Channeling the Cognitive Dissonance of Leviticus

What the fundies miss

They miss the timeless proscriptions while slavering over one time-bound proscription.  The book was written at a specific time and place and for specific reasons: to get the Israelties, who had been vanquished, dispersed, and forgotten who they were, focused away from what peoples around them were doing.  Mixing fabrics, etc., does not transcend the period.

But these crucial concerns in Leviticus do (cf. Gunther Plaut):

The prime emphasis (of the holiness described in Leviticus 19) is ethical. And the moral laws of this chapter are not mere injunctions of conformity. They call for just, humane, and sensitive treatment of others. The aged, the handicapped, and the poor are to receive consideration and courtesy. The laborer is to be promptly paid. The stranger is to be accorded the same love we give our fellow citizens. The law is concerned not only with overt behavior but also with motive; vengefulness and the bearing of grudges are condemned.

Have you ever heard the fundies talking about any of this?  It's always the Bible as a cudgel to beat people over the head with.  So much for Love. 

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sat Aug 18, 2007 at 17:30:53 PM CDT

Leviticus: The Cherry Orchard

Leviticus also inveighs against the eating of pork.  I have a good Jewish friend who makes the best pork bbq (in a pit, over two days) in Maryland on the premise that if god had forbidden us to eat pork he wouldn't have made it taste so good.  I just wonder how many of the christianity-as-cudgel blowhards would be willing to give up their bacon sandwiches.

I'd be willing to keep Leviticus if it means we can stone Newt Gingrich for adultery.

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by: Brian @ Sat Aug 18, 2007 at 18:29:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Lol Brian....

Yes, I wonder if anyone will have the balls to mention this to Newt [when] he throws his hat in for Preznit...and starts using the bible to attack Teh Gay.

 

ee 

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by: Julien Sharp @ Sat Aug 18, 2007 at 18:37:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Another interesting fundy spin ...

What I really love about these fundy freaks is that except for Fred Phelps, they are actually afraid of being seen as complete nut jobs. That's why you always hear them cowardly quote the part of Leviticus that says "If a man lies with a man it is an abomination". BUT WHAT FOLLOWS DIRECTLY AFTER THAT IS: "they shall be put to death". It's funny that these idiotic fake Christians always conveniently leave that part out because they know it would reveal them as the murderous and hateful thugs they are. Whenever someone quotes that to you, ask them if they have the guts to read the rest of the sentence out loud.

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by: Ralph4159 @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 04:33:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Fundies--

--they quote what they like, when they like.  But it's almost always with the aim of smackign soembody down, never lifting anyone up.

BTW, an overwhelming majority of American Jews don't keep kosher, last time I checked. I never did.

 

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 08:15:30 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Try the Holiness Code

Many Christians don't UNDERSTAND Vayikra AKA Leviticus.

Source of Jesus' Great Commandment:
The Hebrew Bible, Deut. 6:5 & Leviticus 19:18.

Deut. 6:5

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Leviticus 19:18

Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Many people don't appear to understand their own religion, let alone anyone else's (or lack thereof).

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by: Holly in Cincinnati @ Sat Aug 18, 2007 at 18:17:43 PM CDT

Too right, Holly!

But the sad fact is that Christians have grossly and invidiously misinterpreted Judaism for several thousand years.  And nowadays fundies aren't the only Christians utterly uninterested in how Jews have and do interpret their own scriptures.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 20:15:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The first seven chapters of Leviticus consist of detailed instructions

as to when and how to offer animals for sacrifice to God.  I want to see a typical suburbanite megachurch goer taking a goat out of his SUV and leading the animal across the church parking lot, so that his Leviticus-obeying pastor can sacrifice it according to the directions in chapter 3: 

If your offering is a goat, you shall bring it before the Lord and lay your hand on its head; it shall be slaughtered before the tent of meeting megachurch; and the sons of Aaron ministry team shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar.  You shall present as your offering from it, as an offering by fire to the Lord, the fat which covers the entrails, and all the fat that is around the entrails; the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the appendage of the liver, which you shall remove with the kidneys.  The priest pastor shall turn these into the smoke on the altar as a food offering by fire for a pleasing odor.  All fat is the Lord's.  [Verses 12-16, NSRV]

 

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

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by: drosophila @ Sat Aug 18, 2007 at 18:51:31 PM CDT

But the fundies who know their Bible also know

that a big chunk of the New Testament documents the debate among the Jewish believers about what to do with Gentile believers, whether they had to become Jewish before they could be legit. followers of Christ.  They ultimately concluded the Gentiles did not have to be so, and therefore the Levitical rules about how offerings are to be carried out don't apply.

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by: oddjob @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 18:45:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Of course, you're right; but this only underscores how unreasonable

evangelicals are when they grab (largely out of context) verses about same-sex sexual behavior from Leviticus to bash us over the head with. 

What the evangelicals do is claim that the Leviticus code has two aspects: rules for ritual purity, no longer in force; and moral/ethical rules, which are still in force.  Naturally, they include homosexuality with the latter, offering various reasons for that.  These reasons include claims that homosexuality is unnatural and unhealthy, and that homosexuals are incapable of having normal, loving families.  With modern science and modern experience, it is now abundantly clear these reasons are false.  Just perhaps, the evangelical attitude towards homosexuality will change when they grasp that modern science has rendered old assumptions about homosexuality entirely obsolete.  That is, even if they still hew to the traditional view of Biblical inerrancy, they will still be able to accept homosexuality as part of God's plan by moving it from the category of moral/ethical rules to the category of ritual purity rules.  (Unfortunately, evangelicals have a truly obstinate ability to deny science, no matter how well established; as the unending battle against creationism demonstrates.)

