Know Bible in context

Tim Wolfe’s florid response (“Fables corrupt thinking,” Jan. 20) to Michael Nicholl’s maddening letter (“Slippery slope to Sodom,” Jan. 11) undermines his argument because it displays the same sort of bigotry he rails against.

People like Nicholl who cite Leviticus 20:13 as a blanket condemnation of homosexuality are engaged in what is called “proof-texting”: scanning the Bible to find verses that agree with what we already believe. The gross error of proof-texting is that it ignores the entire biblical witness.

It takes time, discipline, openness and humility to begin to understand the scope of Scripture, and unfortunately many people take the broad path and settle for too-neat answers that satisfy their preconceived notions, as Nicholl did.

Ironically, with his sweeping, condemning generalizations of the Bible, Wolfe has done the same thing. He claims the Bible “was written by men to frighten and control the uneducated population to conform their way of thinking.” Really? Does Wolfe really hope to participate in a society of tolerance, or is his tolerance limited to those who think like him?

I fear his claims only fuel the growing intolerance he bewails. Wolfe and Nicholl are cut from the same fundamentalist cloth.

Gavin Dluehosh

Spokane