A-M u s i n g s – A Blueprint for Life

According to Leviticus 20:9, anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. Of course, in those days political correctness was not really on anyone’s priority list, but I imagine this law was equally valid for women as for men. In fact, now I come to think about it, Leviticus is very even-handed when it comes to punishing adultery, “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbour—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death,” which would be a rather drastic, but certainly effective way of controlling the growth of the global population.

Homosexuals are given no wiggle room at all; in chapter 20:13 Leviticus declares, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death.” Presumably the same would apply to lesbians even though Ruth and Naomi seemed to have a good thing going there if Ruth 1:14 is to be believed; “Ruth loved Naomi as Adam loved Eve.”

Biblically, women really don’t fare well; as Ephesians 5:22-24 puts it: “Wives, submit to your husbands . . . For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church . . . wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Mark those words “in everything!”

And the good lord help any chick who happens to succumb to her boyfriend’s lust and gets caught, if Deuteronomy 22:20 is anything to go by: “If no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house.” Okay, so it says ‘Israel’ but you have to remember that the rest of the world had not been invented at the time of writing, and people had no idea of what lands lay over the horizon or beyond the oceans, despite the fact that the world was created in less than a week, which brings me to the six-day-working-week.

Exodus 35:2 was clearly destined for a grand career in the Trade Union Movement. “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day . . . Whoever does any work on it must be put to death.” I guess one day’s holiday a week would seem to be a prudent thing.

There are more refugees fleeing their countries in the world today than ever before. The Bible is quite clear on the matter: Prisoners are not to be tolerated. According to Deuteronomy 7:1-2, “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations . . . then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.”

In chapter 20:10-17 of the same book we learn how to treat people who prefer not to fight: “When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labour and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder . . . However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them.”

Now to slavery and Exodus 21:20-21: “If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property,” and in 1 Peter 2:18: “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.”

Leviticus 25:44-45 not only condones slavery but actually promotes it: “Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.” And what’s the point of all this Bible bashing? Well, in today’s Western world we see things differently – we strive to respect Life and Liberty, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Choice and Tolerance – but as little as a couple of centuries ago, people still accepted the literal truth of words written centuries before.

Tragically, in this world infested by the Islamic State, there are those who have their own “Good Book” and still live in that ignorant, dim, dark, violent and distant world that fails to respect the Sanctity of Life, and shows neither Mercy nor Love for Neighbours or Strangers.