A comment on an earlier post by April-Lyn has reminded me of one of my pet peeves: Christians selectively quoting Mosaic law to justify things that, as far as I'm concerned, violate the spirit of Jesus' message. She mentioned "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," but there's also a popular verse condemning homosexuality.

For one, Mosaic law was only supposed to apply to the Israelite people. Second, it seems a bit hypocritical when these same people go around violating other Mosaic laws, like the prohibitions on pork and charging interest, or the command to give your firstborn son to God. And most important of all, there's a little story in Acts 10:9-23. God comes to Peter and basically says, "You're worrying about sticking to the law at the expense of actually following the spirit of my message. So just forget I ever gave you those rules."

My friend Suzanne avoided telling me she had become a Wiccan for quite some time, out of fear that I would hate her for it and think she was going to hell. I think the thing that bothers me the most about that is that her fear was far from unfounded. There are too many people who skim the Bible for quotes instead of actually trying to understand what it says.