The Hidden Abuse of Children in Organized Religion

For decades, Religious Abuse has been well hidden within organized religions throughout the world. Those that bear the brunt of this abuse are women and children. In this article, I would like to focus on how it affects children that are raised within, and trapped in, an abusive religious system. My blog is full of articles and stories that cover this topic of abuse against women and children if readers would like to learn more about this type of abuse. First of all, let me explain what religious abuse is, and then I will explain how it affects children. Many have no idea what the definition of that term is. So, what exactly is Religious Abuse?

Religious Abuse – Any harm or violence inflicted by people within any religious sect toward an adult or child that results in harm or trauma physically, emotionally, psychologically and/or sexually and, may even lead to the death of the victim. There are many facets to religious abuse. They are as follows: Emotional Abuse, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, and Spiritual Abuse. Each of these areas of Religious Abuse can be expounded upon here: RELIGIOUS ABUSE – What Exactly Is It? The number one goal of those that inflict this abuse is complete CONTROL of others for personal gratification and/or gain, monetary greed and power.

The most destructive aspect to religious abuse is Spiritual Abuse. Spiritual Abuse does NOT allow for any of the following:

• Individuality or autonomy
• Independent thinking and reasoning
• Freedom of Choice
• Freedom of Belief
• Questioning of authority, religious rules, religious precepts, or abuses inflicted.
• Escape from the abuse and control

Spiritual Abuse DOES demand, in the name of “God”:

• Blind and unquestionable obedience to religious leaders
• Conformity to all group rules, dogmas and precepts
• Punishment of those that disagree or question the authority or rules
• Punishment of those that speak out about abuse inflicted by those in authority
• The silencing of, public humiliation of, and/or death of, those that continue to disobey and/or speak out about the abuse

As stated earlier, the goal of abusive religions is ultimate control of others. In a religious setting, this can be a breeding ground for the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Because those in authority use the name of God and Scripture to justify their abuse, the psychological trauma is unparalleled.  To the victim, God becomes vengeful, exacting, merciless, unloving, uncaring AND gives permission for “his people” to be abusive in his name.

Because of this demand for religious conformity and control within an abusive system, religious abuse occurs and children cannot escape it. In an abusive religion, children have no rights. They have no choices. They have no voice. The abusive religion requires them to obey without question or suffer the consequences. Many of these consequences are criminal.  Many result in the death of the child!

In order to facilitate the programming and behavior modification process, many are put in boarding schools or behavior modification facilities to be “forced” into conformity. Many of these facilities harbor rapists, pedophiles and abusers that perpetrate sexual violence, physical abuse, emotional and psychological abuse and, spiritual abuse. Freedom of choice and belief has no place in any of these facilities. Those that run these facilities are given absolute and unquestionable authority over these children. This type of authority leads to religious abuse and can encompass all aspects as mentioned in my article, RELIGIOUS ABUSE – What Exactly Is It?  Non-conformity to the demands of leadership within these places will bring punishment in the form of spiritual abuse, psychological abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse and, yes, sexual abuse and exploitation. Here are some stories of children that have endured these abuses at the hands of those that should have been their protectors:

Kim Holt’s Story  – New Bethany Home for Girls, Arcadia LA

Kerry Lou’s Story of Abuse and New Tribes Mission

Sam’s Story

Donna Trout’s Story – New Bethany Home for Girls, Arcadia La.

Simone’s Story – New Bethany Homes For Girls, Arcadia LA

All of these children were emotionally and psychologically destroyed through the constant barrage of verbal abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuses. For more stories like these visit my blog – http://www.religionscell.wordpress.com.  Also search the internet…the stories are endless.

You may be wondering how in the world abusers can get away with such crimes against children? Let me tell you how:

Sexual exploitation of women and children in abusive religious institutions is a very difficult subject matter to deal with. Exposing it is an even harder task. It has been going on not just for decades, but centuries! Abusive religious institutions have mastered the art of silencing, shaming, bullying, building loyalty, stalling and, walking away from victims without ever helping them and providing restitution and vindication for the crimes perpetrated against them. Instead they have punished and placed blame on the victims. They have used their religious authority and administrative and financial prowess to effectively destroy and silence any who dare to speak out about the abuses they may have suffered. Character assassination, death, torture, public humiliation and shunning by church members and or family members, are just a few of the tactics that victims have to deal with after coming forward with abuse allegations. To understand what I mean by character assassination, please read my articles entitled “Character Assassination.”

There are several reasons why these “abusers and predators in the name of God” can get away with their abuses against children. One of the main reasons for the lack of prosecution of sexual predators is Statute of Limitations (SOL) laws here in the U.S. that prevent victims of sexual assault from prosecuting their rapists after a certain number of years has passed. It can take decades for a victim to muster up the courage to speak out! Many church leaders are working hard at keeping these S.O.L. laws in place while victims of the abuse are fighting to get them removed.

Another reason is that many of the crimes are perpetrated in foreign countries where our laws do not apply. Many abusers and rapists come back from the foreign mission field to live free lives here in the U.S., never spending one single day in jail for their crimes. Prosecution must be sought in the country where the crime occurs in order for victims to stop their abusers from hurting others. Many mission organizations and foreign churches are SILENCING and placing BLAME on the victims and, are not reporting the crimes done on foreign soil! As a result, predators are going free; many of which, are moving on to new victims.  Churches here in the U.S. are moving pedophiles and rapists from church to church instead of turning them over to police. Religiously run homes and boarding schools on the foreign field and here in the U.S. have become safe havens for abusers of children due to laws that prevent state and local authorities over site of the facilities.  Another issue is that some of the rapists are still on foreign soil and cannot be prosecuted because of this. The following video is one of the perpetrators admitting to his abuses and living freely here in the U.S.

Video: Leslie Emory admits to molesting girls in the Philipines

Despite these frustrations, victims of sexual assault must forge ahead, paving the way for changes in law that will protect women and children in religiously run institutions. Is this an easy endeavor? NO, it is NOT! It takes years to affect change. It takes years to get all the cogs out of the wheels of religiously run institutions that are in place to specifically protect the institution from accountability to victims! Can it be done? Absolutely Yes…if victims will be persistent and join their voices together with all the thousands out there that have suffered the same fate as them. There truly is POWER in numbers.

Freedom of belief is of paramount importance in the lives of adults and children alike. Freedom of belief allows for freedom of choice. Most religions do not allow for either of these and, as a result, religious abuse is rampant and children cannot escape it. Parents and missionaries within abusive and controlling religions become abusers themselves through physical violence, sexual exploitation, incest, rape and emotional abuse of children. It’s time for people everywhere to wake up to what is hiding underneath the “mantle of righteousness” many religions wear. Religious abuse is real and it is destroying lives! It is responsible for people having a distorted view of God and spiritual concepts as well as turning them away from God.  The following stories will give you firsthand testimony of what can happen to children in an abusive religion.

Sherri’s Story

HollyJane (Stewart) Belle’s Story of Child Rape and Incest

Cathy’s Story of Kidnapping, Rape, Abuse and Cover-up – Part 1

Stopping the abuse means that we must find the root of it. The root of the problem seems to stem from inequality, authoritarian leadership and, lack of freedom to believe and choose for oneself. Within abusive religions, these factors affect women and children and lead to abuses not only within religiously run institutions, but in the home.

Religious Bondage – Mind Control

My first part of this series, Religious Bondage – Behavior Control, touches on how behavior reform can cause people to act in abusive ways toward others that disagree or expose abuse within the religious setting. It also explains the tactics many religious followers use in order to silence someone that speaks out about or reports sexual assault, child molestation and rape, or other abuses. In part two, Religious Bondage – Information Control, we learned that one of the key areas of manipulating and controlling people is to control the flow of information within the group. Doing so, allows leadership to rally the group toward their goals, their preferences, their rules, etc. It also allows for abusers to hide their abuses. Behavior Control and Information control are two aspects of Religious Bondage. Religious Bondage is the product of Thought Reform, Information Control and Behavior Modification and, leads to abuse.

As I stated in part one and two, in order to explain this phenomenon that so few know anything about, I have taken Religious Bondage and put it into simple terms everyone can understand –  “Religious Freedom vs. Religious Bondage.” There are three parts to religious bondage as stated above. This will be the third part of this series and, once again, I will use Steven Hassan’s B.I.T.E. model from his book, Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, chapter two to show the Religious Bondage, I will compare this to my own model for Religious Freedom. At the end of this chart, I will then summarize.

FREE THOUGHT

THOUGHT CONTROL

Questioning doctrine and belief is permitted Independent thinking encouraged Questioning of leadership and their behaviors is permitted Leadership is held accountable for actions No fear of other religious groups Secular education is encouraged to help in a better understanding of others, the world, and different beliefs Ideas and feedback on improvement is accepted Freedom of expression allowed Freedom to decide one’s own goals and aspirations

Need to internalize the group’s doctrine as “Truth” Map = Reality Black and White thinking Good vs. evil Us vs. them (inside vs. outside) Adopt “loaded” language (characterized by “thought-terminating clichés”). Words are the tools we use to think with. These “special” words constrict rather than expand understanding. They function to reduce complexities of experience into trite, platitudinous “buzz words”. Only “good” and “proper” thoughts are encouraged. Thought-stopping techniques (to shut down “reality testing” by stopping “negative” thoughts and allowing only “good” thoughts); rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism. Denial, rationalization, justification, wishful thinking Chanting Meditating Praying Speaking in “tongues” Singing or humming No critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy seen as legitimate No alternative belief systems viewed as legitimate, good, or useful Emotional Control Manipulate and narrow the range of a person’s feelings. Make the person feel like if there are ever any problems it is always their fault, never the leader’s or the group’s. Feeling-stopping (with number 4, Excessive use of guilt). Like thought-stopping, this is the automatic suppression or blocking of feelings that are not acceptable by the cult identity- such as feeling \”homesick\” or feeling \”depressed\” or feeling \”resentful\”. Excessive use of guilt Identity guilt Who you are (not living up to your potential) Your family Your past Your affiliations Your thoughts, feelings, actions Social guilt Historical guilt Excessive use of fear Fear of thinking independently Fear of the “outside” world Fear of enemies Fear of losing one’s “salvation” Fear of leaving the group or being shunned by group Fear of disapproval Extremes of emotional highs and lows. Ritual and often public confession of “sins”. Phobia indoctrination : programming of irrational fears of ever leaving the group or even questioning the leader’s authority. The person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future without being in the group. No happiness or fulfillment “outside” of the group Terrible consequences will take place if you leave: “hell”; “demon possession”; “incurable diseases”; “accidents”; “suicide”; “insanity”; “10,000 reincarnations”; etc. Shunning of leave takers. Fear of being rejected by friends, peers, and family. Never a legitimate reason to leave. From the group’s perspective, people who leave are: “weak;” “undisciplined;” “unspiritual;” “worldly;” “brainwashed by family, counselors;” seduced by money, sex, rock and roll. (Steven Hassan’s B.I.T.E. model from his book, Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, chapter two)

My thoughts on Thought Control (Mind Control):

Controlling a congregant’s time is paramount in controlling their mind (thought reform). It leads to the mind accepting negative and abusive responses and actions without thought to reality. By demanding that everyone in the group attend all functions of the group (time and behavior control), it allows for the inputting of beliefs, standards and opinions of leadership (indoctrination sessions). Leadership has mastered the art of manipulating scripture to cause interpretation of it to lean toward their way of thinking. Often, it will be taken out of context and used in forcing conformity to the many rules leadership puts in place. Scripture is also used to instill fear of going against “the man of God.” It is twisted to give the impression that doing so will bring God’s wrath and judgement upon the individual that disagrees with, goes against, prosecutes, or speaks out against, “the man of God.” There will be “consequences” or “punishments” for those that do not conform quickly to leadership’s rules.  This may involve destructive gossip, public humiliation and shunning until one conforms. Many will conform in order to avoid the “consequences” or out of fear of retaliation from other members and/or God.

Thought control (mind control) creates clones of the leadership and the abusive system.  All members think alike and act alike. They learn to like the same kinds of music, foods, restaurants, stores, etc. They are trained to go to leadership for input on making all major decisions in their lives. Members believe leadership knows what is best for them and that whatever leadership tells them to do is the right thing. Members will only believe what leadership says is truth and they allow leadership to control their homes and familial relationships. They will not believe former members or others that see abuse from the outside even if they are professionals or authorities that deal directly in this area of expertise where abuse is concerned.

Scripture is twisted and used against the women and children to force them into subservient roles to men and other adults.  Their minds are filled with scripture that has been manipulated and changed in order to instill abusive doctrines that are designed at getting them to submit and obey without questioning the many “rules.” All teachings are designed to stop women and children from thinking independently and questioning leadership’s, rules, actions, dogma and church policy. It is also designed to prevent them from questioning abusive actions of family members and spouses.  Inequality of the sexes is hammered home using twisted teachings and corrupted translations of scriptures.  Attitudes are instilled in the men that women are “lesser,” are not allowed to have positions of authority over them, must submit to all male authority. This inequality of the sexes leads to abuse of women emotionally and physically in the home. They either submit to the manipulation and control or they will find themselves being emotionally and physically abused (domestic abuse). This leads to eating disorders, physical ailments, emotional imbalances, mental illnesses and depression in many of the women that allow themselves to believe the lies and teachings of the group.

The children are forced to “shut up and put up.” They have no say so in anything. If they are falsely accused by adults of wrongdoing, parents and other members will believe the one telling the lies. The children are rarely believed. If they try to question the abuses, church authority and/or twisted teachings, they will be punished. They are isolated from the world and from authorities and those that have the legal power to help them when abuse does occur. They are rarely believed by those within the abusive or cult-like group when they speak out about their abuses.

Through the use of “congregant bashing” from the pulpit, leadership instills a negative self-image into members.  Many will feel that they cannot do anything right and that bad situations that arise in their life are their “fault” for not being good enough or following leadership’s advice.  Many will even believe that these situations are the result of God punishing them for disobeying leadership. To them, God is ever ready to punish those that cannot live up to the standards and many rules imposed upon them by leadership. Pleasing God means pleasing leadership and adhering to the many rules imposed.  In the minds of congregants, leadership’s rules become God’s rules. Therefore, any transgression of the rules deserves punishment not only from God, but from leadership.

The group as a whole becomes “spies.” They report every little thing that does not conform to group think, standards and rules to leadership so that “disciplinary” tactics can be employed against the non-conforming members.

Religious Bondage – Information Control

My first part of this series, Religious Bondage – Behavior Control, touches on how behavior reform can cause people to act in abusive ways toward others that disagree or expose abuse within the religious setting. It also explains the tactics many religious followers use in order to silence someone that speaks out about or reports sexual assault, child molestation and rape, or other abuses. One of the key areas of manipulating and controlling people is to control the flow of information within the group. Doing so, allows leadership to rally the group toward their goals, their preferences, their rules, etc. It also allows for abusers to hide their abuses. Information control is one aspect of Religious Bondage. Religious Bondage is the product of Thought Reform, Information Control and Behavior Modification and, leads to abuse.

As I stated in part one, in order to explain this phenomenon that so few know anything about, I would like to break it down and keep it simple. I will call it, “Religious Freedom vs. Religious Bondage.” There are three parts to religious bondage as stated above. This will be the second part of this series and, once again, I will use Steven Hassan’s B.I.T.E. model from his book, Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, chapter two to show the Religious Bondage, I will compare this to my own model for Religious Freedom. At the end of this chart, I will then summarize.

INFORMATION FLOW

INFORMATION CONTROL

No deception: Flow of information not monitored and controlled Honest evaluations and input Access to non-cult sources of information is encouraged Allowed to read whatever they want to gain knowledge and truth. Free access to internet, books, articles, social media Association with former members Free time to enjoy family and friends Equality: Equal access to information by leadership and non-leadership Information freely accessible Everyone receives the same information No spying on other members No “buddy” system present Outside professional counseling encouraged Leadership is not “all knowing” and therefore encourages secular professionals where needed. All information provided is from outside sources Books, magazines, journals video tapes, CDs, etc. Non-cult sources studied and discussed in order to understand proper context No Shaming or Manipulation No use of public confessions which is the same as public shaming. This is abuse. Confidential information shared in counseling is kept confidential and not used to manipulate and control congregants. No sharing confidential information between leadership of like churches.

Use of deception: Deliberately holding back information Distorting information to make it acceptable Outright lying Access to non-cult sources of information is discouraged Books, articles, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, internet, social media Critical information Former members Keep members so busy they don’t have time to think Compartmentalize information; Outsider vs. Insider doctrines Information is not freely accessible Information varies at different levels and missions within the hierarchy Leadership decides who “needs to know” what Spying on other members is encouraged Pairing up with “buddy” system to monitor and control Reporting deviant thoughts, feelings, and actions to leadership Extensive use of cult generated information and propaganda Newsletters, magazines, journals, video tapes, CDs, etc. Misquotations, statements taken out of context from non-cult sources Unethical use of confession Information about “sins” used to abolish identity boundaries Past “sins” used to manipulate and control; no forgiveness or absolution (Steven Hassan’s B.I.T.E. model from his book, Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, chapter two)

My thoughts on Information Control:

Information Control allows for leadership to rally congregants to THEIR cause instead of a victim of abuse or an outsider. Congregants readily believe what leadership tells them and, believe that all victims of abuse are liars that are trying to “take down the man of God” or, “destroy God’s works.” Because leadership limits information, twists truth, and/or outright lies about abuses, congregants have no way of knowing what truth IS due to lack of correct information. But, when in doubt, the congregants will naturally lean toward leadership’s views because all information points to that view as “correct” due to information control.

As shown above, information control is paramount in controlling “perception” in the minds of others. Those who control information, control thoughts. Those who control information, control behavior. Abusive leadership will ALWAYS encourage shunning to stifle the truth.  Shunning is very important because it prevents current members from listening to and believing those that have been abused or, have witnessed abuse, from being heard and believed. This is why shunning all former members is mandatory in an abusive religion or cult-like church. Those that continue to speak out after being shunned, will then be stalked and harassed either emotionally or financially by existing leadership and members for not remaining silent. Many different techniques are employed in taking down someone that won’t stop talking to authorities, but the number one technique used time and time again is getting them fired from their job.

Information control also keeps congregants dependent on leadership for “correct” information. Only leadership has the “real truth” regarding every situation; not those falsely accused by leadership or targeted by leadership in order to silence them. Congregants:

• Will not believe media reports.
• Will disregard facts if those facts go against what leadership has told them.
• Will disregard witness testimony as lies meant to destroy their leadership or work of God.

Congregants become secondary abusers to victims of sexual assault, rape, incest and physical abuse who report crimes within the church.

• They will stalk those that go to the authorities to report crimes (psychological abuse).
• They will harass privately and publicly those that go to authorities to report crimes.
• They will use their influence to get them fired from their jobs if they work with members of the same abusive church.
• They will alter important documents to make it look like the victim is dishonest, using those documents against the victim to destroy them professionally.
• They will outright lie about victims to others.
• They will make fraudulent claims against victims to state boards in order to cause victims to lose their professional licenses.
• They will use the legal system to attack victims that step forward to report by placing frivolous lawsuits on them.
• It will affect victims socially – they will have no friends.
• They will pit spouses against spouses and children against parents.
• They will use the internet to write articles about them to discredit them and their testimony.
• They will use social media to harass a victim.
• They will slash tires or break in to the homes or offices of those that expose the abuses, sometimes killing beloved pets in a heinous manner in order to scare and intimidate into silence.
• They will commit murder to ultimately silence a victim.
• They will rally other family members against those who report crimes. Thus destroying familial relationships.
• They will character assassinate any who dare to speak out about their abuses.

Any information told in “counseling” sessions with a pastor is used to spread gossip and slander against anyone who dares to speak out about abuses they have endured or expose them, within the church. This information is also used to blackmail congregants into conforming to leadership’s agendas, demands, desires. This information is then shared between pastors of various churches of the same sect in order to control members that leave to go to another church within the same sect. Pastors across the country work together in applying the same pressures and abuses on a congregant that tries to flee the abuse by attending another church within the same sect.

Information Control allows for abuses to continue, hidden. It allows for abusers and rapists to move on to new victims. It ensures that a victim will remain silent. Silence stops the secondary abuse.

The best way for victims to combat and stop these secondary abuses is to report all instances of it to law enforcement and victim advocate attorneys assigned to the case of a victim. Press charges against every person that threatens, harasses or slanders. By using the legal system to show a definitive pattern of harassment and abuse from the abusive church or group, it allows the authorities to either prosecute and/or stop the secondary abuse. If you have pressed criminal charges against a person in leadership within a religious organization, you must understand that witness tampering and harassment is against the law. Reporting every instance to the police ensures that every individual that is involved is held accountable legally. Don’t be afraid to press charges. Don’t be afraid to speak out. By speaking out about abuse and exposing criminals within the religious system, you save lives – lives of children that won’t be molested and raped, trafficked, physically abused and emotionally abused. You will save lives of teenagers from the same abuses. You will prevent rapes and untold trauma to others.

Religious Bondage – Behavior Control

Religious Bondage – Behavior Control

Religious Abuse (Narrated Powerpoint) is the foundation upon which many religious leaders and organizations build their empires. Yet, many people do not understand what Religious Abuse involves. Members of cults and cult-like organizations will use their influence and power to ruin any victim that speaks out about the religious abuses that they have endured. As a cult survivor that spent more than 18 years in an abusive fundamentalist Baptist cult, I will summarize  the chart below based on the experiences I have had to deal with personally while in the cult and, while helping other victims of religious abuse. Though it is very difficult to wrap one’s mind around these facts, it is vital that everyone understand that RELIGIOUS ABUSE ( Link to “Religious Abuse: What Exactly Is It?”) is real, it’s dangerous and, it can be deadly. Religious bondage is the product of  Thought Reform, Information Control and Behavior Modification and, leads to abuse.

To explain this phenomenon that so few know anything about, I would like to break it down and keep it simple. I will call it, “Religious Freedom vs. Religious Bondage.” There are three parts to religious bondage as stated above. I will cover each part separately in three different articles.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM vs. RELIGIOUS BONDAGE

Religious Freedom allows an individual to be who they are meant to be as an autonomous human being. They are free to develop their own beliefs, standards, likes, dislikes, hairstyles, clothing styles, ways of doing things, etc. They are allowed the freedom to choose their education and career field. Religious freedom allows for equality between men and women. It also allows them to be the best that they can be for themselves, their families, others and God. But, Religious Bondage leads to inequality; which in turn, leads to emotional abuse, spiritual abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, incest, rape, mind control and manipulation, hatred and fear for those trapped in it.

Sounds a bit shocking to contrast the two, doesn’t it? These two types of “religion” are diametrically opposed and lead to very different results. One leads to freedom in Christ, balance, happiness and joy; the other leads to imbalances, fear, control, thought reform, behavior modification, abuse and destruction. What many do not realize is that they may be in religious bondage instead of enjoying religious freedom. This happens when bondage is all that a person has ever known (raised in it); or, when a person succumbs to being spoon-fed their beliefs, doctrines and standards. Some, having never experienced true freedom in Christ due to isolationism and extreme control within the system, fight within themselves against the transformation into that mirror image of the system. These are usually the ones that escape it later on – but not after suffering much abuse and trauma. Many others passively accept the rules, doctrines and standards and then become abusive toward those that do not accept them wholeheartedly. This can lead to hate crimes, stalking, harassment, character assassination, rape, sexual assault and/or trafficking, incest, physical abuse, emotional abuse, spiritual abuse and death for those that do not conform.

