What had happen' was.....: Dec 3, 2011

John Loftus posted the following quote and link:

If a human husband said that to his wife, we would classify it as domestic violence. And rightly so. It reflects a view of the wife as property, and the husband as her lord and owner with sovereign rights to inflict punishment on one who has “stolen” from him his exclusive right to “sow his seed” in a “field” that is his property....Presumably an image of God who would himself commit assault and battery against his wife is one that it is crucial to examine critically and rethink. Link.

It refers to the following picture:

I'm all for re-examining critically anything that leads to Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence needs to stop. God don't like. Neither should we. However you cannot correctly connect Domestic Violence with God's mandate to worship only him. There are several problems:

1. A husband and wife are equal to one another.and neither is ontologically inferior to the other.
2. A wife is not her husband's property - and the Bible does not say she is.
3. Would this be just as disturbing if it was a wife saying it to her husband as it is a husband to his wife? It's say "Yes" but it's unfortunate that adultery doesn't carry with it the shame and weight it used to. Is it right to execute someone for adultery? Yes, but not just the woman - both of them. We don't do it now because we have grace and mercy. But no one can tell me adultery is good with all the broken homes and lives left in its wake. Children's children are still dealing with the consequences of adultery years past. Imagine all the social problems we wouldn't have if people would just stick to their own spouse.
4. We belong to God. His command to only worship his isn't because he's jealous of anyone. He is jealous for us. There is a difference. He made us. He takes care of us. If you provide all the needs you are supposed to provide for your spouse, don't you expect them to not share their time, resource, or body with anyone else that belong to you? I do. Why shouldn't God?
5. It's even more pronounced with God. We owe him not only just for our creation but our own continued existence.That is what Christianity really teaches.
6. Let's use the Bible's full parallel to how God actually acts as a husband reacting to the adultery of his wife. Does God break her neck? No. But if I were treated the way he is, I'd be very hard not to. What we have done to God when we worship other gods is the same thing as a married person leaving their spouse, who has done everything them, and choosing to become a drug-addled prostitute working for an abusive pimp. Read the book of Hosea and put your name in the place of "Gomer"., You can have the same ending Gomer did too. God is offering it to you.
8. Going to hell is not equivalent to having your neck broken. Recall that Christian theology teaches that you can only die once. If you do indeed cheat on God, death will be the least of your concerns.
7. The Bible is very clear about who owns who in a marriage.

³ The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴ 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. ⁵ Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.- 1 Corinthians 7:3-5

Debunking Christianity: A Jealous God and Divine Domestic Violence