“Aggressive
Atheism” (sometimes called "New Atheism") is rapidly growing in America today. To define what
“Aggressive Atheism” is I would say that it means, opposing the
belief in any deity (god) verbally, or otherwise. Basically it's
another way of saying, “Anti-theism.” (By
the way, “theism” means to believe in a god, “atheism”
literally means “without god” (rejection of any belief in god),
and “anti-theism” means to deliberately oppose theism with the intent to do away with it. So, when
one is attacking your belief in God with atheistic thought then that
is no longer atheism, but anti-theism.)
We
as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are commanded to be prepared to
give an answer to any questions concerning our faith (1 Peter 3:15).
However as true as this is, we shouldn't rely solely on our knowledge.
Apologetics, theology, and even logic isn't always the answer,
though these are good, but we should always remember the greatest of
all the spiritual gifts is love (1 Corinthians 13). If we don't love
who we're talking to, or about, then our words are nothing. That
being said, I'd like to answer just a few “Biased Bible Questions”
that are more emotionally driven than logically.
1. The
Bible supports slavery. Do you agree with and support it yourself?
The
Biblical view of slavery, Old and New Testament, is not too difficult
to understand, and to be honest I think the word, “Slavery” has
been hijacked by today's society. There were slaves that because
they were indebted to someone and could not pay off their debt they
had no choice but to serve them. This is the definition of slavery
that is generally thought of when the word arises. Some may think of
slaves being forced into slavery without a single debt as well. The
latter definition of slavery was only in effect when a people was to
come into captivity (to include the Hebrews themselves as well); but
there is another definition of slavery (also known as servantry) that
is still active in today's American culture to.
Let
me be clear that we are all slaves/servants, even those collecting
money and doing nothing. A slave, or servant, was also a person who
did not have a trade, but because they needed currency had to work
for someone else to make a living. We all either get up and do
something we don't like for work, or we have a trade that, even though we're working for ourselves,
we're still slaves to it.
Do
I agree with slavery? Can't say that I do,
but for some people it actually brings them meaning in life. Even
though I joke about disagreeing with slavery, even the Apostle Paul
referred to himself as a “...slave of Christ Jesus...” and some
translations say, “...servant...” . We all have a particular job
to fulfill in our lives as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do
I support it? Not the negative view of forced labor, cracking whips,
etc. As far as the other ones already stated, yes. It is work that
produces discipline, money, financial stability, and so on.
2. The
Bible states that if a girl is raped then the rapist is to buy the
girl and marry her. Since its in your Bible, do you agree with
this?
Deuteronomy
22:28-29 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
28 If a
man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold
of her and rapes her, and they are discovered, 29 the man who
raped her must give the young woman’s father 50 silver shekels, and
she must become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce
her as long as he lives.
When reading this passage of scripture you might think that this
is either instructing men what to do if you want a certain wife for
life and get away with it by paying a small amount of money, or that
God just hates women that much that they are just so unvaluable in
His eyes. Both are wrong. As I had stated in the past, “
ThreeThings To Consider When Interpreting Scripture: Context, Context, and Context.”
One of the very first things that we should do when facing a
difficult task as to answering such a sensitive subject would be to
go to the passage and read the surrounding verses, or the entire
chapter if time and circumstances permit. I say this because ANYONE
can grab a scripture from the Bible that they don't like and easily
demonize it by saying something like, “Look! It says it right here
that the girl who has been preyed on can be legally raped, sold,
then married to her predator. Why would you believe in a god who
would allow such a thing?!"
Let's take a look at some surrounding verses, but before we do I'd
like to add that honor in Old and New Testament times was a much
bigger deal than it is today and if I could equate it to anything I
think I would put it this way, “Million dollar deals were settled
on a handshake.”
Lets look at Deuteronomy 22:22-27
Deuteronomy
22:22-27 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
22 If a man is discovered having sexual
relations with another man’s wife, both the man who had sex with
the woman and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from
Israel. 23 If there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to
a man, and another man encounters her in the city and has sex with
her, 24 you must take the two of them out to the gate of that
city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not
cry out in the city and the man because he has violated his
neighbor’s fiancée. You must purge the evil from you. 25 But
if the man encounters an engaged woman in the open country, and he
seizes and rapes her, only the man who raped her must die. 26 Do
nothing to the young woman, because she is not guilty of an offense
deserving death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks
his neighbor and murders him. 27 When he found her in the field,
the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.
Now, you can see from the context that this is
primarily focusing on engaged, married, and virgin women/young women.
As anyone can see here this is talking about consensual, and nonconsensual sex with women who are in wedlock. We see that women
who are in wedlock and consent to having sex with a man other than
her husband leads to both the man and the woman's death. The nonconsensual sex leads only to the man who committed the crime's
death.
