It Is Written?

Well, that explains that.

I will not be quoting anything from that little news item, you'll just have to go and read it for yourself. Suffice to say, it is a creative explanation by a Muslim cleric as to the cause of homosexuality and whoredom. This reminded me of the following quote I had earmarked. It concerns Christians, and yes, some Christians and so-called Christians are guilty of this but I don't think anyone excels at it quite so well as some of those of the Muslim faith.

It often happens that a non-Christian derives from the clearest arguments, or from the evidence of his senses, certain scientific knowledge about the heavens and the earth – about the size or distance or movements or revolutions of the stars, about certain eclipses of the sun and moon, about the course of the seasons and years, about the nature of animals and plants and minerals, and other such things.

It is both improper and mischievous for any Christian man to speak on such matters as if so authorized by scripture and yet talk so foolishly that the unbeliever, observing the extravagance of his mistakes, is scarcely able to keep from laughing. And the real trouble is not so much that the man is laughed at for his blunders, but that the writers of Scripture are believed to have taught such things, and are thus condemned and rejected as ignorant by people outside the Church, to the great loss of those whose salvation was so much desire.

They find one belonging to the Christian body so far wrong on a subject they themselves know so well; and, on top of this, find him enforcing his groundless opinions by the authority of our Holy Bible. So they come to regard the scriptures as unsound on subjects they have learned by observation or by unquestioned evidence. Are they likely therefore to put there trust in these Scriptures about the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven?

What trouble and sorrow some presumptuous men bring on their more careful brethren. When charged with wrong notions by non-Christians, they try to bolster their wrong assertions by the Bible, even quoting inaccurately what they think will suit there purpose and putting forth a lot of talk without understanding what they are saying.

As quoted in Faith That Makes Sense, by J. Edwin Orr, From the Latin, De Genesi ad Litteram, Book I, Chapter xix, 39, written by Saint Augustine in the fourth century.

Christians: Please be careful what you teach and by what authority you claim to teach it. By some, all Christians are considered the same as the craziest person they ever heard quote a Bible verse, notwithstanding, anyone can buy a Bible or claim to be Christian.

Muslims: It's your call.