In discussion the following assertion seems to always comes up when people want to object to the bible and morality it demands: The
Bible Condones
rape! It's usually made as if it is a fact and every educated person knows that it's true. It's usually made with an air of arrogance and pride as if it invites capitulation of everything
Christians hold dear. It comes up so often I think it's a good idea to have a post of links to resources that explains why this is such a stupid statement. No need to reinvent the wheel - it's been refuted ad nauseum. Of course the Bible does not condone rape anymore than it condones
adultery,
slavery, lying, or stealing.
Third Millennium Ministries
http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com/search/label/rape
atheism-essays-particular-to-rape
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Um... I'll give it to you that the Bible is not pro-rape, certainly not pro-adultery or lying or stealing... but I'm going to have to disagree on slavery. Yes, some Christians opposed slavery and had it abolished in many places, but that does not negate the Christian slave holders they had to oppose, nor the tacit allowance for slavery in the Bible. Just as later Prohibitionists banned alcohol, despite Jesus' first miracle being the turning of water into wine, does not mean that Christianity is anti-alcohol.
ReplyDeleteJust curious: love thy neighbor as you would love thyself does not imply rape, right?
Of course it does not imply rape. Do you understand that the slavery in the Bible is not the same as the slavery regulated in the Bible? Do you know that in Ancient Israel, Israelite slaves had to be freed every 70 years and you could not treat your slaves any kind of way. And especially in the First Century, Christians were not to consider their slaves as their own personal property. The Bible does not condone slavery the way we, in the 21st Century, think of Slavery.
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