Too many mental tabs open today.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

The Doctor is.....nuts.



In her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlessinger (a popular conservative radio talk show host) said that homosexuality is an abomination according to the Bible Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, and was attributed to a James M. Kauffman, Ed. D. However, according to Snopes.com this letter has been circulating around the interwebs since May 2000. Dr. Laura, as she is known to her fans, is not a medical doctor, she holds a doctorate in physiology from Columbia University and practiced as a licensed marriage, family and child counselor for more than a decade although her California Marriage Family and Child Counseling license has been inactive for several years. Schlessinger's use of the title "Doctor" is misleading and her knowledge of the bible is pitiful. She is more than a bit hypocritical about the sanctity of marriage, just ask her first husband about her extra curricular activities. Better still do a search and check out the naked pictures veteran broadcaster Bill Ballance legally sold in 1998 (ewww, I don't want to do this!)

Anyway regardless of the original author or recipient, the letter is fitting, it shows the hypocrisy behind the "homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says so" argument. I think this letter can be sent to plenty of people, in fact I have no problem changing the "Dear" and "From" parts of this letter and shipping it off to a few folks myself. Please feel free to do this. Shine a bright light directly in the face of hypocrisy, lets see if we can get through to someone, anyone. Even if one person reads this and sees the error in his or her ways it would have been worth it.

A very special thanks to my friend and reader LB, she posted this letter on her Facebook page this morning:


Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and 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 them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination… end of
debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?

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

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

4. 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 neighbours. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbour 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, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 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 reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really
necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev. 24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan,

James M. Kauffman, Ed. D.
Professor Emeritus Dept. of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education
University of Virginia

4 comments:

  1. wow...very educational!
    I learned a few things, laughed at a few and pondered a few things. A rather broad spectrum of insight.

    thanks

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  2. There are many ways to mock and defame those people who believe in God and the Bible. One very common way is such a kind of in which people mix up all commands of the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. In this writing, I bring forth that how mockers distort, take things out of the context and mix up order of the Old and New Covenant.

    Dr. Laura Schlesinger said on her radio show 2004 that she as an observant Orthodox Jew thinks that homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. Someone posted on the Internet an open letter to Dr. Laura.

    In this writing, I'm going to deal with arguments of an open letter. My answers are according to the order of the New Covenant, and I rectify few misunderstandings and misrepresented things.

    Answers and the whole article is here: http://koti.phnet.fi/petripaavola/answeringtomockersoftheBible.html

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  3. By picking & choosing what of the bible you want to believe and going the step further of interpreting it in such a way that best fits your choice of lifestyle nullifies automatically any argument for which you use it as a basis. Not only that but it makes you appear even more deluded and brainwashed to those who actually have common sense and free thought (aka: athiests).
    When engaged in any argument or discussion, I would normally take the time to formulate a factual & logical counter. In this instance, however, the above display of self-elevation, to a level whereby it can be stated what God said and meant, suggests that any time would not be well-spent.
    I view the contents of the bible as they are written and in your spirit of interpretation, mine is thus: It is an infinitely contradictory collection of hypocritical rules, created by man for the sole purpose of creating subservience in other men.
    Man created God, not the other way round. The sooner people wake up, realise this and stop placing stock in imaginary friends, the better humanity will get along.

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  4. I also received a similar BOGUS letter because of something I posted on the internet. Below is a portion of my response. For a copy of my full and detailed response to every question, you can visit my website and email me.

    "In your letter, you say that you need some advice regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them. Let's start here with God's laws - or specific types of law - because if you can grasp a rather simple concept, some of your bogus questions will evaporate. What you fail to understand is that the Old testament contains three types of Law, namely ceremonial, civil and moral.

    An example of a ceremonial law is the sacrifice of a bull on the temple altar. There were countless ceremonial laws and rituals that the people of Israel was required to keep, including the offering of sacrifices, ritual washings, dietary laws, the observance of specific feasts and fasts, etc. All of these ceremonial laws had but one purpose, and that was to point ahead to Christ and what He would accomplish for the world. His sacrificial death fulfils that which the animal sacrifices of old simply foreshadowed. His cleansing power in Holy Baptism removes the need for the ritual washing away of sin. His body and blood received in the Sacrament of Holy Communion gives believers the true holy diet that is needed - God Himself. Most of the Old Testament ceremonial laws were closely connected to the temple which was representative of God's presence. With Christ - God incarnate - among us, that temple and its rituals are no longer needed. That is why, at the moment of Christ's death, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, symbolizing that the temple had been rendered obsolete. Christ had replaced the temple. The temple is no longer needed, nor the ceremonial laws which accompanied it. That is why believers in God no longer observe the ceremonial law. It was fulfilled and then abolished by Christ Jesus Himself.

    An example of the civil law is the stoning to death of a man who has committed a crime punishable by death. Now it doesn't take a genius to understand that different countries have different civil laws. Moreover, even within one country, these laws are prone to change. Sometimes laws change as a result of a new government and other times they just change. In Ontario, in my own lifetime, the legal age for drinking alcohol has changed more than once, the speed limit on major highways has changed, the laws surrounding capital punishment have changed, and so has much more. And all of these changes were permissible because they were changes in the civil law. Governments have that right. In the case of ancient Israel, prior to the time of Saul, its first king, God was the government. Therefore, God established their civil laws and the people of the nation of Israel were expected to obey their government. Believers today are expected to obey their governments in civil matters (so long as this does not require them to disobey God's moral law), not the civil laws of other countries in days gone by.

    An example of the moral law is the condemnation of the homosexual lifestyle as sin. This has nothing to do with ceremony. Nor does this have anything to do with the civil law. Rather, it is all about lifestyle - morality - ethics - whatever you want to call it. Christian believers today simply declare that the homosexual lifestyle is morally wrong in God's sight and condemned by Him. They declare the same of many other things as well. Unfortunately, some Christians make the homosexual lifestyle out to be a sin worse than others. This is not so. It is a sin, like every other sin against God's moral law. The moral law, unlike the ceremonial law which was fulfilled and abolished by God Himself, and unlike the civil law which rests in the hands of the government of the day, is unchanging."






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