Author Archive
March 9th, 2012 | 
Author: Another pattern in the Bible that is noteworthy concerning the violation of women’s human rights is the parallels we see throughout history exposing the fact that it is always men who abuse women and treat them unequally when they are in positions of being rule makers and of leadership.
In ancient societies where the goddess was worshiped, even though women may have had the position of authority, men were never treated as lesser citizens or property…equality was the standard, unlike the dominator model we see recorded in the Bible. This is a key factor in revealing that the Bible was written by men, because it matches exactly what one sees in all male dominated societies, when men have positions of power they tend to suppress women and deny them basic human rights.
It is only when women themselves are able to rally together and demand their equal rights as humans do we see any change in their condition. The God of the Bible has never stood up for women’s rights; in fact quite the opposite has taken place…Scripture is full of rules that take away a woman’s equal rights!
Posted in 
Tags: 
No matter what ones take on the Bible is, whether it be the inspired Word of God, or an historical account of men’s ideas about God, an undeniable fact remains that the Bible promotes sexual violence against women. I have listed a handful of verses below to show the extreme abuse that women have endured at the hands of men, condoned and promoted in the pages of the Bible without a single reprimand recorded against such barbarism. In each of the passages I have listed, men have inflicted sexual violence against women, and in each of the cases there is not so much as one word of condemnation written against their horrendous deeds.
It is time women and men alike raise their voices denouncing this sexual violence targeted specifically at the female gender. These passages that I have listed are just a few amongst the many contained in the Old Testament part of the Bible, and for the most part are ignored by believers, but what does that say about peoples moral values? The Old Testament contains the whole of the biblical writings of Judaism, and over half of the Christian Bible that Jesus said not one “jot” or “tittle” would pass away from. How can it be that all one hears is silence from the religious communities that hold these texts to be God’s moral laws? This is an issue that needs to be dealt with and it’s time the voices of those who care about human rights be heard. Sexual violence in never okay, even when it’s promoted in a book considered by millions to be the Word of God…it’s always WRONG, Wrong, wrong!
Gen. 19:5-8 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
Num.31:15-18 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Deuteronomy 21:10 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, 11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; 12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; 13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
Judges 19:23-26 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. When the men would not listen to his host, the husband seized his concubine and thrust her outside to them. They had relations with her and abused her all night until the following dawn, when they let her go. Then at daybreak the woman came and collapsed at the entrance of the house in which her husband was a guest, where she lay until the morning.
Judges 21:11-12 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan…..14) And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-Gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not….20) Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
As hard as I try I can come to no solid reason as to why sexual violence against women is not condemned in Scripture except to say that those who wrote the Bible did not view those deeds as human rights violations, but then what does that say about biblical morality? At the very least one would think that the many explicit sexual violations against women contained in the Bible should be exposed as examples of man’s wickedness instead of promoted as commands from Yahweh. So, the question remains unanswered as to why the sexual violation of women in the Bible is not condemned? Biblical morality is either right or wrong; it doesn’t change with the times. If it is immoral today to sexually violate a woman, then it was immoral three thousand years ago to sexually violate a woman. Women are humans and have rights over their own bodies just like men do, they are not the property of men as the Bible promotes. It’s time to speak up and condemn human rights violations wherever they are found, even in the “Word of God”!
Once a person becomes sensitized to the male bias of the Bible its footprints are obvious everywhere one looks. From the get-go in Genesis we read that it was a woman (Eve) who was the one made responsible for being deceived, thus bringing down the curse of sin upon all humans, then immediately following she is cursed by having the male rule over her…sure sounds like a script written by a man to me.
One glaring aspect of the Bible that seems to be overlooked by many is the perspective, from which it is written, especially in the area of sexuality. It becomes abundantly obvious who wrote the Bible when one focuses on that angle. Case in point: rape is a crime committed against women that does not have a male counterpart; men rape women because of their uncontrollable sexual lust, and complete disregard for women giving no thought, or caring whatsoever of how it feels to be sexually violated. This exclusively male mindset of sexual violence is exemplified in the Bible with the supposed creator of the universe, Yahweh commanding such deeds be done. On numerous occasions one finds Yahweh commanding that the virgins of a conquered people be given to the Hebrew soldiers as booty. These women who have just watched their families slaughtered before their very eyes are now given by the command of God to the soldiers to be taken as wives against their will and raped. There is no hint of compassion, empathy, or thought of the anguish these women would be going through, which is exactly what one would expect from a rapist, but not from a loving God. Throughout Scripture the sexual desires, and feelings of lust in men are made abundantly clear and catered to, but what is absent from its pages are the sexual desires and feelings of women. The examples below are just a few of many scattered throughout the Bible which exemplifies the total male perspective from which the Bible was written, condoning the sexual violation of women without any regard for their feelings because they are considered no more than property.
