“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable,” says Leviticus 18:22. For years, perhaps centuries, the world has wrestled with this and other passages concerning the topic of homosexuality. It’s a battle that has been waged on many fronts, and it seems there is little new to add to the discussion… until today. Enter Ian McKellen, most notably remembered for playing the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He is, by far, one of my favorite actors.
Sir McKellen is gay and though nearly 70 years old, he did not come out until age 49. It would seem, there is a bit of unresolved anger there because in a recent interview with Details magazine he had this to say:
Details: Is it true that when you stay at hotels you tear out the Bible page that condemns homosexuality?
Ian McKellen: I do, absolutely. I’m not proudly defacing the book, but it’s a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible. And I’m not really the first: I got delivered a package of 40 of those pages — Leviticus 18:22 — that had been torn out by a married couple I know. They put them on a bit of string so that I could hang it up in the bathroom.
The New York Times alluded to it back in ’03 when it said:
”I can’t wait to get into bed,” he said. One aspect of his hotel room already felt like home: he had ripped the anti-gay passage Leviticus 18:22 from the Gideon Bible, a ritual that lets him sleep more soundly.
You may this post is about homosexuality, but you’d be wrong. There is something more important in the words and ideas of Sir McKellen. Though the reason may be unique, the practice of ‘editing’ the Bible to suite ones fancy is not necessarily a new one. Many have done similarly, perhaps most notably, Thomas Jefferson himself. TheBoston Globe reports:
Thomas Jefferson set to work with scissors, snipping out every miracle and inconsistency he could find in the New Testament Gospels. Then, using a cut-and-paste technique, he reassembled the excerpts into what he believed was a more coherent narrative. He called the book “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.” Friends dubbed it “The Jefferson Bible.” In Jefferson’s version of the Gospels, Jesus is still wrapped in swaddling clothes after his birth in Bethlehem. But there’s no angel telling shepherds watching their flocks by night that a savior has been born. Jefferson leaves in Jesus’ crucifixion, but ends the text with his burial, not the resurrection.
Whether you, like Sir McKellen, disagree with the Bible’s moral code for righteous living or, like President Jefferson, seek to remove the portions that you deem untrue, you must stand in awe of any man who would render his own personal judgment on a work that claims infallibility based on transcendent truth.
Jefferson wrote: “To the corruption of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.” You gotta admit, it takes large cojones to redact the words and life of Christ himself as told by those closest to him.