Pastor Kevin Swanson: Tell gay couples to die on their wedding day – LGBTQ Nation

First Klingenschmitt now this douche-bag, what is it with Christian extremists wanting to kill people they don't "like." Time to play with more temple prostitutes, the holiness code and visit Molech and Baal.

Taking a page from Gordon Klingenschmitt, who said that photographers should print “worthy of death” on photos of the wedding of a same-sex couple, Swanson said that guests can “attend the wedding and hold up the sign Leviticus 20:13 word for word:

‘If a man sleeps with a man as he sleeps with a woman the two of them have committed an abomination and they shall both be put to death.’ You could attend a wedding and hold up that sign.” Christian Right radio host Kevin Swanson

As with Romans 1, it is vital to understand the cultural, historical and religious context surrounding this passage. The human authors of the Bible testify to the ongoing presence of cult prostitution, shrine prostitution or temple prostitution in ancient Israel. Various authors identify it by those names, yet the Bible never links those pagan activities to being gay or lesbian. But before we delve into that morass, I think it important to understand Leviticus as a whole and one way to do that is to determine to whom the book of Leviticus is addressed.

In general terms, the third book in the Pentateuch ascribed to Moses is called Leviticus because it relates primarily to the Levites and priests and their services. Also known as the "Law of the Priests" as it contains the system of laws administered by the Levitical priesthood under which the HEBREW nation lived. More specifically:

• “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them...” Lev 1:2; Lev 4:2; Lev 11:2; Lev 12:2; Lev 15:2; Lev 18:2; Lev 23:2; Lev 25:2; Lev 27:2. 
• “Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them...” Lev 17:2 
• “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them...” Lev 19:2 
• "Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel...” Lev 20:2 
• “Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron...” Lev 21:1 
• “Command the children of Israel...” Lev 24:2 

I'm not sure how obvious this needs to be, Leviticus is written for "the children of Israel." It contains the laws and rules for Israel as they prepared to occupy the land of Canaan. So anyone prior to this time period (ie. Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) were not under the law of Moses.

The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us [the children of Israel], even us, who are all of us here alive this day.  (Deuteronomy 5:3)

In essence, the Holiness Code (another name for Leviticus, specifically chapters 18-27) was a specific covenant with a specific people at a specific time for specific purposes related to the specific situation in what is now Palestine.

• Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. (Deuteronomy 4:5)
• And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. (Deuteronomy 4:14)
• But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. (Deuteronomy 5:31)
• Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it. (Deuteronomy 6:1)

The laws are earnest exhortations to obedience, and dissuasives from idolatry as Moses is speaking to the children of Israel, not setting down rules for Christians in the 21st century. The Holiness Code was intended to outlaw the pagan practices of fertility goddess cults in ancient Canaan.

One point to bare in mind in regards to the Leviticus and the Old Testament (or Old Covenant) as a whole, it is important to distinguish between Jews and Christians when it comes to context. The Bible itself is very clear on this. The Old Testament (Covenant) ended and the New Testament (Covenant) began when Jesus died on the Cross. It wasn't until some 1500 years after the Holiness Code was given that Christians appeared on the scene:

And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. (Acts 11:26)  

In other words, some of the Bible is written only to the Jews. Christians are never instructed to observe Jewish rituals practiced in the Old Testament. Which bring us to another point, when did this Old Testament Covenant end? Again the Bible is clear on this point and tells us,

• For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. (Matthew 11:13)
• The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. (Luke 16:16)
• But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. (Romans 3:21)

This signifies the end of all previous dispensations, the Old Testament prophesied of things to come, which are now present, and clearly and plainly seen. According to Jesus, the Law was only in force until John the Baptist. It had an ending point, the day Christ died for the sins of the world.

Taking all this into account then, what is Leviticus 18:22 (which is oft cited as well so I am including it here) and 20:13 referring to? What is the context of this exhortation from Moses? Leviticus 18:3 and 18:21 set the context for 18:22, which reads: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. (See also: Psalms 106:35; Ezekiel 20:7, 8; 23:8 Ephesians 5:7-11; 1 Peter 4:2-4 and Leviticus 20:23 Exodus 23:24; Deuteronomy 12:4, 30, 31; Jeremiah 10:2, 3; Romans 12:2)

And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. (See also: 20:2 Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:10 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; 23:10; Psalms 106:37, 38; Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 19:5; Ezekiel 20:31; 23:37; 1 Kings 11:7, 33; Amos 5:26; Acts 7:43)

God, through Moses, is warning Israel against the pagan gods and pagan practices of Egypt and Canaan, specifically mentioned is Molech which includes his fertility goddess Ashtoreth. Leviticus 20:2-5 & 23 set the context for Leviticus 20:13. God makes the same warning against the pagan practices of Egypt and Canaan, again mentioning Molech:

Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people,,,[a]nd ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.

Again, a specific covenant with a specific people at a specific time for specific purposes related to the specific situation in what is now Palestine. These rules specifically target the children of Israel. They are God's rules for Israel.

So Mr. Swanson me thinks you may need to follow 2 Timothy 2:15 more closely: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Christians are not under Levitical Law, they never have been.

• Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: (Acts 15:24)
• Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication (Acts 21:24-25)

Like many others of your ilk, the Bible has become not only an idol but a weapon as well. You wield your sword hacking to bits a historical book to suit your purposes ignoring its true message. You place the Bible above Jesus’ compassion and love, holding steadfast onto what you believe to be the correct interpretation of a small amount of verses that (don't) speak about same-sex relations. For those of you who repeatedly quote Leviticus and Romans maybe leaving your Bible on the dusty shelf for awhile would be a good thing. Take the time to contemplate what you are saying and not what you think the Bible is saying.

Pastor Kevin Swanson: Tell gay couples to die on their wedding day – LGBTQ Nation