Gandhi, Schizophrenia, and the Bible... Trifecta!

I recently took the political compass test and found out that I am a Left Libertarian. For those interested, I am “exactly” -4.00 (Left) and -5.23 (Social Libertarian). If my result were superimposed on the already existing images on politicalcompass.org, I would be in the same quadrant as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and The Dalai Lama. Does that mean I am destined to be some famous, influential, and wise leader? I hope so, not necessarily, but most probably not.

Now why am I starting this week’s post with my political views? It’s simple really. It provides me, and consequently you, with some sort of understanding to the foundations/roots of my personal beliefs. Social issues (i.e. gender) are very much political, so by revealing my political stance, or orientation if you will, it should help explain a lot about my beliefs and what I consider to be important.

Regarding the Biblical references to homosexuality, I cannot stress enough how important context is when dealing with this issue. Without context, any situation or issue would be missing an important aspect to its understanding and would undermine any inherent value. Let’s take behavior for example. During childhood, having an imaginary friend is not considered to be too much out of the norm. However, if an adult were to have an imaginary friend, they would be seen as “weird,” possibly intellectualized as a schizophrenic, or some sort of deviant from the norm. In these two instances, the constant is the imaginary friend, and the context is the stage in life with which they have this friend. Also, it would be odd for a person to burst into tears sitting in the middle of an ongoing class, but it is perfectly reasonable for a person to burst into tears during a funeral. Without this context, it is impossible, and foolish, to try to pin some sort of judgment to either situation. The same goes for the Biblical scriptures. It is very dangerous and foolish to apply scriptures that were written centuries ago to society today, especially if they were exercised at face value. While I realize that it is virtually impossible for two individuals to have the exact same interpretation of the same text, in this case, I believe that one interpretation is not necessarily more “right” than another, but there are definitely wrong ways of interpreting the text.

Personally, I believe that the purpose of the Bible, or any religious text for that matter, is for hope, faith, and a guide. My good friend Galileo put it best and this quote is his challenging of the Church's stance regarding the motion of the Earth and how the geocentric model was inaccurate. He said (and I agree with this statement wholeheartedly) that “The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.” Although the conclusion of that statement is specific to astronomy, I think it is perfectly feasible and legitimate to apply that statement to any physical phenomenon on Earth, not just to scientific studies, but to social and political issues as well.