For The Bible Tells Me So
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Actor: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Gene Robinson, Imogene Robinson, Isabella "Boo" McDaniel, Victor RobinsonBrand: First RUN Features
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: First Run Features
DVD Reviews of For The Bible Tells Me So
DVD Review: Lacking intellectual honesty and hermeneutical rigor, and filled with logical fallacies
Summary: 1 Stars
'For The Bible Tells Me So' is seriously biased and intellectually deceiving when it comes to examining what the whole Bible actually says about homosexuality. Instead of presenting a serious argument for homosexuality from within the text, the documentary plays on emotions and commits several logical fallacies of relevance (personal attacks, appeals to consequences, etc.).
First of all, the story of the couple whose daughter committed suicide rightly deserves compassion. However, suicide does not make homosexuality right or wrong. Many people and teenagers in particular commit suicide, unfortunately. And the reasons for suicide are numerous: bankruptcy, emotional pain, loneliness, murder, etc. While we have compassion for the persons, their suicide neither validates nor invalidates their actions; it is irrelevant in that regard. This is only one example of the many instances of the documentary playing on emotion rather than presenting a rigorous argument to win the audience's opinion.
Second, while the Scriptures deal with homosexuality in several texts, the focus of what "the Bible so tells me" seems to be on Leviticus 18. Leviticus 18 deals first with incest of any kind, then adultery, then human (children) sacrifice to idols, then homosexuality, then bestiality. Oddly enough, this documentary does not say anything about any of that, except homosexuality. What about incest, adultery, and sacrificing children on altars to idols, for instance? Any biblically literate person knows that the chapter subdivisions were later added to the text. So a look at Leviticus 19 in the same context shows: prohibition of idolatry, stealing, fraud, lying, robbery, injustice in judgment, hatred, vengeance, occultism, and prostitution; commandment of administering justice, loving the neighbor, welcoming the stranger, honoring the elderly, etc. The documentary mentions none of those things but does point at Leviticus 19:27 where neither the sides of the head nor the edges of one's beard were to be shaved, and hastily concludes the whole text is irrelevant to contemporary reality.
Here is the evidence of intellectual dishonesty and grossly misleading hermeneutics: while the producers took the time to show the "context" of Sodom & Gomorrah and of Romans 1, as they claimed, to discredit any claim opposing their view, they did none of this for the Leviticus passage. For example, a look at history shows the shaving and trimming of hair and beard in particular ways as ritual practices in honor of particular pagan deities (Orotal for example). The prohibition of that practice was thus congruent with that of other idolatrous practices, such as the sacrifice of children or body cuts.
Third, the treatment of Romans 1 is astoundingly dishonest. The claim that "unnatural" does not mean "immoral" and is only culturally-conditioned (Jews vs. Romans) does not stand a close-reading of the passage, which shows the use in the same context as "unnatural" of the following terms: "lust, dishonor their bodies, vile passions, shameful, penalty, error, debased mind, things not fitting, unrighteousness." Moreover, homosexuality is not singled out, but mentioned alongside "wickedness, greed, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, backbiting, hatred of God, violence, pride, boasting, invention of evil things, disobedience to parents, undiscernment, untrustworthiness, lack of love, unforgiveness, lack of mercy", in a way similar to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. The attempts to dispute the meaning of the greek text or to restrict the prohibition to a strictly Jewish audience or to justify "monogamous long-term homosexual relationships" seriously disregards both the literal and cultural context of both texts, which were written to two different cultural audiences, Romans and Corinthians.
Fourth, the claim that the problem of Sodom & Gomorrah in Genesis 19 was inhospitality rather than sexual immorality and homosexuality does not stand 2 Peter 2:6-8 and Jude 7 and seems a too hasty attempt to evade the all-too clear reality exposed in those passages.
Fifth, the claim that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality is akin to saying he never said anything about incest or bestiality or the sacrificing of children to idols and thus approves of them. That is a fallacy of relevance. More to the point, however, Jesus does speak about relationship and marriage: "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. (Matthew 19:4-6)". So, Jesus did say the Creator made humans male and female. And Jesus did not even envision the possibility of a marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman to address it, but a MAN leaving his FATHER AND MOTHER, and clinging unto his WIFE. And when confronting adultery, he says the one who "looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with HER in HIS heart (Matthew 5:27-28)." It couldn't be clearer. You can't miss that. In this sense, Jesus did say everything about homosexuality.
Sixth, putting food regulations in the Bible on par with what the Bible says about sexuality disregards what Jesus said about food in Matthew 15 and Mark 7, namely: "There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him. It is what comes out of a man that defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man." Moreover, the early church dealt with this problem and resolved it at the Jerusalem Council as described in Acts 15, concluding that there was to be "no greater burden than these necessary things: abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality." In other words, food regulations do not hold for Jesus and the Church. They were "a shadow of the things to come" (Colossians 2:16-17).
Lastly, one often-heard claim that was implied in this documentary is that Paul was not inspired to write those words, that they cannot be considered scripture and therefore do not stand. Along that line of thought (which is an appeal to authority to discredit a statement), it is interesting to read Peter, arguably the most authoritative apostle after Jesus, commending Paul and his writings in 2 Peter 3: "our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures." So Peter respected Paul and had the humility to admit learning from him. Moreover, Paul gave up his life for the sake of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles without the requirements of the law regarding washings, food regulations, circumcision, etc., against the Judaizers who sought to kill him for exactly that. Paul was the first to defend the freedom of the Spirit in Christ, and the other apostles agreed with him as narrated in Acts 15.
In conclusion, "For the Bible Tells Me So" fails to present an argument for homosexuality from the Bible and rather revels in misinformation, twisting of the truth, arguments ad hominem, irrelevant appeals, and psychological devices to win the naive watcher. It would have been better to make an argument from outside the Bible. The bits of pseudo-science such as animals being homosexual were very disturbing and, at best, sarcastically laughable. It is true that the Christian response to homosexuality should be one of love and respectful engagement. However, presenting Gene Robinson as a "holy man" after he divorced his wife -- who did not commit adultery -- to live with a male lover is really a joke, in regard of all Christian teaching. He is unrepentant and disqualified for leadership in the Church (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1). He was also admitted in rehab in 2006 for alcoholism. There is still hope for him, if he repents. Jesus died on the Cross so that no one else has to die. He rose so that everyone can live. He offers abundant life and freedom from sin. God loves everyone, and He loves us too much to leave us broken: He restores, if we would let Him. The choice is ours. Sin deceives us, tortures us, and kills us. It is not homophobic to say that homosexuality is sinful, just as it is not "adulterophobic" to say that adultery is sinful, or "liarphobic" to say that lying is sinful. Exert some more critical thinking. Love and peace.
Description of For The Bible Tells Me So
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