Dear Pastor Pierce,

After reading your letters to the editor and those of your supporters regarding homosexuality, I have a question. How on earth do you decide which of the “abominations” listed in the Bible to take seriously and which to ignore? What guides you in making those choices?

You obviously feel that homosexuality is an abomination that must be confronted to save these “precious souls,” but you ignore the following abominations listed in the same Bible: eating shellfish, trimming the sideburns or the beard, woman wearing pants, the mixing of fabrics and arrogance of heart (that last one must be worrisome to those who are positive they have all the answers).

As Christians do you use Jesus as a guide? No, that can’t be the case since Jesus said absolutely nothing about homosexuality but quite a bit about poverty, greed, helping those who are marginalized—even those we despise, turning the other cheek and on and on. Please explain how you make these decisions as good Christians.

We believe people who have been endowed by God with minds should use them and not just take as gospel the traditions and restrictions of ancient people who didn’t have the information that we now possess.

I believe God intends for us to use our minds to question, expand our knowledge, develop new medicines, learn new ways to live together in harmony, help the vulnerable, explore our extremely vast universe, and discover our reason for being.

And, as Christians, shouldn’t Jesus be our guide? Remember that Jesus railed against the holiness codes of his day and warned us about those “who call Lord, Lord but don’t do the will of the Father.” Why then do we still perpetuate some of these archaic codes and emphasize calling Jesus’s name rather than doing God’s will?