The Closet Professor

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.

—2 Timothy 4:3-4

I saw someone post this Bible verse on Facebook. The thing is, I know this person is an ultra-conservative Southern Baptist and Republican. If you have read my Sunday posts, you know that I firmly believe that most people who consider themselves Christian today are anything but Christian. They do not follow the teachings of Jesus. They make up their own doctrine based on picking and choosing what they want the Bible to say. They “turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.” I have seen this particular woman make a spectacle in a restaurant forcing everyone sitting with her to hold hands, bow, and have someone say a prayer before anyone can eat. This happens to be one of my pet peeves with pious acting Christians because in Matthew 6:5-7, Jesus says, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Jesus then gave us the model prayer, also called the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13):

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

Another person I know on Facebook posted that there was no such thing as a progressive Christian, because the Christian religion never changes, and thus, it cannot progress. They could not be further from the truth. First, with each translation of the Bible, the Christian religion changes to suit the translators’ own beliefs. I tend to use the New King James Version (though it has the same issues as nearly all modern translations) because it is closest to the beautiful language of the King James Version (KJV) with only minor changes to update some of the works, such as “find” for “findeth.” I do not use other versions because they are worse translations than the KJV and purposely chose to place the word homosexual in passages that were never mean to be about homosexuality. The KJV is not without its issues either. It is a highly political translation used to fit the beliefs of King James I of England and the theologians and biblical scholars who used their translation to cement the validity of the Church of England. It was also translated in a way they thought would appease the Puritans who wanted to purify the Church of England of any remaining vestiges of Catholicism. However, they did translate the Bible from its original languages: the New Testament was translated from Greek and the Old Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic. Newer translations are often translated from the texts of various translations, most notably the Revised Standard Version (RSV), not the original languages.

Since it was first published, the RSV has been controversial. The RSV is the authorized revision of the American Standard Version, published in 1901, which was a revision of the KJV, published in 1611. It is this Americanized version of the Bible that introduced the addition of the word “homosexual” for the first time on February 11, 1946, in the RSV. In it, their translation of 1 Corinthians 6:9 (Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [KJV]), they substitute the word “homosexual” for the Greek words “malakoi” and “arsenokoitai.” Previously, the KJV had translated this to be “abusers of themselves with mankind.” However, earlier translations of the Bible had used various words for pederasty or more directly translated, “boy molester.” The ancient world condoned and encouraged a system whereby young boys (8-12 years old) were coupled by older men. Ancient Greek documents show us how even parents utilized this abusive system to help their sons advance in society. So, for most of history, translations thought these verses were obviously referring the pederasty, not homosexuality! In the Old Testament of the KJV, Leviticus 18:22 is often quoted the most to condemn homosexuality. Whereas in English translations it says, “Man shall not lie with man, for it is an abomination,” the German and other languages say, “Man shall not lie with young boys as he does with a woman, for it is an abomination.” The fact is not only were the translators of the RSV lazy, but they were influenced by politics of the day. The vast majority of pastors in America today have also not done their due diligence on this topic either.

So, when mainline Christians claim that progressive Christians are too liberal, it is because of their own bigotry and laziness that they have that attitude. Intellectual laziness or willful ignorance is most often the cause of bigotry no matter how someone tries to hide it or excuse it. Furthermore, people who condemn progressive Christians do so because what they consider “progressive” Christians are just Christians, who more closely follow the Bible and what it actually says instead of picking and choosing what they want the Bible to say as most mainline Christians do.

Sometimes, I don’t know why I log into Facebook. I do so to keep up with some of my friends from grad school and former coworkers, but I have found myself “unfollowing” more and more people these days. I don’t like to unfriend people, though I have in the past, and I used to just “snooze” them for 30 days, but after snoozing someone for what seems like the fourth or fifth time, I just unfollow so I don’t have to read their hateful posts. These days, I log onto Facebook for information about Star Trek from the groups I belong to, and cat videos. I know it sounds pathetic, but sometimes I am bored at work.