BIBLE: Literal can prove lethal

Based on letters I have read, bigoted proselytizing is alive and well. Bible phrases really don’t justify discrimination. If you don’t want a gay lifestyle, then don’t be gay. If you don’t want gays to patronize your business, then don’t hold your business open to the public. If you want the benefit of public business then be prepared to tolerate those members of the public you don’t agree with. Life isn’t perfect.

Micheal Teague said in his letter, the Bible “…was written by men for the singular purpose of controlling men…” If you are looking to the Bible for guidance, use some common sense. You can’t get through life very well if you take it literally.

Examples from Leviticus. “Do not put tattoo marks on yourselves. Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head… Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” Homosexuals “…must be put to death.” One of the 10 commandments, also in the Bible, says “Do not kill.”

Much of the Bible is contradictory and doesn’t fit with modern life. It should serve as a guide to get through life, not as an absolute. One of my favorite passages is “Do not judge or you too will be judged.” (Matthew 7-1) So read your Bible but use some common sense in applying it to modern life. I have reviewed three different versions of the Bible, the International version, the King James version and the Catholic version and there are substantial differences between the three.

According to George Brinkman in his book “Origins of Christianity,” creation was a compilation of oral Hebrew stories that “had been handed down to them from generation to generation…” Remember in Genesis there were no women available for Cain to marry. And who were these other people who might kill Cain? Certainly, not Adam and Eve.

Lastly, don’t forget the writers of the Bible thought the world was flat. We have come a long way.

BRUCE HANSEN

Coeur d’Alene