There actually are female prophets in the Bible. And women in Israel could inherit property. The rest of what you describe is the general tribal culture of the era, which varied in its treatment of women, depending on the culture... But lets just say that it wasn't a feminist golden age anywhere in the world at that time.

I mean yeah, but that just proves the bible is just as misogynystic as the rest of the world at that time. Misogyny was the norm back then, true, but thats still misogyny. Even if in comparison to the rest of society at the time the bible was LESS misogynistic, thats not a pass, its still misogyny. We cant judge the people of the time, they lived in a different society, but likewise we cant use their standards to excuse stuff in our society. The vikings were a lot cleaner than most of the people of their time, but that doesn't mean they were up to modern standards of hygiene. You wanna read the book today, you gotta deal with the fact its problematic.

Yeah, it's pretty much from a male POV. I'm not a scholar of religion, but something I believe is that any religious text should be taken with a grain of salt...Its not strictly the word of god...Its the word of God that has been filtered through time, mis-translations, and the minds and hearts of humans. There's no telling what has been changed.

Let's be specific, it's been filtered through time, mistranslation and the minds and hearts of men.

Yeah, well I was trying to be inclusive of everyone.

And somehow the all powerful god can't do anything about it

What??? Many of the comments here confuse what people did in the Bible vs what God actually teaches. Lots of the bad examples people use from the Bible are things that the Bible is actually telling us NOT to do. The stuff you read about women being owned and abused my men are things that really happened during that time period, but NOT what God wants people to do. This tells me many of you just flipped to random pages of the Bible and criticized it without context.

This is a lie

What an ignorant, false and useless thing to say. 🤦

Exactly. Popular opinion does not dictate the truth. As far as I can tell, the demographic on BP is largely athiests, agnostics, liberal, and animal lovers (especially cats and dogs!) Ofc, this doesn’t mean EVERYONE is part of this group, but these are just some things I’ve seen a lot on BP. Are there any others?

Bc you're downvoted that means the Bible is true? No one should need a book plagiarized from Egyptian text to tell people not to be misogynistic homophobic racists. That's what all good people already believe wo being told by a book they feel it. They live it by example. Kindness is also inherently human. There are other books of scripture as well. Why is the Bible the one true word? Science and psychology also teaches us that the more humans work together through understanding the better we all are.

Your god is fiction.

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Nah.

Pretty much anything can find a way to shape USA politics these days.

This is exactly why I'm an atheist that listens to death metal. Honestly, not following rules from a story book and being treated fairly sounds way better so I would rather not care abt god and be a Satanist that doesn't satanically abuse then wind up in hell and be treated fairly. Being judged bcs of how you lived Ur life ain't fair. The bad should only get punished if they commited crimes truly evil e.g: H!tler would be alright to punish for being biased and killing people for choosing a different lifestyle.

It’s not rude. The culture of walking on eggshells for religion/“sincerely held belief” needs to fücking stop. It’s why we have so many people believing in anti-science bullshït, million/billion-dollar cults, an insane conservative “political party”, antivaxxers, environmental disaster...

We don't, or shouldn't mind. You're welcome to believe as you will. My church believes that "men are not punished for adam's transgression, but for their own sins"

If you step back and look at it the whole thing, it's messed up. It's like, God made people with free will to make our own choices, but then lays down all these rules and requires praise and worship from us,claims that only good things come from him even though God was supposed to have created everything, and if you don't follow the rules and do this stuff that goes against your "free will" you'll be tortured forever. Sounds like God is a sadistic narcissist control freak...

yea and you have to forgive me for it or your burning in hell

god put a curse on adam and eve themselves, and dont dot forget their children for and of eternity. it was his fking mistake. he is all knowing? he knew this was gonna happen? yea "thanks a lot" what a "forgiving and loving lord" there are people that put their whole lifes into this. bc they are scared. and christianity is using that fear to feed their greed. they set up so many churchs when it should just be used in jails. its a good way to point those bad people in a good direction. teach them about karma... the same exact thing as chrisianity. do bad things go to a bad place, do good things go to a godd place. its fake. it stemmed off of karma. it may have started with good intentions. but ended badly.

Ye like that stupid Victorian bullshite abt 'being born in sin' bcs Ur parents slept together before they could marry

Ye and then God asks us all to be perfect pious little beings like Jesus

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

There are definitely more men in the Bible than women, seeing as all of the prophets were men, but I was just pointing out there are definitely women in it. Also, the Bible is for everybody. I'd just like to point that out.

Only when the Church allowed it to be given to the laypeople...1380 or 1539. Then it became for everybody. I guess God just needed to only let the Church have it until then... and no translations. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-christians-were-denied-access-to-their-bible-for-1000-years_b_3303545

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Really depends on your church. The church I go to wasn't even around back then. And actually the Bible was translated a monk, Martin Luther, who recognized how corrupt the church was at the time and sought to make it more accessible to the people. Thus the Reformation and subsequent splintering of churches. Thanks for being civil by the way.

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

"The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife." 1 Corinthians 7:4 See, it goes both ways. Men and women are equal. That's what marriage is, becoming a unity. (These verses are talking about sex in marriage btw, not anything else. It simply means not to commit adultery, because the husband and wife belong to each other. So please don't go twisting it.)

You can't cherry pick your verses. They are not equal in scripture. Ephesians 5:22, 23 “Wives, submit to your husbands.." ".For a husband is the head of his wife ..." When one is charge (not matter how much you want to spin this as servant-leadership which isn't in the Bible) and one has to follow, that's not anymore equal than a boss with an employee. They are not equal if the power dynamic is not equal. Don't go twiating this, because you know this is what it says, this is what was intended, this is what the early church promoted and this is what fundamental Christianity still espouses today.