Let me break the first characteristic down into two different categories. Using Steven Hassan’s B.I.T.E. model from his book, Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, chapter two to show the Religious Bondage, I will compare this to my own model for Religious Freedom. At the end of this chart, I will then summarize.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM                                                      RELIGIOUS BONDAGE

FREEDOM TO CHOOSE

BEHAVIOR CONTROL

No regulation of individual’s physical reality: Choose one’s beliefs Choose one’s friends Choose clothing styles, hairstyles, etc. Choose what to eat Choose one’s career Choose where to spend one’s money Freedom to travel Freedom to make own personal decisions Freedom to set one’s own personal boundaries and standards Critical reasoning skills can be exercised No FEAR of retaliation for expressing opinions, thoughts and concerns Autonomy allowed No spoken or unspoken rules to be followed Independence

Regulation of individual’s physical reality: Where, how and with whom the members live and associate with. What clothes, colors, hairstyles the person wears What food the person eats, drinks, adopts, and rejects How much sleep the person is able to have Financial dependence Little or no time for leisure, entertainment or vacations. Major time commitment required for indoctrination sessions and group rituals Need to ask permission for major decisions Need to report thoughts, feelings and activities to superiors. Rewards and punishments (behavior modification techniques- positive and negative) Individualism is discouraged; group think prevails Rigid rules and regulations Need for obedience and dependency (Steven Hassan’s B.I.T.E. model from his book, Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, chapter two)

My thoughts on Behavior Control:

Controlling a congregant’s time is key in controlling their behavior and modifying it (behavior modification).  Excessive demands on time “in the ministry” or “attendance to every meeting, service and event,” leads to passivity and the ignoring of abuses and reality. Peer pressure plays a HUGE part in behavior modification and is used to influence congregants toward group “rules” and “group think.” Those that fight against the rules will find themselves on the receiving end of punishment from the group. This could entail such things as shunning, public humiliation, gossip and slander,  until the person conforms.

What any normal person would view as abuse becomes “normal” with each instance of it in an abusive environment.  For example: In the cult I came out of preachers used the pulpit to publicly attack, chastise and humiliate congregants that disagreed, believed differently or, questioned leadership and their doctrines. This IS emotional and psychological abuse; and, it instills fear of speaking out further against leadership.  The first time this is done, it is shocking, but as each occurrence of it happens, the gradualism of these attacks becomes normal and even okay in the mind of the congregants.  It is seen as “right” and necessary to keep the flock in line with God’s rules; which are usually nothing more than leadership’s rules and preferences.  Through this gradualism, the abuse becomes “normal” and congregants become blind to it. Because this abuse is seen as “normal” and “right,” it then is duplicated by congregants against others that disagree as they transition into positions of leadership.

Another example of abuse is toward victims that speak out about their abuse at the hands of leadership and others within the organization. Leadership, because it controls the congregation’s behavior, can rally their members together to:

• Use their power and influence to affect a termination of employment, crippling a person financially.
• Use local authorities to file bogus complaints and law suits against those that speak out in order to cause them emotional trauma and financial trauma.
• Stalk victims that speak out or file criminal charges.
• Harass victims that speak out via email, phone, social media and, through personal threats.
• Influence other family members to shun the one speaking out.
• Influence a spouse to divorce the one speaking out.
• Influence children against the parent that speaks out.
• Spread gossip and slander about the one speaking out.
• Influence family members and others to do bodily harm to the one speaking out.

Those that allow their time to be controlled are the ones that are easily duped into believing the lies and twisted theologies taught from leadership. They are also the ones that rally to the side of the abusers in any given church instead of listening to and supporting sexual assault victims and other abuse victims.  Staying busy constantly interferes with critical reasoning skills, stunts spiritual growth and, results in thought and behavior reform. It leads to congregants being obedient, unthinking, “do as they are told” followers of leadership. Because of this, it also leads to blind loyalty to the system and its leadership instead of supporting those that step forward to report the abuse. Followers lose their ability to discern reality and truth; thus, believing the lies they are spoon fed by leadership. They will interpret scripture in light of what they are told by leadership; judging others as leadership dictates. They will be the pawns used in order to mete out attacks against those leadership tell them have falsely accused them or their church.  Facts of a situation then become irrelevant in the mind of the congregants and they will fight against those facts and the ones that present them. This leads to abuse as listed above and, even death to anyone that dares to go against the system or its leadership.

Behavior Control is dangerous. It leads to abuse of others. This facet of Religious Abuse must be recognized for what it is and members must flee those religious organizations that practice this in order to control and manipulate them.

Is Bart Ehrman Anti-Christian?

The discovery of Bart Erhman’s books has made a major impact on my life. I only wish that I had discovered and read them all sooner. As a former fundamentalist, I find his evidences compelling and his assertions solidly based on those evidences.  While I am still a believer, Erhman is Agnostic. As a result, there are many conservative Christians that discount his works on the basis of his belief instead of trying to refute his facts and sources that provide evidence to what he affirms about the inerrancy and inspiration of scripture.  However, it does not take scholarship to find the discrepancies, errors and mistranslations that the Bible contains. It only takes study – as many of these errors are obvious – and a concordance.

This said, I do quote Erhman a lot on my blog and in my articles. I consider him one of my top two favorite scholars of all time. Because of this, there are fundamentalists that discount my articles and the evidences I quote because they discount Erhman’s expertise and scholarship based on his beliefs. To me, this makes about as much sense as discounting a person’s works based on their gender; which many fundamentalists also do!

Since there are fundamentalists that believe that Erhman is anti-Christian by assumption, I wanted to let everyone hear directly from Erhman regarding what he believes about himself and his view of Christianity and the Bible.

I don’t consider myself anti-Christian. When I tell people this, I often get a disbelieving response: of course you’re anti-Christian. Look at all the ways you attack Christianity!

In my view, the only thing I attack in my writings (and not even directly) is a fundamentalist and conservative evangelical understanding of Christianity. But to say for that reason that I attack Christianity is like saying that if you don’t like raspberry sherbet you don’t like any kind of ice cream. . .

I certainly do not mean to say that I consider myself either a Christian or an apologist for Christian causes. I am neither. But in my writings I have never attacked Christianity itself. I have attacked a particular flavor of it. It is true that in my part of the world, the American South, the flavor I have attacked happens to be the flavor preferred by the majority of practicing Christians. But in a historical and worldwide perspective, highly conservative Protestant Christianity, whether fundamentalism or hard-core evangelicalism, is a minority voice. It is the voice that says that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, with no contradictions, discrepancies, or mistakes of any kind. I simply don’t think this is true. And neither have most Christians over the course of history. . .

But I personally love the Bible. I read it all the time, in the original Greek and Hebrew; I study it; I teach it. I have done so for over thirty-five years. And I don’t plan to stop any time soon. But I don’t think the Bible is perfect. Far from it. The Bible is filled with a multitude of voices, and these voices are often at odds with one another, contradicting one another in minute details and in major issues involving such basic views as what God is like, who the people of God are, why there is suffering in the world, how we are to behave, and on and on. And I heartily disagree with the views of most of the biblical authors on one point or another.

Still, in my judgment all of these voices are valuable and they should all be listened to. Some of the writers of the Bible were religious geniuses, and just as we listen to other geniuses of our tradition—Mozart and Beethoven, Shakespeare and Dickens—so we ought to listen to the authors of the Bible. But they were not inspired by God, in my opinion, any more than any other genius is. And they contradict each other all over the map.

Even though there are innumerable historical problems in the New Testament, they are not of the scope or character to call seriously into doubt the existence of Jesus. He certainly lived, and in my view he too was a kind of religious genius, even more than the later authors who wrote about him. At the same time, he probably was not well educated. He may have been only semiliterate. But he certainly lived, and his teachings have impacted the world ever since. Surely that is one gauge of genius.

Since that is the view I am sketching in this book, I can imagine readers who think me anti-Christian taking umbrage at my refusal to tow their line. And Christian readers may well be pleased to see that even someone like me agrees with them on key points (although they certainly won’t like other things I have to say in the book). My goal, however, is neither to please nor to offend. It is to pursue a historical question with all the rigor that it deserves and requires and in doing so to show that there really was a historical Jesus and that we can say certain things about him. – Bart D. Erhman, Did Jesus Exist?, pgs. 36-37.

So, here we have it. Erhman is not anti-Christian! So, let’s lay that excuse for disregarding his research aside and make it a point to read what he says, evaluate his evidence and, make informed decisions based on those evidences; instead of believing the biased religious teachings of those who provide no evidences, historically or scholarly.   But, some have said that his work is trying to persuade people over to his way of believing! Erhman is out to win everyone over to agnosticism through his books. Therefore, don’t read his books!  Well, let’s let Erhman, in his own words from his book, Misquoting Jesus, dispel that assumption:

Maybe I should point out that I do not see it as my mission in life to convince other people to agree with me on this issue. I’m always happy to talk with people about their beliefs, honestly and openly, and to share with them why I no longer can believe. I don’t think they are lacking in intelligence for believing (my wife is far more intelligent than I, and she’s a believer), and I don’t think that I’m evil for not believing. What we need in religious discussion is a frank and brutally honest sharing of views, not simply an insistence that everyone comes to believe, or disbelieve, what we do.—Erhman, Misquoting Jesus, pgs. 248-249.

Once again, Erhman is not like the fundamentalist Christians that I have associated with for the last 20 years. He is not interested in converting others to agnosticism; while, most Christians that I know ARE interested in converting others to Christianity. This may be the reason that many Christians are unable to be brutally honest and share differing views without getting angry and attacking. If they weren’t so interested in converting people, it would be easier to discuss differing views. On the other hand, it could just be a lack of real education in the area of biblical literacy and history that leads to this anger.  Today, because I no longer hold to the fundamentalist views, I can discuss differing views and beliefs rationally and intelligently, oftentimes, learning new information that has been helpful in the process of the discussion. I have come to realize that an opposing view can be a good thing; especially if that view is rooted in facts as well! I have not had one single person that has opposed my views that I have not learned something insightful from. I am of the mindset that I will discuss, listen and learn. It would be nice if others would have that same mindset. Instead, there are certain groups of Christians that do not want to hear, or put up with, a different belief or view. Anyone opposed to what they believe is labeled as a “heretic,” “dissenter” or “of the devil.”

Now, let me throw out some seeds for thought on inerrancy and inspiration of scripture. First of all, I would think that what God inspires should be PERFECT, because God is PERFECT. Whatever the Holy Spirit of God inspires will be without contradiction and error. Yet, the Bible is full of contradictions and errors! Think about this. Does one think a PERFECT God will produce an IMPERFECT product riddled with imperfections that could lead to wrong beliefs? What about a product that would lead to abusive attitudes and behaviors toward women and children?

Does the Bible contain truths? I believe so. Do these errors mean that we should discount the known truths because of the errors? I don’t believe so. These errors and contradictions show the humanity of the authors. They were not perfect human beings and therefore, they could not produce a perfect work. If these authors were inspired by God, then their works would be perfect because God is perfect. However, if they were inspired like any other writer is inspired, then one will find mistakes. There is a difference between these two types of inspiration, wouldn’t you think?

One more area of thought I would like to mention is that many Christians discount known facts based on what they are taught instead of research and evidence. Also, what about the known errors, changes, insertions and deletions that the translators made to the manuscripts in order to lean the scriptures toward their already biased views?  Scholars have known for centuries about these changes and biases.

So, does one discount the inerrancy and inspiration based on the mistakes and changes (known facts), or, does one adhere to its inerrancy and inspiration based on the  opinions of preachers and Bible theologians of the 20^th century that made these claims that, heretofore, were not made?

What discovery transpired during the 20^th century with all the manuscripts in existence that suddenly moved conservative Christians to propound that the Bible was inerrant and inspired? If nothing transpired with the manuscripts, then could it have been a dispute that happened because different factions disagreed on a theological doctrine? If it is not based on facts, then one would think that it would be foolish to make such a presumption that for centuries had not been made or even considered. I believe it happened as a result of a dispute between religious factions.

These are just some of my thoughts on this subject as I continue to study and learn.  But more importantly, I wanted readers to know that Erhman is not anti-Christian. Instead of making assumptions and discrediting his work based on his belief, wouldn’t it be better to make an informed decision based on evidences and facts? Of course it would! That’s what Erhman does.  If everyone would do this, it would prevent a lifetime of living, believing and propagating lies. As a result of the lies that many fundamentalists proclaim as truth, lives are being destroyed; as many of these teachings lead to abusive attitudes and behaviors toward women and children. The stories on my blog are a testament to this fact.

My desire is that everyone would do their due diligence to search out if what they have been taught is true using outside sources instead of biased sources from within their own sects. The truth is that getting an unbiased education will prevent much of the animosity and conflict that proliferates throughout Christianity against those that believe differently or disagree. It also allows for sound reasoning between different belief systems without the anger and vitriol being spewed.  Study. Find evidence that supports the truth of a matter. Think on it. Make decisions regarding it. Don’t believe blindly what you are told is truth.

Power, Money, Control and Religious Abuse

From the Author: Words cannot express how proud I am of my son for approaching the subject of Religious Abuse and sharing his perspective on it. This is his first time addressing the issue and, what is even more amazing is that he has allowed me the privilege of putting it on my blog so that others may be helped by it. His name is not on it because he has asked me not to put it on it. He is also the one that put together this presentation to help victims of religious abuse escape. I simply put my voice to it. So, here it is. Please be sure to adjust your volume on the presentation!

(Click to play)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Introduction

Religious abuse is an evil which can be difficult to recognize and can lead to chronic depression, rape, intimidation, physical abuse, permanent emotional scarring, and even suicide. Corrupted church leaders of today can use their power and influence to control, extort money, manipulate, and sexually exploit their victims. The effects of religious abuse are vast, but the steps which can be taken to escape from them are not. When victims learn to identify signs of religious abuse in churches and realize that they have personal liberty, they can break free by leaving the abusive church immediately. Victims of religious abuse who completely cut ties and cease contact with the abusive church can recover what is left of their scarred lives.

Power, Money, Control, and Religious Abuse

            A dangerous, well disguised evil is sweeping across American churches like a dark beast of destruction, which preys on the lives of even the most devout. It is an evil which is most difficult to recognize, at first, and can lead to chronic depression, rape, intimidation, physical abuse, permanent emotional scarring, and even suicide. Some might argue that this evil originates from the very Devil himself, an attempt to destroy that which is seen by many as holy and pure – the church. This evil comes in the form of religious abuse and can be brought to life through corrupted church leaders in power, monetary greed, and demand for total control of people’s lives; escaping victims must learn to recognize the warning signs, be aware of their personal liberty, and take immediate action to leave the abusive situation.

What could cause such destruction in a person’s life? It’s simple; the impression of absolute power and authority supposedly given by the bible or Jesus can cause almost anyone tempted to become corrupted by it. Once that individual in power decides to abuse the “biblical authority” given to them, believers can become trapped under its rule. There are many ways that victims become trapped under this oppression, but according to David Johnson, two of the main reasons are “they are literally powerless to leave,” perhaps like children born into it, or “because the spiritually abusive system [itself] is a trap” (1991, p. 54). This may be difficult for those who haven’t experienced it to understand, but the cycle of abuse can look something like this: “Out loud shaming, focus on performance, manipulation, idolatry, preoccupation with fault and blame, and obscured reality” (Johnson & VanVonderen, 1991, p. 56-58). Once a person submits to the “authority” of an oppressive church leader, their own sense of personal liberty can be replaced with a sense to obey the “rules” and not to question what is said.

In some positions, a religious leader can become additionally motivated by monetary greed. With the cycle of abuse already in place, they use manipulation in their teachings to convince their victims to give exorbitant amounts of money towards their religious cause or even a personal salary; often attempting to bring guilt on those who do not (McClaskey, 2012, p. 106). Some victims are required to hand over more than 10% of their gross monthly income plus an extra equal or greater margin for regular “gifts” to the leadership, as tokens of their servitude or “commitment” to the organization (McClaskey, 2012, p. 75). This money is often used to build the personal wealth of the leader and to fund the church, continuing the cycle of abuse.

Corrupted power and monetary greed are directly related to a leader’s obsession with having total control over his victims. This begins with a church leader’s power and usurping the authorities they claim were given to them by the Bible, Jesus, or some other religious authority. Victims become convinced their leader has the authority to control them. The control doesn’t stop within the walls of the church; it often “infiltrates into the homes of their believers, with their strange doctrines and rules” (McClaskey, 2012, p. 36). Victims are intimidated, threatened, or in some cases physically beaten into submission (children, teens or spouses) if they don’t comply with the church leader’s rules (McClaskey, 2012, p. 56). Group conformity and total submission to the church “system” are ideas that are not allowed to be questioned in these abusive situations – questioning might lead victims to break free. In many cases, victims who escape are verbally attacked and scorned in front of the church; they lose all group interaction, including immediate family support. Many victims still feel the far reaching, abusive arms of control many years after escaping them. It is this corrupted power, greed and control within the abusive church system which leads to even worse damage in a victim’s life.

Religious abuse can also directly affect other areas of a victim’s wellbeing. If victims believe the abusive teachings, they can have a distorted view of God and spiritual ideas; thereby inadvertently abusing others themselves, like their own children. This often ushers in emotional abuse also; where love and trust can be based upon one’s loyalty to the church or its rules. Paranoia becomes constant, fear of being humiliated or punished is endless, and the pressure to perform and not fail is elevated (Johnson & VanVonderen, 1991, p. 73-77). Sexual abuse is another factor which often associates with religious abuse. A church leader with total control of his victims can easily manipulate them into rationalizing his sexual assault, rape, or exploitation. Sexual exploitation is one of the most common abuses linked to religious cult-like organizations across America (Lalich, 1996, p. 4). Emotional and sexual abuse, along with distorted thinking could eventually lead a victim to consider suicide as an escape, thus multiplying the destructiveness of religious abuse.

How can victims of religious abuse escape? First, they must learn to recognize signs of abuse within a church. David Johnson lists some signs as “power posturing, performance preoccupation, unspoken rules, lack of balance, paranoia, misplaced loyalty, and secrecy” (1991, p. 63-78). Some abusive churches are initially very friendly and appealing, that is also why their trap is effective. Victims often rationalize their abuse, so recognizing that it’s ongoing is vital. Second, recognize that the Religious control is based upon submission of those who believe in it; thus victims must understand their true personal liberty, and that they really don’t have to put up with the abuse. The final step is to break free from the abusive church, including everyone associated with it who could still affect the victim. Victims should completely and immediately separate from every area of interaction with the church. The victim should note that any attempt to change the church is usually futile. Attaining total separation will initiate a healing process.

Once on the outside, victims may immediately begin to recognize the traits of abusive churches. This can empower them to break the cycle of destructive control in their lives and begin to recover from commonly reported experiences such as chronic depression, rape, fear, physical abuse, permanent emotional scarring, and even suicidal thoughts (Lalich, 2013). Victims who have broken free also become some of the best people to help others escape abuse. Escape is one of the most difficult and painful actions that victims can take, but the freedom, healing, and fulfillment that comes afterward is worth more than money could ever buy.

In conclusion, religious abuse is more widespread than one may think. In 1996, there were over 5,000 religious cults in America with more than 185,000 new recruits reported annually (Lalich, 1996, p. 1). If victims are attentive enough to see the warning signs present in an abusive church and they understand that they don’t have to submit to abuse, they can escape and eventually heal from it. The dark, evil beast of religious abuse can be defeated, but only if its tactics and weapons are understood. There are many thousands today who are becoming new victims. When will it ever end?

References

Johnson, D., & VanVonderen, J., 1991. The subtle power of spiritual abuse: Recognizing and escaping spiritual manipulation and false spiritual authority within the church. Bloomington, MN: Bethany House Publishers.

Lalich, J. (1996). Dominance and Submission: The Psychosexual Exploitation of Women in Cults. Cultic Studies Journal, 14 (1). Retrieved from http://cultresearch.org/pdf/csj14-1.pdf

Lalich, J. (2013). The Violent Outcomes of Ideological Extremism: What Have We Learned Since Jonestown? Retrieved from http://cultresearch.org/2009/10/the-violent-outcomes-of-ideological-extremism-what-have-we-learned-since-jonestown/

McClaskey, C., 2012. Religion’s Cell: Doctrines of the church that lead to bondage and abuse. Bloomington, IN: Author House.

The Casting – By Nancy Bicknell

It is fall on the small religious campus in Wisconsin. The leaves have turned and the frost is steaming up from the ground changing the season to winter. The auditorium is filled with people who do not know why they are assembled since it is not Sunday services or Wednesday prayer meeting but, there they are, waiting.

Like feathers floating from the skies little pieces of paper fall from the sky through the ceilings. Each person picks up the note paper closest to them that has a caption entitled “The Casting.” There is a word written on the parers. Some were cast as Orchestra, Church Leaders, Preacher Boys, Inner Circle, Bystanders, Victim or Abuser. It seems that a play is going to be produced this very day and everyone has a role.

One bewildered young Preacher Boy steps forward after he realizes his paper says ‘Director.’ Taking his role, he starts to divide the people into their parts. “Bystanders are to all take a seat in the audience,” he announces. To his surprise, all but a handful of people took seats in the audience. He directed the others to go onto the stage. He sent the Orchestra to the Pit. Once the cast was before him he asked each one to read their role out loud.

The Church Leaders proudly stepped forward followed by the Inner Circle. Looking at the cast of players, the Director notices two players still in the back of the stage. He asks them to step forward. ” Who are you he asks?” The man opened his paper and looking surprised, as though he had not seen his role before, stated, “Well, I guess I am the Abuser.” He fades back into the darkness of the stage hiding behind the Inner Circle. The director then calls on the young teen girl. “Who are you?” he asks. She announces that she must have picked up the wrong piece of paper because she was the Victim and did not want that part. She did nothing wrong and was sure the part was a mistake. The Director said he was not in charge of the casting; and, that it appeared that every role was connected to each other and the play was happening as a spontaneous event based on the reactions and free will of all the players.

The director asked some Bystanders to run the lights and control the curtains. Suddenly, there was a scream.

The Victim ran out on stage having blood on her heart saying, “See, I am not supposed to have this role. I am innocent.”

“Who did this to you?” the Director asked, followed by the church leaders questions.

She said, “It was the Abuser. He hurt me in the dark when the curtain was closed.”

The director asked the Abuser to step forward. He did not. Noticing a stir in the audience, the director sees the Abuser.

“Sir,” he says, “Did you hurt this girl?”

The Abuser says, “No, I was was here in the audience all the time.”

The young girl cries, standing on center stage.

The director again asks her saying, ” He says he did not hurt you.”

The Abuser yells out from behind the church leaders now. “She walked into my sword and then she fell in front of me.”

The girl continues to cry.

The director wanting to get on with the play, sends everyone to the costume room to be fitted with their robes. The make-up is completed and the hair is groomed. The curtain opens and all begin to play their roles.

A Bystanders calls out from the audience, “The Victim is still crying and I can not hear the Church Leaders! Can you ask her to stop?”

She tries to stop as she hears the complaints. The music begins from the orchestra pit but, the sobs of the girl interrupt the symphony.

The victim calls out, ” I need help here, I am hurt.”