Num.31:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying…15-18 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves….30-35) And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD. And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses…And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.
Deuteronomy 21:10-11 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;…
Judges 21:11-12 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan…..14) And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-Gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not….20) Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
It’s one thing to speak of an abstract “Mind from which all reality originated”, and quite another to speak of the masculine warrior god portrayed in the Bible as being the creator of all reality who would not only allow such brutality against women, but who himself would command it! Any book like the Bible that could be, and has been used to negatively affect the lives of half the human population (females) could in no way be inspired by a moral god. Because of the way the Bible is written it has been used by men as a weapon to control and destroy the lives of countless women…if such a god did inspired the Bible he would be deemed a moral monster by today’s standards. It’s time to wake up and take a second look at a book that has been held as a moral standard since its inception.
Everyday I read with horror accounts of the trafficking of girls and women in the Sex Trade, if one were to take a poll on how people feel about these egregious violations of human rights I’m sure it would be close to 100% (except of course those who are profiting from, and participating in this crime) saying this is a horrible crime against all humanity, adversely affecting women and men alike. What I feel is so sad is that many of the same Christians who abhor the idea of the sexual abuse of women through the Sex Trade, fail to see its glaring presence in the Bible. Until Christians can openly acknowledge that the Bible does indeed promote the sexual abuse of women with the express approval of and promotion by its author, they will never be free from its bondage. Throughout history women have never enjoyed the same freedom as men because of the domineering and aggressive nature of many men, with this in mind it becomes very apparent that the Bible reads like an historical account of how men think and their corresponding actions mapped onto a tribal war god.
In my own life, through all the years I was a Christian there was a constant anguish I felt every time I would encounter a troubling passage in Scripture that violated human rights because I believed so strongly in God, yet here in the Bible were words that seemed to reveal a side of him that went against my deepest feelings as a woman…all I knew to do was try and convince myself that somehow these words were a wrong interpretation of God’s perfect ways. Fortunately I am totally free from that burden now, after realizing through intense study that the Bible is not a book revealing the creator of the universe, but rather a book expressing mans ideas of who they think the creator of the universe is, and since it was men who wrote the Bible, their expression of God is quite masculine which is reflected everywhere within its pages.
Once a person steps outside the confines of their religious box and is open to the way life is specifically calling each of us to share and give of our talents and embrace fully our unique gifts, then we realize there are no limits to what we can do. The key to a full life is freedom, freedom to express every desire and inspiration that wells up within us no matter if you are male or female, allowing those creative forces to bubble up and flow out of our being like living waters. Embracing our whole selves with full integrity and sharing that oneness with others as we travel life’s path. It is only through total freedom to be yourself can one begin to realize their full potential, beginning with that first step of breaking away from the trap of religious bondage that blinds the eye. No advancement of knowledge or rising of consciousness can be made as long as one remains within the confines of religious doctrines and dogmas that only serve to dull the senses and stunt the growth of the mind. Life is an experience of growth and in order for us to grow our minds must be fed with knowledge; otherwise it remains bound in a limited environment like a prison, suffocating for lack of transcendent vision.
I have found in my own life that what I thought was freedom while I was in the grasp of the Christian faith, was merely an imposed false sense of freedom. What was preached as being saved from sin was really a captivating dogma that immersed me in idea that desires of the flesh were bad and searching for knowledge outside of the Christian faith would only lead one down the wrong path into wickedness. This pervasive idea that is taught in the pages of Scripture promotes the mindset that humans are born corrupt by the mere fact of having a fleshly body, and any desire your fleshly body has is automatically bad and needs to be terminated. Only through freedom from that mindset can one truly be released to explore who you are and be able to pursue a meaningful, fulfilling life. Instead of being trapped by the things you aren’t allowed to do because of religious doctrines, become a person who can strive to attain whatever your heart desires. Be all you can be, let nothing stand in your way as you walk the path of life.
