The Bible Never . . .

The Bible never denies that women stand alongside men as intellectual and social equals, never implying that they bear less of God's image than the gender that has so often exploited them throughout history.  Unfortunately, many are lost in ignorance concerning what the Bible actually states about women and their intrinsic value.  An objective investigation into Mosaic Law and other portions of the Bible will liberate one from false ideas about how the Bible views women--and this is needed desperately in our culture.

I have written before about how Mosaic Law protects women from crimes with complete legal equality to men [1], how "modesty" teachings for women are asinine nonsense [2], and that women are ontologically equal to men because they bear God's image just as much as males do (see [1] again).  Anyone familiar with my blog knows I have attacked sexism on multiple occasions, as I ferociously despise it--and the Bible does as well.  I have needed to post more about this, and because of a conversation with a friend yesterday I wanted to list many of the things the Bible does not teach.

Let people see that the Bible does not oppress women in a variety of ways people sometimes assume.  The Bible, in Mosaic Law and elsewhere--in either the prophetic books or the New Testament, never:


Teaches that women are ontologically inferior to men.

Excludes the testimony of women from civil or criminal trials.

Denies legal equality between women and men.

Says that fathers deserve more respect than mothers [3].

Disqualifies women from being prophets of Yahweh or evangelists.

Forbids women from studying Scripture along with men.

Shows Jesus refuse to minister to women.

Confines women to their homes.

Prohibits women from working outside the home.

Restricts women to being either mothers or sexual objects.

Mandates segregation of the sexes--in the workplace, church, or general society.

Condemns or even cautions against deep, intimate friendship between both genders [4].

Instructs men to fear women or treat them with suspicion.

Prescribes forced marriages for women.

Commands that women cover their bodies to a certain degree, either to prevent objectification or rape or for any other reason [2].

Blames women for being sexually assaulted [5].

Treats female sexual consent as trivial or unnecessary [6].

Oppresses or demonizes the female body or sexuality.

Ignores that women are sexual beings just like men [7].


In short, the Bible never teaches many of the erroneous sexist or misogynistic things sometimes ascribed to it by either the church or the secular world.


[1].  http://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/07/bible-on-gender-equality.html

[2].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-folly-of-modesty-part-1.html

[3].  See Exodus 21:15 and 21:17, for instance.  These verses alone prove that mothers were to be honored by children just as much as fathers.

[4].  See:
  A.  http://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/08/opposite-gender-friendships-part-1.html
  B.  http://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/09/opposite-gender-friendships-part-2.html

[5].  The Bible does the exact opposite.  See Deuteronomy 22:25-27.

[6].  http://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/07/does-biblical-god-care-about-consent.html

[7].  I really need to post about this soon, as the evangelical world is immersed in deep ignorance about and horrendous denial of this.