The Church Leader says, “I don’t see blood anymore. So you are fine. You just need to trust Jesus, go to church and leave the stage. You are interrupting the work of God here.”

The audience responds with praises and an Amen.

The girl attempts to leave the stage but is too weak to walk now. The Inner Circle tells the Church Leaders to call upon the Director to remove her from the stage. The director says, “I am not writing the script here. So you do as you will.”

The Church Leaders walk up to the Victim and tell her that Jesus has dried her tears. She moans in pain. The Church Leaders tell her to “Let it Go” since the Abuser is innocent and she must forgive him. She faints before them. The Church leaders are fearful she will not get well and ask the Director to let them off the stage.

The Director says, “This is your play.”

The Abuser encourages the Church Leaders from stage right saying,”She obviously has sinned and you must hold her accountable for ruining the play.” The Church Leaders decide to leave the stage followed by the Inner Circle.

Standing on stage left in sheep’s clothing is the Abuser who slips off the stage into the night following the Church Leaders and the Inner Circle. The lights are lowered to center stage and the girl is too weak to stand. The Bystanders tell her to get off the stage, but she cannot.

The Bystanders notice the Director has also left. No one is left but the Bystanders and the victim. Some yell out, “Forgive and get over it and you will be well.” Others cry out to her, “Stop telling us your sob story,” and still others, say nothing at all.

It seems the girl is bleeding now onto the stage’s wood floor, but no one moves from the audience. Only the Bystanders are left. The majority of the cast are Bystanders and they do not seem to know what to do. Silence.

A bright spot light from above shines down and, there before the Bystanders, is a new actor on stage. It is Jesus. He looks at the girl and swoops her up in His arms. He turns to carry her away but stands still for a moment to turn and look at the Bystanders. His eyes are glaring in anger.  They all hang their heads in shame, realizing they could have picked up the child themselves.

Jesus’ eyes pierce their hearts and He turns with the child in His arms and disappears. The Bystanders sit alone as the lights go off and the curtain closes.

WARNING: Women are Disappearing

From the Author: I have been exposing the corruptions in translation on this blog for a while now. People have no idea about the corruptions done by men in translation to subjugate and control women throughout history. It is a fact. It cannot be ignored. Adele is right. There needs to be a translation done that puts all the feminine words back in place where they belong. The corruptions that scholars have discovered need to be removed; as many of them were done to point women into a place of servitude to men. To do so would bring equality, honor and dignity back to every woman; something the translators robbed women of and, has led to their abuse and sexual exploitation for centuries.

WARNING: WOMEN ARE DISAPPEARING

By Adele Hebert, Author of Every Woman & Child

Until a few years ago, I had always trusted that the Bible was the Word of God and had never given a thought about the translators. After reading God’s Word to Women, I was in shock and deeply disturbed to find out that our bibles had been manipulated, in order to sabotage women’s freedom and rights. Katharine Bushnell was an extremely educated woman (Medical Doctor, Greek and Hebrew Scholar) and she had so much proof. She believed that “mistranslations were responsible for the social and spiritual subjugation of women.” But why hadn’t I heard about this from the pulpits or in books?

Comparing bibles, I observed that they can be so different. There were many disappointing moments when I found words that were indeed mistranslated, especially since they seemed to be about women.

Shamefully, I found many “women” words, which are now missing in the newer bibles!!
There are two extremely important verses which started me on my quest to find out the truth about women and translations. On the cover of her book, God’s Word to Women, was Katharine Bushnell’s favorite verse:

“The Lord gives the command; The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host…” Psalm 68:11 (New American Standard Bible)

So I checked my bibles … and…To my HORROR! most bibles no longer had “the women” in it at all!! I was so distressed!!! To my great disappointment, I found only a few bibles which use the word “women.” The translators had changed the word “women” to: “hosts, them that preach, company, many people, ones announcing, great army, thousands, bearers,” … anything but “women!!”

My heart was deeply wounded… How could this happen to God’s Word? Katharine Bushnell was right! She proved that words had been twisted, right from Genesis, and showed how those words were chosen, deliberately, to subordinate women’s position in the home, the church and society. And the words are still being changed, in our generation! God had warned women, “and he shall rule over thee.” (Gen 3:16) Man is still controlling and dominating women, and using the bible to do it. The male translators had been deceitful.

And then I found some old commentaries which confirm that the word Used to be “women.”

Psalm 68:11, Barnes’ commentary (Albert Barnes 1798 – 1870) states, “More literally, “The women publishing it were a great host.” The word used is in the feminine gender…”

Psalm 68:11, Clarke’s commentary (Adam Clarke LL.D. F.S.A. 1712 – 1832) says, “Of the female preachers there was a great host. Such is the literal translation of this passage… the publication of good news, or of any joyful event, belonged to the women. It was they who announced it to the people at large; and to this universal custom, which prevails to the present day, the psalmist alludes. See this established in Isaiah 40:9.” (Clarke)

From the Masoretic text http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2668.htm

“The Lord giveth the word; the women that proclaim the tidings are a great host.” Psalm 68:12

I did find a few bibles which still used “women” words. I was pleasantly surprised with this one:

Psalm 68:11 “Adonoi gives the word; rav (great) was the tzava (company, army) of the mevaserot (heralds, those that published it, the lady evangelists). (Orthodox Jewish Bible 2003)

“the lady evangelists.” Those words are awesome.

The Only Modern versions which still have “women” in them are: Amplified, Bible in Basic English, Contemporary English Version, English Standard Version, English Revised Version, Good News Bible, God’s Word, Holman Christian Standard, New American Standard, New English Translation, New International Version (not all NIVs), The Jewish Study Bible, Orthodox Jewish Bible.

Ladies – hang on to this verse; it’s disappearing fast!!

There was a similar verse I needed to check – Isaiah 40: 9. This verse was the title of a book, about the life and work of Katharine Bushnell, O Thou Woman That Bringest Good Tidings, written by Dana Hardwick (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2002). I searched and searched and searched, in nearly sixty bibles… and… to my GREAT SORROW… there was NO bible that had the word “woman” in it!!

…Yet …Isaiah 40:9, Barnes’ commentary notes,
“It is a participle in the feminine gender…” “Lowth supposes that it is applicable to some female whose office it was to announce glad tidings, and says that it was the common practice for females to engage in the office of proclaiming good news.” (Barnes)

…And …Isaiah 40:9, Clarke’s commentary says,
“O daughter, that bringest glad tidings to Zion” “For the office of announcing and celebrating such glad tidings as are here spoken of, belongs peculiarly to the women. On occasion of any great public success, a signal victory, or any other joyful event, it was usual for the women to gather together, and with music, dances, and songs, to publish and celebrate the happy news. Thus after the passage of the Red Sea, Miriam, and all the women, with timbrels in their hands, formed a chorus, and joined the men in their triumphant song, dancing, and throwing in alternately the refrain or burden of the song: “Sing ye to Jehovah, for he is greatly exalted; The horse and his rider hath he cast into the sea.” Ex 15:20, 21. (Clarke)

“So Jephthah’s daughter collected a chorus of virgins, and with dances and songs came out to meet her father, and to celebrate his victory, Jdg_11:34. After David’s conquest of Goliath, “all the women came out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music;” and, forming themselves into two choruses, they sang alternately: “Saul has slain his thousands: And David his ten thousands.” 1Sa_18:6, 7. (Clarke)

…Also …Isaiah 40:9, Right Reverend Robert Lowth, Doctor of Divinity, Bishop of the Church of England, and Oxford Professor (1710 – 1787) Isaiah, Volume 2, (Glasgow University Press, 1822, pages 258,9). Rev. Robert Lowth writes about both Psalm 68:11 and Isaiah 40:9:

“9. O daughter that bringest glad tidings] That the true construction of the sentence is this, which makes Sion the receiver not the publisher of the glad tidings, (which latter has been the most prevailing interpretation,) will, I think, very clearly appear, if we rightly consider the image itself, and the custom and common practice from which it is taken. I have added the word daughter to express the feminine gender of the Hebrew participle, which I know not how to do otherwise in our language: and this is absolutely necessary in order to ascertain the image.” (Lowth)

“And this gives us the true sense of a passage in the 68th Psalm, which has frequently been misunderstood: “Jehovah gave the word, (that is, the joyful news), The women, who published the glad tidings, were a great company; The kings of mighty armies did flee, did flee: And even the matron, who stayed at home, shared the spoil.” (Lowth)

“The word signifying the publishers of glad tidings is the same, and expressed in the same form by the feminine participle, as in this place; and the last distich is the song which they sung. So in this place, JEHOVAH having given the word by his prophet, the joyful tidings of the restorations of Sion, and of God’s returning to Jerusalem, the women are exhorted by the prophet to publish the joyful news with a loud voice from eminences, whence they might best be heard all over the country; and the matter and burden of their song was to be, “Behold your God!” (Lowth)

So if these commentators, Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes and the well-known Bishop Robert Lowth, knew that the gender was feminine, and even quote both verses, then why did the translators remove the “women?” I was Extremely Disappointed! Mortified!!

From Katharine Bushnell, Heaven on Earth (Southport, England, 1914) http://godswordtowomen.org/heaventable.htm:

“Isaiah 40:9 The verse, however, is obscured by mistranslation and should read: (Bushnell)

“O thou woman that bringest good tidings to Zion,
get thee up into the high mountain;
O thou woman that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem,
life up thy voice with strength;
lift it up, be not afraid;
say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God! (R. V.) (Bushnell)

“A prophecy about women preaching is also found in Psalm 68:11, and the Revised Version gives the correct translation: “The women that publish the tidings are a great host.” (Bushnell)

“John the Baptist cannot be meant even though he is the subject of Isaiah 40: 3 because the person addressed in verses 9 and 10 is a female. Precisely the same reasons exist for translating “thou woman” here as “the women” in Psalm 68:11. One and the same prophecy is expressed in different forms as Dr. Adam Clarke long ago demonstrated. In each case of the two passages, the original is a feminine participle of the Hebrew verbal form bisser, “to tell good tidings.” (Bushnell)

[With Great Sorrow, the Revised Version no longer uses the word “women.”]

The whole verse (40:9) is feminine! The Duty and Method of Bearing Good Tidings to Zion, a Sermon by Rev. Alexander McCaul, D.D., pg 9 (London: Hatchard and Son, 187, Piccadilly) 1841:

“The substantive and all the words referring to it are, in the original, feminine. (McCaul)
“It is hardly needful to say that in the Bible the feminine is thus applied to churches and to nations. Some commentators assert, that the feminine form is here used for the masculine, and adduce in proof instances which they consider similar, but they forget that here the whole sentence is feminine, which makes this case essentially different. Such a continuation of feminines is applied only where a female is intended…” (McCaul)

Then I came across a valuable old book, Gunethics; Or, the Ethical Status of Women, Rev. W. Kennedy Brown A. M., D.D. (Funk and Wagnalls, New York and London, 1887). Rev. Brown also writes about both Psalm 68:11 and Isaiah 40:9:

“In the fortieth chapter of Isaiah the following prophecy is found beginning with the third verse: (Brown)

(Isaiah 40:3)
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God…” (Brown)

“This is universally conceded to be a Messianic prophecy. The New Testament Scriptures affirm the reference of this passage to John the Baptist, the immediate herald of Jesus, the Christ. (Brown)

“Immediately following the quotation just made, at the ninth verse, are utterances evidently as distinctively prophetic of the engagement of females in the promulgation of the Gospel. (Brown)

(Isaiah 40:9)
“O daughter that bringest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain!
O daughter that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength;
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” (Brown)

“Thus the special heralds of the Gospel, John the Baptist and the woman sex, are designated in a united prophecy. The exhortation of the prophet was to the woman sex. This is suppressed in the ordinary translations, including our Authorized Version (King James). (Brown)

“At Isaiah 40:9, there is a most manifest perversion. The Hebrew text demands a feminine herald. As if to avoid this acknowledgment in our Authorized Version, the arrangement of the grammar is Reversed [“O Zion that bringest good tidings”… instead of “O daughter that bringest good tidings to Zion”]. The Revised Version corrects the false arrangement and restores the grammar, but Fails to carry the feminine into the translation [“O thou that tellest the good tidings to Zion”… “daughters” were changed to “thou”]. (Brown)

“This text, standing as it does, immediately following a passage which is universally conceded as prophesying the ministry of John, the New Testament Elijah, would bear most conclusive testimony for the prominence of women in publishing the Gospel of glad tidings, were not its significance dissipated in the translation. It is also possible that whole texts on this question have disappeared, very much as the incident at St. John, eighth chapter, beginning at the first verse, was so nearly lost…. (Brown)

“It may not be amiss to remark that the interpretation of this sixty-eighth Psalm has always been regarded by commentators as exceedingly perplexing, and conclusions thereon as of doubtful worth. It is also proper to note that the translations generally wholly suppress the sex of woman, including our Authorized Version (King James). Let us refer to the sixty-eighth Psalm. The English Authorized Version reads at the eleventh verse, (Brown)

(Psalm 68:11)
“The Lord gave the word.
Great was the company of those that published it.” (Brown)

“Let us consider the prophecy of the sixty-eighth psalm which doubtless has reference to the great number of women preachers in the fullness of Gospel times. Beginning with the eleventh verse of this Psalm, we read from the Revised Version: (Brown)

(Psalm 68:11)
“The LORD giveth the word:
The women that publish the tidings are a great host.” (Brown)

“The angels and Saviour united in authorizing and charging certain women whom Jesus had associated with His disciples to fulfill the mission embodying these features of a spiritual ministry. (Brown)

“What more honorable or more purely spiritual ministry has been entrusted to mankind than that of making the first proclamation of the resurrection, the greatest fact and miracle of the kingdom of God? (Brown)

“What higher religious honour and spiritual truth has been confided to man than that which received commission to show the path to the Risen Saviour, to announce the marvel of the ascension, to declare the relation of Jesus and our own relation to the Infinite One? – all of which was specifically entrusted to woman for proclamation to the Church by the Lord Himself after the resurrection and before He had spoken to any of the male disciples. (Brown)

“Christianity no-where in its subsequent history presents women on the elevation assigned them by Jesus, nor, indeed, at the status they were conceded at its rise. (Brown)

“Anything less than an equal opportunity in the field of the world in the labor of human redemption is injustice to the kingdom of God, injustice to the State, injustice to humanity, as well as unwarrantable, almost unpardonable injustice to the sex of woman. (Brown)

Margins and footnotes …….

It is most likely impossible to find out the exact year when our bibles lost their “women” words, or who is responsible. The deceitful translators definitely had a plan. First the “women” words got insidiously transferred to the margins; then the margins disappeared altogether. It is quite a coincidence that both “women” prophesies got moved before they were eliminated.

Helps to Composition by Charles Simeon (John Burges, Cambridge University, 1801) pg 164. In the footnotes of Isaiah 40:9

• It should be read as in the margin, “O daughter, that bringeft good tidings to Zion, &c” It was cuftomary for women to celebrate the praifes, of God in public on remarkable occasions. (Simeon)

God’s Word to Women by Katharine Bushnell, 1923, pg xiv. From the forward written in 1943 by Ray B. Munson:

“The Lord giveth the word, [the women] … that publish the tidings are a great host” (Psalm 68:11, KJV, margin note, Oxford University Press). (Bushnell)

Omitting Margins, missing link for missing “women” words….

“The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into the English language, preceding the King James translation by 51 years. By and large, the difference is that the KJV lacked footnotes that the Geneva Bible contained.” Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Bible

Finally, I found Isaiah 40:9! In Only ONE bible, again the Orthodox Jewish Bible. Thank God for their honesty!!

O Mevaseret Tziyon (O Herald, Preacher of Besorah [Good News, Gospel] Tziyon, O Lady Evangelist Tziyon), get thee up into the har gavo’ah (high mountain); O Mevaseret Yerushalayim (O Herald, Preacher of Besorah [Good News, Gospel] Yerushalayim, O Lady Evangelist Yerushalayim), lift up thy voice with ko’ach; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the towns of Yehudah, Hinei Eloheichem.
Twice it says, “O Lady Evangelist… O Herald, Preacher of Good News, Gospel.”

…..…Only ONE bible….….!!!!!!!!!!

This paragraph about Psalm 68:11 in Hard Sayings of the Bible (Intervarsity Press, 1996), by Walter C. Kaiser Jr, Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce, Manfred T. Brauch sums it up very well (page 276):

“As mentioned before, the announcers of the good news appear to be women, for the Hebrew participle is in the feminine plural form. God placed his word in the mouths of his announcers; the word of promise and power in the face of a hostile world. As such, this word is very close to that of Isaiah 40:9 and especially Joel 2:28-29. These heralders comprised a great host of individuals. Surely this foreshadows what God would do at Pentecost and what he has since done all over the world through the great missionary force which has included so many women.”

Could it be that the “women” in these verses were erased because men didn’t want to give women ‘ideas’ about preaching?

These verses were actual prophecies about the women on Resurrection morning. Jesus fulfilled these words when He appeared to Women Only at the empty tomb, telling them to proclaim His excellent news.

Those prophetic verses belong to women!!

It still grieves me that most bibles do not say “women,” in both these verses. These are such strong and meaningful passages. And if they changed these verses, how many other verses did they change??

Other missing women:

• In our modern English bibles, men are “elders” and women are “older” (1 Tim 5:1, 2), yet in the Greek it is the same root word ‘presbuteros.’
• “Her” villages are now “the” villages. These verses should say “her towns:” Joshua 15:45, 47; 17:11, 16; Judges 1:27; 11:26; 1 Chronicles 5:16; 7:29; 18:1; Jeremiah 19:15. These verses should say “her cities:” Joshua 13:17; Jeremiah 48:15, 51:43; Ezekiel 29:12, 30:7. And these should say “her villages:” Numbers 21:25; Joshua 15:45, 47.
• When speaking of the tribulation, Jesus said, “and the moon shall not give her light.” Matthew 24:39, Mark 13:24.
• Then He talked about the fig tree, “When her branch is yet tender,” Mark 13:28.
• “Inhabitress” is now “inhabitant.” These verses should say “inhabitress:” Isaiah 12:6; Jeremiah 10:17; 21:13; 22:23; 46:19; 48:18, 19; 51:35; Micah 1:11, 12, 13, 15.
• “Deacon” is for men, “servant” is for women. Again it is the same Greek word ‘diaknonos.’ In Romans 16:1 Phebe used to be a “minister,” now she is a “servant.”
• Check your bibles to see if you still have: “born of women” in Matthew 11:11; “from their mother’s womb” in Matthew 19:12; “daughter of Zion” in Matthew 21:5; “born of women” in Luke 7:28; “her children” in Luke 7:35.
• In Acts 18:26, less than half the bibles still name Priscilla first, then Aquila. I wonder who changed them around. And the list goes on… Is your heart not breaking?

For many centuries, the “woman caught in adultery” (John 8) was even excluded from the bible, because men thought it would give women the ‘idea’ that Jesus approved of adultery. Can you imagine not knowing that story?? And Junia (Romans 16:7), the only known woman apostle, was robbed of her gender. In the thirteenth century she became a man, Junias!!

These are just some of the mistranslated words and atrocities which I have discovered through my readings and comparing bibles. There are likely many more but I don’t know about them.
I feel that our bibles have been hijacked. Removing the “women” words is a type of female genocide, making women disappear. I was beginning to see how all these mistranslations, misinterpretations, and false teachings work together to keep women in subordination, taking away their equality, giving men all the power, control and authority, and women remaining invisible.

Women are not allowed to question, or speak, or teach, or preach, or divorce. And how many times a year do women have to be indoctrinated with “Must be silent.” “Must submit.” “Must not teach.” “Men are the head.”…?

‘Undermining Women’s Prominence’ in the early church http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/first/women.html Written by Karen L. King:

“Women’s prominence did not, however, go unchallenged. Every variety of ancient Christianity that advocated the legitimacy of women’s leadership was eventually declared heretical, and evidence of women’s early leadership roles was erased or suppressed. It needs to be emphasized that the formal elimination of women from official roles of institutional leadership did not eliminate women’s actual presence and importance to the Christian tradition, although it certainly seriously damaged their capacity to contribute fully. What is remarkable is how much evidence has survived systematic attempts to erase women from history, and with them the warrants and models for women’s leadership.”

“Or women’s stories could be rewritten and alternative traditions could be invented. In the case of Mary Magdalene, starting in the fourth century, Christian theologians in the Latin West associated Mary Magdalene with the unnamed sinner who anointed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7:36-50. The confusion began by conflating the account in John 12:1-8, in which Mary (of Bethany) anoints Jesus, with the anointing by the unnamed woman sinner in the accounts of Luke. Once this initial, erroneous identification was secured, Mary Magdalene could be associated with every unnamed sinful woman in the gospels, including the adulteress in John 8:1-11 and the Syrophoenician woman with her five and more “husbands” in John 4:7-30. Mary the apostle, prophet, and teacher had become Mary the repentant whore. This fiction was invented at least in part to undermine her influence and with it the appeal to her apostolic authority to support women in roles of leadership.”

You will also want to read, Karen Jo Torjesen, When Women Were Priests: Women’s Leadership in the Early Church & The Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity (New York, NY: Harper Collins Publisher, 1995.)

The ones translating the word keep erasing women words, and the ones speaking the word speak mostly about the men, but throughout the centuries God has called many women. They were not able to be on the pulpits of later organized religions but they had the first house meetings and they formed monasteries and they became missionaries and they passed on their faith to their sons and their daughters.

God still calls women today. They teach bible studies and they read to their children and they comfort the poor and they become bible scholars and they write blogs. All people suffer when women are not allowed to use their gifts. And when women feel devalued enough, they stop going to church.

I still trust God, and I still believe in the Word of God, even though it has been tampered with. Perhaps, if enough people demand it, one day those precious women words will be restored. “O thou woman, preacher that bringest glad tidings.” “The Lord gave the command. Great are the lady evangelists, the heralds who proclaim and publish the good news, gospel.”

We need to focus on Jesus’s words and actions in the gospels, not on Paul’s misinterpreted words. We need to restore our faith in the Lord Jesus and dwell on what He did for women. There is so much of God’s love and protection in those pages that we have not heard. The bible also has some really powerful women and children we could learn from and enjoy.

Women need to hang on to these verses. Hopefully, more women will learn Hebrew and Greek so they are allowed on translation committees. I also pray that more men will be moved by God to defend the equality and dignity and words of women. How I wish there was one bible which translated all the women verses accurately! We cannot let these women verses disappear forever.

“This is such a great work because it will preserve and hopefully restore the truth about these “women” verses. This work reminds me of the people who save seeds; once the original seeds are gone, they are gone forever. The seeds become an extinct species, just like the animals that are disappearing. There is only a fragment of evidence left about the mistranslated “women” words, but thank God there are a few people who are called to do this precious research for the Lord, and for women.” – Irene Fisher

RELIGIOUS ABUSE – What Exactly Is it?

Throughout the last several years, it has been a goal of mine to expose abuses hidden under the guise of “religion.” Countless millions of people have no idea religious abuse is real, that it exists, or what it involves. For those who have experienced such abuse, it is personal . . . very personal. The trauma inflicted not only encompasses physical and sexual abuses, but it encompasses spiritual, psychological and emotional abuse as well. What many do not realize is that religious abuse, terrorism, and “hate crimes” are all related. Really take some time to think on this. Religious abuse is linked to domestic abuse, child abuse, inequality of the sexes, prostitution and sex trafficking, etc. The list can go on and on. Once you understand what religious abuse is, then you will understand why I say this. This understanding is paramount in recognizing the abuses for what they are – abuse – and, helping to stop them. When we can stop religious abuse, hate crimes, domestic abuse and other associated crimes will also dwindle down.

