What the Bible does and does not say about sexuality
It’s a kind of parlor game in some circles. Rattle off various misperceptions about what the Bible says:
- Cleanliness is next to godliness.
- God helps those who help themselves.
- Spare the rod, spoil the child.
- God moves in mysterious ways.
- Money is the root of all evil.
- This, too, shall pass.
Stephen Prothero noted some years ago that a surprising number of Americans believed that Joan of Arc was the wife of Noah, and who can forget Stephen Colbert’s interview with a member of Congress who was sponsoring legislation to mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments in public places? When asked to list the Ten Commandments, however, the hapless congressman sputtered after “Thou shalt not kill.”
All of this comes to mind after I published an op-ed about evangelicals and same-sex marriage in the Los Angeles Times last week. Part of the argument was that, contrary to their protestations, evangelicals have indeed altered their rhetoric about matters of marriage and sexuality over the years. I recalled the excoriations of divorce I heard while growing up in the 1960s. Anyone who was divorced was ostracized in evangelical congregations, and many faced the rescission of church membership.