Let's
look at the original verse at hand:
Deuteronomy
22:28-29 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
28 If
a man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes
hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered, 29 the man
who raped her must give the young woman’s father 50 silver shekels,
and she must become his wife because he violated her. He cannot
divorce her as long as he lives.
As you can see from this passage, as
opposed to the previous ones, there is a bit of a difference. One
difference being that it isn't dealing with a married, or engaged
woman. Secondly, you will notice that when sex is being described in
the previous verses the woman is either consenting, or not
consenting. If she is consenting then they are both killed, and we
know this because verse 24 states that she did not, “cry out”
(resist); but if she does not consent shows it by verses 26 & 27
that states, “
Do nothing to the young woman, because
she is not guilty of an offense deserving death. This case is just
like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. 27 When
he found her in the field, the engaged woman cried out, but there was
no one to rescue her.” then only the man is killed.
You might be wondering, where's the connection? The
connection is that in verses 28 & 29 neither are killed. The
virgin isn't resisting, the man isn't forcing himself on the her, and
neither are being accused of breaking any law other than having sex
outside of wedlock. From this we can gather than the man seduced the
damsel into having sex with him promising good things for the future
only to get caught in his schemes. He was taking advantage of her
emotionally, and this can be equated to what is referred to today as
statutory rape.
So, since she has lost her virginity, the sex was consensual, and
they were caught they then are forced by Jewish law to be married and
the man pays the marriage tax of 50 shekels which goes to the father
of the bride.
3. The Bible states that a woman can be stoned to death on her
wedding night if she is discovered not to be a virgin. Do you
accept this? Remember, it's in YOUR Bible.
Deuteronomy 22:13-21 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Violations of Proper Sexual Conduct
13 If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her,
and comes to hate her, 14 and accuses her of shameful conduct,
and gives her a bad name, saying, ‘I married this woman and was
intimate with her, but I didn’t find any evidence of her
virginity,’ 15 the young woman’s father and mother will take
the evidence of her virginity and bring it to the city elders at the
gate. 16 The young woman’s father will say to the elders, ‘I
gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her. 17 He
has accused her of shameful conduct, saying: “I didn’t find any
evidence of your daughter’s virginity,” but here is the evidence
of my daughter’s virginity.’ They will spread out the cloth
before the city elders. 18 Then the elders of that city will
take the man and punish him. 19 They will also fine him 100
silver shekels and give them to the young woman’s father, because
that man gave an Israelite virgin a bad name. She will remain his
wife; he cannot divorce her as long as he lives. 20 But if this
accusation is true and no evidence of the young woman’s virginity
is found, 21 they will bring the woman to the door of her
father’s house, and the men of her city will stone her to death.
For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in
her father’s house. You must purge the evil from you.
A very important thing to think about when reading this would be
that in Jewish culture, lying about anything in a covenant would be
like someone tricking you into thinking that you giving them your
bank account information would result in them depositing an unreal
amount of money in your bank account. If you're smart you just don't
do it. In this particular situation when a man and a woman come into
marriage covenant it is agreed that everything is honest, and there
is no deceit at all in the agreement (everything is what it is, both
parties are truthful about who they are, and nothing else). Like I
had stated before, “Million dollar deals were settled on a
handshake.” Honor was taken so much more to heart than it is
today.
So, when it is discovered in one way or another that she was not
a virgin before he has sex with her then it was his decision to
either accept her deceit, or put her on trial where if found guilty
her ultimate penalty would be death by stoning. However, the bigger
question is whether or not the espoused woman and man were actually
married, or betrothed (engaged). Betrothal was considered to be
espousal so technically they were married. Fornication was not a sin
punishable by death (as we read in Deuteronomy 22:28-29) so it can be
determined that her execution wouldn't merely be because she was not
a virgin. The sin committed was that the woman committed adultery,
which was considered an offense worthy of death.
Do I agree with this? Well, I'll put it this way: I do believe that this was the law of the land brought about to separate the sheep from the goats. I don't personally think it should be implemented today, but that is also based on my perspective. If someone says something like, "I don't like this, and that about the Bible therefore it is not the Word of God," then that is their perspective, and no one can argue otherwise because they are arguing their perspective over yours. Which is better? Well, better is an opinionated word, not necessarily factual so arguing one "better" perspective over another is actually kind of pointless. So, to answer the question: No, I don't like it, nor do I think it should be viable for today.
In summation I say to the reader of this article that just because you don't have answers doesn't mean that there isn't any. Do your best to give an answer, but if you don't have a good answer then it's okay to say, "I don't know." Seek God on the issue, and seek the counsel of someone who might know. May God bless you and don't give up.
