Q&A with Rev. Durrell Watkins

Question: I’m tired of hearing “The bible says, ‘Man shall not sleep with man.’” What do you say when you hear this from someone?

Answer: The bible says lots of things. If we were to take any given verse of scripture and not consider the culture, the language, or the time from which the quote comes, we might conclude that the bible was merely a book meant to defend various forms of bigotry. People have used the bible the silence women, abuse children, condone slavery and later segregation, and even to defend brutal wars and environmental destruction. I can’t imagine this is the proper way to use a sacred text!

The Apostle Paul, however, said that whenever we show love we have fulfilled the intent of scripture (Romans 13.8). And Jesus said that the greatest commandment was love (Mark 12.28-31) and that all of scripture amounts to what we call the Golden Rule (“do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” Matthew 7.12). It isn’t very loving to use religion as a weapon against people (especially for who they love!), nor would people who use scripture to demonize others want scripture used against them in that way. So, I think when people use the bible to wound or exclude others, they are misusing it.

In any case, the verse that you say you hear so often actually comes from Leviticus. It is a bit disingenuous for most people to use Leviticus as their crutch to support homophobia. For instance, Leviticus condemns eating pork (11.6), demands circumcision for male children (12.3), forbids the eating of rare meat (17.14; 19.26), condemns tattoos (19.28) and wearing clothes of mixed fabric (19.19), forbids the mix-breeding of animals (19.19), demands abstinence from fortune-telling (19.31), frowns on trimming beards (19.27), and insists that everyone pay a full tithe (27.30). Leviticus also says to love your neighbor as yourself (19.18, a passage Jesus quoted). It’s not very loving to use the bible as a club to beat up gay people!

Now, people using Leviticus as their excuse to condemn gay and lesbian people (though Leviticus is silent on women loving women) usually haven’t read it carefully. If they read their horoscopes, have tattoos, eat bacon, have ever worn a poly-cotton blend, owned a mule (the result of a horse and a donkey breeding), trimmed their facial hair, forgot to have their sons circumcised, enjoyed a rare steak, or gave less than 10% of their income to their house of worship, then they have not embraced the teachings of Leviticus for their own lives; and if they haven’t embraced all the Levitical prohibitions, then we certainly don’t have to accept the one they wish to take literally. One can’t dismiss the prohibitions for one’s own life and then use them to condemn someone else’s. The ancient Levitical Codes are complex and are fascinating to discuss in small classes, but a verse from Leviticus cannot stand alone to condemn same-gender love or same-sex attraction.

Question: My aunt heard a reading in her parish recently that disturbed her. The story was about God sending serpents to bite people. Afterward, the people who were dying from the snakebites could look at a bronze serpent and they would recover. The story didn’t make sense to her and she didn’t feel that she could ask her priest for clarification. Isn’t the serpent a symbol of evil? What does this story mean?

Answer: That story comes from the book of Numbers (the fourth book in the bible). The book of Wisdom (chapter 6) interprets that story as the serpents being used as a warning to shock people into better behavior. The bronze serpent was used as a healing agent to remind people there is always hope. The writer of the gospel of John interprets the story in an archetypal way. The gospel writer says, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Humanity be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will live.” John is recalling Jesus’ crucifixion, a painful and sad event; but crucifixion didn’t end the Jesus story or the Jesus movement. The experience we call Resurrection follows, and so the cross is a painful event that is followed by renewed hope, empowerment, and life.

In the story, Moses’ community has experienced battles, uncertainty, and other hardships. They are living on “manna” which, though edible, does not provide a well balanced diet. So, the community, tired and frustrated and afraid, starts to complain bitterly. In response, “fiery” serpents appear. When the people repent of their negative attitudes, then the bronze serpent is introduced as a healing modality.

People may have wandered into a pit of poisonous (“fiery”) snakes, but I can’t believe God caused it. They may have relied on some kind of superstitious remedy (looking at the bronze serpent), and those who survived may have attributed their survival to the remedy. If they really believed that the bronze serpent had curative powers, their bodies may have responded to their belief (we know there is a mind-body connection). But I believe the story is probably allegorical more than historical.

The community is experiencing hardships, but they are free. They have escaped from Egyptian slavery, and so surely the difficulties of liberty are preferable to the “security” of slavery. And manna may not be the diet of choice, but it is keeping them alive. Rather than being grateful for what they have, they are complaining about what isn’t going their way. Such bitter or toxic (“poisonous”) attitudes can make us emotionally / spiritually sick. So, when we look boldly at our challenges (the bronze serpent), and dare to face them, we discover we can overcome them. When we choose to be grateful for our blessings and hopeful about our challenges, we experience healing. The story may not be so much about what did happen, but about what does happen in our own lives.

In some ancient cultures, the serpent was a symbol of mischief. In other cultures, the serpent was a symbol of wisdom and life. In this story, the serpent is both. The serpents aren’t really the problem; they are the result of the problem (negative attitudes). Facing the problem and repenting (choosing new, better attitudes) lead the people to healing. The story shows us that negative attitudes lead to suffering, while changing our attitudes in a more optimistic and positive direction brings strength and renewal to us. It’s actually a pretty good lesson after all.

If you have questions about faith, the bible, the church, or sexuality & spirituality, you can email your questions to durrell@sunshinecathedral.org, or go to the Cathedral web site at www.sunshinecathedral.org and click on the link there. Rev. Durrell Watkins will answer your questions and publish the answers in this column. Your name will always be withheld, so only the actual question and the response will be printed.