Editorial - Attacks against Bible unfounded

Here’s another article printed in the North County Times. On this blog, these past two weeks I have been focusing on politics and wars, not giving that much attention to religion. It usually will not be like this. Most of my letters to the NCT are religious in nature; they appear in the Faith & Values letters section, which comes out every Friday. The limit between letters by the same person is two weeks, and I try to have letters in the paper that often. Here I responded to two letter writers from the previous week. I will show them first, then mine.



'Christian arrogance is dismissive'
The Bible (both the Old Testament and the New) contains a number of references to homosexuality. Of course, non-Christians, particularly secularists, are not burdened by the grinding biblical prejudices. Also, not everything historical, even in the Bible, is touched upon by writers. PP. Random crevices occur everywhere in the information (and disinformation) continuum. It is not known, for instance, whether Jesus and the Apostles were homosexuals, perhaps even practicing homosexuals. PP. Christian arrogance is generally dismissive of secular – and calmer – points of view regarding human nature. – Clay Northcote, Carlsbad.

'Hating others in the name of an invented god'
As a child living on my grandfather’s sugar plantation in Cuba, my mother taught me how to recognize homosexual animals, such as a tuerca, chicken. These homosexuals were identified as primary candidates for family meals. My grandfather later taught me that some people were tuerca, just like the various farm animals. PP. The perceived homosexual problem was reproduction (important to a farmer) and had nothing to do with any evil. It was natural. PP. During my long lifetime I’ve had a few friends and relatives who were homosexual. I wondered over the years as to why some of my Bible-thumping friends could be so hateful against homosexuals. I wondered if these friends were also hateful against the so-called freaks of nature. PP. I have no problem with homosexuals (or bible-thumpers) having idealistic equal rights and opportunities under the law, regardless of what some ignorant humans wrote in some Scripture a long time ago in the middle of a desert. PP. On the other hand, there will always be people who justify hating others in the name of their invented God(s).
- Tony San Miguel, Vista

Attacks against the Bible unfounded

Mr. San Miguel and Mr. Northcote (Faith & Values Letters, Sept. 30th) said the Bible is “man-made” written by “ignorant” humans, full of human “prejudices”. They use this as an argument against the Christian/Biblical stand against homosexual practices.

While it is true the Bible was hand-written by men, it was inspired by God. God dictated His message through the Holy Spirit to the authors, while still using their unique personalities. It is not a book of myths or human prejudices, but God’s message to humankind. There is strong evidence for this, among which are fulfilled prophecy, archeological confirmation, and proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Christ was raised from the dead.

Biblical Christians are not “hateful” against homosexuals. We stand against the practice of homosexuality because its sin, just as lying, murder, and idolatry are sins. We do not hate homosexuals, because Christ loved them enough to die for them on the cross, and whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Non-christian homosexuals are as lost as any other non-christian. A homosexual who becomes a Christian should stop his practice out of respect for his Savior, which has been done by thousands of former homosexuals.

-Paul B. Bishop, homeschooled student. Valley Center

You may notice, I could not answer all of their arguments in just one letter, since we have a 200 word limit. For instance, Mr. Northcote's claim that we don't know whether or not Jesus and the disciples were homosexual (of course we know they were not). I value your input on how well I answered those two letters with such limited space.