The Mighty Signal is hardly the proper place to argue Christian theology, but since that topic has already been spread across the Opinion page, I would like to address the letters of Thursday, March 21.
The writers quote Matthew 5- 17-19 as their justification for condemnation of same-sex relationships. The “law” they refer to is contained in the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. That book covers the laws about how the Jews are to live in about every single aspect of life at that time in history. So, I went to my King James Bible and the Book of Leviticus to read some of the laws these devout followers of the “law” should also probably be following in their daily lives in the year of our Lord 2024. I do hope they will repent of their sins and follow these laws from this day forward.
Leviticus Chapter 11: Vast number of “beasts” are listed as unclean. This is the law. Do they follow these restrictions?
Chapter 12: Rules regarding childbirth and the “uncleanness” of the mother. Did they follow these laws in their families if and when their wives gave birth?
Chapter 13-14: Ways of diagnosing leprosy and the restrictions on those who the priests have declared lepers. Is this how those afflicted with leprosy are now treated in Christian nations?
Chapter 15: Unclean state of men who have a “running issue” out of the flesh and women who have any issue of blood. Time is required to declare them clean after the “issue” stops and the required sacrifice of animals to God.
Chapter 18: Laws regarding “uncovering the nakedness” of just about every person in one’s family. That kind of restricts caring for invalids. I guess my poor father would have just had to lay in excrement when he soiled himself. He had senile dementia, and I often cared for and bathed him.
Chapter 18, V 22: This says “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind,” the verse that these folks are so adamant on seeing enforced.
Above are just a few of the laws and restrictions in Leviticus and other places in the Old Testament. Unless and until they follow all these laws, I suggest these folks get off their moral high horse and stop being so judgmental. I would refer them to Matthew 7: 1-5, which begins, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Again and again Jesus admonishes his followers to love their neighbor as themselves. When asked “who is my neighbor,” he tells story we call The Good Samaritan. The Samaritans were considered lesser people by the Jews.
I especially would refer to Matthew 23: 35-40, 35. “Then one of them which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Jesus came to fulfill the law. If that were not true, today’s Christians would still be required to follow all the laws in the Torah, which they most obviously do not. If the admonition from Jesus in the previous paragraph were followed, it would bring in heaven on earth, at least for Christians, and yes, probably for followers of the many other faiths on this earth, too, as they must live with and among us.
Judy Reinsma
Santa Clarita
