Putting Abominations in Perspective

Linda A. Malcor

The other day I found myself in yet another argument about what the Bible does and does not say about homosexuality. The gentleman who was screeching at me insisted in the literal truth of every word in the Bible and was adamant that we cannot choose which laws we will or will not observe. The Bible was the Word of God, and that was all there was to that for him. Predictably, he hauled out Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." as proof of his position that homosexuality is an abomination to God. Equally predictably, he seemed rather oblivious to Leviticus 20:13 "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them." Mr. Literal walked away from the conversation, apparently seeing no conflict between his unwillingness to argue that people should be put to death for "homosexual acts" and his insistence in the literal truth of everything else in the Bible--except those pieces he chose to ignore. I, in contrast, found myself puzzling about the word he emphasized: "abomination". I came to the conclusion that I did not have a very good sense about what did or did not constitute an "abomination" in Biblical terms, so I decided to do a bit of research. Just because it is possible to do such things these days, I called up a copy of the Revised Standard Version (the translation favored by my denomination, the Presbyterian Church--USA) of the Bible online and searched for the word "abomination". I found the results perplexing.

Of the sixty-seven times that the word "abomination" is used in the Bible (Revised Standard Version), only twice does it appear in the New Testament. Revelation 21:27 simply says that anyone who practices abomination will not enter Heaven. In Luke 16:15 Jesus defines the love of money as an abomination to God. That's it as far as abominations in the New Testament are concerned, in spite of all the hoopla about Romans 1, which does not use the word.

Of the sixty-five occurrences of the word in the Old Testament, five refer to something as being an abomination to another people. Thirteen of the things labeled "abominations" are dietary restrictions, the observation of which would bar a person from consuming such things as clam chowder, shrimp and, one of my favorites, the non-existent four-legged insect, which certainly refers to something besides what we call "insects". Seventeen refer to improper sacrifice, although I am hard pressed to think of a single Christian (or Jewish, for that matter) congregation that slaughters animals on their altars these days. Outright adultery and adultery cause by divorce, which is prohibited by the Bible even though it is a widespread practice today, account for three of the verses. In addition to Jesus's comment in Luke, the love of money is decried as an abomination in two Old Testament passages. Four related verses cite dishonest trading practices as abominations. Twelve other verses list behaviors ranging from murder to women wearing "anything that pertains to a man" (for example, pants). Eight passages, including the one from Revelation, are not clear about what they mean by "abomination." Precisely two refer to homosexual behavior, though there was no understanding in biblical times of homosexuality as we define it today.

Reading through this list, two things strike me. The first is that many of the items pertain to someone pretending to be something he or she is not. Yet that is exactly what so many literalists ask gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people to do by insisting that such folks remain in the closet. The second is that the very people who scream the loudest about two passages in Leviticus are themselves in violation of several verses that would render them "abominations". Aside from the dietary laws and the prohibition against ignoring the laws, which we do every time we fail to offer blood sacrifices and perform other practices that are demanded by the Bible, Proverbs 6:16-19 ("There are six things which the LORD hates, seven which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers.") jumped out at me. I can think of few other things that have caused more discord in our society, in our families and in our households than has the insistence on the literal reading of one passage from Leviticus (As I mentioned before, most people find it impossible to read the second passage literally.).

So where does that leave me with Mr. Literal? Probably in the same place I was when he walked away from our conversation. But at least now I have a better understanding of what an "abomination" is, in the Biblical sense. I do find myself wondering, though, if, when Mr. Literal is busy labeling a group of people who engage in certain behaviors as "abominations", if he realizes how many times over he could rightfully be called an abomination himself.

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Putting Abominations in Perspective