Finding a Morally Upright College

JHS
Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:57:52 +0000

Excuse me, Hunt, but where do you get the idea that the biblical prohibition on certain sexual practices is a broad moral rule rather than a fussy, ignorable one? The one instance with which I am most familiar is in the middle of the Leviticus “Holiness Code”. It speaks only to men having sex with men, seems to apply only to anal sex between men, doesn’t address homosexual women at all, and is cheek-by-jowl with stuff like the prohibition against wearing blends of different fibers. Which, by the way, is still adhered to by Orthodox Jews along with all of the other rules of Kashrut with which people are more generally familiar. My understanding is that, historically, the ban on anal sex among men related to cultic practices in other sects that the Jews were trying to suppress.

And if you are looking for a broad moral principle, not working on the Sabbath is pretty high up there. It’s not a technicality, and was enforced (far more strictly than any prohibitions against homosexuality) well into the modern era.

The fact is, most of us choose which Biblical admonitions to interpret as moral precepts, and which to disregard in favor of convenience. I don’t have a problem with that, but it means we have to take responsibility for our choices.