Somehow if we hear the word 'abomination' in a Biblical context it carries a level of disgustingness beyond any other (yes, I'm inventing words again... disgustingness).  Anyway, in the light of some of the recent debates I decided to use an electronic Bible to find out hust what it is that is an abomination to the LORD and to ask myself just how selective our reading/hearing is.

According to the NRSV, the word arises 48 time in 44 verses, and among the things that are abominations (no I'm not going to the obvious Levitius 18 and 20 stuff) are the following birds (sic)...

• eagle
• vulture
• osprey
• buzzard
• kite
• raven
• ostrich
• nighthawk
• seagull
• hawk
• little owl
• comorant
• great owl
• water hen
• desert owl
• carion vulture
• stork
• heron
• hoopoe
• ... and bat (?!)

So, I hope that someone has informed the RSPB that opreys are evil, that the ostrich farmers feel suitably guilty at enticing people to eat forbidden food, and that generations of parents realise the damage they've done claiming babies are delivered by storks...    Oh, sorry, you thought the NT overturned all that...?  But the Bible says...  As for the preposterous idea that bats are mammals not birds... shocking!

More seriously, this little list from Proverbs 6: 17 - 19

There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family.

Perhaps if we got a teeny bit interested in this list and pulled the tree-trunks out of our own eys, we'd be better equipped to consider the microscopic specks in other people's eyes...?