Christianity ENCOURAGES you to Marry the Man you were Raped By?????

Question

A raped, unengaged virgin must marry her rapist and they can never divorce (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

What justice the “moral majority” advocates!


**Just saying that this is not true because it is from the old testament does not prove anything. Homosexuality is mentioned in the old testament and yet people still follow that!

Answer 1

No ma'am.

Answer 2

Friend, so many people read the scriptures & only take a verse or 2 out of context & can not see the correct picture. Now I want you to go back to your scriptures, You used Verse 28-29, Let's see what it does actually say, I won't read the whole verse, Now you think this is talking about a woman being raped, How do you account for this action of raped as you put it has Humbled that woman, Do you think a woman that has been raped is humbled to that man NO. But Now if a Man & woman falls in love & have sex before marriage that is not the same as rape. In fact if a man rapes a woman he was to be killed, because he has defiled a woman. Now you mention about homosexuals in the OT, They are mention also in The NT. Romans 10:4 Says that Jesus Christ is the END of the LAW. So don't think that a woman that has been raped, has to marry that man, That is not the way the bible speaks, Yes, you can take a verse out of context, But you also have to read every verse before the one you mention & see an over all picture. Any woman that has been rape is not obligated to marry that man, in fact she would be more obligated to have him put in jail.

Answer 3

Not ALL Christians translate the Bible literally or word-for-word (that would be ignorant). The Bible also says "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." (Matthew 5:29) This means that if a part of you (not necessarily a physical part) does not glorify God, don't just give up and stray completely away from all that is good. Come on. It's not that much more difficult than analyzing literature. Writers have always embellished and waxed poetic to add personality and feeling to their writing. The Bible too was written by man. Why should it be any less well written or expressed?

You could also look at the above passage to mean that a man has to take responsibility for his actions. In that day particularly, an unmarried woman who wasn't a virgin was an outcast. Simply put, don't just take someones virginity for your own pleasure or sport. Ideally it should involve a lifelong commitment.

Answer 4

You have to understand the culture - I'm studying feminism as part of my postgrad in theology at Oxford Uni in the UK and it's difficult to get your head around how messed up the society was in those days in general. There was no concept of women having value and you're right that God speaking into this context doesn't seem to hold to the things that we know are right now (such as the equal value of women).

The law mentioned in Deut 22 are actually supposed to be there as deterents. I don't know if you've heard about the lady who was gang raped a few years ago in rural India - the normal procedure and cultural expectation of a woman in that position is for her to commit suicide. The same was true in the Ancient Near East (where the Israelites lived). Also the men who raped in other cultures didn't think that there would be any reprocussions for thier actions - where as the woman was now an outcast - if she got pregnant outside of marriage, or even if she had a reputation that she had had sex with someone she would be an outcast and would have no way of supporting herself.
By marrying her, the man was forced to provide for her (as noone else was going to) and thus take the financial consequences of the act (as opposed to the woman).

The concept of a woman divourcing her husband was pretty much unheard of at this time anyway (it was only Israelite society that had any concept of it at all) and the rule that said he couldn't divorce her was just a way of stopping him from having an easy get out clause of providing for her financially.

In a strange way, even though I'm a feminist I really love seeing how God worked in that situation. He took a really messed up group of people and slowly led them out of their mess step by step. They couldn't have coped with seeing how radically Jesus respected women (making them his disciples and protecting them from unequal retribution etc). It's beautiful when you think about it.

It's important that we make a distinction between homosexual orientation and practice - it's never been wrong to be gay... it's just what you do with your feelings - much like being a straight unmarried person. However there's a real difference between this and how the Bible treats women and slaves for example. There's a good book out there if you're ever interested in really looking into this ("slaves, women and homosexuals" is a good place to start). Basically there's a movement throughout the Bible in how women and slaves are treated - eg the way Jesus treats women (clearly this has to be our highest weight in any argument!!), but the stance on the PRACTICE of homosexuality doesn't change... everyone points to it being harmful for the person involved.

Hope this helps - keep asking difficult quesitons - there's nothing worse than Christians who don't ask the things that everyone is thinking - they end up squashed little individuals with no real faith and I think they never really know if God is big enough to take things.

Grace x

Answer 5

It doesn't say the word "rape" in my Bible (New Living Translation). It says if a man has intercourse with a woman he must marry her and pay her father money (like a reverse-dowry). And it does say that he may not divorce her. A woman back then who was discovered to have had sex before marriage would have been ostrasized from the community or even stoned to death. This law in the Bible is to protect the dignity and in some cases, the life of the woman who had sex with a man. Hope that explains it!

Answer 6

exciting interpretation of mosaic regulation. enable's see how rational this reality is: enable me see Christianity (this grow to be contained in the former testomony, before Christ) Encourages (i do not see any element about church or non secular tenants the following in hardship-free words the recitation of practices of regulation) you to marry the guy you've been raped via. enable's look on the verses as they look contained in the king James version. 28 ¶ If a guy hit upon a damsel that is a virgin, which isn't betrothed, and lay carry on her, and lie with her, and they be got here upon; 29 Then the guy that lay with her shall supply unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she or he will be ready to be his spouse; because he hath humbled her, he gained't positioned her away all his days. i do not see something about rape the following? What I see is a regulation about premarital sex. The regulation should be very consistant with the societal subculture on the time. It grow to be very restrictive and defined as to the action, and penalty for ought to issues. It states that one which defiles the purity of a woman ought to pay what grow to be the fee of a bride and is obligated to look after her something else of his days with out recourse. everybody decide on to take a chance at what the penalty grow to be for the refusal to marry someone whom they'd defiled? In some techniques it should be wonderful to have a society regardles of religion that care a lot for the distinctive feature of females immediately! both you attempt to incite, don't understand what you're speaking about, or are purely maliciously twisting the context of the writing. All of that could look to point a decrease than enlightened way of residing. Love you besides.

Answer 7

As has been pointed out by several people, rape is not the correct translation.

Besides, a young woman having sex with a young man before marriage could be seen as rape to the father of the girl. Fathers still respond that way now.

Pretty much, this is approving of the old "shotgun wedding" from before the shotgun was invented.

Answer 8

Yes, forgiveness has always been a mainstay in Christianity. But I think you have misquoted the verse. It really says that if a man forces himself upon a virgin, HE must pay her father a fine, and then HE must agree to marry her, and HE can never write her a letter of divorce.

Answer 9

The reason he is to marry her is because if she is no longer a virgin no one else will marry her, so it is to save her reputation, and so that she can be married. It does seem strange, but those were the customs back then. If she wasnt a virgin and married someone else and told him she was a virgin, she could be stoned to death in front of her fathers home. that was the moral law back then.

Answer 10

No it doesn't... that verse isn't meant for today's society... homosexuality is also mentioned in the NT... marrying your rapist isn't...

Maybe you should actual know what you are talking about before you look stupid posting a question that has an obvious answer.

Answer 11

yeah, they're going weasel out of that one by saying the old testament doesn't apply anymore.

Completely ignoring the facts that a) it's STILL in the freaking bible and b) obviously at some point god thought it was a swell idea.