LETTER: Aim in Question

Dissuading people from using the Bible to rationalize hatred is a worthy and unquestionable aim. What is questionable, however, is the misrepresentation of scripture to prove one's point. I refer to the "Homosexuals in History" write-up in the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian Awareness Days '92 advertising insert. It described David and Jonathan's relationship as a "romance" and related how David mourned the death of his "lover." David, God told Samuel, was a man after His own heart, specially selected to take over as king of Israel because Saul was unfit (1 Samuel 13:14). Earlier, God had codified laws for the nascent Israelite nation about how to bring their hearts and actions into line with His. One such command was, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination" (Leviticus 18:22, King James throughout). David committed several terrible sins which scriptures record: adultery with Bathsheba, the murder of Uriah, the faithless census of the Israelites. He is set up as an example of one who confronted his sins, repented of them, and didn't repeat them. Whether we agree in principle with the teachings of the Law is moot; that David's being after God's own heart and going after his own gender would have been mutually conclusive is an exorable conclusion. An ongoing homosexual relationship with Jonathan would surely have precluded his depiction throughout the Bible as one who walked in the ways of the God. Hatred and the arbitrary nullification of others' legitimacy as human beings is despicable. But it would be most tragic if those who strove to eliminate such wrongs from our society negated their own arguments by incorporating inconsistent and misrepresented information. SEAN KINSELL College '95

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