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Feminism and Biblical Hermeneutics

Book by Lucy Carter · 18 quotes · Bible, Marriage, Equality

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Feminism and Biblical Hermeneutics Quotes

“Later on, however, I actually did read an unabridged Bible and researched more verses using online topical Bible resources, only to find out that Stanton might have been right. The Bible definitely left room for the relegation of women’s status in all respects. Women appeared to have been held accountable for every sinful act that’s committed because of a single woman who lived in the Garden of Eden, hence appearing to make them required to be silent in church. Women were supposed to be mothers and wives, which are noble pursuits, but it appeared as if men had a wider range of opportunities: they could be fathers and husbands… along with apostles, pastors, political leaders, polyglots, AND leaders of municipal congregations! The pursuits other than being a father and husband were considered to be noble pursuits for men, but if a woman pursued any of that, even if she had the capabilities and the good intentions, it would be considered blasphemous, at least from what I understood”

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“with the semantics from general context, it can be seen that “helper” is not synonymous to “slave.” If a person were to state that he/she “helped” a friend with his/her homework, would that mean that the helper is insignificant? Of course not. When a person helps another person with homework, he/she is actually the one who consolidates the understanding of the person who receives their help, which does oppose the claim that “helpers” are inferiors. In fact, in Psalms 54:4 and John 14:26, God and the Holy Spirit are referred to as “helpers,” which was the same word Eve was referred to: “See, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who keeps my soul alive.” (Psalms 54:4) “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)”

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“Statistically speaking, saying that the entire population of women is more reckless and gullible than men because a single woman in the Bible was reckless and gullible is invalid. A single data point is not sufficient for determining whether or not women are more likely to be gullible and reckless than men, and Eve only represents ONE DATA POINT that supports the claim! To use Eve's sin to state that women are more gullible and reckless would mean that you are creating a claim derived from only one data point, which is insufficient statistical support.”

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“As seen in this verse, the community of Israel was not passive in this situation, and found the rape to be unacceptable. It may be argued that only the Israelite community intended to resist the rape instead of God himself, but Judges chapter 20 contradicts that claim; in Judges chapter 20, the other 11 tribes of Israel sent a message to the tribe of Benjamin, asking the tribe to turn in the men who committed the rape. When the Bejamites refused to listen to the request [Judges 20:13], God himself desired for the other 11 tribes to fight against Benjamin due to the denial of this request, as seen in Judges 20:23: “They [the other tribes of Israel] said, ‘Shall we go up again to fight against Benjamin, our fellow Israelites?’ The LORD answered, ‘Go up against them.’” With this, God definitely did not approve Benjamin’s inability to listen to the tribes’ request, which means that he cannot have approved of this rape.”

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“Still, there are other factors besides direct social interaction that do make Adam’s guilt on par with his wife’s: First, Adam didn’t recite the commandments of God the way his wife did before she was fully convinced, nor did he hesitate when he presented the fruit. Genesis 3:6 simply mentioned that he ate it. From this observation, Adam, like his wife, also had the impetuousness to not recite them, let alone listen to God’s commands. Secondly, Genesis 3:6 also mentions that Adam was WITH Eve, who was WITH the snake, meaning that Adam was aware of a sinner (Eve) and a producer of sinners. Eve was directly willing to interact with the snake, but Adam was willing to interact with a sinner and be an eyewitness to the Devil’s temptations, and, even with that, he still was convinced to eat the fruit. In other words, he was both convinced by his human wife and, while being convinced, he had the credulity to condone the production of sin and to also be convinced by the Devil.”

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“The verse mentions saving daughters as well as sons before Sodom is destroyed, and those daughters include the daughters Lot was about to offer to the men. Instead of commanding Lot to save himself and leave his daughters to be raped while Sodom was getting destroyed, the angels emphasized the maintenance of the welfare of all members of Lot’s family, including his daughters.”

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“Also, in Joel 2:16, it says, “Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children…” This was a command meant to gather the people in Zion to fast and repent. It would not make sense for the women of the “congregation” to solely be sanctified through childbirth, because women who were still pregnant, had babies that were still developing, or were unmarried would not be able to be “sanctified,” since it is highly improbable for a woman to immediately give birth at the beginning of the assembly. If women had to be sanctified through childbirth, then the entire “congregation” would not be sanctified, as was commanded, because not all women could give birth right when the assembly began.”

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“In the patriarchal societies of ancient Israel, it was considered rewarding and traditional to have multiple wives, just as it was considered rewarding to have honor and wealth, so God, in 2 Samuel 12:7-8, was possibly giving the wives as a reward to David, but not necessarily as a way to permit polygamy. Knowing that God does not change his mind or his original intentions for society [ see Numbers 23:19], we know that God’s emphasis on the oneness of two spouses in Genesis 2:24 was not to be changed, so, even with the way God rewarded David, it does not indicate that God actually approved of David’s polygamy.”

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“In fact, in the Bible, the dowry price was used as a sign to show a spouse’s dedication to his wife, not the devaluation of his wife. For example, Jacob paid a dowry price by working for Laban in order to marry Rachel, but he did not do this with any thoughts of exercising property rights over his wife; he was incentivised by his love, as seen in Genesis 29:18: “Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, ‘I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter.”

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“Also, in Genesis 2:24, it states, “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This verse emphasizes the oneness of two spouses. God’s ideal intention for marriage was for the two spouses to be united into “one,” but if the husband is being united with multiple wives, then that would mean that he would be unable to become “one” with any of the women, since his mind is divided between his multiple wives instead of being fully dedicated and united to a single wife.”

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“In fact, they, by being helpers to humanity, were actually able to guide humanity, not be guided, and they could control and execute decisions, not wait for someone else to control and execute decisions! That same word was used to refer to women; God described women the same way he described himself. Therefore, although wives were commanded to be submissive, wives’ roles as “helpers” elevate them to have control on guidance and decisions, and with guiding her husband/making decisions while “helping” her husband, that would mean that a husband would also have to honor his wife as a “helper” and submit to her guidance under her role as a “helper.”

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“Due to the clarity in which these verses are presented regarding submission, the verses do support wives’ submission. Since these verses are very direct with emphasizing wives’ submission, and this submission is considered “fitting with the Lord,” it is true that God found it to be a biblical value, but, as mentioned in the main claim, husbands’ submission to their wives is also implied to be a biblical value as well.”

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