Burnishing Bigotry - 3rd edition

Lucy #269: Next you state that, ―Christ is quoted at one point that God created people
‗in the beginning‘ as male and female, and that marriage is the union of one man and one woman
joined together as ‗one flesh‘ … Nothing is said about any other type of union.‖
Exactly, my Friend … Absolutely NOTHING is ever said by Jesus about any other type
of union! And Jesus was quite clear & open about the actions he did actually condemn –
namely, aggression (Matthew 5:40-48), arrogance (Matthew 18:3-4), judging others‘ sins (Matthew
7:1-2), fantasizing about anyone other than one‘s spouse (Matthew 5:27-28), blaspheming ―against
the Holy Spirit‖ (i.e. our ever-Caring conscience – see Matthew 12:31), converting others to Paul‘s
Pharisaic ―false prophet‖ teachings (Matthew 23:15), callousness (Matthew 25:41-45), divorce
(Matthew 19:9), greed & dishonesty & envy & slander (Mark 7:22), religious piousness
(Matthew 6:1 & Matthew 7:21-23 & Matthew 23:12 & Luke 20:46-47), and of course – hypocrisy
(Matthew 6:5 & Matthew 15:7-9 & Matthew 23:25-26) … Jesus mentioned all these sins &
violations – all of these and indeed many more. He expounded upon them all at length, and he
made it very clear that they were all sins that he denounced. And yet he didn‘t mention
homosexuality once in his entire Biblical ministry; Not – one – single – time … Enough said!
P.S. By the way, when read accurately,
the passage in Matthew 19 to which you refer
here actually has nothing at all to do with
marriage anyway … You see, during the time of
Jesus‘ ministry there existed quite the strident
conflict between two major Jewish factions, and
part of this conflict concerned the theme of
divorce – specifically how & when a married
couple could become apropriately separated in
the eyes of the Lord. The leader of the first
facet, Rabbi Shammai, taught that the Hebrew
word ―displeasing‖ in Deuteronomy 24:1 meant
that only a very serious transgression (like
adultery) could allow a couple to legally separate
(making divorce extremely difficult to obtain) …
Conversely, the leader of the opposing faction,
Rabbi Hillel, taught that almost any transgression
by one‘s wife would qualify as ―displeasing‖
(making a divorce extremely easy to obtain) …
As such, when we keep this fact in mind and
re-read the text in question, we see that Jesus is
quite clearly not commenting on marriage per se
at all, but is rather talking about divorce – doing
so by publicly supporting the far more
conservative interpretation of Deuteronomy 24
offered by Rabbi Shammai.
In essence, then, the question being posed to
Jesus in Matthew 19 is not ―What is an
acceptable marriage‖, but rather ―When
is it acceptable to divorce?‖
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