By Jason Tsaddiq
Soulforce Article Critique, Part 3
On page eight, the last sentence in the first paragraph states, “. . .we must fervently seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance, or we risk being misled by our own prejudices.” Those two actions (seeking Holy Spirit’s guidance and being misled by prejudices) are incompatible – they cannot occur at the same time. If one is seeking guidance, then he is not being led by prejudices.
Mr. White’s fourth premise also commits several fallacies, the first being the fallacy of false dilemma which is basically an oversimplification, a propounding an either/or situation of the issue. His premise claims “The Bible is a book about God – not a book about human sexuality.” His either/or claim is that the Bible cannot be about human sexuality because it is a book about God. Logic demands that he recognize that God made human sexuality and if the Bible is a book about God, then it probably explains what God has given concerning human sexuality. Just as a child peering into her mother’s purse will discover aspects of her mother (her favorite gum, her bank card number, her every day lipstick), a reader of the Bible will discover aspects of God which include the sexuality of His creation. Holding to Mr. White’s premise would dictate that the Bible is a book about God – not a book about creation, the fall of man, the flood, the tower at Babel, Esther, Solomon, prophets, and the disciples.
His second logical fallacy within his fourth premise is dishonesty concerning Leviticus 18:19 which states “Also,thou shalt not approach unto a womanto uncoverher nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.” Mr. White states, “The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman’s period. If they disobey, both shall be executed.” However, this verse does not make that claim nor does any other verse in the Bible. Mr. White must not twist Scripture to fit his own prejudices - just as he accused others of doing in the aforementioned paragraph.
Mr. White exercises dishonesty when he lists Mark 12:18-27 with these words: “If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by Biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir.” As is noted in the endnotes, these verses do not teach this action neither does any other passage.[1]
At the very bottom of page eight, Mr. White says, “I’m certain you don’t agree with these teachings from the Bible about sex.” Here, again, he contradicts himself for earlier in his document, he claims that the Bible is not about human sexuality and yet he says, “teachings from the Bible about sex.” Either the Bible talks about sex or it does not. It cannot do both.
One must consider another aspect concerning his statement about agreeing with the teachings from the Bible: God does not call upon His child to agree with the teachings; He calls on His child to obey. Obedience will bring understanding and agreement.[2]
Mr. White continues his dishonesty on the next page when he claims all sorts of sexual activity are acceptable. But he fails to give the exact Scripture to prove his point. However, possibly he is correct in one aspect: he list sexual activities that “are all accepted practices in the Scriptures.” This statement is true if one considers the enemies of God and their practices. Scripture does explain some of the customs of nations not pleasing to God so maybe Mr. White is leading his reader to believe that God approved of these practices when in reality, Scripture was delineating evil nations’ customs. Telling half a truth is telling a whole lie.
Mr. White, in his fifth premise, lists six Scripture passages that may or may not discuss human sexuality, the first of which is Genesis 1 and 2. He claims,
Because the text says it is ‘natural’ that a man and a woman come together to create a new life, some people think this means gay or lesbian couples are ‘unnatural.’ They read this interpretation into the text, even though the text is silent about all kinds of relationships that don’t lead to having children: couples who are unable to have children, couples who are too old to have children, couples who choose not to have children, people who are single. Are these relationships (or lack of relationships) ‘unnatural’? There’s nothing said here that condemns or approves the love that people of the same sex have for each other, including the love I have for my partner, Gary.
In using this claim, Mr. White is guilty of the logical fallacy of non-sequitur, a term that means the conclusion does not follow logically from what preceded it. This passage is about God creating man and woman and their coming together as one flesh. God is not discussing men and women who are unable or choose not to have children or any of the other circumstances that Mr. White alleged. God is not discussing the love that people have for the same sex – He is discussing man and woman coming to together as one flesh to reproduce.
Based on Mr. White’s premise, one could complain that “there’s nothing said here that condemns or approves” the drinking of hot chocolate. This passage is not about God approving or condemning homosexual sin. It is about God creating the first home, just like He wanted it.
In his second passage, Genesis 19:1-14, Mr. White commits the logical fallacy of a straw man – a debate technique used to overstate the opponent’s argument in order to be more easily attacked. Mr. White claims that Sodom was not judged by God because the city was engulfed in homosexual activity. It is true that Ezekiel 16:48-49 says what Mr. White says it says.[3]However, Mr. White exaggerates the concepts presented in verses 48 and 49 - the arrogance, the selfishness of the people but he ignores verse 50 which clearly uses the expression “committed abomination before [God].” He claims that Sodom was destroyed due to her pride and arrogance, and he does not consider the definition of “abomination before [God].”
Homosexuality very well may have been the “abomination before [God]” as seen in the story of Lot, his daughters, the visitors, and the men of city. Lot did not attempt to keep the men of the city away from the visitors because the men of the city were selfish and arrogant. He attempted to keep them away, offering them to his daughters, because of the homosexual activities widely prevalent as intimated by the exact words that Lot used in his conversation with the men of the city. If Mr. White has studied “Hebrew and Greek to gain a better understanding of the original words of the Biblical texts,” as he claims on page three of his article, then he would know the basic meanings of the words Lot used.
On page twelve, in conclusion of the discussion of Genesis 19 and Sodom, Mr. White shares the story of Abner Louima, “a young black immigrant from Haiti [who] was assaulted by several police officers. . .” Mr. White finished the story by claiming “this was not a homosexual act. It was about power.” The statement is probably true about the horrendous actions that were inflicted upon Mr. Louima but it is totally irrelevant to the story of Sodom. Reverting to his tactic of using non-sequitur, Mr. White attempts to draw the attention away from his lack of knowing the basic meanings of Hebrew words.
Passage three has to do with “the holiness code.” Mr. White quotes Leviticus 18:6 as “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female.” However, that is not Leviticus 18:6; it is Leviticus 18:22.
Missed Part 2? Get it here: http://baptistwriters.com/blog/2019/4/19/soulforce-article-critique-part-2
[1]“Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave hiswife behind him,and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I amthe God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.”
[2]One caveat: “Agreement” must occur for salvation for “agreeing with God about my sin” is the definition of repentance.
[3]“AsI live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”