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For the Bible Tells Me So
I had three key thoughts after exiting Daniel Karslake’s For the Bible Tells Me So, a documentary that discusses the relationship between the gay community and fundamentalist, evangelical churches in America: 1) Every person who calls themselves a traditional Bible-believing Christian needs to see this film; if they did so, they would not find their faith questioned but would rather see its greatest, most powerful ingredients come to life in a faith-affirming display of love and deep appreciation for Christianity’s sacred scriptures; 2) no such Bible-believing Christian will see this film; 3) they will specifically choose not to see it because of a handful of passages in the Bible that condemn homosexuality as an “abomination.” The film informs us that there are exactly six passages in the scriptures that address homosexuality in any context; in comparison, there are 2,273 verses in the same Bible that attend to believers’ calling to help the poor, the needy, the outcasts, and the diseased. No other topic is addressed more. That latter number isn’t given in the film, but I know it’s true because I once spent two days reading through the Bible and counting them all. Most people in churches are likely to tell you that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, but few will admit to spending a great deal of time studying it. They let their pastors and clergymen take care of that aspect for them, who have in turn spent hundreds of years telling their congregations exactly what to believe about specific verses in the Bible; thus, many of their sermons contain uninformed interpretations based on personal biases and prejudices. What’s helpful about Karslake’s documentary is that he is not interested in condemning Christianity, but rather wishes to affirm it as a powerful faith tradition that promotes positive change and love in all peoples. He does not diminish the Bible, but rather places it in its proper historical context so that its words and ideas truly come to life. He gets to the center of its meaning by probing beyond what it reads and instead discovering what it says. For example, most Christians are familiar with Leviticus 18, verse 22: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” They have probably heard it proclaimed dozens of times from their pastor’s pulpits as an absolute definition of God’s stance on homosexuality. What’s unexpected, as this film points out, is that a few pages back in chapter 11, God provides more “abominations” that are never taught from pulpits. Included on this list are topics that range from eating shellfish and snails, to cooking foods in combinations so precise that I wonder if the ancient Israelites had to keep a list just to make absolutely sure they weren’t committing deplorable acts. That word “abomination” sounds terrible and these days forces images of God’s divine wrath, but Karslake interviews surprisingly conservative religious scholars who provide a clear definition of the term: When Leviticus was written, “abomination” defined something that went against a tribe’s personal culture. The part of the Bible known as the Pentateuch, which includes Leviticus, was penned during a time when the Israelites were living in captivity, under oppressive empires that threatened to assimilate all of its captured nations into one culture. The Israelites, believing that God wanted them to maintain their ethnic culture and faith, examined the cultures of their oppressors and created deliberate rules and regulations that openly set Israel apart. Among them were these rules about “abominations”—anti-cultural activities such as eating shrimp, getting tattoos, and, yes, engaging in openly homosexual activity. If Christians want to support Leviticus’ passages condemning homosexuality, they will have to go all the way and put to death anyone who eats pig skin. They will also need to become a conquered people. Christians also like to cite the story of Sodom in the book of Genesis, insisting that it is a clear warning against the homosexual lifestyle run rampant—after all, God destroyed it with “fire and brimstone” because its residents wanted to gang rape a couple of angels. By the time Karslake’s interviewees are finished addressing this narrow interpretation of the text, any discerning person will see that to call a gay person a sodomite is a dangerous mistranslation of this story, which deals more with cultural respect than sexuality (how again is a story that features gang-rape a clear-cut condemnation of homosexual activity?). In case you’re not sure, look up Ezekiel 16: 49-50. Better yet, here it is, purportedly as dictated by God to the author of the Biblical text: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.” By this identification of Sodom’s sins, how many jewelry-spouting televangelists better fit the definition of a sodomite? A Bible-believer might argue with Karslake’s group of experts, but will they argue with God Himself? And what of the New Testament, which seems to include passages written by St. Paul comdemning homosexuality? Precisely and meticulously, Karslake peels the layers away to find the actual meaning of the passages that were translated into English to say “homosexual”—a word that didn’t even exist in ancient times. Did you know that the verses in Romans 1, frequently used to condemn the gay community, actually refer to an ancient, “pagan” ritual in which priests held mass orgies in Roman streets? Of course, this is not exactly the same thing as a committed relationship between two same-sex people. Only recent, fundamentalist-approved translations of the Bible specifically use the word “homosexual” to describe these practices; older versions are much vaguer. The film continues down a similar road for various verses in the Bible, making clear that how they read in English and what they actually mean are not always the same thing. Karslake also makes clear that contextual information revealing such rudimentary Biblical scholarship is readily available at any university library—with the exception, perhaps, of Bob Jones University. And while we’re on that topic, what about the various instances in the New Testament where Paul spells out laws condemning women as second-class citizens and teaching proper slave-owning etiquette? For the Bible Tells Me So makes clear that such startling passages make more sense when placed into proper historical context, in which taking multiple wives and having slaves were normal practices. From my own research, which I indeed conducted at my local library: When Paul says that women could not be high priests, he was writing to a city that had temple prostitutes who conducted services in which “worshippers” would come in and have sex with them on the front altar. Paul thus asked that women not have leadership roles in the churches in this specific city in order to prevent potential sexual abuse. That’s clearly a different lesson than if we take the Bible literally and apply its words to modern society without wondering what inspired Paul to write them in the first place. Is it possible that latter day Christians have also been