To know the lover
At the center of your being
Is to be awakened
The term entanglement was coined by the prominent physicist Erwin Schrodinger, one of the founders of quantum theory. He used this term to refer to the connections between separated particles that persist no matter how far the distance. If two particles share a common correlation whereby they influence each other that connection will mysteriously remain as a shared bond no matter how far apart they are separated.
I would like to use the same idea of entanglement and apply it to the relationship of bonding that is experienced with mother/child and identical twins. What every child shares with its mother is quite literally their flesh and bone, beginning with a single egg cell from the mother that becomes her child’s entire body. For that very reason I posit that because every cell in the child’s body had its origin in the child’s biological mother, and was nourished from the mother’s blood, an innate connection is established that allows the child to share a unique bond with his birth mother for life. The same holds true for identical twins who share the same original egg cell, many of whom exhibit an extraordinary ability to perceive each others feelings and characteristics, even when separated from birth. Any mother who has given birth to a child understands the profound depth of this bond is unlike any other relationship a person develops during their lifetime; your child is literally part of you. When a woman adopts a child from birth, the unique bond that is manifest from a biological child doesn’t exist because the entanglement of shared cells is missing. This is not to say that deep bonding and relationships cannot be established between non-related individuals, rather what I’m referring to here is the specific relational bond that is formed from entanglement.
An ironic twist to the concept of all human life being essentially flesh and bone of the woman is seen in the biblical story of human origins. Three major religions on the planet hold to the biblical account of creation, which states that God created woman from the rib of man, whereas in reality man comes from the flesh and bone of woman. The Christian faith has long propagated this teaching of woman’s mythical origin from Adam to keep her in submission to the man. Its premier teacher the apostle Paul uses Adams biblical order of formation as a weapon of submission to teach that the woman is to be in subjection to the man, and not to usurp authority over him. One of the main verse’s that is used to propagate this erroneous teaching, which has caused untold misery for women, comes from the book of Timothy.
1Tim.2:11-15 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
1Cor.11:8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
The more people are informed as to the truth, the less they will be trapped in the ignorance of religious teachings that only serve to enslave the mind and body. The truth will set you free from your bondage!
Until one frees themselves from the dogma of Scripture and is able to see the Bible as one of many stepping stones on the path to higher consciousness, they will remain camped on that particular stone, thus it becomes the end of their journey. The rest of the path is lost to their vision and the stone itself becomes the complete way. In my search for truth it was only when I was able to rise above the Bible and free myself from the bondage of its religious doctrines that I could truly see it for what it is. It in and of itself is not the whole picture, or the complete path, but only one of the many stepping stones that lead us on this journey of life progressing to an ever higher conscious levels as we continue on. When one becomes trapped in a mindset, no matter what it may be the rest of the world is seen through that perspective and its true nature becomes hidden from view. The Bible does not contain the whole answer anymore than the teachings of any other religion or philosophy. All the parts of the human experience are just that “parts” nested inside one another and together they make up the whole.
For many years I was trapped inside the religious box of Christianity and was admonished not to explore outside the parameters of the faith for fear of being lead astray. What I discovered a couple years ago is that there was and is a whole world of truth beyond the Christian stepping stone that I had camped on thinking it was the end of the journey. Now, I view the Bible in a new way, as just one stone of many laid down by those that came before me denoting their understanding of the world around them and where they were in the walk of life. If I confine my point of view to encompass only the narrow perspective of those that saw the world in a more limited way because of lack of knowledge, then I shut down my possibilities to continue growing and learning.
The plan and purpose of mankind did not culminate and come to an end with Jesus in the first century, as the Bible would lead one to believe, rather meaning continues to unfold as human understanding and consciousness progresses to a higher and higher levels. Much meaning can be derived from great literary works such as the Bible, but they are not an end unto themselves as many believe. It is only when we allow Scripture to speak from the age and time in which it was written that its purpose can be fully realized and that is of one stepping stone on a path of many on the journey of life.
To be whole within
As one with the universe
You are connected