Before we get started, however, on defining this term in depth let me say that religious abuse is a direct result of religious indoctrination. Indoctrination affects thoughts, beliefs and behaviors toward others for either good or bad. Keep this in mind as you read further.

 

So what is religious abuse? In case there is some uncertainty as to what this means, let me be very specific in this matter and define it for readers, as follows:

RELIGIOUS ABUSE: The instilling of religious precepts, doctrines, rules, and dogmas into the mind of an individual or group in order to bring about a change in thought processes and behavior for control, manipulation, and personal gain. As a result of this indoctrination and control, it can lead an individual or group to slander, attack, assault or kill under the pretense that they are doing God a favor. In the name of God, they inflict harm or violence toward an adult or child that results in physical, emotional, psychological or sexual trauma. It may even lead to the death of the victim.

Religious abuse is a by-product of an authoritarian or rule-based religious system. Usually these types of religious systems give men unquestionable authority over women and children. The women and children, however, have no authority or input at all. The many rules and dogmas are set “against” women and children so that men can have freedom and control.

Some may refer to this type of system as “legalistic.” It doesn’t matter what term is used to define it. What is important is that the abusive system is identified and those abused in it are rescued and given the justice they deserve. Those who perpetrate religious abuse demand silence from those abused. To speak out will cause the religious abuser to further attack a victim.

Who are religious abusers? There are two categories of religious abusers:

1)  They are those who use their authority and/or position in conjunction with religious text to persuade the abused they were responsible for the abuses done to them; thus, silencing them through shame while protecting the perpetrator of the abuse. This category of abusers will usually hurl one or all of the following abusive phrases at a victim:

• “It’s your fault. What were you wearing?”

• “God commands us to forgive.” Therefore you need to forgive your abuser. Don’t go to the police. Let us handle this issue internally. After all, we don’t want you to cause “damage to the cause of Christ.”

• “You’re just angry and bitter!”

2)  They employ unethical and/or injurious tactics to silence a victim of religious abuse such as stalking, cyber-stalking, cyber bullying, harassment, causing one to lose their job, etc.

As a result, religious abuse continues to thrive and religious abusers continue to silence truth and allow criminals a hiding place under the mantle of righteousness their religious sect wears.

There are many facets to religious abuse. They are as follows:

FACET #1 – EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Unlike physical abuse, emotional abuse leaves no physical marks. And because it can be difficult to detect, it is very difficult to stop. In this type of abuse, it is all about CONTROL. The one being abused by it is the one the abuser wishes to control and manipulate.  It can be inflicted in many different forms as follows:

• Verbal Abuse – using words to inflict harm, modify behavior, or instill fear of someone or something.

It can be as subtle as damaging words between a parent and child, pastor and congregant, or between two congregants. It can be as subtle as a message preached with an “underlying message” aimed at modifying behavior and thought processes. It can be as overt as a message preached with the express intent of attacking a congregant or child’s behavior and publicly humiliating them. Or, it can be as overt as yelling and screaming with threats of physical violence. The atmosphere becomes one of fear, anger, anxiety or hostility.

• Isolation – isolating the victim from other family members, close friends, others in the church, and authorities.

This is usually done intentionally and is used to either hurt a victim emotionally or, isolate them for better control and manipulation. It is employed by religious leaders and lay people to bring about conformity to the rules and dogmas of the religious sect they are a part of. It is used to control others for personal satisfaction and gain. It is also used to prevent its victims from escaping the abuse and going to authorities for help. Isolation ensures no one escapes from the sect, its leaders, and those who are members of it.

• Limited Social Contact – severely limiting or eliminating social contact with others, especially those that can think independently or, believe differently or, live different lifestyles. Isolation from the rest of secular society keeps those who are indoctrinated from being influenced by outside sources and/or truths.

This is a deliberate attempt to control the circle of influence of the victim in order to ensure that the modifying and programming of their behavior is successful. Any contact with those that think for themselves and/or believe differently, can prevent successful indoctrination toward the sect’s rules and dogmas. This is a control tactic used by church leaders and congregants especially where children are concerned. This prevents autonomy and develops “clones” of the system. This also leads to severe bouts of loneliness and depression since this is also a form of isolation.

• Neglect – the failure to give proper and adequate attention to the individual’s need, problems, questions, and concerns.

Especially where women and children are concerned, this is a very big problem within religion. Many emotional needs are not met in a religiously abusive environment. Many will adopt the attitudes and behaviors of the sects they serve and often become unemotional, uncompromising, abrasive, lacking in compassion and, violent toward those who question authority, practice, rules or leadership or, disobey any of these. Because abusive religions degrade and suppress women and children, they are treated as having no value. As a result, their desires, wants, and needs are overlooked or ignored and only the desires, wants and needs of the men and the church leaders are deemed important. This is not only neglect, it is abuse.

• Threats – of physical harm, shunning, public humiliation, death.

All of these are used consistently to coerce adults and children into obeying “without question.” Those who do not obey without question, will find themselves on the receiving end of public humiliation, gossip, slander, beatings, torture, starvation, loss of comforts, and other inhumane treatment. Some may even be killed. These “threats” are no different than hate crimes. In my opinion, any abuse meted out in order to force conformity or, because one does not conform, can be categorized not only as religious abuse but also as a hate crime.

• Belittling the person – attacking a person’s character because their actions do not line up with the sects rules and ideals.

Belittling is used to force conformity and to deter associations with outside influences. Belittling can be used against a victim’s family members if they do not believe and live the same way the sect members do. This is done in order to deter the person from having social contact with those specific family members who believe differently and might question the religious rules, dogmas, and beliefs of the sect. This limits the sphere of people available to the victim who have the potential to rescue them from the abusive sect. This tactic is used on adults and children to cause them to obey leadership without questioning anything they may say or do. It is also used to humiliate a victim in order to modify behavior. While this tactic works well, it also can lead to anger, resentment, and a desire to flee the abuse at the earliest possible chance.

• Psychological Abuse – This is also known as emotional abuse or mental abuse and is characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Physical abuse, molestation, and sexual assault cause psychological trauma and abuse. Certain religious teachings can also cause this same trauma. For instance, the concept of hell is a huge trigger for psychological abuse; especially in small children. In the sect I came out of, there were videos that were viewed by the adults and children that showed human torture in hell. Some of the messages preached were also graphic in nature regarding this human torture. These were used to instill fear. This fear was then manipulated by clergy. Children can suffer nightmares from these things and live in fear of dying. It also causes them a fear of “breaking the religious rules” for fear of going to hell. The emotional trauma is compounded by the child’s inability to keep all the rules and their anxiety builds up to a level where depression can occur as well as other mental illnesses as their mind tries to find a coping mechanism. Those who cannot cope may attempt suicide to escape the mental anguish they are living under.

Emotional abuse has the same effects in every instance: it beats people down, destroys their self-image, stifles growth and maturity, destroys autonomy, self-respect and, leaves victims defenseless. Emotional abuse is specifically designed to kill the spirit within an individual and replace it with the institution’s ideals, precepts and dogmas. It is, in effect, “soul murder.” .

Emotional abuse also instills fear, coupled with an imposed shame and guilt from the perpetrator of the abuse. This fear then becomes an impenetrable wall that grows so strong it can take decades of therapy to remove. Emotional abuse is a direct result of a power imbalance and inequality. The number one weapon used to inflict this abuse is Scripture. Not only is it used as a baseball bat to beat people into conformity through fear, it is used to incite people to violence (hate crimes and terrorism) against those who disagree or question religious leaders, their religious rules, dogmas, church policy, or the abuses witnessed.  Emotional Abuse also leads to the inability to cope with the problems and challenges that may occur throughout the life of the victim. Those who endure this type of abuse live their lives in fear of God, government, the church, church leaders, their abusers, the unsaved and, those still entrenched within the abusive sect they extract themselves from.  Victims of emotional abuse may suffer from mental illnesses, depression, and addictions with alcohol and drugs. They may have eating disorders and suffer physical maladies as a result of the emotional trauma inflicted.

FACET #2 – PHYSICAL ABUSE

This could include sexual mutilation, beatings, starvation, burning, cutting and torture. In some instances, physical abuse can lead to death. Those most vulnerable to this type of abuse are women and children. It is used to instill fear to further the control over an individual.

In religion, physical abuse is used to control behavior. Every time the proper response is not correctly exhibited, the victim may be the recipient of public humiliation, physical spankings and/or beatings, starvation and loss of comforts. This is especially true with children. Not only is physical abuse done in the home, it is also administered by other kids within a religiously controlled environment. Examples would be a church run home for wayward teens, camp settings, religiously run boarding schools, church activities.

FACET #3 – SEXUAL ABUSE AND RAPE

This is the number one problem throughout the world. There are several forms of sexual abuse:

• Child Sexual Abuse – This involves sexual abuse, sexual mutilation, incest and/or molestation, and sex trafficking. Forms include asking a child or coercing a child into engaging in sexual activities, indecent exposure (of the genitals, female nipples, etc.) with the intent to gratify one’s own sexual desires, or to intimidate or groom the child, physical sexual contact with a child, or using a child to produce child pornography. Effects of child sexual abuse can include depression, mental illnesses, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, anxiety, and lead to further victimization in adulthood as well as physical injury. This type of abuse is usually coupled with psychological trauma and includes the effects of this trauma as well.

• Sexual Mutilation – It is also known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The age of the girls varies from weeks after birth to puberty; in half the countries for which figures were available in 2013, most girls were cut before the age of five. This practice is an ethnic marker, rooted in gender inequality, ideas about purity, modesty and aesthetics, and attempts to control women’s sexuality. It is supported by both women and men in countries that practice it. It can lead to recurrent infections, chronic pain, infertility, epidermoid cysts, complication during childbirth, and fatal bleeding. It also brings emotional trauma to the child.

Some countries also sexually mutilate the breasts of young girls by ironing them flat with a hot iron. The trauma and scars inflicted by this form of mutilation goes beyond moral comprehension and, defies conscience.

• Rape – this occurs with women as well as young girls and boys. Rape is a sexual assault against a women or young child against his or her will. Usually, you will find rape coupled with physical violence and/or death. This type of abuse is well hidden within most religious sects. It can result in pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, psychological trauma, suicide, secondary victimization, and victim blaming.

Rape and other forms of sexual assault on a child can result in both short-term and long-term harm, including psychopathology in later life. Psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, eating disorders, poor self-esteem, dissociative and anxiety disorders; general psychological distress and disorders such as somatization, neurosis, chronic pain, sexualized behavior, school/learning problems; and behavior problems including substance abuse, destructive behavior, criminality in adulthood and suicide [Wikipedia].

The risk of lasting psychological harm is greater if the perpetrator of the sexual assault on the child is a relative (i.e., incest), or if threats or force are used. Incestual rape has been shown to be one of the most extreme forms of childhood trauma, a trauma that often does serious and long-term psychological damage, especially in the case of parental incest. Many incest victims suffer from mental illnesses as a result.

 

FACET #4 – SPIRITUAL ABUSE

This type of abuse, like emotional abuse, leaves no physical marks. However, its trauma is profound in the life of the one being victimized by it. In this type of abuse, God’s Name and/or religious text is used to JUSTIFY all abuse inflicted. Scripture is also used as a tool to force victims into submission to the dogmas, beliefs and rules of the religious sect. God’s name and scripture are the two main “weapons of choice” employed by abusive leaders to extract money, prestige, power, personal gain, and, to sexually exploit women and children within their congregations; thus gaining control in all aspects of their followers lives.  All messages taught and preached have one agenda in mind – to control each individual within the congregation. Using deceptively packaged sermons laced with “underlying meanings,” religious leaders attempt to stifle creative thought, independent thinking and, instill new thought patterns and behaviors into their flock (Thought Reform and Behavior Modification).  These new thought patterns and attitudes become the norm by which everyone is judged. Those who adopt the same thought patterns and beliefs as the leadership are “right with God.” Those who do not, “are not right with God” and are in jeopardy of being attacked, shunned and/or character assassinated.

Scripture is the number one weapon of choice for religious leaders in modifying behavior. People naturally believe religious leaders are speaking on God’s behalf. This belief motivates followers to follow all the rules and believe all the rhetoric preached and taught. What they do not realize is that many religious leaders do not speak for God. They speak for themselves. Scripture is also an excellent tool used to instill a fear of further punishment from God if a victim tells anyone about the abuse they have endured or witnessed. Again, as with emotional abuse, the same phrases will be employed. “Hurting the cause of Christ” by telling the truth is heavily discouraged. To speak out is akin to gossiping and many victims will be told this repeatedly and reminded how God hates gossip.

Spiritual Abuse can be inflicted without the knowledge of the victim. When it does occur, it leaves its victims in shock, hurting, confused and, yes, traumatized. They know they have been hurt, but justify the abuse because they don’t know it IS abuse. They think within themselves that the “preacher” is really trying to look out for their best interests and accept the abuse as “God sent” in order to bring them back to the right path.  They may not even realize it is, in fact, abuse. For example: The sect I came out of used the pulpit as a whipping post to attack congregants publicly who did not conform to the rules and standards of the church and its leaders (public humiliation). They used the pulpit to attack publicly, those who questioned the pastor’s authority, disagreed with the pastor, or exposed abuses in the church. They forced children, teenagers and adults to stand before the entire congregation to “confess” sins – a form of punishment that leaves lasting psychological scars and trauma. Usually, these “sins” were nothing more than a breaking of one of the sect’s many rules. To do so, to the sect members, is sin. They used God and scripture to support inflicting this emotional attack. Therefore the trauma is two-fold – emotional and spiritual. The twisting of scripture to suit leadership’s agendas and long-term goals is professionally done in order to control congregants and reap personal gain. Those that do not question what is being taught, follow blindly whatever leadership wants done, even if it means inflicting more emotional trauma to the same victim (secondary abuse).

Sadly, spiritual abuse is designed to prevent independent and rational thought processes. It is the most destructive of all abuses because those subjected to it are left seeing God as an abusive entity that lacks love, compassion and acceptance. He is ever ready at any moment to hurt and destroy anyone who does not conform to the religious dogmas and standards of the religious system they are a part of. He is seen as someone who is angry all the time and ready to destroy at the slightest infraction. Because of this, many followers will adopt that very attitude in dealing with those who fall short of perfection in keeping all the religious rules and precepts. Some will adopt this very attitude with their children, leading to the emotional and physical abuse of a child. As a result of spiritual abuse, many victims fear speaking out because they have been taught that GOD will punish them further, or their children, or their families, if they dare to speak out against “God’s Man.” It can take many years of therapy for a victim of this kind of abuse to overcome their fears and speak out!

Spiritual abuse is also the number one reason multitudes of people are turning their backs on God, the religious texts, the Church and religion. Religion and religious texts become toxic to the spiritually abused. For many, it creates anxiety, panic attacks, fears, mental illnesses, and physical illnesses in those subjected to it. Just as the other abuses traumatize and have ill affects long term, so does this type of abuse. Those still entrenched in the abusive religion cannot understand why a victim would turn from God and religion. As a result, they “label” the individual and shun them, not realizing that they are inflicting secondary trauma by doing so. The victim being labeled and shunned develops a poorer self-image and self-esteem as a result. This may cause severe depression and can lead to suicide for many of those affected by this tactic.

Recognizing spiritual abuse is key in stopping it and extracting oneself and others from it. The lives of those suffering this type of abuse are devoid of joy. Many of them suffer depression. They isolate themselves from others out of fear and, once again, employ aids to help them cope – food, alcohol, and drugs.

Religious abuse is very real. It is very destructive. It has many facets. It leads to domestic violence, hate crimes, terrorism, physical abuse, child abuse, and on and on. How is it possible all of this could be taking place underneath an entity millions have come to trust as the safest place for themselves and their families? The answer: They are taught to adopt the mindsets and beliefs of the systems they serve. In doing so, it leads to blindness. Those indoctrinated cannot ‘see’ reality. They only see what they are taught or told to see by leadership within the system they serve. The abuses have always been taking place and are well hidden because of ‘blindness’ instilled through indoctrination and fear tactics.

It’s time for people to realize religious abuse is real and be able to recognize it for what it is. Everyone needs to be educated on every aspect of this type of abuse in order to protect themselves and their families from it.

Blinders – By Nancy Bicknell

TAKE YOUR BLINDERS OFF I.F.B. PARENTS

A messaged for children who were abused in the I.F.B. (Independent Fundamental Baptist) church whose parents will NEVER stand up for them:

This is what I would like to say to you as a mom who is trying to stand up for her kids.

I am sorry for the abuse you endured. I am unhappy that your parents cannot stand up for you. Many parents are too indoctrinated in the I.F.B. beliefs to leave the church to protect their children. Yes, I said LEAVE the church  because, if parents stand up for their abused children in the I.F.B. church, they know they will be shamed, shunned and pushed out. My husband and I have finally stood up for our two boys. But, it took them being sexually abused in the I.F.B. church before I stood up. And even then, I was so fearful of the I.F.B. and their tactics, that I had to have a lot of support to stand. I did this by telling my boys it was time for them to tell their stories of abuse since they were adults now and only needed my permission to tell it all. However, the victim has to be strong enough to go through the I.F.B. secondary abuse that will be thrown at them. If they are not emotionally strong then they are not ready to tell their story.

As a Mom, I wanted my boys to talk about their abuse and I would come in as Mom and defend them, protect them from the IFB darts and, validate that I was there and everything they told in their stories was true as I experienced it with them as their Mom. So, I say this to those who’s parents may never see the light: You can find that loving support (the love you wanted from your parents but didn’t get) in others who have seen the light. I guess if you are ready to reach out, then others who understand, will reach back. No one can do this alone. The abuse in the I.F.B. church surpasses that of the Catholics according to G.R.A.C.E. We try to band together and help each other, but yes, in the end, you alone will stand on the stage of the public forum and tell your story if you choose. Many never will and they also have that choice. When all we have left is our story because the statutes of limitations is up, we know we stand together, and yet, alone. There will be no police help for us.

Perhaps some are gifted and can help change the laws. But in the mean time, find a good substitute Mom and Dad that will emotionally support you.  Lean on other abuse survivors. There are those who can write articles and play songs to bring attention to the I.F.B. abuse. I shout out to and for my boys that they are HEROES and stand behind them in the wings of the stage when they tell their stories; and I cry because I was too late and am doing too little. Yet, as they tell their stories, I see other victims standing in the audience and giving them a standing ovation; and their parents look at their children in amazement as they attempt to tell them “Sit down” Sit Down. We haven’t sat down yet…we are standing…keep standing.

Blinders
by Linda Mary Schaap

Look the other way!
Hide the shame, the tears, the ruin, the fear…
Gloss the truth, squash the ‘lie’ –
So no one will interfere…
Blinders.
Deeply festered is a wound so raw
Yet hidden beneath the acceptable.
Pain not erased even by law
For it wallows in a life susceptible…
Blinders.
Looking only straight ahead
Missing the clues of deception,
While atrocious actions multiply
And hearts are broken without detection…
Blinders.
Tear them off! Reveal the truth!
Shed the light on a tragedy!
See what’s right beside you
A soul in need of majesty…
Finders.
Diminish the hurt by reaching out
Avoid the shock, the awe, the no!
Listening, unfolding each awful truth
Of a story that just couldn’t be so…
Finders.
Please, don’t look the other way
And cover the deeds of darkness.
Nor silence an innocent voice
Who cries of confusion, shame, and brokenness…
Finders.

Equality of Women in Early Christianity

I often come across information that I find to be very educational; information that I feel everyone needs to hear because it dispels the religious teachings that religion propagates regarding women and their true positions in the early church and society. Consistently, as I find this information, I quote it on my blog and expound on it. My blog is full of articles that provide evidence of changes and corruptions in translation that have leaned attitudes of men against women and female leadership. These changes have been purposely done to write women out of autonomy and equality and point them into positions of servitude to men. These attitudes have had an opportunity to saturate societies the world over for centuries and, set a foundation for abuse of women everywhere. These abuses have never been more prevalent than in today’s culture – a rape culture – where even the smallest female child has no safety from the abuse. For an example of this mentality and culture, click any of the following links:

More rape in India as Delhi reports 4 year old assaulted

Saudi preacher gets fine and short jail term for raping and killing 5 year old daughter

Iran legalizes Pedophilia

Sacrificing Our Daughters: On the Psychology of Islamic Rape-Gangs

Throughout history, religion has, through translation, forced women into specific roles within the church and even society. This is mainly because of men dominating religion and re-writing scripture to lean it toward their biases and preconceptions, and then, using their corruptions as a means to force issues and mindsets regarding women.  All manuscripts written regarding women disciples and their roles in the church have been forced out of existence. The only remnants we have through discovery are very small. Because of religion’s biases, women have lost their equality, honor and dignity; leading to abuses in the home and society. It has also led to secular laws in some places that prevent women from ever shedding the shackles of abuse and regaining their honor and dignity back. We often hear of honor killings where men’s “honor” is emphasized, but what these abusive societies fail to consider is the “honor” and “dignity” of women; many of which, are accused falsely and, some are even killed without proper recourse to the rapist and/or murderer. Those that try to escape the abuse will find themselves in jail or killed.  And yet, others will be mutilated or tortured by these same religious mindsets. For examples of these mindsets, click any of the following links:

Norwegian Woman: I was raped in Dubai, now I face prison sentence.

Newlywed Afghan beheaded for her refusal to become prostitute

Afghan women imprisoned for ‘moral’ crimes

Female genital mutilation on the rise in the United States

Muslim gang-rapes across Europe under reported by Press

Saudi cleric says ‘baby burkas’ would prevent child molestation

Rape is Rape: How the Culture of Shaming, Stigma, and Victim-Blaming is Hurting Us

The information that I would like to share today comes from the book, Lost Christianities, by Bart D. Erhman. I believe that Erhman brings to the forefront in an exceptional way, the very attitudes of the early church leaders and gives plausible insights as to why many of the manuscripts of the early centuries disappeared that were written or handed down regarding women and their roles in the church. I sincerely hope this information is helpful and educational for the reader as it was for me.

************

Lost Christianities by Bart D. Erhman

Women in Paul and the Apocryphal Acts

Scholars of Paul have debated his view of women in the church. . .a number of scholars have concluded that Paul’s instruction for women to be silent in 1 Corinthians may not be from Paul, just as the letter to Timothy is not from Paul.

What, then, was Paul’s attitude toward women in the church? In his undisputed letters, Paul indicates that “in Christ there is no male or female” (Gal. 3:28), that is, that men and women were completely equal in Christ. Moreover, as scholars of the late twentieth century began to emphasize, churches connected in some way with Paul appear to have had women leaders. Just in the greetings to the church of Rome, for example, Paul mentions several women who worked with him as Christian missionaries (Rom. 16:3, 6, 12), another who was the patron of the church meeting in her home (16:3), one other, a woman named Phoebe, who was a deacon in the church of Cenchrea (16:1), and most striking of all, yet another woman, Junia, whom Paul describes as “foremost among the apostles” (16:7).

