Rev Leonard Brusso
St Marks Episcopal Church

Dear Father Len Brusso:

Mignon and I attended the Moral Maze class at the church last Wednesday night. I had a few comments that I wanted to make concerning some of the things done and said. Here they are.

ABORTION

First of all, I want to apologize for publicly censoring my wife. She said, "Abortion is murder!" I was so surprised that she would say it in that atmosphere that I blurted out something. In retrospect, I realize that she was right and was being the kind of witness that we seldom experience in the Church anymore. She has accepted my apology; I hope you and the class will also.

Abortion is an extremely touchy subject for some fervent Christians raised in the 1950s and 60s, like me. Currently, with 4,500 abortions per day in the country, 90% for the sake of convenience or 'situation,' almost everyone from my generation has been adversely affected by it. My own mother, a life-long missionary, underwent an abortion soon before I was born. This murder, though forgiven, it has haunted us both for nearly 50 years. As a former sociology professor, himself a Mao-style communist and atheist, put it, "No matter how you try to explain it, abortion is murder, plain and simple." (Expletives deleted.) I believe this to be true, except in the rarest of cases.

MORAL ABSOLUTES

To start the lecture by making the ground rule that "There are no moral absolutes" alienated Mignon and I, and not us only. We are enlightened individuals, having studied ethics at fine universities, and we have concluded that such thinking, true or not, is responsible for great and wide-spread grief. For many of us -- educated, liberal, Christians life-long -- the premise that "there can be no moral absolutes," coming from the mouthpiece of the Deity, is untenable. Many of us are under the assumption that there indeed ARE moral absolutes based on the Biblical Law and our Anglican faith.

THE LAW AND THE 'JEWS'

In regards to the Ten Commandments: You said that the Ten Commandments had been expanded to 613 by the 'Jews.' I recall that, according to the Scripture, the Commandments were given by Yahweh ('the LORD'), not the Jews. This is indicated by the literary devices, "I am Yahweh your Elohim" and "Thus Says Yahweh Sabbaoth," etc. In the chapters following Exodus 20, Yahweh dispenses the rest of the ordinances and the people attest to his authorship in Exo 24:3-4. (Just as we do first Sundays, when the Anglican Church reads the law and the people affirm it.)

Consider: the Jews were only three tribes, Judah, Ben and Levi. The rest of the tribes were certainly not Jews, but Israelites. According to Scripture, Yahweh made the law, repeated the law semiannually, and commanded the priesthood to wear blue threads to remember them all. When Yahshua (Jesus) condemned 'the Jews' for their tradition, he was not referring to the Law -- 'not a jot will pass....' He was referring to the elaborate ablution rituals and Sabbath burdens, not the Law of Yahweh - it stands and will stand forever.

Indeed, Scripture and your own liturgy indicate that all nations will be again observing the Law in the Millennium, including the Sabbath. Whether we like that idea or not, it is made perfectly clear in several scriptures, including Isaiah 56. Again, this law in its entirety may belong primarily to the Jews (and Israelites) at this time, but it is of Yahweh.

BIRTH, LIFE & JEWS

You spoke of your rabbi friend who you say concluded that life for Jews begins when the first breath is taken. You might have illustrated what the majority of religious Jews believe by pointing out Pharez and Zarah contending in the womb -- or Jacob and Esau -- or several other Biblical examples of life in the womb rather than offering the idea that life begins when the child takes a breath and labeling it as Jewish. What have you said about Jews to these people! You announced that Jews embellished the 613 laws of Yahweh and that they believe that life begins when the baby breathes! Stupid Jews!

THREE-LEGGED STOOL

Now I’m done with my monotribe. Just a thought on this concept: Wesley and Outler added another leg that you might approve of -- experience. (Outler called it the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral.") I did a little work on this myself and replaced tradition with probability (to get tradition and history out of the hands of the Church). I added a fifth leg, revelation. Scripture, probability, reason, experience, revelation. A little more comprehensive, anyway.

OFFENSE

I applaud your willingness to take on this difficult subject matter. I am very sorry if I come off sounding pedantic and crass. You are my spiritual elder, you deserve my respect and you have it (whether you want it or not). Perhaps this letter is not as much for you as it is for me, Father.

Respectfully submitted,

Jackson Snyder