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Hardy is an undergraduate student.

By Jason Hardy

I am writing in response to Russell Bourne’s article last Monday (“Bible preaches multitude of conflicting ideas,” Daily Bruin, Dec. 3). As a Roman Catholic, I was very interested in how Bourne came to such audacious conclusions about Christians and their faith.

He presents the argument that “typical Christians” blindly follow a faith that causes them, in his opinion, to condemn those who do not agree with their beliefs. He cites numerous quotations from Leviticus, however Bourne seems to have failed to realize the important element of “context.”

The book of Leviticus was written thousands of years ago, and addressed issues that were relevant to the people of the time. Christians as a group of people, just like everyone else, have grown and changed with the times, and as such, many passages have lost their literal meanings, as they no longer apply to the lives of the people.

A fine example of this is the practice of abstaining from red meat during Lent. This practice traditionally held a much greater significance for early Christians, as red meat was a rare delicacy that was to be highly cherished. Obviously, in a modern American society, this is no longer the case, and as such, the practice is not as highly emphasized. The fact that Bourne fails to even recognize the New Testament, which chronicles the life of Jesus and thus is the foundation of Christianity, is an entirely laughable blunder.

Bourne goes on to state the apparent paradox by having an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God, saying this means God knows from the onset who will go to heaven and hell, yet creates those who will be doomed regardless. This is not true. Christianity has always emphasized freedom of choice in one’s own life. God loved his creations so much that He (or She) bestowed on them this most powerful of responsibilities. I am proud to believe that I follow my faith by my own choice and live my life based on my own decisions, which I try to keep in line with principles of the Church. It is this fact that makes Christianity such a powerful religion.

Taken practically, this simply means that in our own lives, we are always in control of our own decisions and therefore ultimately our own fate. God loves us unconditionally regardless of our decisions, yet always hopes that those decisions will follow the guidelines He has set forth. Ultimately, we are judged on the quality of the life we have chosen to live – if it were otherwise, the Pope himself could disregard the moral precepts of our faith and fear no divine recourse since he is the appointed Father of the Catholic Church.

Regarding this issue of fate, I was most curious as to how exactly Bourne discovered the true nature of hell. I’m sure that there are many philosophers and scientists that would love to see it for themselves as well if he would be willing to share the directions. In fact, “hell” cannot be wholly defined, as it is an imperceptible destination for those that have chosen of their own free will to turn away from God, not the other way around.

And the fact that Jesus is only 2,000 years old is meaningless in this case. Jesus himself was a Jew, as were all of His original disciples. Bourne immerses himself in such trivial details that he has missed the much more critical big picture. Christians are descendants of the Jews, who followed God for thousands of years before Christ, as they continue to do so today. Therefore, I think that God would just as readily accept those people who followed His commandments as He would those who followed His sons’. The truth behind this is that Christians believe God and Jesus are one and the same, yet different and distinct in Their own ways, however I do not expect Bourne to grasp a more complex concept as this since he has obviously erred on some of the more fundamental ones.

Christianity stems from that intangible element of faith, belief in that which you cannot see or define. Granted, many people do not accept this element, and carry their own beliefs in their own lives. I accept and respect this fact, for there is certainly nothing wrong with one person thinking differently from another.

However, it is when someone blatantly insults and degrades a belief system through no logical or cogent argument that I take serious offense. Comparing the Christian God to Adolf Hitler is nothing more than an immature and utterly insulting remark, for so many reasons that obviously do not need to be discussed.

I sincerely hope that the next time Bourne sits down to write an article, it is about a topic of which he possesses at least a handful of accurate information.

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