New book says Bible lies about sexuality

Christians have their sexuality all wrong. Believers are blind to the fact that Jesus never condemned prostitution, incest or even bestiality. Francis D. Ritter, a Certified Legal Investigator from Oceanside, Calif., argues this and more in his new book entitled, “Sex, Lies and the Bible: How Human Sexual Behavior is Controlled Through the Corruption of the Bible.”

At first glance, the book may look like another dig on Christian lifestyles, advocating the sexual revolution and being free in a God-given natural state, but Ritter says this is not the case.

“The book is not an attack on Christianity, but it is an attack on anyone who uses the Bible to control human sexual behavior,” he said in an interview with the Mustang Daily.

Those people, who he terms “controllers,” are defined as anyone who “create our fears, demand our denials, and then manipulate us by using those fears against us.”

Controllers are all around us: teachers, priests, the media and parents. Ritter says they distort the truth about the Bible, which he argues lies in certain parts.

“You walk into a bookstore and there is a whole shelf of Bibles,” he said. “(A person) cannot copyright the Old Testament, however the New Testament is copyrighted in every version in the bookstore and every one is different than the one sitting next to it. With that said, the bottom line question in my entire book is: into which publisher’s ear did (Jesus) Christ whisper to make that one the word of Christ? That is what the book is about.”

At the core of his argument, Ritter wants to look at an even deeper level of Christianity – one that looks at the validity of Christ’s conversation with the people he is said to have talked to in the New Testament.

“The other premise of my book is that either Christ is truly the Son of God, and if not then the Bible is no better than a good set of Shakespeare,” he said.

According to Ritter, a self-proclaimed creationist and Catholic, believers have been lied to their entire lives about their sexuality. Many of the chapters are titled “Doing what comes naturally.,” followed by topics such as incest, adultery, bestiality and masturbation, all of which he argues the Bible lies about. The book may also seem to accept and condone these different types of sexuality, but again Ritter argues that claim.

“I’m not saying to run out and have sex with animals or those of the same sex. What I am saying is understand sexuality. Understand that when they (controllers) stand up and say ‘you are going to hell (for doing this),’ they are lying to you,” he said.

He also said his family understands his argument and backs it up.

“My wife is a nurse and she totally agrees,” he said. “My son, Stephen, gave me the subtitle (How Human Sexual Behavior is Controlled Through the Corruption of the Bible) for the book.”

Ritter also touches on the issues of abstinence, arguing that there are right and wrong reasons for doing it.

“If you don’t want to have sex because your parents said not to or you just want to be a virgin, those are fantastic reasons. One reason it is not valid is if some minister uses the Bible to say that if a person fornicates, they are going to hell.”

Ritter said his book is telling people who read the Bible to understand the implications of what they are reading and to “realize that the Bible you just bought is 20 percent different from the one sitting next to it.”

But if all these Bibles are saying different things, how can a person who believes in the Bible find truth?

“One way is through my book,” Ritter said. “I don’t say take my word for it, go look it up in your own Bible. Then people can see where they are being lied to,” he said.

While Ritter has no sexology credentials, he said that this does not make him any less credible – the book rationalizes his beliefs versus what the Bible preaches.

“I wrote it in such a way that it is not scholastic. It is just plain talk. My investigative ability is what I stand on and I don’t say believe me. I give (Bible) verses and say look it up.”

“Sex, Lies and the Bible” is due out in stores in January 2007. Ritter plans on touring the book with his other works.

More information can be found at www.diversepublications.com.