ONLINE EXTRA: Bible must be understood in context

Hardy is an undergraduate student.

By Jason Hardy

I am writing in response to Russell Bourne’s article last
Monday (“Bible preaches multitude of conflicting
ideas,” Daily Bruin, Dec. 3). As a Roman Catholic, I was very
interested in how Bourne came to such audacious conclusions about
Christians and their faith.

He presents the argument that “typical Christians”
blindly follow a faith that causes them, in his opinion, to condemn
those who do not agree with their beliefs. He cites numerous
quotations from Leviticus, however Bourne seems to have failed to
realize the important element of “context.”

The book of Leviticus was written thousands of years ago, and
addressed issues that were relevant to the people of the time.
Christians as a group of people, just like everyone else, have
grown and changed with the times, and as such, many passages have
lost their literal meanings, as they no longer apply to the lives
of the people.

A fine example of this is the practice of abstaining from red
meat during Lent. This practice traditionally held a much greater
significance for early Christians, as red meat was a rare delicacy
that was to be highly cherished. Obviously, in a modern American
society, this is no longer the case, and as such, the practice is
not as highly emphasized. The fact that Bourne fails to even
recognize the New Testament, which chronicles the life of Jesus and
thus is the foundation of Christianity, is an entirely laughable
blunder.

Bourne goes on to state the apparent paradox by having an
all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God, saying this means God
knows from the onset who will go to heaven and hell, yet creates
those who will be doomed regardless. This is not true. Christianity
has always emphasized freedom of choice in one’s own life.
God loved his creations so much that He (or She) bestowed on them
this most powerful of responsibilities. I am proud to believe that
I follow my faith by my own choice and live my life based on my own
decisions, which I try to keep in line with principles of the
Church. It is this fact that makes Christianity such a powerful
religion.

Taken practically, this simply means that in our own lives, we
are always in control of our own decisions and therefore ultimately
our own fate. God loves us unconditionally regardless of our
decisions, yet always hopes that those decisions will follow the
guidelines He has set forth. Ultimately, we are judged on the
quality of the life we have chosen to live ““ if it were
otherwise, the Pope himself could disregard the moral precepts of
our faith and fear no divine recourse since he is the appointed
Father of the Catholic Church.

Regarding this issue of fate, I was most curious as to how
exactly Bourne discovered the true nature of hell. I’m sure
that there are many philosophers and scientists that would love to
see it for themselves as well if he would be willing to share the
directions. In fact, “hell” cannot be wholly defined,
as it is an imperceptible destination for those that have chosen of
their own free will to turn away from God, not the other way
around.

And the fact that Jesus is only 2,000 years old is meaningless
in this case. Jesus himself was a Jew, as were all of His original
disciples. Bourne immerses himself in such trivial details that he
has missed the much more critical big picture. Christians are
descendants of the Jews, who followed God for thousands of years
before Christ, as they continue to do so today. Therefore, I think
that God would just as readily accept those people who followed His
commandments as He would those who followed His sons’. The
truth behind this is that Christians believe God and Jesus are one
and the same, yet different and distinct in Their own ways, however
I do not expect Bourne to grasp a more complex concept as this
since he has obviously erred on some of the more fundamental
ones.

Christianity stems from that intangible element of faith, belief
in that which you cannot see or define. Granted, many people do not
accept this element, and carry their own beliefs in their own
lives. I accept and respect this fact, for there is certainly
nothing wrong with one person thinking differently from
another.

However, it is when someone blatantly insults and degrades a
belief system through no logical or cogent argument that I take
serious offense. Comparing the Christian God to Adolf Hitler is
nothing more than an immature and utterly insulting remark, for so
many reasons that obviously do not need to be discussed.

I sincerely hope that the next time Bourne sits down to write an
article, it is about a topic of which he possesses at least a
handful of accurate information.