Would it be worse for VeggieTales stars Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber if they were gay, and displayed next to each other in a Baghdad vegetable stand? I ask about the Crusader produce because of this fabulous post by Islamic law professor Haider Ala Hamoudi, who was staggered by the complete stupidity he discovered visiting a vegetable market in Baghdad. Excerpt:
"Okay," he relents, "what else might it resemble? Notice it is red, like a woman's lipstick. It is soft and round. Get it? It reminds you of a woman's flesh.""I see," I said. But I thought, man do you need a wife if you look at a tomato and think that.
Then he picked up the cucumber and was about to ask me what I thought it looked like, when I cut him off. That one I could follow better. If a tomato was a woman, I could well assume what a cucumber was."So the idea is that it reminds people of sex, it's the mixing of the man and the woman, the cucumber and the tomato, and unlawful sex at that, and so they forbade it."
Could Bob and Larry be friends in al-Qaedastan? After all, Bob is male. Or would that make Bob a transvestite? Would it be licit to display male tomatoes and cucumbers side by side in states where sodomy is forbidden? What do Salafist greengrocers in Massachusetts do?
(Seriously, read the professor's post. He makes an interesting argument that despite the batshit insanity of al-Qaeda's interpretation of Islamic law, it has to be dealt with.)
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"The professor's either lack of knowledge of this well known and generally accepted fact or his blithe denial of knowing the actual facts was pretty disturbing." CL
TR: I love it. "He didn't take the interpretation of the story that makes Islam look the worst, how disturbing in a Muslim."
We Christians do not go on and on about that couple who died in the Acts of the Apostles. How disturbing of us.
We Christians do not go on and on about that couple who died in the Acts of the Apostles. How disturbing of us.
Thomas, if someone asked me directly did the couple in Acts get struck dead, I would say yes and explain why. I wouldn't say I don't know about the story and that I have to do some research. The professor didn't even respond to the question. He could have easily stated where the age of nine came from and then possibly explained how he disagreed with that interpretation. Then one can judge to determine which interpretation is the most credible. Claiming ignorance of a widely accepted interpretation is damaging to his credibility.
Anyways, what is so disturbing about God striking dead two people who were essentially lying to God? Why would that story embarrass Christians or make them look bad?
Lying is not normally a death penalty offense. In the New Testament people usually are given a chance to repent when they disappoint God or fail in some way. Even in the Old Testament people who lie to God don't necessarily die.
I understand the story on looking it up, but it does feel a bit odd compared to the generally forgiving/repentance nature of the New Testament. At the time I accepted it because I felt there situation was unusual and untrustworthy people were dangerous to them in a way they wouldn't be to Christians today. Other things indicate they were meant to be shown as against God in a sense, rather than merely flawed human beings who lied to God.
Actually, on thinking about it more, we even had a song in youth group that referenced the story. It was pretty catchy. Notice that they were actually given a chance to renounce their previous claim. The point is that you don't cheat God. And the New Testament isn't just forgiveness and repentance. There is a lot of judgment and condemnation of sins. Not taking a look at the whole of scripture is a fault all of us are guilty of from time to time.
They never met my folks who just marginally accepted the wearing of wedding rings as ok for Christians. They wouldn't associate the redness of a tomato with a woman's lipstick. Their women wouldn't wear lipstick, that would be Jezabelesque.
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