I was taken aback by Mike Langworthy’s depiction of his mother as one who saw the world “filthy, poisonous or designed by an Old Testament God to poke your eye out.”
When I read the “Old” Testament, I read in the first creation story that “God saw that it was good,” that “God blessed the creatures” and that God blessed humankind. In the laws given in Exodus, I read last week “thou shalt not oppress a stranger, seeing that you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” In the “Old” Testament book of Deuteronomy I read “Justice, Justice thou shalt pursue.” I see 244 references and commands to love in the “Old” Testament, including commandments such as “behave justly and bestow kindness” as well as “love truth and peace” and “thou shalt love the stranger.”
The striking verb in Mr. Langworthy’s title is “hate,” the full title being “What I Hate about Winter.” I urge you, Mr. Langworthy, not to promote the misconception of “the vengeful God of the ‘Old’ Testament.” There are communities who have studied and attempted to live by the love and justice taught in the Holy Scriptures for thousands of years. Also, as a lawyer you know that some legal dicta are metaphors for a profounder legal application.
Stephen R. Simons
Portland
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