{"id":53,"date":"2008-12-04T09:41:03","date_gmt":"2008-12-04T09:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-6.html"},"modified":"2008-12-04T09:41:03","modified_gmt":"2008-12-04T09:41:03","slug":"comment-of-the-day-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-6.html","title":{"rendered":"Comment of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The conversation continues my most-read Beliefnet post to date: Same Sex Marriage Blogalogue: How I Went from There to Here<\/a>.  Ben contributed this:<\/p>\n

\n

Yes, The Holy Bible is very clear on a lot of things. Circumcision,
\nfor instance. And what about Leviticus 15<\/a>? That’s pretty clear, I
\nthink. It’s always amazed me how so many of the rules of God can be
\ndismissed by man, while others are so violently upheld.<\/p>\n

As a kid, when I asked my mom (as she was frying pork chops!) about
\nwhy we don’t follow all the rules in the Old Testament she wisely
\nexplained her take on it in terms that her 9 year old could understand.
\nIt may or may not have been entirely accurate, but it made an
\nimpression on me and has served me well.<\/p>\n

She told me that, at the time God made them, every rule had a
\npurpose whether man [sic] understood it or not. For instance, pork wasn’t
\nable to be easily preserved so it could be dangerous to eat it. There
\nwere reasons for the rules, but as time passed and people and
\nsituations naturally changed there needed to be new rules.<\/p>\n

Eventually, as people followed the rules, God recognized that there
\nwas one really big rule that He needed everybody to understand. He sent
\nhis only son to make sure everybody knew that to get into Heaven the
\nmost important thing to know is that He expects all of us to treat
\nevery other person with love and respect. If everybody could treat
\nother people the way he or she would want to be treated we’d all get to
\ngo to heaven. (Ah-ha! I recognized the Golden Rule when I heard it! I
\nwas aware even then it appears at least twice in the gospels.)<\/p>\n

I’ve always thought that was one of the best answers I’ve ever
\ngotten to a question about religion. I recognized that she lived her
\nlife that way, so I always had a good model growing up. I hope I’m half
\nas deserving as she is of the reward.<\/p>\n

I feel strongly that we’re to treat every person with the respect
\nGod demands regardless of whether they eat pork, or if they’re
\ncircumcised, or on their period, or gay.<\/p>\n

Marriage today isn’t at all the same as it was in biblical times. It
\nmight just be time for some new rules again. Or maybe we just need a
\nrefresher on the big one. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The conversation continues my most-read Beliefnet post to date: Same Sex Marriage Blogalogue: How I Went from There to Here.  Ben contributed this: Yes, The Holy Bible is very clear on a lot of things. Circumcision, for instance. And what about Leviticus 15? That’s pretty clear, I think. It’s always amazed me how so many…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment-of-the-day","category-same-sex-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\nComment of the Day - The New Christians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-6.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comment of the Day - The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The conversation continues my most-read Beliefnet post to date: Same Sex Marriage Blogalogue: How I Went from There to Here.  Ben contributed this: Yes, The Holy Bible is very clear on a lot of things. Circumcision, for instance. And what about Leviticus 15? That’s pretty clear, I think. 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