Paul, and his churches, may have been more open to women and their leadership roles than people have traditionally thought and far more than Tertullian thought. No wonder that members of Paul’s churches (primarily women members?) told stories about the adventures of his female companions like Thecla. And no wonder that men in the churches eventually decided to clamp down, forging documents in Paul’s name condemning the practice of having women speak in church (1 Timothy), inserting passages into Paul’s authentic letters urging women to be silent (1 Cor.14:34-35), calling church councils to condemn an elder of a Pauline church who had dared collect narratives of Paul’s woman disciple Thecla and pass them off as authentically Pauline.

Some scholars have wondered whether the stories of Thecla were causing problems in the Pauline churches years before this accused forger did his work, wondered whether the existence of such stories is what led the author of 1 Timothy, whoever he was, to compose his letter in Paul’s name. It is indeed striking that the letter predicts that in “later times” there will be people who condemn the practice of marriage (4:1-4): “Paul” himself speaks against the practice in the Acts of Thecla. Moreover, the canonical letter of 1 Timothy explicitly urges its readers not to listen to “the profane tales of old women” and condemns younger women who are “idlers, going about from door to door . . .as gossips and busybodies, saying things they should not” (4:8, 5:13). The younger women who have lost husbands are to “marry, bear children, rule their households, and give the enemy no grounds to reproach us” (5:14).

This is certainly not the view advanced in the Acts of Thecla, which urges women not to marry, not to bear children, and to leave their households. For THAT “Paul,” the Paul of the Acts of Thecla, “blessed are the continent, for God shall speak with them” and “blessed are the bodies of the virgins, for they will be well pleasing to God and will not lose the reward of their chastity.” Possibly the stories of Thecla and others like them are what motivated the author of 1 Timothy to write his letter in Paul’s name. – Bart D. Erhman, Lost Christianities, pages 37-39.

************

Many of the stories that had to do with women disciples obviously empowered women to be autonomous; something men did not want, have never wanted. Control is what men desire to have. If they cannot get it in society then they will get it through scripture as shown above. Forgeries done in the names of the Apostles were a weapon used to stop women from being equal; from being leaders. According to Erhman, “ancient Christianity stressed the equality of women in Christ.”

************

Lost Christianities by Bart D. Erhman, page 46

For apocalypticists like Jesus, Paul, and their immediate followers, this age and the social conventions it embraces are passing away. Jesus was reputed to have women followers who associated with him in public, ate with him, touched him, supported him. And no wonder, either, that Paul had women leaders in his churches and insisted that in Christ “there is not male and female.” . . .

Even so, one can see how the message of Jesus and his followers would be attractive to women. In the coming kingdom there would be no oppression or injustice or inequality. Women and men would be equal. Some of Jesus’ followers started implementing the ideals of that kingdom in the present, working to alleviate poverty and suffering, working for justice, striving for equality. This implementation of the ideals of the kingdom was clearly evident in the early churches, where slave and free, Greek and barbarian, man and woman were all given an equal standing.

That is why the tales of Thecla and other ascetic women were not an anomaly in the early Christian movement. They were a significant statement of an important stream of early Christianity. Here were women who refused to participate in the constraints of patriarchal society. They remained unmarried, not under the control of a husband. And they were travelers, not staying at home under the authority of a paterfamilias, a father, a male head of household. The ascetic life went hand in hand with freedom to decide what to do with their own bodies, how to treat them, how to live in them; it went hand in hand with freedom of movement, not restricted to the household and household chores and the care and education of children, which occupied most women’s time.

Thus the asceticism advocated in the texts of the Apocryphal Acts both manifested and helped bring about a kind of liberation for Christian women. It is not surprise that women feature so prominently in the tales and no surprise that some scholars suspect that women were principally responsible for telling the tales, spreading the tales, embracing the tales, making the tales their own. Nor is it any surprise that other Christians hated the tales, outlawed the tales, burned the tales. It was these other Christians who, at the end of the day, proved the more powerful, for it was through the machinations of these other Christians—powerful proto-orthodox leaders and writers like Tertullian—that this stream of early Christianity was lost, only to be rediscovered in modern times. – Bart D. Erhman, Lost Christianities, page 46.

************

It is very difficult for religious people to understand and accept that religion has worked very hard and deceptively to subjugate and control women through corruptions in translation and through corruption of interpretation. It is very difficult for many religious people to accept the fact that “there is neither male nor female in Christ.” Women of today must have their honor, dignity and equality restored. Without equality, they will never be treated with honor and dignity and, they will never be protected from abuse. Any time there is inequality, there will be abuse of those slighted by it. Women have borne the brunt of abuse for centuries and, even today, are not getting the protections they deserve from the abuses. Instead, society has taken a position of blaming victims of abuse instead of helping them. Let’s work to give women their honor, dignity and equality back and protect them and their children from abuses hidden under the guise of “religion.” In order to do so, we must start with unmasking the lies that religion propagates and hides that foster this abuse toward women. That’s what my blog does.

When Alarm Alerts Yell Fire! Fire! – By Nancy Bicknell

A couple years ago I asked my son, Doug, to go to an addiction program at the IFB church where he was sexually abused to get some help for his drinking. Now, I know that was like taking a burn victim back to the building where they were scarred for life from their severe burns! But not then. It did not occur to me that this would harm him and not help him. After all, I was taking him to God’s church to find healing.

I had been going back into the abusive IFB church for a few months and I had developed a tolerance for the smells, sights and sounds of that church. Well, Doug walked into the church with me and said “OH God! I feel sick!” And ran for the mens bathroom to throw up. I had forgotten about the first time I walked into that abusive church after being out for years. I too, was physically sick. Unfortunately, I kept going into that church where my boys were abused until I could walk through the halls without throwing up. I was forcing myself to develop a threshold of tolerance for the emotional alarms going off in my head warning me to RUN….RUN. Like many others who try to go back to an abusive IFB church, I was taking my son into a burning church to heal his burn scars. That is what we call spiritual denial.

Our mind and body remember the abuse and, if we subject ourselves to the same triggers over and over, eventually the triggers will get less so we can stay in an abusive church. Doug was sick for a reason. That should have been the time to walk out of the church again rather than try to tolerate the puking. I know that now.

To cope with overwhelming experiences of distress, the brain will send out an alarm message like saying, “FIRE! FIRE!” The brain of a child who is raped may react by reducing the connectivity of the Alarm Alert regions in the brain that were hurt in order to survive if they are not removed from that church environment. Doug was helpless to remove himself from the abusive IFB church/school, because his parent taught in the IFB system. Doug’s child brain, in order to survive, went through a decrease in his emotional Alarm Alert as a self-protective response. He developed a tolerance to being in that abusive church as a child but, now as an adult, all the messages of Alarm Alert came flooding back and he vomited.

Sexual abuse of children can leave its victims prone to depression, moodiness and extreme or dulled emotional responsiveness, PTSD and addictions. This tolerance to emotional pain can ultimately prove harmful because it interferes with subsequent healthy Alarm Alert messages . Therefore my idea of taking a burn victim back into a burning building, turned out as one might predict –  very badly and, caused us all more burns.

The brain can change dramatically and begin to heal when provided with the right type of support and emotional nourishment. In our case, that would not be the IFB church where my boys were sexually abused. Understanding what goes wrong during and after abuse will help  IFB abuse survivors figure out how to make it right. Our long-term hope is to heal mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Those who have suffered abuse in the IFB will be more sensitive to disrespect of their pain and any empowering by others for the IFB pastors or IFB churches where they were abused. Their Alarm Alerts will begin working again in time. Getting away from that abusive IFB church environment is good thing. So if you feel like throwing up when you go into your old church environment….perhaps you should puke and walk out.

Corruption in 1 Corinthians 14

Exposing the Corruption in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

1 Cor. 14:34-35 – Let women be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but let them be in subjection, just as the law says; but if they want to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

The passage above coincides with Paul’s (in)famous instructions to Timothy:

1 Tim. 2:12-15 — I do not allow a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man; they are to be quiet. For Adam was formed first, and then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and fell into transgression. But she will be saved through bearing children—if they remain in faith, love, and holiness, with moderation.

These two passages have been used throughout history to force women into subjective roles to men in religion and society. Today, however, what has been twisted and used to deceive the masses needs to be untwisted and made right. The time has come to expose what man has changed in translation so that women everywhere can be given their honor, dignity and equality back. Men have, by force and translation, robbed women of these things. Scripture has been the number one weapon of choice for men everywhere in order to abuse and manipulate women. The two passages above are battering rams that religious leaders use to “prove” that this is GOD’S mandate.

Well, in case you haven’t read the many articles on this blog that “unmask” the corruptions that men have made to scripture to POINT women into this direction – thus setting them up for abuse – then let me start by saying that it is important that you do so. Many lives and, future abuses, hang in the balance.

So, as usual, I will quote a Hebrew and Greek Scholar on the passages above. Afterwards, I will give a summarization of my thoughts. According to the passages above, Paul believes that women should be quiet, pregnant, and allow the men to do all the teaching, right? Or does he?

************

Lost Christianities – Forgeries and Discoveries

By Bart D. Erhman

“As I have already pointed out, most critical scholars think that 1 Timothy is pseudonymous (not written by Paul): its vocabulary, writing style, theological modes of expression, and presupposed historical situation all differ significantly from what can be found in Paul’s authentic letters. But what about the passage in 1 Corinthians? No one doubts that Paul wrote THAT letter. Even so, there are good reasons for thinking Paul did not write the passage about women being silent in chapter 14. For one thing, just three chapters earlier Paul condoned the practice of women speaking in church. They are to have their heads covered, he insists, when they pray and prophesy—activities done out loud in antiquity. How could Paul condone a practice (women speaking in church) in chapter 11 that he condemns in chapter 14?

It has often been noted that the passage in chapter 14 also appears intrusive in its own literary context: Both before and after his instructions for women to keep silent, Paul is speaking not about women in church but about prophets in church. When the verses on women are removed, the passage flows neatly without a break. This too suggests that these verses were inserted into the passage later. Moreover, it is striking that the verses in question appear in different locations in some of our surviving manuscripts of Paul’s letter as if they had originally appeared as a marginal note (drawn from the teaching of the forged letter of 1 Timothy?) and inserted as judged appropriate in different parts of the chapter. On these grounds, a number of scholars have concluded that Paul’s instructions for women to be silent in 1 Corinthians may not be from Paul, just as the letter to Timothy is not from Paul.

What, then, was Paul’s attitude toward women in the church? In his undisputed letters, Paul indicates that “in Christ there is no male and female” (Gal. 3:28), that is, that men and women were completely equal in Christ. Moreover, as scholars of the late twentieth century began to emphasize, churches connected in some way with Paul appear to have had women leaders. Just in the greetings to the church of Rome, for example, Paul mentions several women who worked with him as Christian missionaries (Rom. 16:3, 6, 12), another who was the patron of the church meeting in her home (16:3), one other, a woman named Phoebe, who was a deacon in the church of Cenchrea (16:1), and most striking of all, yet another woman, Junia, whom Paul describes as “foremost among the apostles” (16:7).

Paul, and his churches, may have been more open to women and their leadership roles than people have traditionally thought and far more than Tertullian thought. No wonder that members of Paul’s churches (primarily women members?) told stories about the adventures of his female companions like Thecla. And no wonder that men in the churches eventually decided to clamp down, forging documents in Paul’s name condemning the practice of having women speak in church (1 Timothy), inserting passages into Paul’s authentic letters urging women to be silent (1 Cor. 14:34-35), calling church councils to condemn an elder of a Pauline church who had dared collect narratives of Paul’s woman disciple Thecla and pass them off as authentically Pauline.

Some scholars have wondered whether the stories of Thecla were causing problems in the Pauline churches years before this accused forger did his work, wondered whether the existence of such stories is what led the author of 1 Timothy, whoever he was, to compose his letter in Paul’s name. It is indeed striking that the letter predicts that in “later times” there will be people who condemn the practice of marriage (4:1-4): “Paul” himself speaks against the practice in the Acts of Thecla. Moreover, the canonical letter of 1 Timothy explicitly urges its readers not to listen to “the profane tales of old women” and condemns younger women who are “idlers, going about from door to door. . .as gossips and busybodies, saying things they should not” (4:8, 5:13). The younger women who have lost husbands are to “marry, bear children, rule their households, and give the enemy no grounds to reproach us” (5:14).

This is certainly not the view advanced in the Acts of Thecla, which urges women not to marry, not to bear children, and to leave their households. For THAT “Paul,” the Paul of the Acts of Thecla, “blessed are the continent, for God shall speak with them” and “blessed are the bodies of the virgins, for they will be well pleasing to God and will not lose the reward of their chastity.” Possibly the stories of Thecla and others like them are what motivated the author of 1 Timothy to write his letter in Paul’s name.” — Bart D. Erhman, Lost Christianities

************

Scholars have known about corruptions, errors, and mistranslations in translation of scripture for centuries. Yet, many religious leaders and Bible theologians refuse to acknowledge them. Scholars agree that some of the books of the New Testament were not written by the authors whose names are on them. (That is why they are called pseudonymous books. It is an antiseptic term that masks the truth that they are forged.) Many of the purposeful changes that have been made to keep women in bondage and subjection to men have been uncovered and exposed by experts in the field of textual criticism. Yet, many religious leaders and Bible expositors refuse to acknowledge these expositions and set things right.  It is time to unmask what has been used to deceive and set it right. It is time to expose the lies of the religious system regarding women. Why? Because it has led to their abuse and sexual exploitation for centuries. They have been robbed of honor, dignity, autonomy and equality in religion and society. This blog and its many articles expose these lies, mistranslations, twisting of doctrines and heretical teachings of mainstream religion today.  Since women and children bear the brunt of religious abuses, it is vital that we expose the lies in translation that lead to abusive attitudes and behaviors toward women, and expose the abuses that lie underneath religions “mantle” along with the corruptions that lead to these abuses. The system is corrupted through and through. The abuses are rampant. Victims are being silenced and shamed. Who are the victims? Women and children. To not correct something that has caused so much damage to women and children shows a total lack of love and compassion. To profess Christ and do “nothing” about these corruptions, is the weightier sin.

Building a Fence Around Victims – By Nancy Bicknell

Building a Fence around Victims in the IFB Church to Keep Out Predators

By Nancy Bicknell

 
What comes first? Caring for the Predator Preachers or, Caring for the People they harmed? Big People Taking Care of Little People is something that sticks with me as a good formula for who needs to be helped. I always want to help the Little People who have been harmed by the Big People. When the wolf got in our chicken coop, I helped the chickens and my dad put up a fence so it would not happen again. When church members praise the Predator Preacher they are putting new victims at risk by opening the door, which says “More Predator Preachers WELCOMED, rather than building a fence around the people that were harmed and those who may be harmed in the future by other Predatory Preachers.
Can these sex offenders be cured or cared for? Theories of using confrontational treatment of sex offenders ordered for child sexual abuse perpetrators is the most common approach. They use group therapy that relies heavily upon punitive and hostile confrontation and a non-systemic blend of psychoanalytic concepts and traditional talking therapy. There is often little or no effort to provide a theoretical base for the program. These procedures are often moralistic and reflect the judgmental emotional response of society rather than an empirically-based healing technique. As you can see there is not anything that we know of for sure that works with pedophilia. However, in dealing with pedophilia, the focus is not on CURING the pedophile; as no one really knows how to do that. The focus is then on CARING for children, to keep them safe in the future by building a fence around the vulnerable among us, by locking up the pedophile and not allowing the continuation of their abuse. Our society currently is set up to keep the weakest, the littlest among us safe. Big People take care of Little People.

How much more so should that statement be true in our churches. Did the IFB church in your life protect the Little Ones or their Pastors who protected the abuser who abused the Little Ones? Shame on those who did not condemn the Pastors who abused or, protected the abuser, and continue to PRAISE them by allowing them to sit in the IFB PEWS and have not cared for the LITTLE ONES who sat in those same pews while being abused! SHAME on those who enable the Predatory Pastors message to continue through their praise, presence or silence.

Those who enable Predatory Preachers by praising them endanger the vulnerable. So the problem in my view is not those who are confronting the Predatory Pastor or Praisers but, what are we doing to keep the message of the pedophile from being praised or promoted and attracting more Predator Pastors? The blood of the child victims in the IFB church, like the blood of the chickens killed, will bring more wolfs to the chicken coop.

Many in the IFB churches are still in some denial believing they can cure the pedophiles by using a loving message and accepting those who praise the rapist —  like Jack Schaap, for example. This Praise of the Predatory Pastor should make us angry and motivate us to action. I would be equally angry at a group that praises Charles Manson and talks against those people who are trying to protect future children. If your family has been victimized by such a killer as Manson, who actually never killed a victim himself that we know of – yet his followers did – what side of the fence would you be on? If there is not a fence that your IFB church has put up, you would be determined by the blood you or yours have sacrificed because of the wolfs killing spree, to quickly put your energy into building a fence.

There is no easy answer. However, I don’t understand why those who are in denial about the danger of Pastor Predator Praising groups or churches have not left those communities to go build fences around the vulnerable. We build those fences by pointing a finger at the danger of praising the perp-pastor groups and churches. I support all of you advocates, survivors and those who support you with efforts that use your personality style to expose the dangers for those vulnerable ones still in the IFB churches like First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, and their former pastor, Jack Schaap. As leaders in this movement, we must build fences resilient enough to resist future Predator Preachers from getting to our children! I am your cheer leader. You are who you are and that leadership has been helpful to many who see your strong word on that subject. You are a leader and leaders show strength. That is a good thing. I have never seen a predator react to a feather.

Be strong all of you who are building the fences in your life time. Some of you are good yellers, so yell! Others are good writers, so write! Some of you are great listeners, so listen! Some of you draw pictures, so draw pictures! Together we can build a fence, but alone, well. . . alone we are just alone and the IFB will see us as a feather and blow us away.  So get your post hole digger out and help build the fence the best way you know how because God can use your talents to protect His Little Ones if you own your talents and prioritize fence building over caring for the Predatory Pastors.

The IFB tried to teach us as members that the real wolf was our government trying to take away our rights; and so many of us spent so much time looking out for the government as the wolf ready to devoured us that we missed the Wolfs among us in the IFB. As a result, many people got hurt and many, many children were harmed. What a paradox we found ourselves in when we finally saw the IFB wolfs in sheep’s clothing and it was too late. We were hoodwinked. I pray I will see the real wolfs in the future and point the IFB wolfs out to others. Keep up the good fight and I will cheer you on and, draw a picture now again.

Gospel Forgeries

What is very important for people to understand is that during the early centuries there were MANY different beliefs regarding Christ. Today’s Christian beliefs regarding Christ were NOT the majority belief during the early centuries. What we have today is the result of centuries of fighting and forgeries. The opponent with the biggest material resources and secular arm of power to enforce their agendas was the opponent whose beliefs won the battle and paved the way for what is believed as “orthodoxy” today.  Just as we have countless theological beliefs and differences today, so it was then. What makes the difference between then and now is that we have copyright laws that prevent people from forging books in other people’s names. Back then, forgery was a huge problem. Historical evidence attests to this fact and, scholars agree on this point. Whenever the disputes over doctrine collided, it was a simple fix – they forged documents that leaned toward their theological views and wrote these forgeries in the names of well known people. The debates over what was the “right belief” were prevalent and heated back then just as they are today.

In his books, scholar Bart Erhman covers this issue of forgeries excellently and, brings to the forefront of reasoning, the questions that most Christians either REFUSE to ask, or CHOOSE to overlook. It simply frustrates me that Christians tend to believe blindly what they are told regarding the Bible and scripture, as well as doctrine and belief, without doing their own due diligence and research on the issue. As a matter of fact, it is not just Christians that are guilty of not doing their due diligence on their religious teachings and scriptures — other religions have the same problem. Countless followers do not research to find out if what they are being taught is true.  Because religious people tend to ACT on their beliefs in unethical and immoral ways to hurt others that believe differently (in the name of their religion or God), it morally behooves us to search out if what we are being told by religious leaders IS TRUE. What type of godly testimony do we have if we ignorantly believe what we are told? What does this tell the world? That we are NOT going to do the research; that we do not CARE what the REAL TRUTH is; that we are too AFRAID to find out if we have believed a lie? What IF you have believed a lie? Wouldn’t you WANT to know? What IF those lies are destroying the relationships within your family and your marriage? WOULDN’T YOU WANT TO KNOW?

I was handed lies my whole Christian life about the Bible and doctrine. Those lies led to abuses and strife in the home, destruction of my marriage and family, isolation, fear of government, fear of authorities and other religions, fear of the church and religious leaders. Today, because of an honest effort to find out if what I was taught was true, I have been freed from the bondage to the lies I once believed. If you are in bondage to ANY religion that has attached to it FEAR of retaliation for not conforming, then my guess is that you are believing lies too. Just my honest opinion. There is no FEAR in TRUTH.

Whatever you are being taught needs to be challenged with the utmost effort and research! I believe that this journey into truth requires character, humility and, a heated desire that will enable one to not only uncover the lies, but once uncovered, discard them for the right beliefs based on the FACTS presented. It’s time to NOT take mans word that truth is truth! Why? Because men lie to further their own agendas; and when they do propagate lies, it brings abuse and suffering to those that are weaker or slighted by their dogmas and rules.

I will simply leave the following quotes from Bart Erhman’s book, Lost Christianities, as the thoughts to ponder in hope that those who read them, will decide to embark on that journey into truth that will either validate their beliefs, or damn them as lies.

************

Gospel Forgeries

“Almost all of the “lost” Scriptures of the early Christians were forgeries. On this, scholars of every stripe agree, liberal and conservative, fundamentalist and atheist.” – Lost Christianities, Bart Erhman

“That Christians in the early centuries would forge such books should come as no surprise. Scholars have long recognized that even some of the books accepted into the canon are probably forgeries. Christian scholars, of course, have been loathe to call them that and so more commonly refer to them as “pseudonymous” writings. Possibly this is a more antiseptic term. But it does little to solve the problem of a potential deceit, for an author who attempts to pass off his own writing as that of some other well-known person has written a forgery. That is no less true of the book allegedly written to Titus that made it into the New Testament (Paul’s Letter to Titus) than of the book allegedly written by Titus that did not (Pseudo-Titus), both claiming to be written by apostles (Paul and Titus), both evidently written by someone else.” — Lost Christianities, Bart Erhman

“Other books, however, are widely regarded as forged. The author of 2 Peter explicitly claims to be Simon Peter, the disciple of Jesus, who beheld the transfiguration (1:16-18). But critical scholars are virtually unanimous that it was not written by him. So too the Pastoral epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus: They claim to be written by Paul, but appear to have been written long after his death.” — Lost Christianities, Bart Erhman

“How could forgeries make it into the New Testament? Possibly it is better to reverse the question: Who was  collecting the books? When did they do so? And how would THEY have known whether a book that claims to be written by Peter was actually written by Peter or that a book allegedly written by Paul was actually by Paul? So far as we know, none of these letters was included in a canon of sacred texts until decades after they were written, and the New Testament canon as a whole still had not reached final form for another two centuries after that. How would someone hundreds of years later know who had written these books?” — Lost Christianities, Bart Erhman

************

If scholars know about forgeries in the Bible, and have known about them for centuries, why do Christians fight against that knowledge? Why aren’t they addressing this reality and fighting for the truth to be made known and/or corrected in Scripture? My guess on that question is a simple one and, possibly, a hated one. Here is my opinion on that question, if you don’t like it, just agree to disagree with me:

I believe that the changes that were made to scripture were done in order to:

• Give men pre-eminence and dominance over women.
• Proliferate inequality of the sexes
• Allow for sexual dominance and control
• Afford men power, control and prestige in religion and the world

If one just reads the countless articles on this blog that expose these truths scripturally and historically, these points that I give will become obvious. Why else would male-dominated religions wish to use, and tout as infallible and inspired, corrupted texts that have been altered by MEN to oppress and suppress women and, bring the masses into bondage to FEAR of their God, their rules? Why else would religious leaders defame, attack, label and “name-call” those women and men who bring these facts to light?  It wasn’t women that made the forgeries, keep that in mind. Inequality always leads to abuse. Just my opinion based on the evidence uncovered. Read my blog articles yourself and form your own opinion. BUT, You don’t have to believe me. Afterwards, go on your own quest for TRUTH. Let the FACTS guide your thought processes and build your foundations — not hear-say and opinion from fallible men who have agendas to uphold.

