How Would You Respond to the Claim That the Old Testament Is Misogynistic and Demeaning to Women?

How would you respond to the claim that the Old Testament is misogynistic and demeaning to women?

I don’t believe the OT is misogynistic or demeaning to women. However to convince other’s, we first we need to know what misogynist is, and how it intertwine, with the Bible. Webster defines misogynist as a person, “who has a hatred for women.” (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary 2014) Misogynist is a term that refers to attitudes and behaviors that degrade, insult, and abuse women based on their gender. : It can be manifested in Various ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification of women.” (Johnson 2013) It is also a prominent feature of various religions. An example of this is a woman being treated morally or intellectually inferior to men, which allows female abuse or talking about women using hateful or abusive language. “Thomas Carlyle believes that no women have any right to complain of any right to complain of any treatment whatsoever.” (Carlyle 2015) Some critics say that misogyny exists in the Bible. However, scriptures and history, contradict these claims. I believe that our approach to exposing misogyny is a problem because we use the same approach to justify it. Because we take a single verse from context and force modern cultural onto ancient cultures we don’t pay attention to the message being given. We also ignore all the positive things biblical Christianity has done for women around the world. The Certain context of the Bible can remove some claims of misogyny. One of those contexts is (Ephesians 5:23 NKJV), “Wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.” (NKJV 2011) These are words that are cited out of context by critics and misogynists, to support the biblical claim that women should be subjected to men. Even though (Ephesians 5:25) says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” and (Ephesians 5:28), “So husbands ought to love their wives as their bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.” After all this I believe misogyny opposes the teaching of the Bible. Even though (Galatians 3:28 say’s “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (NKJV 2011) Women were also respected by Christ and the early church. For example, Jesus rescued a guilty woman from her accusers in (John 8:9-11). Healed the women with the Issue of the blood in (Luke 8: 43-48). He also taught some of the women in the Bible. That’s why Mary and Martha called Him teacher (John 11:28). He also taught the woman at the well (John 4:9-10). The early church had a lot of women followers, which played a pivotal role in the proclamation of the gospel. Everything critics say about the misogynistic treatment of women in the Old Testament, the Bible contradicts. I believe that when critics criticize the Bible about its attitude toward women, it should look at the woman in the pagan cultures of the Old and New Testament, and the early church. Even in today’s society, there’s a contrast of women who live as Christians and those that live in other countries that don’t have that same opportunity. I see the bible as a foundation for women to have value, equality, and freedom. In the observation of Christian worldviews, we see ethics that provide male equality and opportunity of non-Christians, that’s never offered or considered pressure from cultures with a Christian background.

When we talk about misogyny we need to realize there’s a difference between misogyny described and misogyny endorsed. As we look back on our history, I still can see the horror of the twin towers coming down and reading the books written about it, I didn’t see this as a publisher’s approval of being a terrorist or an ongoing terrorist epidemic. Even though there are some descriptions of misogyny in the Bible, they are condemned. For example the rape and murder of the concubine in (Judges 19:25-29), something so appalling that it started a civil war. These are things that critics of the Bible point to without mentioning that the act in question is described and decried, not encouraged. Some of the questions I have about misogyny within the Bible is, do it need to be separated from men attempting to steal scriptures to justify they are prejudice. Even though men have attempted to elevate misogyny through science, history, and national laws. Even when the interpretations just don’t make sense. Misogyny within the bibles ethical framework was not used by the Israelites, Jesus, or the early church. This was so that the Bible couldn’t be blamed for misogyny or used to justify it. If anything, the need to tear Scripture from its context and twist its meaning shows the opposite: to claim misogyny in the Bible, one has to divorce passages from the rest of the text and from Christianity itself.

Another thing to look at is how women are viewed in the Old Testament before they get tied down with the small aspects of civil and ceremonial laws. In (Matthew 23:23) Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” (NKJV 2011) The Bible made man and women equal in their being in Genesis 1:27, as both man and women was made in His image, and when they establish a physical union, they become united as one flesh (Genesis 2:324). To where sex isn’t just physical pleasure, between a man and his wife. I believe that God made sex for a husband and wife to have enjoyed pleasure together and not some free physical activity. God didn’t create sex, for women to sex objects. He wanted it to be a physical thing that unites a man and women has one. The main concern for Paul in (1 Corinthians 6:16) which says, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” (NKJV 2011). God also made other provisions for women in the Bible concerning marriage. Like in (Micah 2:15-16) which