I also find it rather odd that in most biblical stories of adultery, the woman is always at more fault than the man because she "tempted" him. His punishment is shame and regret, her punishment is getting stoned to death...
Well it does make sense in the context of an ultra-patriarchal, patrilinear culture, in which female sexuality has to be controlled at any cost. As I recall, who gets punished how depends on what male the woman belongs to (father, husband, or master); generally, for things like adultery or rape, the offended party is not the woman, but the man to whom she belongs.
What's frightening is being a woman and realizing that there are still plenty of men out there who blame us for their own sexual desires. I dated a devout Born-Again Christian once who was like that. He was deeply ashamed of his own sexuality, and probably needed to project his self-hatred onto women just so he could get some kind of emotional relief. I suspect this may have been one of the many reasons why he converted: the Bible offered plenty of justification for his attitudes towards women. He could seek forgiveness from Jesus for his sexual sin, and blame women for his own "sins" at the same time. Neat little package, really.
But that was the microcosm of one very screwed-up and desperate individual. And really, I don't know what they were thinking back in the Bronze Age. Maybe just trying to come up with some way of ordering their world, just like people do.
Still sexist, though.
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It is a fool's prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak. --Neil Gaiman, Sandman 3:3:6
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I also find it rather odd that in most biblical stories of adultery, the woman is always at more fault than the man because she "tempted" him. His punishment is shame and regret, her punishment is getting stoned to death...
Seems fair...
Well, in our society, James Bond sleeps with 4 or 5 guys in a flick, or tells his buddies about his girlfriend du jour, and is revered. A woman is thought to be a tramp for doing the same thing.
He may say that he has no respect for her because she "allowed him" to sleep with her on the first date, as if him asking to have sex on the first date is not only acceptable, but expected, and sees himself faultless.
So, I think the sexism in the bible is simply the sexism of men in the time.
A woman that taught my Sunday School as a child pointed out that it took a lot of convincing to get Eve to disobey. It took no convincing at all for Adam. He just shrugged and took a bite.
__________________ Love is the only miracle there is. -Osho
Matthew 10:16
See, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves.
17 “But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; 18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. 20 “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.
A woman that taught my Sunday School as a child pointed out that it took a lot of convincing to get Eve to disobey. It took no convincing at all for Adam. He just shrugged and took a bite.
I might also add that it took a supernatural being to convince Eve, but all it took for Adam was a human woman.
I mean really, how embarrassing is that?
__________________
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." --Psalm 14:1
It is a fool's prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak. --Neil Gaiman, Sandman 3:3:6
Given the culture in which it was written (and translated in), there shouldn't be TOO much doubt if the Bible is sexist.
But whether Christianity is inherently sexist, that would be another story for me.
Ever read "Outrageous Women, Outrageous God" by Ross Saunders?
Women whose opinions I respect, have read this book and can't say enough good things.
__________________ Three Rules for the Real Politic 1) You cannot just be wrong.
I might also add that it took a supernatural being to convince Eve, but all it took for Adam was a human woman.
I mean really, how embarrassing is that?
Which is why the entrance of sin into the world was said to having come from adam and not eve and the NT also says eve was deceived but adam sinned willfully.
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Which is why the entrance of sin into the world was said to having come from adam and not eve and the NT also says eve was deceived but adam sinned willfully.
MEN!!!!
__________________ You must be the change you want to see in the world.
The lineage in the bible leaves out the women. Women are even told not to speak in temple, but to wait and ask their husbands when they get home. Women are seen as the reason for the fall, the temptress. They are to submit to the husbands, as husbands are to submit to God. (I'm not sure how many Christian men honestly submit to God, or can submit to anyone, as it is congruent with being emasculated, especially in a society where they insult women by calling them an animal - a dog, a cow, a pig, and insult men by calling them a woman.)
Interestingly, the Bible include's Mary's lineage.
Women are portrayed as the reason for the fall and the tempress, true, and for this reason in a sense the woman is supposed to be subject from man. The woman was created basically as a helper for man so says the Old Testament.
I would also say that the women do receive a lot of honor in the Bible, as well, but people will complain because it is not the type of honor that you see men receiving.
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“The egalitarian mania of demagogues is even more dangerous than the brutality of men in gallooned coats... Anyone who has been oppressed can get back on his feet if the oppression did not cost him his life. A man who has been equalized is physically and morally ruined." - Ernst Jünger (March 29, 1895 – February 17, 1998)
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