Abomination

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Light iron-age reading
The Bible
Icon bible.svg
Gabbin' with God
Analysis
Woo
Figures

Abomination is a term frequently used in the King James Version English translation of the Bible to refer to 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[note 1] so, how exact can it be?

List[edit]

Such acts include but surely are not limited to:

  1. Images and other paraphernalia of forbidden cults (Deuteronomy 27:15, Deuteronomy 29:17-18)
  2. The practice of witchcraft and kindred arts (2 Kings 23:24)
  3. Eating animals that are regarded as unclean
  4. The falsification of weights and measures (Deuteronomy 25:13-19, Proverbs 11:1)
  5. Evil thoughts (Proverbs 15:26)
  6. Evil deeds (Jeremiah 44:22)
  7. On occasion, lewdness and harlotry (Ezekiel 16:22, Ezekiel 16:58, Ezekiel 22:11, Ezekiel 33:26)
  8. Wearing clothes woven with different fabrics, or planting different crops in the same field (Leviticus 19:19, Deuteronomy 22:11)
  9. Homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13)

Punishment[edit]

Public stoning was frequently seen as being a fitting punishment for engaging in abominations. Lesser abominations resulted in being "shut off from your people."[1][2] 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[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Equivocation

The joy of being a so-called "fundamentalist literalist", is that one 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 2] which are only a "minor abomination" are now conveniently and easily equated with the truly vile acts of witchcraft.

Hulk[edit]

The AbominationWikipedia could also refer to The Incredible Hulk's rival monster-thing.[note 3]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. related words shiqquts (שיקוץ‎), sheqets (שקץ‎), derived from shâqats as well as the entirely different tōʻēḇā (תֹּועֵבָה‎)
  2. Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13 which themselves are equivocal (what exactly "as he lieth with a woman" or "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind" means is up for grabs) special pleading (what about lesbians?).
  3. I smell Biblical foreknowledge!

References[edit]

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