Historical Proof of Women’s Early Dignity and Equality

The account that we have in the Bible of what took place between the time of Noah and Abraham is sparce. It is covered by the tenth and eleventh chapters in Genesis and that’s it. However, even though the Bible does not give much detail to this time period, archaeological discoveries do. The Tel el Amarna tablets, the Code of Hammurabi (King Amraphel of Gen. 14:1), and the numerous discoveries about Nineveh, in Babylonia, Egypt and other places, have combined in enabling scholars to reconstruct the manners and customs of the people during this time period.

One of the clear voices of the early centuries (early 1900s) that exposes the facts and discoveries regarding women and their positions in society during the early ages, is a Hebrew and Greek scholar named Katherine Bushnell. Bushnell did over one hundred Bible studies based on historical and Biblical research that present the truth about women’s roles in early history. Not only this, but her research also exposes the corruptions in translation and teaching by men in order to subjugate women to them; thus, setting women up for abuse. The following teaching is from one of Bushnell’s studies on the early dignity of women. I have updated some of the language to modern English for ease of reading, but have left most of it in tact as Bushnell herself wrote it. At the end of her study, I will bring this research around to today in order to show the magnitude of abuse that has arose out of male-kinship.

************

More Proof of Woman’s Early Dignity

By Katherine Bushnell

First of all, we have information that in Egypt women occupied a very dignified position in public as well as private affairs. While one may think that this is an exception, what we find in reality through the discoveries is that it was not exceptional at all. There were many scholars works published in the early centuries, such as Bachofen and McLennan, who traced the signs of that early dignity of women. Their research gave investigators new clues to follow out into past facts. This enabled historians and others access to new information regarding women of ancient history and their roles, public and private.

These newly discovered facts help us to better understand the numerous incidents in the Bible that regard women and how they have been misinterpreted. Nothing is more important to Christian women today than to understand that God did not Himself subordinate women to men. He merely prophesied that such subordination would follow as the fruit of sin in this world. The subordination of women to men is NOT the result of God’s ordinance; it is the fruit of wrong-doing; and, as such, the fruit can be no more God’s doing than the bad tree.

Ancient history proves that woman, in earth’s earliest ages, was not subordinate. As to Egypt, we shall never forget the profound impression made on our own mind by a review of the long line of ancient monarchs in stone, to be seen in the Gizeh Museum, a few miles from Cairo, near the pyramid of Cheops. Beginning at the end where the most ancient were placed, we noticed that the queen sat by the side of the king, of equal size and importance. A few centuries later, we noticed that the queen had become smaller than the king. The representations were all rudely true to life, and we could not but conclude that for some reason the man had taken to marrying a wife not as mature as himself (child-bride); and beginning to bear children in her immaturity, the development of woman’s stature had been arrested. Further on, the queen sat on a lower level than the king and was subjected to him. Lastly, the queen was no longer carved out of a stone block; she was merely scratched into the pedestal of the stool he sat on or, the arm of his chair or throne.

The progression of this story could not lie. No man had carved more than one or two of these stones; they had not been carved under the same dynasty; no architect had conceived the plan of the whole; no sociologist, no theologian had written this history of womanhood; no romancer had woven the tale. It was cold fact, in cold stone. And the revelation told us that the Egyptian woman was, of old, a dignified person; she gradually lost that dignity; her fall was not all at once; it was accomplished only gradually, through the working of ages of custom. How very different this is from that theological teaching that while the nations were as yet unborn, God placed their mother, Eve, under servitude, so that, by divine ordinance, every woman except Eve has been born in servitude!

Turning to Isaac Myer’s work, Oldest Books in the World, we quote what he says about ancient times in Egypt: “The mother of the deceased is usually shown with his wife, and his father rarely appears. The custom as shown by the funeral steles, was to trace the descent of the dead on their mother’s side, and not, as we do, on the father’s. This produced also the curious effect that the father of the mother was considered the natural protector.” “The position of woman both in religion and in government was elevated in ancient Egypt.” Mr. Myer reproduces teaching which was found on what he calls “The Papyrus of Balak, No. IV.” He dates the writing about 3000 B.C. The words are in the language of a god, addressing some mother’s son: “I have given thee thy mother who has borne thee; she gave herself a heavy burden for thy sake. . When thou was born after thy months [of gestation], she was truly subjected to thy yoke, for her breast has been in thy mouth during three years. As thou grew marvelously, the disgust of thy untidiness did not turn her heart against thee. . [Now] that thou has married, . . have an eye on thy child, raise it as thy mother did thee. Do not do what she would reprove in thee, for fear that, if she raises her two hands towards God [against thee], he will hear her prayer.”

Dr. J. H. Breasted, in his History of Egypt says: “Under the Old Kingdom [which he would place about 3000 B.C.], a man possessed but one legal wife, who was the mother of his heirs. She was in every respect his equal . . .The natural line of inheritance was through the eldest daughter, though a will might destroy this.” To these statements, and many more kindred ones which we might quote, we know of no reliable historian who would take exception.

We turn now from Egypt to ancient Babylonia, to learn the same things, as regards the early dignity of women. Formerly it was supposed that Hebrew was the oldest language, and no people were older than the nation from whence Abraham came. But before the Babylonians were the Sumerians; and Prof. Sayce tells us in his book, Babylonians and Assyrians: “Two principles struggled for recognition in Babylonian family life. One was the patriarchal, the other the matriarchal. Perhaps they were due to the duality of race; perhaps they were merely the result of circumstances under which the Babylonians lived. At times it would seem as if we must pronounce the Babylonian family to have been patriarchal in its character; at other times the wife and mother occupies an independent and even commanding position. It may be noted that whereas in the old Sumerian hymns the woman takes the precedence of the man, the Semitic translation invariably reverses the order: the one has ‘female and male,’ the other, ‘male and female.’” Again he says: “Women could hold civil offices and even act as governors of a city.” Again we read the same lesson,–in Babylonia WOMAN WAS BORN FREE!

These facts are brought forward for the sake of proving a point – viz., Woman was NOT subordinated, at the beginning of human history through the wrong-doing of Eve. At the dawn of authentic profane history, which must have been much later than Eve’s day of course, we find woman holding a position so dignified and honored, both in family and public life, that men are constrained to name it a matriarchate. If this be so, then the theologian has not read his Bible correctly, in his supposition that he can trace the subordination of woman all the way back to Eden, and to a day when the blight of God’s curse fell upon Eve. . . such a sad day as God’s curse of womanhood never dawned on human history.

This matter may seem of so little consequence to male Bible expositors that they are more than willing even to this day to ignore the “woman question” in their teaching, and allow the case to stand as God’s blight on the sex, when it is wholly the result of man’s wrongdoing. Thus Adam was more than willing to ignore the Serpent in the Garden, and lay the responsibility of his own wrongdoing at the door of the Almighty,–as he did when he said, “The woman whom THOU gavest to be with me.” (Blaming God) But such continuance in an evil way will not escape God’s eye, inasmuch as the teaching that all women are left under condemnation because Eve sinned is more a slight and disrespect shown towards Jesus Christ, the Atoner for ALL SIN, than a slight and disrespect shown towards women.

To continue the record as to old Babylonia: In the History of Sumer and Akkad, by L.W. King, of the British Museum, we read: “Tablets dating from the close of Ur-Nina’s dynasty [B.C. 3000] show the important part which women played in the social and official life of the early Sumerians.” He describes a plaque which has been found, among others, on which Lidda, daughter of the king Ur-Nina, stands in the first place of honor, facing the king, while the crown-prince is represented as attending his sister.

Now let’s look at Asia Minor. Here, on the testimony of the investigator, Prof. Sir Wm. M. Ramsey, are abundant evidences of an early “matriarchate,”—so called. But again we say, we must not misunderstand the real import of this word. Men are apt to name anything which savors of an equality of the sexes, in these days, a “petticoat government.” The matriarchate does not convey to our minds the idea of a rule of women over men; it merely implies the absence of an exclusive government by men,–the existence of that saner, righteous state, in which the governing privilege is invested in the competent, without regard to sex.

In Prof. Ramsay’s Church in the Roman Empire we read: “The honours and influence which belonged to women in the cities of Asia Minor, form one of the most remarkable features in the history of the country. In all periods the evidence runs on the same lines. The best authenticated cases of mutterrect [matriarchate] belong to Asia Minor. Under the Roman Empire [in Asia Minor] we find women magistrates, presidents at games, and loaded with honours. The custom of the country influenced even the Jews, who in at least one case appointed a woman at Smyrna to the position of “archisynagogos” [chief of the synagogue]. We could quote much more, and from Prof. Ramsay’s other books,–especially his Phrygia, but this is sufficient for illustration; it puts the whole case in a nutshell.

Next we turn again to Prof. W. Robertson Smith. Here we learn facts concerning the Semitic races, to which the O.T. Hebrews belong. In his preface to Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, he says, “The object of the present volume is to collect and discuss the available evidence as to the genesis of the system of male kinship, with the corresponding laws of marriage and tribal organization, which prevailed in Arabia at the time of Mohammed; the general result is that male kinship had been preceded by kinship through women only, and that all that can still be gathered as to the steps of the social evolution in which the change of kinship law is the central feature corresponds in the most striking manner with the general theory propounded. . .in the late J.F. McLennan’s book on Primitive Marriage.”

Elsewhere he says: “Mother-kinship is the type of kinship, common motherhood the type of kindred unity which dominate all Semitic speech.” Now, how was that mother-kinship secured? All these writers whom we have quoted propound the evolution theory that it arose out of polyandry, in which state fatherhood cannot be certainly determined. But let us repeat: We are not driven to a theory to account for mother-kinship; the Bible tells us it was God’s own ordinance,–“Therefore shall a man [“husband” is the precise word used] leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife.” Prof. Smith says: “The common old Arabic phrase for the consummation of marriage is . . . ‘he built [a tent] over his wife.’ This is synonymous with ‘he went in unto her,’ and is explained by the native authorities by saying that the husband erected and furnished a new tent for his wife. . .Though the wife of a nomad has not usually a separate tent to live in, a special hut or tent is still erected for her on the first night of marriage. In Northern Arabia this is now the man’s tent, and the woman is brought to him. But it was related to me . . .as a peculiarity of Yemen [a southern tribe] that there the ‘going in’ takes place in the bride’s house, and that the bridegroom if home-born must stay some nights in the bride’s house, or if a foreigner must settle with them. This Yemenite custom. . .must once have been universal among all Semites, otherwise we should not find that alike in Arabic, Syriac and Hebrew the husband is said to ‘go in’ to the bride, when as a matter of fact she is brought to him”.

He continues: “As the ceremony of the tent is common to all the Semites, the kind of marriage to which it points must have begun very early, and with this it agrees that among the Hebrews, as Mr. McLennan has pointed out, there are many relics not only of female kinship but of an established usage of beena marriage, with which was associated not only female kinship, but also the rights of inheritance through females; but the covetous Laban was keeping all the property as his own, to the exclusion of his daughters’ rights. Second: Under beena or sadica marriage, the bridegroom made his gift to the bride, for the privilege of marrying her; but under ba’al marriage the bridegroom purchases his wife. These women complain of their father Laban, “He hath sold us, and quite devoured the price paid for us” (R.V.) In other words, they claimed that the entire wages of Jacob’s fourteen years of service to obtain his wives belonged to them,–not to Jacob, and certainly not to their father Laban. Their argument for leaving their mother’s roof (as doubtless it would have been called in those days), was not at all what one hears in these days.—“He is my husband; I must follow him.” Rather, they argue that since their own father will not give them an inheritance, they will be better off to forsake him for Jacob. They in no wise recognize it as a duty to follow a husband away from the parental roof. It is a quarrel about ba’al marriage being substituted for sadica marriage by a covetous father.

McLennan calls attention to the following interesting sidelights on woman’s position among the ancient Hebrews: “When Abraham seeks a wife for Isaac, his servant thinks that the condition will probably be made that Isaac shall come and settle with her people,” Gen. 24:5. (But in this particular instance Abraham, having been himself called out from among these idolatrous relatives, will not permit Isaac’s return to them—Gen. 24:6.) Upon this, Prof. Robertson Smith remarks: “He might have added other things of the same kind; the Shechemites must be circumcised, i.e., Hebraised, before they can marry the daughters of Israel; Joseph’s sons by his Egyptian wife become Israelites only by adoption; and so in Judges 15 Samson’s Philistine wife remains with her people and he visits her there. All these things illustrate what is presented in Gen. 2:24 as the primitive type of marriage; but perhaps a still more convincing proof that the passage (Gen. 2:24) is based on a doctrine of beena marriage and mother-kinship lies in the very name Eve.—‘The mother of all living.’” To this we add the further strong warning which God gave to Eve: “Thou art turning to [to follow] thy husband, and he will rule over thee.”

************

What we can see from this research is that female kinship was the “norm” in the beginning and throughout the early centuries. There was equality of the sexes. But men, wanting dominance, used force to rip women away from their families and natural protectors causing male kinship to come to pass. As a result, men then began taking away women’s autonomy, honor and dignity, relegating them to servitude. By marrying younger girls, this made sure that their “control” over their wives was solidified – since young girls cannot defend themselves. This allowed for these young girls to be raised by the husband and, by force, made to submit or suffer the consequence.  This allowed for abuse of women and young girls throughout history and even today.

As a result of this practice of male kinship, women suffer bondage and abuse to wicked husbands. They have been stripped of protection, honor, dignity and equality in religion and the world. As a result of inequality, women have endured rape, torture, incest, polygamy, physical abuse and emotional abuse. Sex trafficking is rampant, child rape and mutilation is rampant and, men have made women the “scape goat” for their own wickedness. Instead of protecting women from mens criminal and in-humane behaviors, women have been made the “cause” of it because God made them female. That is why, after centuries of proliferating this mindset in men, we live in a rape culture.  Men today, in many cultures are not held accountable for their crimes against women and children. In some cultures, young girls – as young as five, six, seven and eight years old—are married to men four and five times their age. This is pedophilia and rape! When God prophesied to Eve that, “Thou art turning to thy husband, and he will rule over thee.” He was prophesying that mens evil intentions would cause them to dominate women and strip them of their honor, dignity and equality. That prophecy has been fulfilled. The fruit of this evil perpetrated by men has been crimes against women and children without full accountability and, the enactment of laws (in some cultures) that protect men from full accountability.

It is time for the populous to wake up and realize that over half the human race has been victimized, abused and treated in-humanely. The weapon used to enforce this system of abuse against women, is religion.

Adultery and the “Put Away” Wife

From the earliest of ages, men have transgressed God’s laws and forced women into abusive situations, stripping them of the protections that God put in place for them. Men have manipulated, twisted and changed scripture in order to use “God said” as a weapon of force against women. The damage done is huge!  As a result of this inequality, women the world over have been subjected to physical abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation, sex trafficking, prostitution, rape, incest, polygamy, child rape and abuse, sexual mutilation, torture physically and emotionally and, the list goes on. It is religion that has caused a race of people to be treated in-humanely for centuries. It is time for the lies, the twisting, the corruption to be exposed and women given their equality, honor and dignity back. Laws must be changed in the process to protect women and children in all settings of religious and secular society. The old stigmas that religion has placed on women will only disappear when MEN realize the magnitude of what they have done and take action to reverse it. Sadly, it all starts with the corruptions that still exist in our modern day Bibles, the corruptions preached from the pulpits of America and the world, the corruption of doctrines based on opinions of men, being set right. These changes that have been purposely done to give men the preeminence and force women into subjugation, are the ultimate “hate crime.” It has removed “accountability” away from men and allowed for them to do as they please against women in most cultures. These corruptions have been used to proliferate abusive attitudes in men, against women and young girls, throughout history. If we begin to set right what has been corrupted, then I genuinely believe that the attitudes regarding women will change slowly but surely and, the abuses will lessen against us and, our equality, honor and dignity will be restored. This will allow for laws to be put in place, and enforced, that protect women from the abuses mentioned. Men will then be held accountable for their crimes against women and young girls.

On this blog, it has been my goal to not only give victims of religious abuse a voice, but, to “unmask” these corruptions of the religious system, “unmask” the twisting of scripture through “implied” meaning by men, to set right what man has corrupted. The following excerpt is from Every Woman & Child, by Adele Hebert, and is used by permission from the author. It is a follow up to the article I put out several days ago called, “God does NOT Hate Divorce.” If you have time to read that article, I promise that it will be the most enlightening truth you will ever learn.  It is worth the read for every Christian and non-Christian no matter the religious sect, just as this article is.

**********

ADULTERY AND THE “PUT AWAY” WIFE

You will never read a bible study quite like this one.

Jesus gave some radical new teachings about adultery and the “put away” wife which are rarely mentioned, let alone explained. Even though these teachings do not apply to us exactly, they are extremely vital points and must not be dismissed. You will see how Jesus completely eradicated the stigma of the put away wife. You will also find out how Jesus liberated women from the penalty of adultery and turned it onto the men. It was very demeaning for the men to be called adulterers.

Nowadays we don’t use the word adultery much; we say people are having ‘an affair.’ It seems that the sacredness of marriage is not as valued as it used to be, and it is not only men who ‘fool around.’ In most countries, there is no punishment for committing adultery anymore; people just get divorced and carry on with their lives. (Tragically, not all countries.)

Matt. 5:32 – But I say to you, Whoever puts away his wife, apart from a matter of fornication, causes her to commit adultery. And who ever shall marry the one put away commits adultery. (KJ3)

In the Old Testament and right up until Jesus’ day, adultery was the most serious accusation for a woman. It meant certain death.

Jesus declared that if a woman is only “put away” (separated but not divorced), then her husband “makes her,” “causes her” to commit adultery (Matt 5:32). This is equivalent to a parent who starves a child on purpose, (making them, causing them) forcing them to steal food. The parent is responsible for the child, therefore the parent is guilty.

Jesus maintained that the husband is responsible for taking care of his wife until he divorces her, therefore if he simply sends her away, he is now declared guilty for “her” adultery! “Whoever puts away his wife, causes her to commit adultery.” This was outrageous! In reality, Jesus was saying, “Don’t just send your wife away or you’ll be blamed and held accountable for what she does.” Imagine men being told they are guilty for their wife’s future actions!

Then Jesus takes the matter one step further, to avoid any exploitation of the woman. Jesus stated that the man who takes her who is only “put away,” is also guilty of adultery, like a partner in crime. “And who ever shall marry the one put away commits adultery.” This was shocking! Men better not even look at a single woman without seeing her divorce certificate first. What protection! The original husband cannot get off the hook, and the second husband better not act impulsively. Like any other business transaction, there is justice and order. Women were not to be tossed around and taken by men, to be used and then thrown away.

The first husband was not allowed to go free of his responsibility until he paid his wife in full. That’s the procedure. A similar analogy would be if a person owed the bank some money on the mortgage. Another person cannot just come along and take the property without the first owner paying the bank all the money they owe. Jesus reinstated marriage as a serious business, a holy covenant, with the utmost protection and provision for the woman. Men cannot cheat women or play games with God.

Mark 10:11 –  And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

Even if a man sent away his wife and he married another woman (which men allowed themselves at the time, for any excuse), he was also guilty of committing adultery “against her,” meaning his original wife (Mark 10:11). Who ever heard of that? The men had never been accountable to women. Jesus blamed men for committing adultery in every situation. That was unbelievable! This would certainly have elevated the status and dignity of women, but can you imagine the men who heard this?

Please read this slowly. So, no matter if the “put away” wife found another man, the husband is guilty for “her” adultery. Or if another man took the “put away” wife, before she got her divorce, then that man is guilty of adultery. Or if the husband “put away” his wife and found another woman, the husband is guilty of adultery “against” his original wife. Unless the woman was divorced, Jesus declared that the men were always to blame! Even if the “put away” wife committed the adultery, Jesus indicted the husband! The women were completely exonerated! How revolutionary! These words would have infuriated the men. In all these situations, Jesus declared that the men were guilty of adultery, never the woman.

Mark 10:12 – And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

The final extreme teaching about being “put away” is in Mark 10:12, where Jesus announced that a woman could also “put away her husband.” Traditionally, only men could put away their wives. Women had been totally at the mercy of men. This was all completely new! What radical equality! That meant women could leave if they were being abused! And still get a fair settlement! Wouldn’t that make the men stand up? I am surprised that these teachings even made it in the gospels…very surprised.

To the men, Jesus was saying, “No!” “No, you can’t just throw her away without giving her a divorce.” “No, you can’t just take her before she has her settlement.” “No, you can’t just send her away and marry another woman, that’s cheating against your wife.” “No, you can’t hurt your wife; she can leave you.” “No more abuse! These women are daughters of God.” “No excuses or loopholes! Either you love her or you hand over the money, and give her a divorce!”

To the women, Jesus was saying, “No more!” “No more blame for adultery, if he sends you away.” “No more tolerating abuse in marriage; you can leave him.” “No more being cheated out of your property; it’s your entitlement.” “No more condemnation for women, if they are put away.” (“No more condemnation” did not give women permission to cheat on their husbands. Jesus was advocating for the wives who were abandoned, sent away.) No more shame or blame for women …at last!

Every detail of every possible scenario was looked after, to give women their full dignity and protection. Every hint of shame and blame was taken away from women and put on the men. Jesus made men respect women as equal partners in marriage and divorce. He made men give women their share of the matrimonial property. Notice that Jesus also acknowledged getting married again, confirming remarriage (only after getting divorced). Jesus did more for women’s rights than we can ever know. What an outstanding champion and defender of women!

These teachings were more than earth shattering for the men! Their entire culture had revolved around men making their own rules with few responsibilities towards the women. Now Jesus reminded men of the old rules, which had great responsibilities, to protect the women. Jesus’ teachings go completely against all the traditions of blaming women; He blamed the men. No wonder the men thought it was better not to marry, if they had to be that responsible for a wife (Matt 19:10).

For the rejected women, all these teachings were elevating and completely liberating! What an awesome Savior! Society was forced to start seeing women as equal. Unfortunately, Jesus’ declarations were not accepted by the men at that time, but His Words were not forgotten. It took two thousand years before women won their matrimonial property rights, but the battle is still not over. The patriarchal leaders are determined to keep Christian women from getting divorced and remarried.

It takes a long time for people to change attitudes. Many lives have been lost for the emancipation of women. Many court battles were fought for the freedom women have today. Two thousand years later, Jesus’ words are the basis for our divorce laws. But we still have a long ways to go.

