when Dr.Laura and Old testament collide!

[pox_reborn]

ok so another thread. Just unloading some links to manadrain because I'm feeling charitable today :lol:

http://akom.net/akom/may2000/inrespon.html


This letter was sent in response to Dr Laura's claim that
homosexuality is an abomination because it's against the Bible...

Dear Dr. Laura,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding
God's law. I have learned a great deal from you, and I try to
share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone
tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply
remind him that Leviticus 18: 22 clearly states it to be an
abomination..... End of debate !

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some
of specific law and how to best follow them as a true believer.

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates
a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1: 9). The problem is my neighbors.
They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. How should I deal with
this?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as it suggests in
Exodus 21: 7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
price for her?

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in
her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15: 19-24). The problem
is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

Lev. 25: 44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations that are
around us. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans
but not Canadians. Can you clarify?

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35: 2
clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to
kill him myself?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
abomination (Lev. 10: 10), it is a lesser abomination than
homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

Lev. 20: 20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if
I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear
prescription glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is
there some wiggle room here?

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident
that you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word
is eternal and unchanging.

[Das_Boot]

Holy shit, this is the best letter evar.  I go to a Catholic high school, so this letter is especially hot.  I am going to find a way to use this with my religion teacher, and the 3-4 fundamental Catholics in our class.
(Sample comments:  Unprovoked, this kid in a discussion on STDs raises his hand and says, "The only way to prevent STDs is abstinence." He also honestly thinks that gays would start taking over and everyone would be gay if Kerry were elected.)

/me copy/pastes this letter in my head.
In a related note, at least twice, without thinking about it, I have tried to copy/paste handouts in real life onto a computer.

[Godot]

I go to a Catholic high school, so this letter is especially hot.

This really disturbs me.  It sounds like the people in your school have an extremely warped and incorrect idea of the Churchs teachings on homosexuality.  The points raised in this letter can not really be used to point out hypocrisy and idiocy in the teachings of the Catholic Church in regards to homosexuality.

For the record, according to the Catholic church homosexuality(being attracted to/loving members of the same sex) is not a sin.  However, sexual acts involving members of the same sex is a sin, as is any other sex act involving people outside the bonds of marriage.  It is not a sin 'because Leviticus said so', but because sex is reserved for procreation w/in the bonds of marriage and all sex acts outside of such a union are an equivalent sin no matter the genders of the participants.

Yeah, so it really annoys me when people twist Catholicism into something it isnt.  /rant

[Jacob Orlove]

For most Christians, the New Testament supercedes the Old in any relevant cases, such as, for example, everything mentioned in that letter.

However, I was under the impression that you could sin through thought as well as deed?

[Das_Boot]

Oh, most people are aware that homosexuality isn't a sin, etc.  Just a small percentage hold these opinions, but, even so, they still get under my skin.  Also, it looks like these points weren't meant to make Catholics look like idiots, but to make Dr. Laura look like one, which it succeeded in.

@Jacob:

The thing about this, although I think that you can sin through thought, is that homosexuality itself isn't a sin, but the premarital sex is.  So, for instance, if gay marriage was legalized, in addition to the bestiality, polygamy, pedophilia, and necrophilia and imminent moral collapse of society that would follow, gay marital sex wouldn't be a sin.

[Mr. Fantazy]

And here I just thought it was funny... Whatever happened to something just being funny for christs sake?

[dandan]

Of course, most of the Catholic Church's attitudes to sex are based on the idea that sex is bad because it would clearly be bad to produce children with the second coming being so close (see Corinthians). Sadly despite being forced into revision over the shape of the Earth and Solar System, the Catholic Church doesn't appear to want to change its attitude to sex. Which is kind of strange because you would have thought that a bunch of 80 year old men who have taken a vow of celibacy who be an ideal cross section of society to consider such social issues [/sarcasm].

Personally if I see people acting funny, I feel a divine right to take the piss out of them.

On a more serious note, with yesterday's Holocaust day, I heard a lot of criticism of Britain/US failure to bomb the death camps but no word at all about the Catholic Church's failure to act over the Holocaust (when I say failure to act, I mean failure to act to stop it, rather than act to help deportations as was the case in Slovakia).