constrained to go on a homicidal killing spree for the glory of the Lord. I personally have known several homosexuals and Wiccans (witches) and I have killed none of them. I've probably come across some children of Babylon as well (any Muslim child would do, don't you think?) and I didn't kill any of them either. Have I let God down?

Ok, I'm obviously being more than a little sarcastic here. But seriously, how are we to interpret these scriptures today? I know for a fact that there are many "Christians" who would gladly take them literally. How do we reach these people who would take the Old Testament and use it justify their prejudices against and hatred for alternative lifestyles and non-Christian cultures?

As seen above, most of those prejudices are New Testament, too. If you want to cool off hatred, get people to remember that everyone is a child of God. Get them into "Hate the sin, love the sinner" mode. However, if you're going to follow a NT faith, you've have to properly (but lovingly) rebuke those alternative lifestyles that run counter to scripture.

Yes, the Fred Phelpses of the world get too much into the Hate the Sinner mode, but many on the left fail to hate the sin. It's a tough balance.

Comments

[Lee Anne Millinger]

It is a tough balance, and I am glad that you addressed it here, Mark. I don't know about those passages, but I do know that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. It worries me to see believers talk about tossing out the OT Scriptures, since those are the Scriptures used by Jesus and the apostles in their teaching. Rob may cavalierly say he knows all about Marcion and toss off the criticism, but I don't feel comfortable about his position.

I admit that there is much I don't understand. I try to listen and learn before I comment, but I believe the NT rests on what came before, so I don't think we can toss it out just because there are some passages we have trouble understanding.

[Richard Shuford]

In his 1958 book "Reflections on the Psalms", C.S. Lewis discussed
at length many of the qualities of the Psalms (and of other parts
of the Old Testament) that seem strange or repulsive to the Western
21st-Century reader. Although he made no claim to be authoritative,
Lewis's thoughts have been helpful to many.

In his first approach to the verse in question, Lewis wrote:

"In some of the Psalms the spirit of hatred which strikes
us in the face is like the heat from a furnace mouth....
In others the same spirit ceases to be frightful only
becoming (to a modern mind) almost comic in its naivety.

...Even more devilish [than Psalm 109] in one verse is
the, otherwise beautiful, [Psalm] 137 where a blessing is
pronounced on anyone who will snatch up a Babylonian baby
and beat its brains out against the pavement. (verse 9)

...One way of dealing with these terrible or (dare we say?)
contemptible Psalms is simply to leave them alone. But
unfortunately the bad parts will not "come away clean";
they may, as we have noticed, be intertwined with the most
exquisite things."

Four chapters in "Reflections on the Psalms" mention Psalm 137...

Chapter III "The Cursings"
Chapter VII "Connivance"
Chapter XI "Scripture"
Chapter XII "Second Meanings in the Psalms"

...and I cannot quote all the relevant passages here, so I suggest
you obtain and read "Reflections on the Psalms".

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product/?item_no=248X
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/015676248X

An Internet web search finds two quotations from Lewis's Psalm 137
comments:

http://www.soamazing.com/FP100069.shtml
http://www.first-church.org/sermons/970216-0330.htm

A different analyst's interpretation, not how the original audience
of the psalm would have understood its meaning, but how Christians
might understand it now, in the light of other Scripture:

http://home.att.net/~icor15.57/Darchives2.html

...RSS

[Pen]

For the record -- Rob knows I disagree with his marcionism. Michael has a good question but it could be better phrased through cultural differences and getting at the heart of what the prescriptions were against. For example leprosy in and of itself is not bad -- but for a primitive community protecting against the individual in favor of the community is vital. Lepers were ostracized not on the basis of spiritual arguments but on the basis of communal health. These days we cure skin diseases with medicine (granted leprosy proper is pretty nasty) and it is no longer necessary to stone lepers or place them in colonies...

Are there cultural elements of the Bible that we might choose to live differently and still be faithful? -- such as wearing blended fabrics, sewing mixed seed in our gardens.. and (shocker) civil unions for same sex couples?

Just a thought...