How can people take guidance from the bible when it is cleary sexist? How do you justify this?

Question

The fact that women were inferior to men in the past is one thing, but for the bible itself to encourage such thoughts and people still look up at it is beyond me! I guess people back then who believed in the bible and oppressed women couldn't really be blamed...for they were merely following what the bible told them to do! Women were inferior as a fact of life back then, but why would God Himself encourage it? Since when did God have to set laws according to man's desire?

1 Cor. 14:34 "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the LAW. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a SHAME for women to speak in the church."
(It is shameful for women to say anything in church??!!)

1 Tim. 2:9-14 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
(Clearly, Eve was way inferior to Adam, and Eve was the deceived one, not Adam?!)

Answer 1

I remember when I first had the realization that the Bible was sexist. I was 15 and in Sunday school and started asking questions about it. I was told what I am sure you will be told here above, which is that Christ liberated women and was exceedingly kind, loving, and inclusive of them considering the culture context. Cultural context was always stressed a lot.

I don't expect that answer to satisfy you. It didn't satisfy me. And hell that was way before I was even able to have a serious understanding of patriarchy and the patriarchy of the church itself including the irony of having scripture about the oppression of women being explained to me correctly by the church's main patriarch. So, like you have, or perhaps will some time soon, I walked away from Christianity and the church.

I never really got totally away, but thats another story. It wasn't just the women thing, it was the violence in the bible and how the nature of God was presented in some parts of the bible, and all the blood and gore and frankly baffling passages... it was my own inability to believe or maybe, even after thinking I had "enough faith" still not being able to discern or feel or understand or know or figure it out or anything really.

So I really want to commend you on your question and tell you yeah, I don't like that Timothy stuff either, or that Dinah stuff or the sacking of the villages and on and on with lists of things that are mysterious, unexplained and unjust seeming to us, or screw that just unjust.

Maybe you will be able to get over this "God thing" and walk away and have peace in whatever you do and that's great. But that's not what happened to me. I'm just telling you this, in case there is some other battle going on within you, as there was so often for me.

Anyway I think it is ok to ask questions. I think it is okay to be pissed off and angry and to condemn a lot of what is in the bible, chalk it up to just not being right and not being okay. But then you are still going to have to reconcile the mystery of living and the beauty of it or the horror of it, the finality of the consequences humanity creates for itself. I don't know, maybe not.

I just want to tell you that yeah you're right, that verse sucks. Doesn't surprise me that it got into the bible-- racist laws get passed, the Supreme Court inserts all kinds of BS into law, there is a difference between what is law and what is just, what is good what is right. Can you see that? Take a look at the Gnostic gospels like the Gospel of Mary which unfortunately has half its pages missing. Look at how integral women were in the church before they were edited out in the 3rd and 4th centuries. You can still see the traces of our feminist ancestors where they managed to survive as footnotes in the pages of the edited and carefully selected new testament.

This answer is long winded. I just wanted to say yeah, you are right. But you already know that it isn't right. Fortunately for both of us, that isn't the end of the story.

Answer 2

You must look at customs when these passages were written. Men were to lead or teach in the worship places. Women who were prostitutes dressed more outlandishly. Women who are believers shouldn't wear an overabundance of jewlry, make-up or revealing clothing. Once again a believer must respect God's plan and wisdom. It's not about us, it's about God.

Answer 3

Bible? Sexist? Where'd you get that idea?

"If however the charge is true and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death." ~ Deuteronomy 22:13-21.

Answer 4

the Bible is not sexist. Women should submit to thier husbands, yes, but we are not inferior. Women and men are different. You are completely taking that verse out of context.

Answer 5

Most religions ARE sexist-their books clearly state that too. What can we do?

Answer 6

The Bible is not sexist, and I will explain (pe0ple have also used a part of the Bible to condone slavery, but in actuality it does not). You must learn to learn to read Scripture in its proper CONTEXT otherwise you will distort the meaning and miss the point.

In the begining...PERFECTION

Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Man or Mankind is defined as having both male and female parts. One is incomplete without the other.

Genesis 2:18-25...PERFECTION

18 The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." 19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Helper means to come along the side. The woman is to help the man fill the earth and subdue it. The woman was taken out of the man, which means that she contains the same essence as the man. She was part of him. God made the women from his rib. The rib is on the side of the body not by the head or the feet. The woman was created to be co-ruler with the man. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, which basically reinforces the point that the woman is as much a part of him as every human will be. A man will be united with his wife. As I said before, mankind is composed of both male and female parts. Have you ever wondered why we together like a perfect puzzle?

Eating the forbidden fruit...The Fall..SIN = CORRUPTION

Genesis 3:6-7

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The Result of The Fall...SIN = CORRUPTION = CURSE

16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

The earth and everything in it are cursed because of your disobedience. The woman will have pains in childrearing and will be chasing after her husband trying to get her attention, but now he is going to be obsessed with his job and neglect you.

Jesus Christ brought REDEMPTION TO ALL CREATION

Romans 8:20:25

20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Jesus Christ brought REDEMPTION TO MANKIND

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Galatians 3:28

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

There is no difference in nationality (there is only one race - HUMAN), socio-economical level, or GENDER. Go back to Genesis 2:23 for a moment:

23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."

We are all part of one another.

When reading Scripture, you must take into account everything that took place before the passage of Scripture in question, and view other passages that are related to it for its true meaning. Many people ignorantly use one or two verses to form an entire theology. Another error is to read everything literally. Some parts of the Bible are literal while other parts are symbolic. Some parts are written as poetry. Another thing to remeber is that each book or letter in the Bible is written to a SPECIFIC people at a SPECIFIC time for a SPECIFIC reason.

In the proper CONTEXT, the Apostle Paul is addressing one of the worst churches at this time. People are obssesed with their egos and one person had an insestuous relation.

In the preceding chapter (13), the Apostle paul is rebuking these worldy believers because some of them were saying that they were better than others because they SPOKE in tongues while the others didn't. Paul goes on to remind them that their gifts are useless if love is absent. In the questioned chapter (14), Paul goes on to adress the issue of SPEAKING IN TONGUES and PROPHESIZING (both are speaking gifts to bring a revelation to the church). These unruly Christians are still debating over whose spiritual gift is most important. This chapter is about using these gifts in the proper ORDER, which you should have discovered right before the verse you chose to criticize.

1 Corinthians 14:26-33

26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two--or at the most three--should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. 29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints,

Now the verse you want to argue.

34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

This veres address SPECIFIC women that were at this Corinthian Church ONLY. They wanted to feel special and boost their ego, so they started saying some jibberish to be heard and seen; it interupted ORDER in Worship.

There is another verse that many people take out of CONTEXT as well (1 Timothy 2:11-15). They use Genesis 3:16 for their defense, but that is talking about the curse. Jesus Christ made is making all things new.

Unfortunately, many people misinterpret Scripture to gain some sort of power. They did this during the civil war to condone slavery, but we know the final outcome of that. Time will only tell what happens to this issue.