RE: Hi, I'm a Christian. Help Me Disprove My Religion!
September 23, 2015 at 1:10 am
(This post was last modified: September 23, 2015 at 1:14 am by Aractus.)
My advice: Read your Bible for yourself. Take the ten commands as an example, the tenth commandment is "thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to thy neighbour" or specifically:
"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour." (Ex 20:17)
Christians try to claim this means don't think of you neighbour's wife lustfully - however the 7th commandment is "You shall not commit adultery" (even though adultery hasn't even yet been defined - it gets defined in Leviticus 18 for the first time in the Bible) - and Jesus says "'You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matt 5:27-28). And that means that "means don't think of you neighbour's wife lustfully" is covered in the seventh commandment not the tenth commandment. And anyway the tenth command ends with "or anything that belongs to your neighbour" - so it's clearly talking about property, and wives are listed as property.
Besides adultery, Exodus does not talk about sexual immorality. There is no mention of sexual immorality other than bestiality until Leviticus. This is one reason why Sodom and Gomorrah can't be guilty of homosexual acts for example - God never said in Genesis that any specific sexual act is wrong.
As mentioned, at no time in Genesis or Exodus does God or anyone else define "adultery". So Moses can't possibly know at that time what the seventh commandment even means. It's not until Leviticus 18 that it gets defined, and if you blink you literally miss it:
Lev 18:19-23: "19 You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 You shall not have sexual relations with your kinsman’s wife, and defile yourself with her. 21 You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it: it is perversion."
That's a very narrow definition of adultery - it simply means any man who sleeps with another's man's wife. Married men are allowed to sleep with concubines (sex slaves), any wife that they own, unmarried women, and prostitutes. There is no law against any of that - and it happens quite a lot in the Old Testament. Most Christians do not know the correct Biblical definition of adultery and when they look at Matt 5:27-28 they take an erroneous definition of adultery based on the contemporary secular definition and not the ancient Jewish definition that applied in the first century, or the one that can be derived from Leviticus 18 and the rest of the Old Testament. The bible does NOT ever say that "extramarital sex is adultery" - it's only adultery if it is the wife that does it, and both parties are guilty.
Note that even Jesus himself was specific enough to say "a man who looks at a woman with lust" (Matt 5), and he does the same thing when he talks about divorce. Divorce is permitted only for men in ancient Israel (Exodus 23), and when Jesus talks about divorce in Matt 5 & 19 he affirms this: "“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Matt 5:31-32). See, nothing to do with unfaithful men or women who want to divorce their husbands. If he though they should be more progressive like Egypt and give women equal rights then he would have said so.
Numbers 5 spends the entire chapter starting from verse 11 on what to do about an "unfaithful wife". There is nothing in Numbers that discusses what to do about an "unfaithful husband" because as far as the Pentateuch is concerned, husbands can't be "unfaithful". They can be guilty of adultery if they sleep with a married woman, but that's not even seen as being "unfaithful".
It is quite funny that Christians today (except for hardcore fundamentalists) believe that their god is not a misogynist.
Exodus 22:18 "You shall not permit a female sorcerer to live."
Funny though that the Magi the "wise men" are the ones to "worship the king of the Jews". Had they been women they likely would have been stoned to death.
"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour." (Ex 20:17)
Christians try to claim this means don't think of you neighbour's wife lustfully - however the 7th commandment is "You shall not commit adultery" (even though adultery hasn't even yet been defined - it gets defined in Leviticus 18 for the first time in the Bible) - and Jesus says "'You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matt 5:27-28). And that means that "means don't think of you neighbour's wife lustfully" is covered in the seventh commandment not the tenth commandment. And anyway the tenth command ends with "or anything that belongs to your neighbour" - so it's clearly talking about property, and wives are listed as property.
Besides adultery, Exodus does not talk about sexual immorality. There is no mention of sexual immorality other than bestiality until Leviticus. This is one reason why Sodom and Gomorrah can't be guilty of homosexual acts for example - God never said in Genesis that any specific sexual act is wrong.
As mentioned, at no time in Genesis or Exodus does God or anyone else define "adultery". So Moses can't possibly know at that time what the seventh commandment even means. It's not until Leviticus 18 that it gets defined, and if you blink you literally miss it:
Lev 18:19-23: "19 You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 You shall not have sexual relations with your kinsman’s wife, and defile yourself with her. 21 You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it: it is perversion."
That's a very narrow definition of adultery - it simply means any man who sleeps with another's man's wife. Married men are allowed to sleep with concubines (sex slaves), any wife that they own, unmarried women, and prostitutes. There is no law against any of that - and it happens quite a lot in the Old Testament. Most Christians do not know the correct Biblical definition of adultery and when they look at Matt 5:27-28 they take an erroneous definition of adultery based on the contemporary secular definition and not the ancient Jewish definition that applied in the first century, or the one that can be derived from Leviticus 18 and the rest of the Old Testament. The bible does NOT ever say that "extramarital sex is adultery" - it's only adultery if it is the wife that does it, and both parties are guilty.
Note that even Jesus himself was specific enough to say "a man who looks at a woman with lust" (Matt 5), and he does the same thing when he talks about divorce. Divorce is permitted only for men in ancient Israel (Exodus 23), and when Jesus talks about divorce in Matt 5 & 19 he affirms this: "“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Matt 5:31-32). See, nothing to do with unfaithful men or women who want to divorce their husbands. If he though they should be more progressive like Egypt and give women equal rights then he would have said so.
Numbers 5 spends the entire chapter starting from verse 11 on what to do about an "unfaithful wife". There is nothing in Numbers that discusses what to do about an "unfaithful husband" because as far as the Pentateuch is concerned, husbands can't be "unfaithful". They can be guilty of adultery if they sleep with a married woman, but that's not even seen as being "unfaithful".
It is quite funny that Christians today (except for hardcore fundamentalists) believe that their god is not a misogynist.
Exodus 22:18 "You shall not permit a female sorcerer to live."
Funny though that the Magi the "wise men" are the ones to "worship the king of the Jews". Had they been women they likely would have been stoned to death.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
