On being a hypocritical, non-Bible reading idiot...

There was a post on Facebook today made by a friend of mine, listing some of the things that the Bible bans which aren't really thought of today. I've put the list, complete with verses, just below.


Shaving - "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." Leviticus 19:27
Cursing - "Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving." Ephesians 5:4
Gossip - "Do not go about spreading slander among your people." Leviticus 19:16

Football on Saturdays - "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." Exodus 20:8 (The Jewish Sabbath is Saturday; and it basically says you can't do any work, in which sport would be included.)
Eating lobster - "But all the creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales....you must not eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses." Leviticus 11:10
Eating pork - "And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you." Leviticus 11:7
Cotton/polyester blends - "Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material." Leviticus 19:19
Associating with women during their period - "When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean." Leviticus 15:19-20


Now, this proceeded to get remarked on by a friend of his. They said that most Christians probably don't even read the Bible (properly), and that 99% of dumb people are Christians (though they did say that not all Christians were dumb, so that's something). I believe the phrase "mindless idiots" was mentioned.

Of course, the thing is, there are elements of truth here. You do get Christians that are....a bit thick, and don't really get it. They probably don't know that much of the Bible, and - chances are - think they just need to be a "good person". Thankfully, that's a minority. At least, all of those put together is. A lot of the Christians that I know are very smart, know their Bibles pretty darn well, and get the whys and the hows.

Now, as you may have noticed, most of the references above are from the Old Testament. And some Christians will essentially say, well, Jesus died so we didn't have to do the Old Testament stuff. And yet, he says: "I have not come to abolish the law, but fulfill it." That often confuses people.

As you may have noticed, most of the references are from Leviticus. Leviticus is a book of the Bible that is essentially God telling Moses a whole list of laws, decrees, guidelines, and ways to do things. For the Israelites.

Does this mean that we can just ignore them? Well, no. Sure, there are some rules there that are very specifically for the Israelites and their situation - for example, what the priests should do - but there are some that can be useful for us as well. Respect your parents; leave some food for the poor and refugees; don't steal, lie or deceive people; don't be mean to deaf or blind people - I mean, some of these rules are part and parcel of the ideal today. As for the two that aren't in Leviticus - namely, cursing and...er....football - the latter is simply the Sabbath. There are a few different ideas about how the Sabbath works post-Jesus; but essentially, the idea of Sabbath is a day of rest, and Jesus brought a partial rest, to be completed when we go to heaven. The former, cursing, is from Ephesians, and the words of Paul. Within the same passage, he also says that there should be no sexual immorality or greed, and anyone who does any of these things has no inheritance in the kingdom of God.

Now, I can tell you right now, there would have been people in the church with those problems. Struggling with these things, trying to get better, striving for that goal. Because that's what they are. A goal to aim for. Paul knew that; he says that nobody is perfect. We are all human. If even just these three criteria were used to decide who would go to be with God, the number would be very small.

I did actually do a post on swearing/cursing a while back, when I tackled some similar issues every now and then. If you want to have a look, it's here: http://modnarama.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/myths-of-biblical-proportion.html

So yeah. Essentially, we're not (all) idiots, we do actually know our Bibles (mostly), and we attempt not to be hypocrites (usually).