interpreting the verses on homosexuality with a modern-day lens when they should instead be using a first-century filter? The answer is this question is obviously a resounding yes for those of us on the outside looking in, but that doesn’t matter to most Bible-believing evangelicals. They won’t see this film because it presents an alternative reading of their scriptures that goes against what they have always been taught. Their opinions have been formed based on a deep-seeded prejudice that is only around fifty or sixty years old, when conservative fundamentalists began to rise as powerful leaders in America. People have been using the Bible to substantiate sickening behavior for centuries, so it makes sense that a few outspoken pastors have taken the six passages in the Bible that address homosexuality and preached on them constantly, as if it’s a topic that’s continuously on God’s mind. It’s become a pandemic: Men like James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority have made tens of millions of dollars making Christians fear the “homosexual agenda.” On the other hand, these same men have seemingly ignored the passages in the Bible in which Jesus says that it is nearly impossible for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven—a place he primarily considered to be a refuge for the selfless and the compassionate. He talks about the evil of money in the Gospel of St. Matthew in more detail than homosexuality is mentioned in the entire Bible—and that’s just counting one Gospel of four. I remember when the faith healer Benny Hinn said that God would consume every gay person in America with fire from heaven before the year 1995; since he claims to believe that the Bible is the literal Word of God, he should look up the passage in the Old Testament where God commands the immediate execution of prophets who make predications that don’t come true. (That's in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, incidently.) Biblical scholarship is the brain of For the Bible Tells Me So; sequences detailing this research provides the film’s crucial intellectual ingredient because they offer insight from Christian scholars who have an urgency to communicate that the Bible is a book that has many important truths to teach us, but only after it is placed in its ancient context. This will not be an easy premise to accept for Christians who think that every word of every page is timeless and does not need a proper context; I can only point them to Jesus himself, who said on the Sermon on the Mount that he did not come to vanquish the Law, but to fulfill it—after which he proceeded to radically revise it for a new people living in a new time. Obviously Jesus gives his disciples permission here to allow interpretation and not take all things in the Bible—such as proper slave-owning conduct and eating shrimp—at face value. The point is, For the Bible Tells Me So is a film that loves the Bible enough to take it absolutely seriously, enough to know that its message of love and peace should not be poisoned by the intolerance and bigotry so often associated with its followers. A fleeting line from an anonymous spectator of a gay-rights march hits the nail on the head: “Jesus took in outcasts, so why does the Church create outcasts?” Amen. The scholarship is the brain; the heart of the film, however, is in the personal stories it tells about good Christian parents who had various reactions when learning that one of their children was gay. These passages are included in between the Biblical erudition and make up the film’s powerful emotional center. I will leave you to discover these extraordinary stories for yourselves, which play out like gripping and resonating narrative. Some families instantly accept their children, such as Senator Dick Gephardt; others are slow to embrace their sons and daughters. Some never fully come to terms with the reality of their child’s orientation; others make dramatic changes and become radical demonstrators for the cause. What’s fascinating is how all eventually come to the realization that their resistance to accepting their children is based more on their own personal disgust with homosexuality than with religious convictions. Ah-hah. Theological and psychological professionals are also interviewed who lend additional insight into the “natural vs. unnatural” debate of homosexuality. Interviewees range from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who favorably compares his own struggles against racism with this new, gay-centered civil rights movement, and Rev. Mel White (who used to ghost write for Jerry Falwell), founder of Soulforce, a gay Christian group that organizes peaceful marches around Focus on the Family’s home base. Most interesting is Gene Robinson’s story, the first openly gay bishop ordained by the Episcopalian church. Notably (and inexplicably) absent is Rev. John Shelby Spong, the former Episcopalian archdiocese of New Jersey whose writings on the church’s responsibility toward the gay community were influential in Robinson’s nomination (Spong also delivered a eulogy at Matthew Shepard’s funeral). I cannot recommend his books Why Christianity Must Change or Die, The Sins of the Scripture, and Jesus for the Non-Religious enough; all four ministers reveal that there is more to Christianity than the likes of Dobson, Fawell, Hinn, Pat Robertson, and all of their political pundits would have us believe. If there’s a caveat to any of this, it’s that the intended audience for this film will probably not see it. For those of us who do not see the message in For the Bible Tells Me So as a debate, its makers are merely preaching to the choir. It’s a documentary like Jesus Camp and Deliver Us From Evil that meticulously makes a case that ultimately confirms the Church and the important principles of the Bible, but the Church will only interpret it as a clear attack against their cherished traditions about Jesus and the scriptures. If you are an evangelical Christian, you probably are not reading these words, and my urgings that you see this film will be rendered instantly superfluous. But because those of you who are reading this far are not believers, I will do my sacred duty to ask you… beg you… to take your evangelical friends to see this. You will be surprised how engaging this material is on its own terms, but this is primarily a film made for the people who don’t intend to see it. I suggest you provide them merely with the title and not the premise, promise to pay for their ticket and their popcorn, and then tie them to the theater seat if necessary. The ultimate tragedy is that it will be necessary—a travesty both against the misunderstood gay community and for the constantly misunderstanding Christian community as well. Featuring: First Run Features presents a Atticus Group production. Directed by Daniel G. Karslake. Written by Karslake and Helen R. Mendoza. No M.P.A.A. rating; contains a few disturbing still images of suicide and violence. Running time: 95 minutes. Original United States theatrical release date: October 5, 2007. Questions? Comments? E-mail me: danel_the_tinman@hotmail.com |
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