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“If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the man and the woman who have committed adultery must be put to death. (Lev 20:10 NLT)
File this under biblical literalism and just how far are you willing to go? Or maybe, ‘canon within a canon’, because believe it or not, Christians have a canon within a canon. We know that the Taliban makes a big deal about falling Islamic law which is similar, in vein, to Levitical precepts:
Horrific video footage has emerged of Taliban insurgents stoning a couple to death for alleged adultery in northern Afghanistan.
Hundreds of villagers can be seen on the video standing around as the woman, Siddqa, is buried up to her waist in a four foot hole in the ground.
Two mullahs pass sentence before the crowd begins to throw rocks at her head and body as she desperately tries to crawl free.
You might not want to watch that video…
Anyway, it got me to thinking about the dispersions we constantly cast upon Muslims, especially the conservative to the Fundamentalists. But, aren’t they simply taking their sacred text seriously? And, more importantly, aren’t they taking the text in Leviticus serious? Are they in fact more literal than we?
Related articles
- Couple stoned by Taliban for alleged adultery (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)
- Taliban commanders ‘ready to talk’ (mirror.co.uk)
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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I think they they are much more literal that “we” are, by almost any definition of “we.” And I think that that’s the problem.
Judaism and Christianity (both Catholicism and Protestantism) have undergone modernization reformations, progressing from what they once were.
Islam as practiced by the Taliban has not, which is why most modern Westerners find it medieval in the worst sense of the word.
I agree, Dr. Green, completely.
Most Christians also believe in the grace of God.
Most….
‘Literal’ doesn’t always mean ‘right’…
very true!
Joel, you fail to realize that from a New Testament perspective the sanctions in the Mosaic Law are no longer in force. This applies to sanctions concerning adultery (Leviticus 20,10 vs. John 8,1-11), idolatry (Deuteronomy 17,2-5 vs. 1 Corinthians 5,9-13), sorcery (Exodus 22,18 vs. Acts 13,6-12) or fortune-telling (Leviticus 20,27 vs. Acts 16,16-18).
No, Patrick, I realize it – I just want others to do the same.