The Bible's 'bad side' - sexism and genocide

Hi Aminul,

Wow, what a touchy subject, but one worth explaining what little I understand from the background of some of those verses. I'll start with the women teaching in the church. First of all, these are the words of Paul, to the early church. At the time of the writing, women of period were highly subservient to men, holding a lower stature in society. Keep in mind that Paul also said, "It is shameful for a man to have long hair..." Some of the writings of Paul were tailored to the societal "laws" of that time, but are not overall lawful.
About the "genocide"...During the taking of the land of Canaan, and the journey of the Israelites, God would have them destroy many cities, devoting them to Him through a total annihilation. The cause for this is because, each city that this was performed in, had a history of terrible idolatry and sin against God's creation. At one time, before the Flood, the whole of humanity, minus Noah, had become tainted and sinned against God's creation, which today we would probably interpret as species inbreeding and other such atrocities. This was the history of the individual cities that were destroyed by the Israelites. After the Flood, God promised He would never again destroy all of mankind, but never spoke about destroying an entire city or group of cities due to their wickedness.
About the witchcraft...in the days written witches were commonly approached in order to speak to the spirits...both dead and immortal (demons). Again, before the Flood, it was these fallen angels, or demons, that came down to mankind, and revealed the "secrets of heaven" to men, at the same time, causing a violent eruption in both technological advances and science, but also in widespread evil and death. In order to prevent this, God commanded the cessation of contact to these spirits, thus the removal of witchcraft.
Female subservience is taking the words WAAAAAAAY out of context...here's a bit more...Wives, submit to your husbands, as unto the Lord...Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Slaves, submit to your masters... Submission is a characteristic commanded by God many times over. In Ecclesiastes, it says there is a time and a place for everything...including submission. A good portrayal of this is in the Book of Daniel, when many of the Israelites were taken away to Babylon, to live in captivity. But in Babylon, those who respected their captors excelled, as seen by Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego...Even Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt! God commands us to do all things, as unto the Lord...so whatever situation you find yourself in, be it slave or free, lover or hater, husband or wife, we are to live it out as unto the Lord.
As far as homosexuality, look at Sodom and Gomorrah...two cities that ran rampant with homosexuality. The bible says that the ENTIRE popluation of the two cities engaged in this practice, bringing about their heavenly destruction by falling fire and brimstone, being judged by God himself. Their "stench" had reached His throne in heaven, and makes it very clear where God stands concerning homosexuality.
If you still say the Bible is full of contradictions, or have any questions about something, look at the verses surrounding it, or if that doesn't answer your question, look up the history of the day or time...you made a very nice example of selective interpretation in your discussion. Keep up the thinking...hope I helped some...

Dive Deep!

God is God and He can do what He wants! Just because you or me or anyone else thinks something is 'sexists' doesn't mean that is how God views it. Just because one doesn't agree with something doesn't make them not subject to it. When a parent makes a rule for their child to obey, the child should obey it regardless if the child thinks it's fair or not. The child could still get punished for disobeying the rule.

I find it funny how people are offended at parts of the Bible and they suddenly think that THAT particular part wasn't meant for todays people. They see where God told someone to kill another person and say that He wouldn't do that today. They want to call themselves Christians, yet don't believe the Bible. God wiped out the entire population of the Earth, with the exception of Noah and those with him. Is he then a murderer? If I build a house, can I not destroy it if I want?

The bible really has some sexist passages. I'm a woman, so I don't want to be treated as second class. I don't believe in it anymore. But that doesn't mean that I'm an atheist. I just find it hard to believe that the words in the bible were actually what god taught. The bible reflects the thinking of people during the time it was written. It is anthropomorphic. That's why I think only humans wrote the stuff in the bible. I don't believe in the "divine inspiration" that these writers supposedly had when they were writing the bible. If the bible would be written today, I believe it would have a very different context because the writers themselves have modern-day ideas.

dear aminul,

the bible used today is not the authentic version of the original bible..so there is no point discussing on this topic...
i hope u got mah point

It may seem strange for an atheist like myself to comment on this, but as I was raised as a Methodist (and I still treat Christianity as a working philosophy, as I also do Buddhism) I think that the point needs raising:

If Christianity is anything, it is first and foremost based on the teachings of Christ - which essentially means the four gospels and some bits out of the Acts of the Apostles.

