I would be more than happy to answer your questions. The scriptures and letter were found on another website, I probably should have stated that at first to avoid any confusion. I did look up the scriptures cited using the New International Version (NIV). http://www.biblegateway.com/ works very well but the printed version is the same as the online version. The great thing about the old testament is that there aren't as many metaphors and parables as in the new testament, meaning there is no room for people to argue about how to interpret it. It is very straight forward.
As far as denomination, I go to a baptist church (notice the word go). I mainly go because that is where my parents go and my wife and I haven't really looked for anywhere else to go. I would say that I agree with most of their beliefs, I'm not a huge fan of them being against alcohol since that is an easy way to relax from a day of work. I'm also not real big on the way people act. Most of them act holier than holy and preach down on others, but once they leave church or are no longer around church members, they become a different person. I know my life isn't perfect, but I don't preach others since my stuff isn't exactly straight.
Back to the letter, it is obliviously written as a joke directed towards Bush trying to ban homosexual marriage based on his religious belief. I'm not a big fan of homosexuals but there are more important issues facing our country than what two consenting adults do in their house. The fact that he is using religion to attempt to ban homosexual marriage is exactly why we have the separation of church and state. The separation of church and state was established to prohibit what was being done in England in the 1600 and 1700's. It's attempt is not to keep God out of the government, but to keep the government from interfering with the rights of people and to stop a state ran church like the Church of England. By Bush attempting to banish homosexual marriage because of his religious views, then he is forcing his beliefs onto the country.
As far as politics go, with out coming out and saying it directly, I know more people who would benefit from an increase in minimum wage than would benefit from a decrease in estate and capital gains taxes.
Below is a list of the verses numbered with the points the correspond with in the letter.
1. Leviticus 25:44 “Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. “
2. Exodus 21:7. If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do.
3. Lev.15: 19-24. “When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening. 'If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.”
4. Lev.1:9. “He is to wash the inner parts and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.“
5. Exodus 35:2. “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death.”
6. Lev. 11:10 “But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales—whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water—you are to detest.”
7. Lev.21:20 or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.
8. Lev. 19:27. "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
9. Lev. 11:6-8 And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you."
10. Lev.19:19 19 Keep my decrees: Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
Lev.24:10-16
Then the LORD said to Moses: Take the blasphemer outside the
camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire
assembly is to stone him.
Lev. 20:14
If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked.
Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among
you.
