Let us not pass judgment on one another

Tue, Feb 5, 2013

Editor: Over the weeks, I’ve read several interesting articles in this great paper regarding the gay lifestyle and with regard to God. And I must say that I love it how many people can pick and choose what they like in the Bible. Whether one believes in God or not, that’s not my point, but I do believe that people should be free to be in a relationship, whether you’re gay, lesbian or bisexual.{{more}}

There are several quotes in the Bible that are up for discussions; here are some that I’ve found very interesting:

• We are all sinners in the eyes of God, and we are all children of God. If my memory serves me well, the Bible says “”judge not, lest ye be judged” (Matthew 7:1)

•  “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be quiet.” (1 Timothy 2:12)

•  “Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.” (1 Samuel 15:3)

•  “You shall not let a sorceress live.” (Exodus 22:18)

• “Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock.” (Psalm 137:9)

•  “When the men would not listen to his host, the husband seized his concubine and thrust her outside to them. They had relations with her and abused her all night until the following dawn, when they let her go. Then at daybreak the woman came and collapsed at the entrance of the house in which her husband was a guest, where she lay until the morning. When her husband rose that day and opened the door of the house to start out again on his journey, there lay the woman, his concubine, at the entrance of the house with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, “Come, let us go”; but there was no answer. So the man placed her on an ass and started out again for home.” (Judges 19:25-28)

•  “And the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.” (Romans 1:27)

• “Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. ‘If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,’ he said, ‘whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites shall belong to the Lord. I shall offer him up as a holocaust.’ … When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came forth, playing the tambourines and dancing. She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her. When he saw her, he rent his garments and said, ‘Alas, daughter, you have struck me down and brought calamity upon me. For I have made a vow to the Lord and I cannot retract’.” (Judges 11:30-1, 34-5)

•  “Then God said: ‘Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you’.”(Genesis 22:2)

•  “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:22)

•  “Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and equitable but also to those who are perverse.” (1 Peter 2:18)

•  If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.(Leviticus 20:9)

•  If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)

• 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.(Leviticus 20:13)

•  For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death.(Exodus 35:2)

•  Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men.(1 Peter 2:13 )

•  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. (1 Peter 2:18)

•  All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be detestable to you. There are, however, some winged creatures that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. (Leviticus 11:20-22)

•  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23 ) 

And before I end, I would like to say this:

•  “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” (Romans 14:12-13)

Kalik Crick