This does not exclude parts of the Old Testament (but note Christ made amendments to a lot of Old Testament teaching), nor the reinterpretaions produced by Saint Paul. At the same time Saint Paul was Saint Paul, not Christ - his job was to train the missionaries to spread the word, not to reinvent the word.

All the quotes above do not come from the teachings of Christ, and should be seen in that context. They are not fundamental to the belief system.

It was the Judges part of it that made me sick. The world is full of violence and hatred. I had hoped that the Bible, at least, would be free of it. But the Biblical God turned out to be the worst con men of them all... cruel, judgmental, bloodthirsty, hot-tempered, and full of hatred. Reading the Bible was the worst experience in my life. It turned me away from Christianity.

Cheers and happy Mylotting

I am just glad that the Bible was written for me to know God and His characteristics. God is holy and worthy of all the Praise. I don't question God in anything. What God has put in His Word is there for me to learn and adhere without question. Therefore, whatever other people may say that is against God, let them do it but God doesn't change. I am just happy to be saved, redeemed, and loved.

Christians may not like what is in some parts of the bible but it does not negate the fact that those verses are there. I do not pretend to understand the passages that speak of killing children, but I do believe these were some of the same people who were killing their children themselves. (sacrifices to the fire god?) I could be mistaken on this part its been awhile since I have studied those scriptures.

Subservient women is a favorite topic of many churches and particularly men, lol. The thing people should remember is the same bible talks about women in position of authority in several places, off the top of my head is Deborah, a Judge in the old testament. Women are called to be submissive to their husbands but here is the rub.... women also get to choose those husbands! It is probably part of the reason the bible tells us not to be unequally yoked together.

Homosexuality is condemned by the bible, that is all there is to it. Old Testament and New speaks of the practice as a bad thing..... but then so are many other sins and those are forgivable.

I look at the bible this way there are things I will not understand this side of heaven because I see in part therefore I know in part. I am not God and I do not know all the things he knows so how could I possibly understand everything. Just my opinions nothing more... good day.

WOW, that is quite interesting, but who do we blame for the things that are written? Do we blame God (or a god, who is said to have inspired the writings, or do we blame man, who we know penned it? Notice that the things that are written their were said to have been the word of God, or the Lord speaking through and individual. it is easy for someone to say that someone said something if that person is not physically there to rebut the accusations. Even though I believe there is a God and that mmuch of what the bible saaid is true, I don't not believe for one minute that it hasn't been tampered with through the years. What you have written above are some of the things that I have read and I believe man put those things in their to control and manipulate followers. if God wanted women to keep quite, why was the first person to say that Jesus was alive and the tomb was empty was a woman? And I'm not even going to entertain those old testement actions for which one would be sentenced to the electric chair for commiting today. Last thought, Why is homosexuality singled out has the reason for the destruction of Sodom and Gumorah and in the book of Romans? If you read the before and after, you will see the prejudices of those who are pointing fingers.

God gave us free will, that means we get to make our own choices and He won't shove His distates down our throats, like some human christians try to do. And I'm not talking about anyone here. He made us imperfect and it could be that some of the writers and publishers of the Bible of the past have altered or changed.
But I choose to believe that every word is true and that I should follow the teachings of the New Testament to the letter. I say only the New Testament because Jesus' sacrifice on the cross fulfilled any law that God imposed on His people before the Resurrection. The Old Testament is more violent and immoral. The people didn't have the Holy Spirit to guide and help them along their path in life. But He also gave each of us an opinion, even though yours might be wrong or mine might be wrong. We can only do our best with what we have and what GOd has given us to get through life, His love and the HOly Spirit.