Is Left Handedness A Sin?

Great PowerPoint slides are available for this sermon. Email jaykaymarsh@yahoo.com to get them.

Is Left Handedness A Sin?

Good morning. Welcome to The Shepherds’ House. Welcome also to our on-line viewers. I am glad you are here, and I pray that you gain a blessing from today’s service. Thank you, Diana, for that great children’s story. Thank you, Byron for reading the scripture this morning. Thank you to our sound and video team and our praise team for setting worshipful mood today. Thank you to the deacons, deaconesses and greeting for keeping things running smoothly here. Thank you to everyone who makes the shepherd’s House a special place. Let us pray before we begin. Dear God, I ask your blessing on this sermon today. May Your message shine through my flawed delivery. May those hearing it catch a glimpse of You today. I pray in Jesus’ name. amen

In November I preached I talked about how Christian views have changed over the years. (It is on Sermon Central as "Would Jesus Drive A Plymouth"). I gave three examples. Most Christians used to think the Bible taught that men were superior to women. Most Christians used to think that the Bible taught that Anti-Semitism was OK. Most Christians used to think that the Bible supported slavery. There are many texts that explicitly support those positions. Why did we change our minds?

I think we changed our views for two reasons.? First, we could see our views were causing obvious harm.? It was harmful for women to be forced into roles based on their gender when they were gifted for other roles.? It was harmful to Jews to be persecuted for centuries culminating in the Holocaust.? It was harmful to slaves to have their children taken away from them and sold to someone else.

The second reason we changed our views was because of Matthew 22 and Matthew 23. In Matthew 23 Jesus said it is hypocritical to obey specific laws like tithing and disobey broader more important laws like justice, mercy, and faith. In Matthew 22 Jesus said the two most important laws are to love God and love your neighbor. On these two laws hang all the law and the prophets. I did not mention it in my last sermon, but The Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12 echoes this. “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12 NLT

Is it loving God and loving your neighbor to think of women as inferior to men?? Obviously, it is not.? Would you like to be thought of as inferior because of your gender? No. So, the Golden Rule tells us not to do that. Is it loving God and loving your neighbor to blame current Jews for the actions of their ancestors?? Clearly it is not.? Would you like to be blamed for the actions of your ancestor? No. So, the Golden Rule tells us not to do that. Is it loving God and loving your neighbor to force someone to work for you for no pay?? Obviously, it is not.? Would you like to be forced to work for no pay? No. So, the Golden Rule tells us not to do that. Since these beliefs fail the two most important laws, they must be wrong. Even though there are specific texts to support the belief, the belief fails the broader, more important law. So, the specific texts must mean something else.

Every belief, every doctrine, every policy, every action, must first pass the “Love God, Love Your Neighbor, Golden Rule test. If specific texts lead to beliefs, doctrines, policies, or actions that do not pass the “Love God, Love Your Neighbor, Golden Rule” test, then those texts need re-interpreting.

It is hard to believe it took 1800 years to realize that slavery, male chauvinism, and antisemitism were not “loving your neighbor.” It made me wonder, what ideas do I (or my church) have now that people in 2200 will wonder how I (or my church) could not see those ideas were not “loving your neighbor.” I said I would check all my beliefs to see if they passed the love God, love your neighbor test. And I asked you to do the same. This sermon is a continuation of that idea.

Parts of this sermon comes from an article by Stephen Ferguson in the December 1, 2023, online issue of Adventist Today. https://atoday.org/tag/left-handedness/.

Is being left-handed a sin? I suspect with so many other issues today, this is not one you have given a whole lot of thought to. I think we could all agree left-handed dominance is unusual, in the sense of being a minority condition affecting about 10% of the world’s population. ?There are also a variety of even rarer conditions on the handedness spectrum, including mixed-handedness, ambidextrousness, and dysgraphia, but let us not overly complicate things.