Richard Gist: Using The Bible To Cover Up Bias

[Mrs. Venation]

It's basic to the spiritual journey to recognize that we react to a world of our own invention, both within and without. As long as we do so, we are ensnared by our own imaginations and prejudices, and who among us escapes the trap? It is helpful, however, to recognize the problem.

As a retired pastor, I fear those who lift up Scriptures to masquerade as their own prejudices and fears. The Bible lacks the consistency to stand any test of ultimate truth, and that is hardly its purpose. To use Scriptures to repress people one does not agree with is of the same mentality as wanting a constitutional amendment to focus on a minority in order to suppress them. Both are reckless and unworthy of a compassionate and free people.

Many are now lifting up the Bible to prove that God does not want loving people of the same sex to enjoy the privileges of marriage, though an argument might be mounted on biblical grounds that marriage is a spiritual union of two people who are dedicated each to the other. Or not.

Actually, we are hard put to focus on marriage biblical style, because the Bible offers so many variations. Do we settle for the matriarchal model, which can also be matrilinear, meaning that descent is reckoned from the mother, and matrilocal, meaning the husband lives in the wife's home?

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4702312.html

(registration required, but worthwhile to read the article in its entirety)