If men listen to the false teachings of the boy’s club (church), marriage can be a nightmare for women and children. If men follow Jesus, marriage can be fulfilling for everyone: men, women and children, too.

As for women wanting to commit adultery, do you really think there were many at that time, knowing they would get stoned to death? I believe the woman in John 8 was very likely a hungry, put away wife, who was set up, so that men could trap Jesus. She was legally married or she would not have been accused of adultery. And why were there so many men witnesses and accusers? And where was he??

Jesus never condemned the woman caught in adultery because she was not guilty. She was a victim. Men had “caused” her to be in that situation, whatever the circumstance. Jesus simply wrote in the sand, and each of those male accusers left, from oldest to youngest. Then He spoke to her alone, and told her she was free. She was no more at the mercy of men. What a wonderful Savior!

The most overlooked point about the woman caught in adultery is that she was a believer. When Jesus asked, “hath no man condemned thee?” she said, “No man, Lord.” (John 8:11) This poor woman has been given a pornographic reputation throughout the centuries, and is always portrayed horribly in art. She was a believer and Jesus loved her.

Ann Brown wrote a wonderful book, Apology to Women, (Inter-Varsity Press, 1991), where she “confesses that the Bible has often been used to devalue women, illustrating this fact with abundant examples from Christian writing and art through the centuries.” I was truly blessed by her title.

There is a definite connection between the teachings of the church and how women are treated in the home, behind closed doors. These teachings affect all of society, just like the attitudes and oppression in the days of slavery. A Wife’s Submission, is a fantastic blog http://hupotasso.wordpress.com/; Charis Hart examines the toughest passages using Greek and Hebrew word studies. Charis Hart’s new website is Christian Egalitarian Marriage http://2hold.wordpress.com/. Submission Tyranny, in Church and Society, by Waneta Dawn, is another great blog.

You will want to read Woman Submit by Jocelyn Anderson, (One Way Café Press, 2007), an excellent book about the dynamics of religion, family and community towards an abused woman. Another awesome book is A Woman’s Place? Leadership in the Church by C. S. Cowles (Beacon Hill Press, 1993). Other recommended authors include: Lundy Bancroft, Patricia Evans, Gilbert Bilezikian, J. Lee Grady, Susan C. Hyatt, Aida Spencer, Alvin J. Schmidt, Tikva Frymer Kensky…. The best reference I can give is Christians for Biblical Equality http://www.cbeinternational.org for books, articles and the CBE Scroll.

One Way Press is proud to announce that in Spring of 2013, Shirley Taylor will be releasing her book, Dethroning Male Headship, Because it Doesn’t have a Leg to Stand on. You will definitely want to check out her website, Baptist Women for Equality. Shirley has an excellent resource page.

God Does NOT Hate Divorce

Once in a while I find a work from another scholar that is so important and so crucial for women to read, that I just cannot help myself in sharing it here on my blog. Such is the case with a book written by Adele Hebert, and independent scholar from Northern Alberta, Canada.

When I first purchased her book, Every Woman & Child, and began to read it, it did not bring anything new to light that I did not already know UNTIL I was over half way into it. From that point on, she had my attention until the end, in the most amazing way.  However, most women and men have no idea how prevalent WOMEN are throughout the Bible and about the important roles they played in the early church! They were disciples, leaders, preachers, business women, etc. So, for the majority, all that Adele covers in the first half of her book WILL be new to them. Please keep that in mind.

Throughout the world, women are being forced to stay in abusive marriages by religion because of changes in translation that prevent them from getting a divorce. Many live in bondage and abuse because of this. Women have no idea that God made provisions for them to keep them from being abused by men!  Throughout the many articles on this blog, I have tried to expose this fact: Men have PURPOSELY written women out of scripture and translated scripture in such a way as to point women into a place of subjugation to men, regardless of how evil the men may be! I feel that this book covers the issue of “putting away” and divorce as well as the subject of removing women from places of leadership, authority and autonomy in scripture, superbly. Subsequent chapters until the end are worth the read and, in my opinion, more than worth the price of the book.

Because of how important this topic is to women, I have asked permission from this author to allow me to offer a preview of her chapter on divorce and then cover two other chapters in subsequent articles. She has so graciously granted my request! Ladies, this is for YOU. You DO NOT have to live in bondage to man-made religious dogmas any more. “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed!”

***************

By Adele Hebert

(To purchase a copy, click on the Title of the book below)

GOD DOES NOT HATE DIVORCE

“You don’t have to die for him; I already have.” – JESUS

Let me say this: I am not against men; I am against injustice, from any gender, or any podium. There are some excellent men out there who have strong values, who work hard to defend human rights and who try to improve the conditions of this world. I thank God for them. We really need more of them.

Let me also say that I am not promoting divorce. How I wish that all marriages were happy and peaceful. Divorce is very painful, especially for children, but living with controlling or violent men traumatizes much more. Do you really believe that God prefers people to stay in an abusive marriage rather than to get a divorce?

“Even though God instituted marriage, He does not approve of ALL marriages.” – Stephen Gola, DIVORCE: God’s Will? (Trafford Publishing, 2005) http://www.divorcehope.com. You will want to read what Stephen teaches about boundaries when submitting. He also proves, with scripture, who is a True Widow. Remarkable book!

Three reasons for divorce, from a woman’s perspective: first, God does not want His daughters to be abused (forced to stay); second, God does not want His daughters to be abandoned (forced to starve); third, men are to give their wives financial security, half of the matrimonial property.

I am deeply concerned about the destructive teachings regarding submission, divorce and remarriage; they have done so much damage. Religion has a direct influence on society’s attitudes of power, authority, subordination and women’s sexual status. Why are Christian men battering their wives?

Even if there is no physical violence, a vast number of marriages are a living hell, where women live in constant fear and have no control of their lives. They get yelled at and threatened regularly, are belittled and blamed beyond reason. Some women are given almost no money, their friends and family are restricted, and they are forced sexually. Children have to listen to the fighting and everyone walks on eggshells.

When religions teach that women must be silent, they lay the foundation for men to be abusive to their wives. When religions remain silent about the accountability of men towards women and children, they play an enormous role in enabling men to be controlling and bullies in the home.

There are many studies that prove the negative effects of divorce, but we don’t hear much from the religious leaders about the women and children who are living with anger and violence. Yes, there are some men who are abused and cheated on, and it all hurts, but we cannot ignore the statistics. Countless women are coerced into staying with their abusive husbands, only to suffer more, affecting them and their children for generations. Children who witness violence in the home are usually violent when they grow up. Boys are victims as much as girls; they just don’t talk about it until much later.

Probably the most damaging word in our bibles for women is ‘submit.’ Jesus never used that word. Submit is a swear word to most women, and we usually only hear half of the sentence. Women are being deceived when they are told to submit. “Support” is a much better translation; then no one is put in a slave position. Even the words “learn in silence with all subjection” are demeaning. “If a preacher talks about submission, then he should be prepared to address abuse in the same sentence.” – Maryanne Rempel. God does not want His daughters to be degraded.

Probably the most damaging teaching today is “God hates divorce.” That belief locks people in marriage, and for some it is unbearable, even fatal.

First of all, we need to accept that almost all bibles have mistranslated the words “put away.” The false teachings about divorce all stem from Malachi 2:16. Most modern bibles say, “God hates divorce,” but they Used To Say, “God hates the putting away.”

Mal 2:16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. King James Bible

*An extremely important margin note about the words “put away” in Luke 16:18 is found in the Geneva Bible 1599. The margin reads, “that is, not Lawfully divorced.” http://www.genevabible.org/files/DailyScripture/Luke16Footnotes.htm

“PUT AWAY” DOES NOT MEAN “DIVORCED.”

“PUT AWAY” MEANS “SEND AWAY.”

If the wife was only “put away” (not divorced yet), and if she found someone else, she would be committing adultery against her husband (for the wife only), because she was still legally married, (still his ‘property’) and she would likely get stoned to death.

We are being deceived into thinking that God hates divorce, as if it’s the unforgiveable sin. God hates men “putting away” their wives!

Putting away is the final club of abuse, the getting rid of a wife and not giving her the matrimonial settlement. That’s what God was angry about in Malachi 2:16. Men had dealt “treacherously” and with “violence” – their wives were cast away empty-handed!

In biblical times, the worst words for women were “put away.” To be put away damaged the whole family and, consequently, all of society. Men were accustomed to just sending away their wives when they wanted to get rid of them, and then getting another one.

A woman who was still legally married but abandoned by her husband was in a tragic, hopeless situation. Forced to stay celibate, her only options were begging, prostitution or starvation!

Our God, through Moses, instituted the divorce certificate in Deut 24, for the protection of the wife, to ensure her a matrimonial settlement, and to enable her to get remarried.

 Deu 24:1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,

Deu 24:2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife,

Deu 24:3 and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife,

Deu 24:4 then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.

Divorce and remarriage are woman’s rights. Being “put away” was not only a disgrace; for many, it meant death. God saw the suffering of those “put away” wives. Moses commanded in great detail, twice (Deut 24:1, 3) that if a man was displeased with his wife or if he turns against her, he had to first write out a divorce certificate, which included the property settlement, then put it in her hand and after that he could send her away. If something is repeated in the bible it is for confirmation and clarity.

God does not want women to stay in an abusive marriage, nor does he want them to be destitute. Children are on the front lines here. God knows they are greatly affected by how their mother is treated.

Notice that it does not mention adultery or fornication, only that the husband was displeased with his wife. This does not preclude that the woman did anything wrong. Divorce is a safeguard for women, a protection against having to live with a man who did not want her. If divorce was not allowed, women would have been in grave danger, “lest, if they were not permitted to divorce their wives, they should murder them,” – Matthew Henry Commentary.

God commanded divorce so that women can get away from their abusive men and get remarried. It is a way out for women. Men had to be commanded to give their wives a divorce, because God knows how much men detest having to divide half the matrimonial property and especially how they loathe giving women their freedom, to be with another man. Men kill for those two reasons. Yes, women kill too, but we all know the statistics that men are much more violent than women.

After a divorce, God decreed that women are allowed to get remarried, even if the husband is still living (Deut 24:2). The only stipulation is that the “former” husband cannot take her back, which meant he was alive; she was not a widow (Deut 24:4). Guidelines had to be made because God did not want women to be passed around and used. This proves that people are allowed to get remarried after a divorce. It was also a warning for the husband to be very sure of his decision, because he could not get her back, ever. These are God’s laws, not man’s.

God instituted divorce as a woman’s entitlement so she could find another husband who loves her. In biblical times, men had the responsibility to take care of the women and children. Obviously, a woman who is sent away is not being cared for. That is why God commanded divorce as a woman’s right. The “put away” wife had no money, she had to remain celibate and she could not remarry, which left her in a very life-threatening situation. One can only imagine how the children fared if they were with their mother.

Big question: Why were the men only sending their wives away, without a divorce? If the certificate was only a matter of granting permission so she could get remarried, the men should not have complained about it, because they wanted to send the wife away in the first place.

It’s about Money!!!

Without a settlement, women were destitute. Women had no means for survival. Divorce always involves division of property. At least, if she got her divorce, she would have some finances, which would also make her quite eligible to remarry. She would not be abandoned, forced to starve.

Some might object to this teaching of divorce and remarriage and say that was only in the Old Testament, but Jesus always asked, “What did Moses command you?” (Matt 19:7, Mark 10:3)

Others might object to the property part; they say the divorce was only to enable the woman to get remarried, but what good is a piece of paper? You can’t eat it. Women need more than a piece of paper.

The daughters of Zelophehad were given property, because they had no husbands. Achsah received land and two springs of water, after she got married. Job gave his beautiful daughters their share of the inheritance, even though their beauty would have attracted wealthy men; it was their insurance.

Although they are not written about often, divorced people are there in the bible, which means it was a reality: Deut 24:1-4; Deut 22:19, 29; Lev 21:7, 14; Lev 22:13; Num 30:9; Isa 50:1; Jer 3:8; Eze 44:22. The expression ‘Til death do us part’ is not even in the bible.

Some women who were “put away” in the Old Testament were Tamar (Gen 38), Queen Vashti (Est 1), and the ten raped concubines (2 Sam 20). Tamar was a widow but she needed a levir and her father-in-law refused to give her his son. Queen Vashti was sent into exile for not displaying her beauty to her drunken husband and his friends. The ten raped concubines had to live the rest of their life as widows. These women were all put away and financially looked after, but they were not free to remarry. Talk about control!

The clearest example in the Old Testament we have of “put away” wives is in Ezra 10, where 113 men had to pledge to separate from their foreign wives, because God told them to go back to the wives of their youth. God ordered the men to “put away” (leave) their illicit relationships (the second wives, foreign women), because these men were not legally married to them – they had not divorced their first wife.

God had “fierce anger” until these foreign wives were “put away.” In this case putting away was advised and necessary, because they were not legal marriages. The men even admitted their guilt in abandoning their original wives. They repented. The process took three months as the put away foreign wives needed property for their future security. If the men only had to separate, it would not have taken judges and elders and three months of appointments. The men were not allowed to just walk away.

Even though they were foreign women, they needed papers regarding the property, and the children had to be in their names. The women did not need a divorce paper because they were unlawful unions. There were elders and judges working and each one came at their appointed time, “until the fierce anger of God was turned away from them.” At least these put away mothers got to keep their children (Ezra 10:44).

In the first century, men still struggled with divorce and property division (they still do). Men did not like being told to divide up ‘their’ properties, so they had invented all kinds of excuses not to settle; then they could keep everything. It was obvious that the men wanted to only “put away” their wives and cheat them out of a divorce settlement because many times they tested Jesus with their dilemma, “The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” (Matt 19:3)

Jesus knew what they were up to. The financial aspect, dividing ‘their property’ is likely the biggest reason why the men simply “put away” their wives and did not give them a divorce, although most men despise the fact that ‘their wife’ will be with another man.

God has always had to make men respect women, especially when it came to money and sex. Divorce was always allowed, except there were two situations when it was never allowed. The first case was when a man “hates” his wife and falsely accuses her of not being a virgin. “I gave my daughter unto this man to wife and he hateth her… he may not put her away all his days.” (Deut 22:16-19)

“husband, who had thus endeavoured to ruin the reputation of his own wife, was to be scourged, and fined, and bound out from ever divorcing the wife he had thus abused,” – Matthew Henry Commentary.

Regarding date rape: The second case was concerning premarital sex, because she was forced. “and he lay hold on her, and he lie with her,… he hath humbled her,… he may not put her away all his days.” (Deut 22: 28, 29).

“if a virgin was not betrothed, and a man seized her and lay with her, and they were found, i.e., discovered or convicted of their deed, the man was to pay the father of the girl fifty shekels of silver, for the reproach brought upon him and his house, and to marry the girl whom he had humbled, without ever being able to divorce her.” – Keil and Delitzsch Commentary.

“If a damsel not betrothed were thus abused by violence, he that abused her should be fined, the father should have the fine, and, if he (the father) and the damsel did consent, he should be bound to marry her, and never to divorce her, how much soever she was below him, and how unpleasing soever she might afterwards be to him.” – Matthew Henry Commentary.

Shamefully, God had to create laws to protect women. Husbands were slandering their wife’s honour, and God wanted to stop men from forcing themselves on women, even if they liked each other. In both situations, the men were punished with never being able to divorce. Even if these men separated from their wives, they were financially responsible for them, forever. That should have made the men think twice.

Men had to watch what they say, and they had to watch what they do.

Women, being the weaker sex, were to be honoured and protected. Every situation was written about in God’s Word: whether a woman was married, betrothed or not betrothed; whether she consented or not; whether she lived in the city or the country; whether she cried out or not. These laws were mostly directed towards the men, as they seemed to have more problems with lust, self-control and violence.

God never told men to have concubines or multiple wives; they invented those ones for themselves, and for any excuse. One excuse was if a couple had no children (the woman was always to blame). The wife was forced to provide a surrogate mother or she would be sent away. Do you believe Sarah really wanted to offer Hagar?

In the New Testament, we have two examples of illegal / immoral relationships. Herod was told to “send away” Herodias, his brother Philip’s “wife” (Matt 14, Mark 6, Luke 3). She was not divorced yet, so this second marriage was invalid, “not lawful.” Also in 1 Cor 5:1 it talks about a man with his father’s wife (referring to Lev 18:8). These relationships were not approved of, and the people knew it was wrong. God does not allow sister-wives or polygamy.

If an engaged woman was found with child, the engagement could be broken. Joseph wanted to send Mary away privately, and cancel the betrothal contract, because she was pregnant. He planned to “put her away” privately (Matt 1:19). An angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take Mary for his wife. Again, it says “put away,” not divorce.

The main divorce passages are: Deut 24:1-4; Mal 2:16; Matt 5:31, 32; Matt 19:3-10; Mar 10:2-12; Luk 16:18. Divorce was a provision that was commanded since the time of Moses. God designed it for women.

The KJ3 Literal Translation (SGPBooks.com, Inc., 2010) translates all the divorce passages properly using “put away”. The Wuest New Testament (Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1961) uses “dismiss,” which makes it very clear.

Some old bibles which use “put away” are: American Standard Version ASV, Darby DAR, Douay Rheims DRB, Revised Version RV, Young’s Literal Translation YLT. These were all written over 110 years ago.

Almost all modern bibles use the wrong word!

Divorce and Remarriage is NOT Adultery (God’s Kingdom Ministries, 1998-2012) is a great study. The opening sentence goes right to the source of the problem.

“Church opinion has long favored the teaching that remarriage after divorce is adultery, based upon what we believe to be a single mistranslated word in Matthew 5:32 and a few incorrect assumptions. The result? A great many people today who are divorced and remarried are being expelled from their churches. Others are being refused leadership positions or are being plied with a load of guilt for “living in constant adultery.” It is tragic, and so very unnecessary. Many times it turns people away from God altogether, either in rebellion against what they feel is an injustice in Scripture, or else through discouragement over their own inability to remain single for the rest of their lives.” – by Dr. Stephen E. Jones. http://gods-kingdom-ministries.org/COLDFUSION/Chapter.cfm?CID=197

Matthew 5:32 is the most common verse referred to, in regards to divorce. One mistranslated word, “put away” was changed to “divorced,” and has caused all the false teachings. It contradicts Deuteronomy 24 and is not consistent with all the other divorce passages. The KJ3 Literal Translation of the Bible reads as follows:

 Mat 5:31 It was also said, Whoever puts away his wife, “let him give her a bill of divorce.” Deut. 24:1 (KJ3)

Mat 5:32 But I say to you, Whoever puts away his wife, apart from a matter of fornication, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever shall marry the one put away commits adultery. (KJ3)

The original word was “put away” in both parts of Matthew 5:32, which means sent away or separated. Check the Greek Strong’s word ‘apoluo’ G630. Modern bibles have exchanged the words “put away” for “divorce.” The word should not be divorce because we have already established that people were allowed to get remarried. Divorce and remarriage were always permitted. Even if divorce is not spoken of much, the commands are very clear.

The translators were quite successful in changing the words “put away” to “divorce” in most bibles, but they forgot about the commentaries and other books which contained the accurate transcriptions of these verses.

Proof from old books: Francis Augustus Cox, 1783 – 1853, wrote Female Scripture Biographies. Put away in Matt 5:32. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9783/9783-h/9783-h.htm

“Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery.”

More proof: I also found the accurate translation of Matt 5:32 in another old book – Sermons on Several Occasions, John Wesley 1703 – 1791. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/sermons.html

“But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the case of fornication, (that is, adultery; the word porneia signifying unchastity in general, either in the married or unmarried state,) causeth her to commit adultery, if she marry again: And whosoever shall marry her that is put away committeth adultery. (Matt 5:31, 32).”

There is no word “divorce” found in this text. I wonder when the words “put away” were changed to “divorce.” There are literally millions of people who are held captive, still in terrible marriages because of that one mistranslated word. Bible translators are highly accountable for their choice of words. Rev 22:18 gives a severe warning to anyone who adds to these words. You will want to read Gail Riplinger’s book, Which Bible is God’s Word? (AVPublications, 2007). She did amazing research on bible translations. You will be shocked!

Ted R. Weiland wrote Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage. http://www.missiontoisrael.org/m-d-remar.php (pages 4, 6):

“While it is true that the term “put away” – the final step in the divorce process – is sometimes used to represent divorce, women can and often were put away without being divorced.”

“A “put-away” woman would be left to provide for herself, a nearly impossible feat under the conditions of that time. No doubt, some women felt they had no choice but to resort to prostitution in order to provide for themselves and their children. One can understand why Yahweh hated the treachery these hardhearted men committed against their wives. It was for this reason that Yahweh provided for lawful divorce.”

Matt 5:32 is so critical because there are countless millions of people who feel trapped, even after divorce. I do not promote divorce, but it is necessary to know that divorce and remarriage are both allowed. These are God’s way of showing love to women and children.

Marrying someone who is divorced does not mean people are committing adultery. If the new husband marries a divorced woman, then who is he committing adultery against? The former husband divorced her so it can’t be him, because he is no longer her spouse.

To make it simple, Matthew 5:32 should read, “If a man puts away his wife without giving her a divorce, then he causes her to commit adultery (but if HE is fornicating with another woman, then HE should put that woman away).”

The exception clause in Matthew 5:32, “saving for the cause of fornication,” cannot be referring to women, because if she was having an affair it would not be considered fornication, it would be classified as adultery against her husband, and she would be stoned for it.

Let’s say the wife was having an affair, and the husband sent her away, then why would the husband get blamed for “causing her” to commit adultery? That does not make sense. The fornicating person MUST be referring to the husband, and HE is the one who should send the second woman away, because HE is not looking after his first wife, thereby forcing her to find another man who will look after her. God’s design is monogamy.

In Moses’ day, women were forced to stay celibate if the men did not want to give them a divorce. Today, we are repeatedly and severely warned that God does not allow divorce, even though the scriptures prove that is not true. Then we are told that we cannot get remarried, because those verses have been twisted, in modern translations, to make it sound like it is adultery. So now we are worse off – forced to stay celibate forever, even after a divorce. Women are either forced to stay in abuse or forced to stay single and celibate forever.

Not being able to remarry is a false teaching. In fact, God wants women to get remarried, after they get their property and divorce. We are being deceived into thinking that God hates divorce and remarriage. The bible says, “let every woman have her own husband.” (1Cor 7:2) We are not meant to “be alone.” Furthermore, “if thou marry, thou hast not sinned.” Christian men coerce women into believing that God hates divorce, forcing them to stay, to continue being abused. “Men forbidding to marry” is a “doctrine of devils.” (1Tim 4:1, 3).

People don’t know the scriptures, so they believe what they are told. Tragically, if they are a Christian in an abusive marriage, they feel forced to either remain a victim of abuse, or by the time they do leave, they deny God. Essentially, to be a Christian woman today literally means to submit and accept violence.

While they are in a bad situation, not many people defend the abused woman, ‘You made your bed, now you sleep in it.’ When a woman feels trapped with an abusive man, it erodes her self-esteem, her strength, her health and eventually her faith. In abusive marriages, the children are caught in the middle and suffer lifetime emotional scars. Frequently, the children are also victims of physical and sexual assault; it is not just the mothers. How could God want all this suffering? Maryanne Rempel claims, “We need to submit only to God. I wish all parents would teach that to their children – boys and girls.”

