SELECTIVE THEOLOGY

It’s interesting to observe right-wing evangelical Christians twist and distort the gospel to fit their own prejudices. They did it with Civil Rights and they are doing it now with their new prejudices. It is as though they think God goofed by not making homosexuality, tax cuts and abortion the priority of all Christians in this world. They conveniently ignore the fact that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, or abortion and conservative politics as a prerequisite to becoming a follower of Christ. It is presumptuous of conservatives to assume that God is on their side but since they are ten times as likely to believe in the Devil as they are evolution it comes as no surprise. Their theological priorities seem to be quite convoluted. When they read scripture they tend to stretch the meaning and make assumptions that were not intended. One example is the meaning of the story of Sodom. They want to say that the reason of its demise is because of homosexual deviancy but the story is actually about hospitality. The obvious moral of the story seems to be when you’re attacked by an angry mob the religiously correct thing to do is to offer up your virgin daughters. Of course the Old Testament does condemn male / male sex because in Leviticus: 19/19 it ranks right up there with the abomination of wearing polyester / cotton shirts and women wearing men’s clothing. But much to the consternation of today’s right – wingers it didn’t quite make the top Ten Commandments such as adultery, coveting your neighbors’ material possessions and worshiping on Saturday (the Sabbath). It’s funny how most modern day Christians tend to gloss over most of the Commandments even as they are quick to put them up in their front yards to show all the world they are against homosexuals and abortion. Jesus never mentioned homosexuals but explicitly advised a wealthy man to give away all his assets and warned against saving money in bank accounts. How many right wingers practice that? Much of what Jesus said doesn’t tend to fit our own modern day prejudices. Of course Biblical teachings are against killing but many American Christians ignore its application to war and capital punishment. Conservatives say life begins at conception but don’t have a problem bombing pregnant Iraqi women or using birth control pills and I.U.D.’s that destroy fertilized eggs. They want to dictate to others when or if they can have an abortion but can’t seem to agree about when a soul indwells in the fetus. Does the Bible uphold tolerance for homosexual relationships such as that between David and Jonathan? Part of the New Testament clearly condemns male homosexuality, not in Jesus’ words but Pauls’. Jesus had much to say about divorce but you don’t hear evangelicals ranting about discriminating against them. They have a tougher time explaining why being a lesbian is wrong. Roman’s 1 has a passage about woman engaging in “unnatural” sex but based on Jewish law it was likely referring to sex during menstruation or to women who are aggressive during sex. Paul had some issues. Do we really want to make Paul our source of prioritization in theology or is Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount the essence of our faith and theology?
Given these ambiguities, one solution may be to emphasize scripture in Genesis which says, “It is not good for the human to be alone,” and allow homosexuals to marry which would allow them to be as pathetically unsuccessful at it as heterosexual couples. Or there is another solution. Paul disapproves of marriage altogether except for the sex-obsessed, saying it is best “to remain unmarried as I am.” So if we’re going to proof text and cherry pick scripture and ignore the central message of love, then maybe we should just ban marriage altogether? Then maybe we would have the perfect right – wing Biblical utopia that evangelical Republicans desire.