Woman... the Glorified Sperm?

Although my hands are still healing from conducting fruit death matches on my day off, I felt a need to briefly respond to Ray's latest post before heading out.

As with some of the other "comic strip images" for his posts, a message is hidden in the image for Woman... the Glorified Primate? A more accurate dilemma will be covered in a post coming up next week entitled Heaven Can't Exist. A picture of eternal life, freedom from sickness, forgiveness (not from those you've wronged), and no more old age or death is given. What of knowing that the majority of mankind is being tortured eternally in Hell? There's a good chance that the majority of those you know and are close to will be burning in Hell. An eternal life of knowing that every second for all eternity for my sister is infinitely worse than the worst pain I have ever felt in this life? Why would I possibly want to choose that?

Choosing a Heaven
And, presumably Heaven will follow those perfect standards of the Bible, such as the subjugation of women. Why would I possibly want to choose a place which denigrates women? And this goes to the latter half of Ray's post. Women are not my (a man's) equals. I am their equal. Women are not inherently inferior to me; I am inherently equal to them.

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. (1 Corinthians 14:34-35)

Will this be a law, out of the perfect Book, in Heaven? That women must "ask their husbands at home" if they "will learn any thing"?

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (Ephesians 5:22-24)

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. (Colossians 3:18)

Will they be forced to submit themselves as well? Why would I want to live in such a place? I love women as I love all humans. I would not want to choose a place where women are considered inferior to men; that daughters can be sold into slavery by their fathers; that they are to be put to death in the event of rape. The Christian view of women makes it no better than choosing the Muslim Heaven.


Women are a glorified primate?
Ray writes:

You are forgetting Who it was made women in the first place. It was God. What you see in the beauty of a woman isn’t a glorified primate.

Yeah, God made woman from a rib. A rib! What you see in the beauty of a woman isn't a glorified rib. Yes, lower forms of primates play a part in the origin of a woman, as the woman is the result of a biological process from that primate. Does that make her a "glorified primate"? A sperm also plays a part in the origin of a woman, as the woman is the result of a biological process from that sperm. Does that make her a "glorified sperm"?

Lust is all atheists live for
Perhaps it was just Ray trying to squeeze in a poor shot at evolution in his post. Perhaps what he was really trying to convey is there is more to a woman for a man than just sex, as it goes to the reader's comment regarding lust. On this, Ray writes:

Your words reveal that, like most normal males, you live for sexual lust. It gives your sinful heart great pleasure, and you can’t think of a life without lusting for women.

Just because a man may lust after a woman does not mean that that is all that he cares for with regard to women. But I suppose I am an abnormal male as I do not "live for sexual lust." Even if I did, I doubt it would give my heart pleasure, as it would put quite a strain on it.

But what if I did incorporate lusting for women in my life? Does that mean that I live for lusting for women? I incorporate many things into my life. I drive my Buick a lot, and if the Bible said that that was immoral, I still would. Does that mean that I live for driving my car? I watch many episodes of Penn & Teller's Bullshit! as it gives my sinful heart great pleasure. Does that mean that I live for watching Bullshit!? I live for life. I have yet to meet anyone who lives for lust.

I reject the biblical teaching of repressing sexual lust. I reject the biblical teaching of prohibiting coitus interruptus. I reject the biblical teaching of loving thy enemy. I reject the biblical teaching prohibiting homosexuality and killing homosexuals. I reject the many misogynistic biblical teachings. I reject the biblical teaching of not wearing clothing made of two kinds of fabric.

While I reject all these things, it does not mean that I live for them; although, I certainly think it's fair to say that I live to end their influence on society and legislation.

Today's Theist Memory Verse, VIII

The Setup

A bit of a long one today. The host, who has a virgin daughter, has taken in a Levite and his concubine.

The Passage
I've emboldened key parts of the passage if you wish not to read it all.

Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, [...] Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. (Judges 19:22-29)

The "Moral" of the Passage

Yet another passage of misogyny and homophobia. The story is very reminiscent of the incestuous tale of Lot from Genesis. The passage is vile. Rather than suffer his male guest to be raped (or in some translations "met"), he offers of the guest's concubine and his own virgin daughter! How wicked of a passage is this.

The mob of perverts, at least, refuse the host's daughter and instead take the concubine and gang rape her and abuse her all night. Her fate? To die at the door of the host's house. Then, in a bizarre twist on the story, the guest dismembers the concubine and sends her to the coasts of Israel.

The legacy of this passage, and also the passage of Lot, is disturbing. Are you familiar with those institutions which try to rehabilitate homosexuals? This is a passage they use. The homosexual mob were offered women to have sex with and they took a woman and had sex with her all night.

This passage also continues the theme from the past few memory verses of the value of women. The daughter is nothing more than property to the man, so why would he not think to offer his daughter to be gang raped so that they would not take his guest?

Today's Theist Memory Verse, VII

"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." -- Mark Twain

The Setup

Deuteronomy 22 is, like most of the Bible, unconscionable. Before this passage, it speaks of killing women who can't prove their virginity, killing a married woman for getting raped, etc.

The Passage

If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. (Deuteronomy 22:28-29)

The "Moral" of the Passage"

It is another abominable sentiment about women. There's a number of things wrong with this passage; injustice too great to describe. If a man rapes an unmarried virgin and they are found, then the man must pay the father fifty shekels of silver (as much as God values a man at in Leviticus 27:3) and marry her. The woman gets raped and then has to marry him... the injustice is egregious. It also shows that women are very much considered property. The woman belongs to the father and thus the transgression is against him, not the woman. Since he has taken her virginity, she is of no value anymore (except perhaps if the father wishes to sell her into slavery, as the Bible explicitly permits).

And if they are not found... what then? She is no longer a virgin. If she then is married to another man, she will be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 22:13-21). Any way you slice it, if a woman is raped, it can only work out for her if she is married at the time and the rape occurs in a field (Deuteronomy 22:25).

Connection to Modernity

The virgin in question is most likely a young girl (as was the way then). So, a child rapist, according to the Bible, gets to rape as long as they aren't "found." If they are found, he has to pay a fee to the father and then marry her.

Until Kennedy v Louisiana, this got the death penalty in some places. Otherwise, it usually comes with life in prison (not to mention the torture incurred in prison due to the nature of the crime). Anyone who thinks that (1) child rape is a crime against the father, and (2) it merits nothing more than a fee paid to the father, is immoral.

Today's Theist Memory Verse, VI

"The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of woman's emancipation." -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

The Setup

I decided to go with something from the New Testament on women.


The Passage

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (Ephesians 5:22-24)

The "Moral" of the Passage

The Bible makes it clear, as does the Qur'an, that men are superior to women. In the Old Testament, it was quite explicit, as it is in the New Testament. Here women are told to submit to their husbands "in every thing" as though the husbands were Christ. Why? Because the husband is the "head of the wife." Later in this chapter it also says that women must revere their husbands.

The Christians who refused women equal rights had the moral high ground in terms of Scripture.

Today's Theist Memory Verse, V

"The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed." -- Thomas Paine

The Setup

As always, to set this up, God, literally God, the perfect being, is dictating to Moses about what a woman needs to do after giving birth. He has given instructions on circumcisions and spoken how the woman needs to purify herself...

The Passage

And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or dove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest: Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female. And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean. (Leviticus 12:6-8)

The "Moral" of the Passage

The moral of this story is that God expects animal sacrifices. God, the perfect being, is pleased when an animal is killed and specifically what kind of animal. God's personal preference is a burnt lamb and pigeon/dove; however, God is not intransigent. If you can't manage his favorite, the second on his list are two turtles or two pigeons. God makes it quite clear that if you kill these animals for him, the woman will then be "clean."

Santería, anyone?