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Abomination

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If you thought the term "abomination" was just a handy short for "aboriginal mime nation", you'd be wrong. Funny, but wrong.

Abomination is a term frequently used in the King James Version English translation of the Bible to refer to Star Trek V acts that are abhorrent to the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic God, a.k.a. Yahweh, Jehovah, or Allah. The English word "abomination" as used in the Bible is a translation of at least four different Hebrew words (related words shiqquwts, sheqets and shâqats as well as the entirely different to'ba) so, how exact can it be?

List

Such acts include but surely are not limited to:

  1. Images and other paraphernalia of forbidden cults.
  2. The worship of heathen deities or heavenly bodies.
  3. The practice of witchcraft and kindred arts.
  4. Gross acts of immorality. How "immorality" is shown in the Bible varies wildly.
  5. The falsification of weights and measures.
  6. Evil devices.
  7. Evil deeds.
  8. Eating animals that are regarded as unclean.[1]
  9. On occasion, lewdness and harlotry.
  10. Wearing clothes woven with different fabrics.
  11. Being disrespectful to one's parents.
  12. Planting different crops in the same field.

Punishment

Public stoning was frequently seen as being a fitting punishment for engaging in abominations. Lesser abominations resulted in being "shut off from your people."[2][3] There remains some question how bad such a punishment is, to be shut off from a people who would stone you for breaking some of their other rules.

Equivocation

The joy of being a so-called "fundamentalist literalist", is that you can use the art of word trickery (which was not a sign of humor until after Christ) to confound the believers. That is to say, the act of eating shellfish or having a rockin' night of same-sex love,[note 1] which are only a "minor abomination" (insert Hebrew) are now conveniently and easily equated with the truly vile acts of witchcraft.

Hulk

The Abomination could also refer to The Incredible Hulk's rival monster-thing.[note 2]

See also

Notes

  1. Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13, which themselves are equivocal (what exactly “as (he lieth) with a woman” means is up for grabs) special pleading (what about lesbians?).
  2. I smell Biblical foreknowledge!

References

  1. Leviticus 11:10 through 11:12
  2. Hartdegen, Fr. Stephen J., General Editor, Nelson's Complete Concordance of the New American Bible, G.R. Welch Co., Ltd., Toronto, Canada
  3. Hastings, James, editor, Dictionary of the Bible, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1963