Do Us All a Favor & Read the Rest of Your Bible

Slavery was okay in the Bible, ma'am. 50 years ago it was illegal for you to get married,  ma'am.
It's kind of interesting what's been happening lately since social media has been exploding with the messages of those who are for and against marriage equality. Now I'm seeing the religious antigay people coming out of the woodwork spreading all of their cherry picked scriptures from the Bible to tear down those who want equality. If you've been reading me for some time now, you know where I'm heading with this one. I'll try to put a twist to it for you so you don't feel like you're reading the same thing again and again. But today, it's important I put this message out there. So bear with me, loyal readers. For new readers, especially the antigay religious folk -- I challenge you to answer a few questions.
  1. Do you include salt, in offering to your God? If not, you're sinning.
  2. Do you eat fat in your diets? If so, that's supposed to be saved for the offering to God. 
  3. For my God fearing 'right to bear arms' type of hunters -- have you touched an unclean animal? (Meaning touching the carcass of a dead animal, draining the blood, etc.) 
  4. Do you eat animals that doesn't both chew cud and has a divided hoof? (ie: camel, rabbit, pig)
  5. Do you eat shrimp scampi, lobster, clams, oysters, mussels, crab meat - any shellfish whatsoever? 
  6. Do you wear clothing made of more than 1 fabric? 
  7. Have you gone to church within 33 days after giving birth to a boy? It's an "unclean week" for her, which is seen as another sin in the Old Testament. Same applies to a girl, but that's within 66 days.
  8. Have you sat next to a woman during her period or worse yet, had sex with her during this time? 
  9. Did you shave your beard? 
  10. Have you cut the hair on the side of your face? (Side burns or the curls of an orthodox Jew.) 
  11. Do you have a tattoo? 
  12. Have you ever gone to a psychic? 
  13. Did you know that it's a sin for a woman to get raped. Yep, you can read that again. Unless you pay the father a certain amount of money, then it's "okay" in "God's eyes". 
  14. Do you still believe slavery is okay? 
  15. Did you know that there was a death penalty for saying the Lord's name in vain, all from Leviticus?
Really?
All scriptures that reference to homosexuality seen in Romans and in Corinthians are meant to be taken as reckless sex - as any heterosexual or homosexual person may engage in. Premarital sex is also a sin. It's the promiscuous nature they are speaking of - not a loving relationship between two people. My problem with people trying to instill their religion on gays and lesbians is that, they are not following their own "good book" of rules. They're only taking out what they don't like and using it against people who just want the same rights as anybody else. The most hateful speech with religion backing them up are from those who don't even take the time to read the Bible itself. They cannot quote one scripture, nor even understand what was said in Leviticus or interpret their meaning. They have a problem with gays and lesbians marrying one another. How is this affecting their lives? It's destroying the sanctity of marriage? Maybe if so many people weren't on their 4th or 5th marital spouse, I could probably see that. But the truth is --- they don't care about other "sins". They only care about the homosexuals ruining the reputation of marriage. I heard one gentleman say, "Oh my neighbors are lesbians who have been together for years. They're very nice people. I like them, but I don't agree that they should be allowed to get married, and that's my opinion." What if that same person who said that was to witness one spouse dying and their relatives coming over to take over all of their possessions, as well as her will to her lifetime partner, who she couldn't marry? Would you think that was fair? People are funny once a loved one passes away. Things change. The "life partner" is no longer "family" -- they are considered "a friend".  "A friend" who has loved them every single day of their togetherness. "A friend" who has fed them, seen them through thick and thin and took care of them. "A friend" who has made a lifelong commitment through sickness and in health. Hmm, sounds like marriage to me.  The worst part about an antigay religious person's thinking is that they only bring up the sexual nature of our relationships. For instance, the same gentleman said, "Ugh, I can't see a man putting up his thing in another man's bum." (I reworded that by the way.) It's psychologically known that if a person only makes sexual references towards the homosexual lifestyle, it may be possible that they're a closet homosexual themselves.

So before you start cherry picking your scriptures, it might be in your best interest to actually pick up the Bible and read the rest of it.

For more of Deb's articles, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com or join her on Facebook and Twitter. Check out her cooking blog for some of her famous recipes!