How Would You Respond to the Claim That the Old Testament Is Misogynistic and Demeaning to Women?

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reads, “Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. For the Lord God of Israel says, that He hates divorce.” (NKJV 2011) However, if a wife was to divorce God made provisions for her in (Exodus 21:10) which says, “If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights.” The Bible also Levirate marriages, to where if the woman had no children, the husband’s brother would have to marry her. When you look at what God is doing, you’ll see there not talking about his conjugal rights, but hers. Also, it was important for women to have children so that the children could take care of the parents when they got older because there weren’t opportunities for, single women, especially those that are divorced and have a more difficult time getting remarried because in the biblical days most marriages were prearranged. These conjugal rights were protection for the women. Just as some men didn’t want to have sexual relationships with women in the biblical days because of a women’s conjugal rights we have going on in today’s society. Which are men don’t want to have to split their wealth? That’s why the book of Deuteronomy 25 gives women so much information on how to disgrace their husband in public. (Genesis 38) Talks about Onan who didn’t want to have sex with his sister-in-law and get her pregnant. He wasted is seed on the soil of the ground. God seeing this took his life from him. .In today’s society things have changed, what we called back in the day conjugal rights, is all most the same, however, we call it alimony.

Misogynistic was also a problem in the biblical days in the church. In early Christianity, women were allowed to be church leaders, however, they had to remake themselves into males. Like “Thecia and Mygonia who chopped off their hair and dressed as men, so they could preach and baptize, or Mary of Egypt who fasted to the point that their bodies stopped menstruating and pilgrims believed them to be Holy men.” (DeConick 2012) However, early Catholic Christians didn’t allow women in the pulpit due to their deficient yet seductive bodies. “The second-third century church father Tertullian said women cannot change their natural deficient and sexualized bodies through baptism, fasting or cross-dressing.” (DeConick 2012). He believed that once a woman, always women. Even in today’s society Catholic Christians continue to keep women from preaching.

In conclusion the bible doesn’t demeanor women, instead, it helps women. It has various scriptures to help women, live a productive life. In “2012, only 11% of American congregations were led by women and it hasn’t changed since 1998.” In today’s society, there are a lot of preachers that are females, in various religions, except some denominations, like the “Roman Catholic Church, Latter-day-Saints and the Orthodox Church in America,” who do not ordain women or allow them to lead churches. (Masci 2014)

Word Count: 1563

Bibliography

Carlyle, Thomas. "Misogynistic or Maligned." June Skye SzirotnySzirotny (Oxford University Press) 62, no. 3 (2015).

DeConick, April. Biblical Views: How The Mother God Got Sprayed. Oct 2012. http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=38&Issue=5&ArticleID=8 (accessed 09 28, 2016).

Johnson, Allan G. Academic Room. 2013. http://www.academicroom.com/topics/what-is-misogyny (accessed September 29, 2016).

Masci, David. "The Divide Over Ordaining Women." Fact Tank News In The Numbers. September 09, 2014. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/09/the-divide-over-ordaining-women/ (accessed September 29, 2016).

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. Martinsburg, West Virginia: Merriam-Webster Incorporated, 2014.

NKJV. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2011.

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