Deep thoughts

I had a typical discussion with my mother recently and it ended about as abruptly as it usually does. She fancies herself as a religious person and there's no faulting her for that. She has a good heart and means well but generally she does what so many Christians do with regards to selective beliefs. Most things are okay since humanity has an inclination towards sin but apparentlty homosexuality isn't among those things.

Putting aside well explained sciences like genetics, DNA, and all that "rubbish" mankind has created to rationalize why we are the way we are, my mother has chosen to adhere to the bible for her information and warns against trusting the science of man.

She's had trouble with this in the past since she's not sure how to interpret things that aren't there. I've said before that the bible isn't a book about dinosaurs but they should still be regarded as beasts which we know (per the bible) were on this planet first. She once regarded them as "freaks of nature" and questioned why there aren't fossils popping up all over the place to which a young Graham suggested that not every dead creature has the good fortune of being preserved. I was advised to pray.

It's not that my mom is a hateful person since she doesn't subscribe to the biblical notion that men who lie in the beds of women should be put to death but honestly I don't think she read past the part about it being an abomination. She also doesn't understand what abomination means. She thinks abomination is defined as "unnatural" but it really just means disliked. To her the bible is really just a platform for her self esteem since it makes her feel good to be able to judge people that are not as righteous as she is.

In case you were wondering, she's "quoting" Leviticus which says quite a few things about how "one" should live their life. Those ones in particular are the "Children of Israel" or the Jewish as we've come to know them. There are two parts to Leviticus. The first portion is for the priests. It describes how to conduct rituals properly and all that kosher stuff. The second half is for the people and centers around cleanliness of body, mind, and soul. "Abomination" is used frequently throughout but it doesn't really translate back to Hebrew. It just happened to be the closest English word they could find when putting together the King James translation. The only problem with using that word is that it's not what was said in the Torah. They could have translated it to, "Men shouldn't use women's beds because it's not what we do in Isreal." but that isn't very eloquent now is it?

But Graham, you keep referring to the "filthy act of homosexuality" as laying in a woman's bed. That's what it says. It's all about context. Think of it as a recipe. You have to mix ALL the ingredients for it to taste right. If you just dump baking powder in a bowl it's not going to magically become chocolate chip cookies. The same goes with the bible.

In the days of old women didn't have the same rights they have today. They fit into the social hierarchy somewhere between paterfamilias and the family cow. The latter of which also had a bed that was not to be used by men. A woman's bed was a sacred place that men could only use for making babies with said woman as long as they were married.

In summary Leviticus is really about properly observing all of the Jewish rituals to remain clean in the good lord's eyes.

I know you're thinking of the Sodomites so let's take a look at those pervs for a moment. There we have a bunch of people that liked having a good time. They had a good time all over the place with each other. It was a lot like spring break. I'm sure there were a lot of body shots and plenty of oral sex. Things weren't very well lit back then so when you get a pile of people fornicating I'm sure a couple of dudes hooked up as well. Again it's a lot like spring break. It's not that men were getting together but rather the manner in which they were getting together. I don't think God is a proponent of anal sex regardless of who's on top and who's on bottom. It's unclean and I can dig that. He's probably not too fond of oral sex either. I'm married now so that's okay too.

From there the whole biblical anti-gay argument falls apart. The remaining argument in the militant Christian's arsenal is that homosexuality is a choice. They argue that we don't choose to be heterosexual since man requires a woman to properly mate instinctively which ironically brings us back to science. Go figure. That same science has proven that homosexuals have a propensity towards the same sex. Some regard it as a crossed wire but at the heart of it all we begin our lives as female but at some point in our development we end up at one side or the other. Or do we? Sometimes we end up in the middle. What is a hermaphrodite? Which way should they go. Does the wrong choice doom them to eternal hellfire? It's been discovered that homosexual males process many thoughts as women do. Does that make them women? Not really. All it really shows is that there are a lot of variables that determine the sexual orientation of human beings so who's to say what is natural and what isn't? It's kind of like saying Bud Light is the only true beer because it tastes like ass which is how beer is supposed to taste. Guinness is an abomination and loving it makes God angry.

Personally, I believe we're born the way we're born and whatever that may be is natural. God knows our hearts and his love for us is unconditional. There is no way for a being capable of such affection to abhor the outcome of beings built in their own image. I'd say the biggest part of our humanity comes from that capability to love and we compromise that humanity by denying another human being the happiness we enjoy be it with a man or a woman. Even though people like my mom don't understand they don't need to because it's not their place to judge. They are our neighbors and we should love them regardless. I wish I could remember where I read about that whole "love your neighbor" thing.