Happy July! Hope everyone is staying cool, hitting the pool and enjoying their summer! Summer always seems to end too soon.

Ever since I made my first post, and having posted in other places, I have encountered the scripture hand grenade. For some Christians, they throw out scripture without thought. I am sure that there are some who think that I am a modern day Jezebel (the Phoenician wife of Ahab). The truth is that I fervently love Christ and hate much of the human serving aspects of some Church doctrine. This is a hard thing to say growing up Catholic, and hypocritical of me because everyone of my children studied the Catechism and confirmed and baptized in the [Lutheran] Church.

So this is really about the hypocrisy of arguing positions with scripture that some often do not understand.

Let's test one of these. I was told that my enjoyment of anal sex and double penetration was evil and I would be punished like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Counter: Sodomy is wrong... it's in the Bible! No it's not. The concept of sodomy in Biblical times was used to describe the people of Sodom and Gomorrah not the sexual act. Is a blowjob a sin? Counter: no just anal sex! I countered again with the idea that blowjobs were a form of sodomy, "no it is not!" was the stern reply. So I went on the offensive...

sodomy (n.)
c. 1300, "unnatural sexual relations," such as those imputed to the inhabitants of Biblical Sodom, especially between persons of the same sex but also with beasts, from Old French sodomie, from Late Latin peccatum Sodomiticum "anal sex," literally "the sin of Sodom," from Latin Sodoma. In Middle English also synne Sodomyke (early 14c.).

In the 1400s, Sodomy was used as a term to describe any abnormal sex, including oral. It wasn't until the 1600s (this is disputed, some say 1730) when Sodomy began to refer to anal sex and sodomy laws came into effect. Structurally, this is where the humanistic side of Church doctrine got it wrong for this person.

Let's test another.

Is drinking a sin? This one is a fun chess game.

Opening move, Christ turned water into wine? Wine was commonly served at meals and celebrations during the time of Christ's being on earth. Counter: The wine that Christ was made was non-alcoholic. Did not scripture say that the guests at the wedding saying that the wine was some of the "best" wine? Have you tasted non-alcoholic wine? Counter: Well if you don't drink, you will not be drunk, Christ did not approve of drunkenness. Ephesians 5:18: "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."

But one note on the above scripture, it was Paul's quote, and not spoken by Christ. [another quote] Galatians 5:18! Nope - Paul again. I could not find a quote attributed to be from Christ... furthermore, what about this...

This is a point that I concede and at the same time win. A Christian should avoid Drunkenness in fact, most of society and other religions all feel the same. But one note, it was Paul's quote, and not spoken by Christ. Galatians 5:18! Nope - Paul again. I could not find a quote from Christ... furthermore, what about this...

Psalm 104:14–15: "[The LORD] makes ... plants for man to cultivate – bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart." Gregory of Nyssa (died 395) made a distinction between types of wine (intoxicating and non-intoxicating) – "not that wine which produces drunkenness, plots against the senses, and destroys the body, but such as gladdens the heart, the wine which the Prophet recommends"[122]

And this...

Ecclesiastes 9:7: "Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do."

Here God is said to favor and you should drink your wine with a joyful heart!

When Christ transformed the water into wine at the Wedding in Cana, his mother was with Him, as were His disciples. If anything this was Christ demonstrating an approval of marriage and of celebrations.

So why am I asking you to read all of this?

It's because I do not want you to lose heart when people beat you over the head with scripture. Scripture is a treasured gift and tells us much. But it is the words and deeds of Christ that matter. Christ protected the woman who was to be stoned. Christ made wine at a joyous wedding celebration! Christ broke bread and taught us to do this often in remembrance of Him.

So when people throw scripture at you, tell you that you cannot enter heaven because you are such a sinful being. Ignore it. They are not your judge. Only He is. I would normally throw John 3:16 at you, but instead, here is my scriptural hand grenade...

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.