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

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by: drosophila @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 19:17:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It is also interesting

that the tithe made it into the "moral/ethical" category of OT rules that are still in force, especially since the tithe only made sense as a way of supporting the priestly caste of descendants of the tribe of Benjamin.

With no temple, and no hereditary priestly caste to support, why keep the tithe? The early church did not tithe, they shared all property communaly and distributed it on the basis of need.

What the hell was I doing in Oaxaca in 1992, on the eve of the Zapatista revolution?

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by: Cambridge Kid @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 19:50:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What they ignore--

--is the clear historical context of a code being written for a defeated, dispersed people whose identity had been draining away and so the holiness code establishes boundaries between Israelites and those around them, and the things that seem totally bizarre to us (like mixing linen and wool clearly were associated with "pagan" cults.

I'm with you about the hope for evangelicals accpeting scientific views of homosexuality.  It seems dim. 

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 20:19:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm glad I only have a linen silk blend jacket

but I am scurrying off to check the rest of my closet....

.....oh....hi Mr. LaBarbera!....stop back when I have some free time to discuss the Bible with you.

oh...and you can get yourself out of that kneeling position and get out of my closet now, please....and take your buddies Bob Allen and Mark Foley along with you, if you don't mind...I'm sure three of you have better things to do (but keep it amongst your (holier than thou)selves, please). 

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by: bkmn @ Sat Aug 18, 2007 at 20:14:18 PM CDT

fashion

Am I the only one who noticed this, or is that Leviticus dude's obsession with not mixing incompatible fabrics a little...gay? "Thou shalt not clash!"

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by: drsivana99 @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 02:30:41 AM CDT

Hebrew (Ivrit) Leviticus

One of the problems with the Southern Baptist pastor is that his degree is sorta par with a degree in water polo or basket weaving. An Ivy divinity school requires at least four semesters of Hebrew, even for the Christian seminarian...some, like Yale, still require some Aramaic as well. Greek and Latin too..

The word for homosexual sex in Leviticus is abomination which, in Hebrew, is SCHICKSA. Schicksa is also the term used for a Gentile wife of a Jewish man, who has not yet converted. SO all these Baptist ministers have married, technically, abominations...although we knew that.

The other thing they neglect to tell their flock is that Leviticus applies ONLY to the Kohane, or the highest order of priests. So unless your name is Cohen, you can butt fuck all you want according to the Holy Torah writings.

All this pulpit hate of us has nothing to do with Leviticus anyway. It has to do with white trash hate. White trash is as white trash does. Negroes are no longer fashionable to hate aloud; women can no longer be barefoot and preggers because the Billy Bobs need the second income; Spics are off limits in polite company; and cripples get those fine parking spots....the only group left to hate is faggots and dykes. White trash live miserable lives of boring crap....to feel self elevated they need someone to look down on and hate. And folks, we are it! (I actually relish this secretly because I hold four degrees, come from old Boston money, have far better taste in clothes and decor, am well read, and am fluent in four languages.)

It has rallied the christian trash via Karl Rove, Bush, and the modern GOP. It has worked. It will work again. 

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by: bostonian queer in dallas @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 06:46:17 AM CDT

Actually--

The word translated into "abomination" is "toevah," though skihsa and sheygetz do stem from words applied to people doing unclean things.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 07:55:32 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Awesome.

Awesome comment, Bostonian...

 

ee 

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by: Julien Sharp @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 08:00:53 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Awesome, but not entirely correct:

"The other thing they neglect to tell their flock is that Leviticus applies ONLY to the Kohane, or the highest order of priests. So unless your name is Cohen, you can butt fuck all you want according to the Holy Torah writings."

Historically speaking, Vayikra (Leviticus) is the holiness code for the entire people at the time.

Some sections instruct Moses to speak to the people: the "bnei Moshe."

If it's specifically about the priests the verse says speak to the Kohanim, the "bnei Aharon," like 21.1.

 

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 08:26:36 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Specifically...

I liked that part about how gays/lesbians etc. are the last group it is 'legal' to hate...how rednecks must hate someone to feel better about their miserable lives. I have said this many times before and it was neat to see it put in writing. So makes sense.

 

ee 

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by: Julien Sharp @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 08:52:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I agree, ee

And have said the same thing, too, specifically relating it to 1990 and the Fall of Communism.  The hatred and Fear of the Other directed towards the commies has been translated into fear of queers: they're out to destroy society, undermine civilization, corrupt us etc.  Just like the commies.  Both groups want to rule the country and the langauge directed at them was/is nothing short of apocalyptic.

Now, honestly, the Soviets had more tanks.  But we have more tank tops.   

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 09:33:25 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

bwa ha ha, lev!

ee

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by: Julien Sharp @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 09:48:46 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

WE WILL BURY THEM

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 15:01:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The next group to follow will be Muslims,

specifically militant Islamic fundamentalists, but making the distinction will require discernment, and so that won't happen among large swaths of this group of people.  Those swaths instead will decide all Muslims are the problem.

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by: oddjob @ Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 18:51:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]