Zophra, I won't try to twist it, but don't forget a verse that follows that: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:25‬ ‭CSB‬‬ We believe Jesus loved the church so much that he "made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant" (same Greek word for slave, I believe) - Phillipians 2:6-7. Even if the husband is the head of the family, they have the command to love (in biblical concept an action) their wife to the extent of giving their lives for them; neither side gets off easy. Also, thanks for keeping calm defusing some of the arguments here. We don't deserve Pandas like you :-)

What about same sex marriage? That's equal as well. Science and psychology tells us that as well

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Nice grammar.

Oh, shut up. Not everyone has perfect grammar. Maybe get your NPD checked out

Directed towards Brafne, sorry

If ad grammer is all Brafne has to fight with, they already have lost.

He's a "Christian."

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

What? I complimented his creative use of grammar! Not everything is an insult you know.

Just out of curiosity, which 'God' are you referring to?

Em, the Bible has always been a misogynist mess.

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

You're wrong, but my real question is: will you disavow Islam as brazenly?

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

It has NEVER been a misogynist mess. I have studied it for years, even in it's original languages, and God empowers women throughout all of Scripture. There are a few verses in it that corrupt humans (mostly men) have twisted and taken out of context to make it seem that way, so they can gain power over others. Have you read the entire Scripture or have you only read those few verses?

Alrighty. Let's just take a few gems of the OT: keep the virgins as spoils of war Numbers 31:17-18. Or a woman has to be a virgin in marriage or be killed; it doesn't matter about the man. Deuteronomy 22:13-21. Marry the rapist...Deuteronomy 22:28–29...God santions the tribe of Benjamin to rape 400 women Judges 21:10–24... Moving to the NT- Women obey... be silent...do not teach/have authority over men. Even in Revelation the 144,00 sealed are men "who have no defiled themselves with women." I HAVE read the whole Bible and you have to twist these verses to make them anything but the tribal patrilineal misogynist culture that it was.

GO ON ZOPHRA WITH UR EXTENSIVE BIBLE KNOWLEDGE! WE ALL LOVE U

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

What translation have you read? Not a single one of those verses mention rape, either in KJV, NIV or in the original Hebrew. They speak about marriage and in one instance sex outside of marriage. The verse in NT that speak about women not having authority over a man is a verse that shouldn't be taken out of the context either from that chapter, or of everything else in Scripture. I function as a teacher in the Church, and God helps me. I've taught many men. You're taking a few verses, and mistranslate them them to make it look like God is a misogynist when He isn't. Wouldn't it be better to make women understand that God wants to build them up instead of spreading the same falsehood that men have used for ages in order to oppress women? God has brought me out of nearly nothing and has made me mentally strong, stronger than most men I've met. Because that's who He is. That's a truth that would help a lot of women and should be spread instead of the misogynist lies you're selling.

God instructs the Israelites to kill all the males and any women who "has known a man" but (NIV translation) Numbers 31:18 "but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man." What do you think was going to happen to the virgins directly after battle? Tea parties?

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

"Directly after battle"... They were probably given a meal and a place to sleep. (We're talking about the Bible here, not the Quran). Do you understand what the word "save" mean from a Biblical perspective? Salvation is when someone is redeemed from their past and is given a new chance for a better life. I know from experience what that looks like, and it's the opposite of what you're thinking. I'm happy for anyone who have come out of a corrupt society and have been saved by God, because what He gives us is much better than what we had before. It was like that in OT and in NT, and it is still like that today.

Sorry what- you know that there’s only 1 god because you checked? …if you don’t mind me asking, how?

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Yeah actually. Prayer.

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

If you read my comments, you'll find out.

No thanks you're a whack job.

I've read the bible (old and new testament) cover to cover. I've spent a lot of time studying many religions. Christianity and Catholicism in many cases, does throw women to wolves, so to speak. Your other comments about women being raised up in scripture- not at all to the level of norse culture, most indigenous cultures and many pagan religions. Your belief in God and scripture and your ability to feel His love is a personal spiritual awakening and is not to be discounted. He, however, didn't judge those who did not feel His love and asked of His followers not to as well.

You are certifiable. Please seek help.

@Em, I was like this one has to be really mentally unstable... then I found your comment where you actually admit it... that explains a lot

Em talks to god. He comes to her. And cured all her mental illnesses in one night. Bpd and a few others.

Also she says her narcissistic Personality disorder was cured. We know for a fact through years and years and years of study that it cannot be cured in fact when narcissists go to therapy they use that to get better at manipulating. You never know what a narcissist will lie about that is one thing that's for sure. They are usually compulsive liars and have delusions of grandeur that could be why she speaks the way she does.

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

It can be cured through therapy if the person have a hard awakening and realize what's going on and how destructive their behavior is for themselves. I've actually seen that happen recently to a person I know, who was a narcissist and completely changed. I'm really happy for them, even though the person made my and others life miserable. But even without therapy, God can heal anything, even when psychology and science can't. That has been proven over and over. Just look at what He does in prisons. He's a life-changing God. And you use my past illnesses to make me look bad if you wish to. It only makes yourself look bad in the end. A good person rejoices when someone has been cured and is living a good life, and a bad person holds on to the past and tries to drag them down again because of the darkness of their own heart. Feel some joy instead! It makes everything better.

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

The one and only God. Who else? We're talking about the Bible! What did you think?

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

The Holy Trinity of course. There is no other God. I've checked.

You sure? What about Norse Gods, Egyptian Gods, Greek Gods, and many others as well?

Soooooo true