You might think, “What does “put away” have to do with us? Actually, this still goes on in court rooms every day. You can get a divorce paper alright, but that doesn’t mean it will be fair. Both parties can feel cheated financially, but it’s a well-known fact that usually the mothers and children are left to live in poverty. Entire neighbourhoods in every city are filled with single mothers living in crowded, low-income housing. Women already feel like they have been thrown away, but it is worse when they are cheated out of property and child support.

In recent years, mothers are being knocked out with grief, bereft and devastated, when they lose custody of their children. There are not enough words in the dictionary to describe their nightmare and pain. I’m not saying all mothers are perfect, but the majority of the time it is about money, control and revenge. It was fine for the mother to raise her children while they were married, but as soon as a divorce is on the horizon, the mother is, all of a sudden, unfit.

The lives of these mothers and children are in the hands of the lawyers and judges, and they have no choice. It was no different in the days of slavery. “I have born thirteen children and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me!” – Sojourner Truth. 1851, Akron, Ohio. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.asp

The ultimate abuse for a mother is losing custody of her children. I have only a few words for any mother in this situation: Don’t despair. Jesus was extremely angry with the men who didn’t treat women right, and God is the Ultimate Judge. Our God is a God of Justice and Love. God knows your pain; Jesus sees your tears; He even cries with you.

Although Jesus did not promote divorce, He knew that it was inevitable, because of the hardness of men’s hearts. Jesus was admonishing the men, telling them that it is not acceptable to just put away their original wives. If men want to be free of their wives, they must divorce them, and they better do it fairly. Women are daughters of God and Jesus demands that men treat them with justice and mercy.

Regardless of what people want or don’t want, God does allow divorce, and remarriage, too. And God does not want anyone to submit to anyone else. We are “servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Eph 6: 6, 7).

Assimilation of the Church to the World

ASSIMILATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD

For those that claim the title of “Christian,” it is very important to understand that the religious systems of the world are full of corruptions. It is my humble opinion that none are exempt. To think that there is a pure religion out there would be ludicrous. It doesn’t matter what one thinks, the historical evidences show that man corrupts everything he touches.  There are countless millions following the “doctrines and commandments of men” and not God. Many of these corruptions have an agenda in mind. What is that agenda? Control of others for self-indulgence, personal gain, power, control and money.  History supports this premise and shows it with glaring clarity.

In order to separate tradition from truth, in order to separate truth from the corruption, in order to genuinely understand and know the truth, we must study history and textual criticism. Studying the Bible, for many, is of no avail because the understanding of the times in which it was written is not there. One must understand the culture, the events taking place at the time of penning of scripture, and so much more in order to truly understand what the authors meant. How can one KNOW what was “meant” if you are interpreting based on the current culture and word usage? Jesus and his disciples spoke in terms that the people of their day were familiar with. Today, we are not familiar with many of the colloquialisms and terms they used. They were dealing with the real problems of the day and age in which they all lived; thus, learning history is important to correct understanding and interpretation.

We also must understand the “tares” that man has inserted through translation, that have become foundations for many. There is so much truth wrapped around a “cloak of deception” aimed at leading people to believe and act in a manner that is in direct opposition to truth and love! There were some insertions, changes and deletions through translation that have affected one particular race of people throughout history – women. As a result, women have been robbed of equality, honor and dignity. They have been treated in-humanely and, even today, still are, in some countries.

All this said, today’s history lesson will cover how the church assimilated with paganism. Throughout, I will interject my thoughts and enclose them in brackets. What will become apparent is that the church system has not changed. The corruptions then, are still around today. Let’s dive in and see what we can learn from this tidbit of early church history.

**********

Early Church History to the Death of Constantine

Edward Backhouse, 1906

With the increase of the Church in numbers and wealth, the introduction of infant baptism and the growth of a sacerdotal religion, there came an increased assimilation to the world. The dividing line between Pagan and Christian lost its sharpness, or was drawn from a new and entirely different point.

The Christians of the earlier ages were marked out from the rest of mankind by their life and conduct: “They are in the flesh, but live not after the flesh. They dwell upon earth, but their citizenship is in heaven.” But now the difference turned more especially upon external and ceremonial distinctions. [Think about this for a moment. Today, one’s Christianity is based on church attendance and service, looking outwardly holy in all manner of one’s life. What is considered “holy” living? Following all the many rules, spoken and unspoken, that the clergy within the religious system tell us to follow! Salvation is based on these same factors as well as baptism. If someone does not fit into our perceptive “mold” of what a Christian should be, then we label them as “lost,” “sinners,” “not right with God,” “reprobates,” “heathen,” etc. Standing in God’s place of judgment, we treat them differently and shun them. We isolate ourselves and our families from them as if they had a plague of sin that would affect and corrupt our righteousness. By doing these things, we break the most important commandment of all – to LOVE our neighbor as ourselves. Additionally, we give off a “better than thou” attitude that leaves a stench in the nostrils of those we are trying to reach for God!]

The Christians were those who had been baptised with water, those who partook of the bread and wine, or as it was now called, the Sacrament or the mysteries [calling it such was one of the many corruptions by clergy]. Not that there were wanting other tokens of discipleship of a less formal kind; the martyrdoms, the conduct of the Church during the times of famine and pestilence, and the holy watchful life of thousands, both in and out of office, still affording a shining testimony to the world around of the vital and energetic power of the Gospel. But in proportion as more importance was attached to the ceremonial distinction, the moral difference was overlooked.  [This is a very important statement here. When religious leaders put more weight on outward appearances and rules, the wicked thoughts and intents of the heart will manifest themselves in hidden abuses such as rape, domestic violence, incest, physical abuse, pedophilia, sex trafficking and other such crimes. As we have seen in overwhelming evidence on this blog, the internet is full of stories of these atrocities taking place hidden under the mantle of the church. The “church” has become a safe haven for criminals because they look and sound good on the outside!]

When a man like Gregory Thaumaturgus could adopt a pliable policy, and make the holy rule of the Gospel bend to the vicious habits of the newly baptised heathen, it is easy to account for the decline in morality. And after the edicts of Milan, when admissions into the Church took place in a still more wholesale manner, the maintenance of morals and discipline must have been extremely difficult, not to say impossible. [Throughout the early church, moral corruption was rampant – just as it is today. If we just do our homework and search the internet, we will find countless thousands of articles of such abuses and crimes as well as many victims speaking out about their abuses.]

Moreover, as the danger became more urgent, the voices of the watchmen on the walls grew fainter. [The “watchmen” were supposed to be church leaders. Their voices grew fainter because they had no desire to rid the church of the crimes, many of which, I believe, they were complicit in.] After the second century the influence of the Montanists rapidly declined, whilst the Novatians and others who pleaded more or less earnestly for a return to primitive manners and discipline, seemed never to have gained the ear of the general Church. Here and there, however, the cry of warning was still heard from individuals. [Those that are trying to expose the corruptions and deliver truth to the people, will always be ignored and/or silenced. This still takes place today. We must also add to this the use of character assassination — used against those that try to get the truth to people.]

Amongst these was Aerius. He was a native of Pontus or Armenia, and a friend of the semi-Arian Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, by whom he was made a presbyter. Disputes arose between himself and the bishop, which widened into a rupture with the Church; and Aerius and his followers, who were numerous, openly separated from their fellow Christians. They also renounced the possession of worldly property. The teaching of Aerius on some points remarkably anticipated that of the most enlightened Protestants at the time of the Reformation, and drew upon him the hostility of the orthodox Church. Epiphanius, who attacks him in no measured language, brings forward four special counts upon which he charges him with heresy. The first is his assertion that the Holy Scriptures make no distinction between a bishop and a presbyter. Next, that prayers and offerings for the dead are not only useless but pernicious: if they avail to the benefit of the departed, no one need trouble himself to live holily, he will only have to provide by bribes or otherwise a multitude of persons to make prayers and offerings for him, and his salvation will be secure. Although a monk he condemned all set fasts: a Christian man should fast when he feels it to be for his soul’s good; appointed days of fasting are relics of Jewish bondage. Lastly, he ridiculed the observance of Easter as a Jewish superstition, insisting that Christians should keep no Passover, because Paul declares Christ, who was slain for us to be our Paschal Lamb. [Aerius was telling the truth here and the church leaders wanted him silenced! A rule of thumb is to “label” those truths as “heresy.” Then, label the truth teller as a “heretic.” By doing so, no one will believe the truth and continue to believe the lies instead.  These same tactics are still being used today within religion as a whole.]

“Aerius,” says his biographer, “brought scriptural weapons to the attack of the fast growing Sacerdotalism of the age; dared to call in question the prerogatives of the Episcopate; and struggled to deliver the Church from the yoke of ceremonies which were threatening to become as deadening and more burdensome than the rites of Judaism.” The warning voice was uttered, but it fell on closed ears. “The protest,” he continues, “was premature; centuries had to elapse before it could be effectually renewed.” But alas ! the rulers of the Church not only rejected the warning; they persecuted the messengers. [This sounds so familiar, doesn’t it? Persecute and silence the messengers of truth. Persecute and silence those that expose abuse or speak out about their own abuse at the hands of the church and its leaders. Persecute, silence and discredit those that expose the corruptions in translation of scripture. Church leaders and church people can be vicious about their attacks on those that speak out or expose what’s hidden or corrupted. Look at what they did to Aerius.]

Aerius and his associates were denied admission to the churches, and even access to the towns and villages, and were compelled to sojourn in the fields or in caves and ravines, and hold their religious assemblies in the open air, exposed to the cruel severity of the Armenian winter. Aerius lived about A.D. 355.

[Make life unbearable for these “heretics.” Follow them where ever they go and persecute them. Stop them from being able to get the bare necessities of life. Slap lawsuits on them to cripple them financially. Take to blogs and websites to slander and discredit them. Show the world the “genuine, unconditional love of God you have” for your fellow man that you exude by doing such things (Being facetious here). THIS is the FRUIT of the religious system at its finest. Is there any wonder that people are fleeing the faith?

By these tactics, you will know who truly AREN’T God’s people. For they fill many of the churches of today and, instead of extending love toward others, they extend hatred and slander toward victims of abuse who speak out, hatred and slander toward those that expose corruption in the church, hatred and slander toward those that expose corruption in translation of scripture;  and, they offer up murder against those that live or believe differently. “They should be stoned!” they say. It never occurs to them that the intent of their heart is MURDER. They are guilty of murder in their heart, and believe it is justified – all in the “name of God.”   Instead, they should be showering their fellow man with love, letting “unconditional” LOVE do its work in the hearts of men, leading them to the “unconditional love of God” that can penetrate even the hardest heart and lead many to repentance and faith.

For those that do these things to their fellow man “in the name of God,” they are not only exuding hatred, abuse and slander, but they are breaking the Third Commandment. Since when is hatred, slander, abuse and murder justifiable? Sadly, there are some Christians that think it is if it’s done in God’s name.]

Fasting

During the early centuries, fasting as a requirement entered into the church system. Many Christians genuinely believe that fasting was instated by Jesus, not realizing, that he did not do this. His forty day fast in the desert was not meant to be copied; and, the only time the Lord mentions fasting is in Mat 17:21 where he says, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting (see also Mar 9:29).” What man has done is instituted a rule or ritual that has made it not only mandatory to fast but, also instituted penalties and/or punishments for those that did not do it according their rules! This, according to the Apostle Paul is a departure from the truth faith as evidenced below. Let’s look at what history tells us regarding fasting.

**********

Early Church History to the Death of Constantine

Edward Backhouse, 1903

 

I Tim. 4: 1-3. – The Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own consciences with a hot iron, forbidding to marry”

Dionysius of Alexandria writes: “Some remain entirely without food the whole six days [of the Passover week]; others fast two, three or four days; others not so much as one whole day.”

FASTING. The Holy Spirit who revealed to Paul that some should depart so far from the faith as to deny to men the gracious ordinance of marriage, showed him also that they would withhold the meats “which God created to be received with thanksgiving.” Fasting, as we have seen, passed in very early times from a voluntary observance as a help of devotion, into a ceremonial usage obligatory at fixed days and seasons. Wednesday and Friday in every week were set apart as Fast days, the former as that of our Lord s betrayal, the latter as that of his crucifixion; to which various other seasons of humiliation were afterwards added. The fasting consisted in abstinence from food until three o’clock in the afternoon.  After that hour, in early times, no restriction was made as to the food which might be eaten whilst the season of humiliation lasted. Even so late as the early part of the fifth century, the historian Socrates speaks of a great diversity of usage in this respect. In some countries Christians abstained altogether from animal food; in others they allowed themselves fish; in others fowl as well as fish. Some abstained from eggs and fruit: others ate dry bread only: others not even that; whilst some partook of all kinds of food without distinction. The Apostolical Constitutions direct that during the Passover week the diet shall consist of only bread, herbs, salt and water. Meat and wine are expressly forbidden; and the Apostolical Canons rule that, “If any bishop, presbyter, deacon, reader or singer, does not fast the fast of forty days, or the fourth day of the week and the day of preparation, he is to be deprived [Forced to fast!], except he be hindered by weakness of body. If he be one of the laity he is to be suspended [Punished].”

**********

When we look at early church history and consider all the many “rules” that man has brought into the religious system of worship, it is no wonder that the corruptions are many and, have filtered down into today’s system of worship. Consistently on this blog, we will continue to point out the error and the corruptions in the hope of helping people to really consider what they have been taught by the “church.” Man-made rules, opinions and doctrines, have infiltrated not only the scriptures through translation, thereby changing what we have come to perceive as truth, but, they have infiltrated the very lives of the populous to such an extent that they are being led astray by religion! The fruit of these corruptions are obvious. Just take some time to read the many other articles on this blog to learn more about them and the class of people affected the most by them — women.

Forbidding to Marry

Before the death of Constantine, there were many corruptions that entered into the church system. One such corruption was the rule forbidding clergy to marry. This corruption is still alive today and, just as it led to perversions for the clergy back then, so it does today. The “priesthood” is fraught with all manner of sexual perversion and has become a safe haven for pedophiles and rapists. Although many may equate this corruption to one major religion, it is not the only one that forbids people to marry; and, it is not the only sect whose leadership is harboring abusers, rapists and pedophiles!

The religious sect that I came out of does the same thing; but in a different way and, a more underhanded way.  The control that pastors have among their congregations is nothing short of amazing. While clergy is allowed to marry, the pastors control who young people marry within their congregations. If the pastor says not to marry someone, then the parents usually make sure their young people don’t! It doesn’t matter how old these young people are or how they feel about it. They usually, along with the parents, follow leadership’s advice as though leadership was all-knowing, like God, and knew what was best for these young people; or what God’s WILL was for them.  This is still “forbidding to marry;” it’s just done more deceptively.

Countless relationships have been organized by clergy that have ended in divorce because young people were coerced into loveless marriages. Also, countless numbers of these “arranged marriages” evolved into abusive relationships that the woman felt trapped into. And if a divorce did occur, it was usually the woman that would be slandered and/or blamed. I cannot express how many stories of abuse I have heard from such organized marriages. Let me also say that on occasion, I have even heard of the woman being the abuser in these types of relationships. Though this is uncommon, it still happens, and the clergy stand behind the abusive spouse in many instances.  I am sure the sect I came out of is not the only one where clergy coerce young girls into “arranged marriages.” Not only are these marriages arranged, but clergy then condemns divorce even if a spouse is being sexually, physically and emotionally abused! As a result, many victims of domestic abuse find themselves in a place of bondage and fear to the abuse with no hope of escape! Arranging a marriage is the same thing as forbidding to marry! It is just a more deceptively packaged way of doing it; even if it does not apply to clergy. But of course, those that practice this, will want to split this hair and say it is not the same thing. Forbidding someone to marry because you don’t approve, is wrong. It doesn’t matter who it applies to – clergy or congregant. Forbidding to marry can lead into either the direction of celibacy or, an arranged marriage.

Let’s look at how “forbidding to marry” made its way into the church system, and the fruit of this corruption, by looking at another bit of church history. All emphasis is mine throughout.

**********

Early Church History to the Death of Constantine

Edward Backhouse, 1906

Methodius, bishop and martyr at the beginning of the fourth century, has left a long treatise or dialogue, called The Banquet of the Ten Virgins, composed on the model of Plato’s Banquet, in which the speakers strive to outdo each other in praises of the virginal state.

But if this condition of life was held up as so desirable for Christians generally, much more was it thought to adorn, if not to be absolutely essential to the clerical vocation. When the unmarried state came to be regarded as the only condition of perfect sanctity it naturally followed that the communicants objected to receive the bread and wine from any other hands. It is true that hitherto married men had not been actually disqualified for the priestly office; but for a long time marriage after ordination had been a thing unheard of, at least amongst the higher clergy. The Apostolical Canons and Constitutions rule that only the lower orders, sub-deacons, readers, singers, door keepers, may marry after their appointment. The Council of Elvira bears hard upon the married clergy; and the Council of Nicaea was only saved from adopting its canon on this head as a law for the whole Church, by the protest of Paphnutius, the maimed and one-eyed confessor from the Upper Thebais, himself a celibate. Rising in the midst of the assembly he reminded his fellow-bishops that “marriage is honourable in all,” and earnestly entreated them not to impose so grievous a yoke on the ministers of religion, or to injure the Church by intolerable restrictions.

But the headlong course was checked for a time only, not really arrested. Glancing forward beyond the strict limits of this volume we set: how the new doctrine grew and reached its full development. Siricius, bishop of Rome in A.D. 385, forbade absolutely the marriage of presbyters and deacons; and Innocent L, A.D. 405, enforced the prohibition by the penalty of degradation. But the ninth Council of Toledo, A.D. 659, the issue of such marriages were declared to be illegitimate, and condemned to become slaves, the property of the Church against which their fathers had offended. [Wow, a slave of the church for being a married priest! It doesn’t get any more perverted than that!] Seventy-two years later another council of the same intolerant Spanish Church found itself compelled to make new laws to meet the fearful consequences resulting from its former decrees. It passed canons, on the one hand against the spread of UNNATURAL crime among the clergy [Could this be pedophilia and sodomy?], pronouncing the sentence of deposition and exile on all who should be guilty of it, and on the other, against the attempts at suicide which were becoming frequent among those who had been subjected to the discipline of the Church. [How bad is the discipline that it would lead to suicide? Think about it!]

Note: The philosopher Synesius, made bishop of Ptolemais in Cyrene, A.D. 410, being required on his ordination to abandon his wife, indignantly replied : “God and the law and the holy hand of Theophilus (the bishop of Alexandria) gave me my wife. Wherefore I declare and testify to all men that I will in no wise be separated from her, nor live with her secretly like an adulterer; for the one is impious, the other unlawful. But this assuredly I will pray that we may have many and virtuous children.”

The rule was hard to observe. Infractions were winked at, and by the ninth century had become very numerous, especially in Germany and Lombardy. Successive popes attempted to enforce the law, but it was not until 1074, when Gregory VII. put his iron hand to the work, that the offenders were induced to yield. Even then many ecclesiastics resigned their benefices rather than abandon their wives. “Throughout the whole period from Pope Siricius to the Reformation, the law was defied, infringed, eluded. It never obtained anything approaching to general observance, though its violation was at times more open, at times more clandestine.”

Ever since, the blessing of matrimony has been wholly interdicted to the clergy of the Latin Church. In the Eastern or Greek Church the practice was less rigorous; and at the present day marriage is actually enjoined on the inferior clergy, whilst it is forbidden to the superior. The bishops are chosen from monks or widowers: second marriages are unlawful.

Of all the infractions of the Gospel rule of life into which the Church was betrayed, there is none more to be deplored than this enforced celibacy of its ministers. As if it were not enough to turn back to the Law, and set up again a copy of the priestly order which Christ had for ever abolished, marriage, which had been always permitted to the sons of Aaron under the Old Dispensation, must be forbidden to the new priesthood. [Amazing how religion wants to have its own rules instead of God’s.]  It is almost incredible that, when the echoes of the apostolic voices had scarcely died away, and the apostolic writings were in every hand, Church teachers and Church councils should have the hardihood to fulfill in their own practice and enactments, that most emphatic prediction of the Holy Spirit, that faithless men and hypocrites should arise and forbid to marry. Such an issue must be regarded as a master-stroke of the enemy, who, building on the perversion of man’s aspirations after holiness, thus established his stronghold in the very midst of the Church of Christ–The moral safeguard which had been divinely provided for all mankind, was in the case of one order of men removed; and the men who were set apart to guide the flock were cut off from those domestic duties, interests, and sympathies, which would best enable them to fulfill their charge. The consequences of this grand error have been many and terrible; not the least being that the priestly life, instead of rising to that higher level of purity and godliness which was so fondly hoped for, has too often fallen below the common life of the people. The roots of the evil had taken no light hold in the Church before the death of Constantine.

**********

As we can see from history, there were perversions taking place as a result of forced celibacy. This practice goes against the very scriptures these church leaders claim to follow. But, as I have stated so often, it is not about following God; it is about controlling the people. Control brings with it power. Control brings money. The more control religion has, the more corruption you will find hidden underneath its mantle of righteousness.

What About Christian Holidays?

Countless numbers of Christians the world over celebrate certain fasts and festivals throughout the year – Christmas, Easter, Lent, etc.  What many do not realize is that many of these fasts and festivals have their origins in paganism.  As stated many times on this blog, there are many things that Christians believe that are rooted in paganism, but Christians have no idea they are. Why would Christians be so ignorant of the truth of what they do? Could it be because they enjoy the festivals as did the early Christians from so long ago? Could it be because they don’t care to know and see nothing wrong with celebrating them even if they did know? Could it be because they haven’t taken the time to research the history on it? Could it be because they believe blindly, the traditions handed down from generation to generation regarding them? I believe that it could be a combination of several of these reasons, or all of them.

As believers, it behooves us to do our due diligence in seeking out truth. Man has proven himself to be a liar in all instances of religious practice handed down through tradition. Because of this, it is important that people not believe blindly what they are told. Seek truth and pursue it! Find out if what you are being told is truth or not. NEVER take a man’s word as gospel truth just because of his “position” in the church. As said many times before, every denomination produces “clones” of its system of beliefs and doctrines. God did not create us to be “clones.” He created us to be individuals – autonomous, thinkers, reasoning with one another, seekers of truth.

The history of the many fasts and festivals that are practiced within Christendom do have origins. Take some time to search the net for information on these. As usual, I will quote Early Church History to the Death of Constantine on these.  Let’s look at them.

Early Church History to the Death of Constantine

Edward Backhouse, 1906

Fasts and Festivals

FASTS AND FESTIVALS multiplied during the third and fourth centuries. In imitation of our Lord’s forty days temptation in the wilderness, a fast of as many as forty hours was observed, out of which afterwards arose the forty days of Lent. (Or because our Lord was supposed to have been forty hours in the tomb.) The Feast of Pentecost, instituted to commemorate the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples, followed fifty days after that of the Resurrection, the whole interval being observed as a season of festival, during which there was no fasting, and prayer was made standing. Pentecost, which was also named Whitsuntide from the white robes of the candidates, was one of the three special baptismal seasons, the two others being Easter and Epiphany. Epiphany (the word signifies manifestation), appears to have been instituted by Jewish Christians in honour of our Lord’s baptism, and to have travelled from the East to the West some time in the fourth century. Ascension Day is likewise not mentioned before the middle of the fourth century. About the same time Christmas, the festival of our Lord’s birth, first began to be observed at Rome, from whence it spread to the East. “It is not yet ten years,” says Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, writing about A.D. 386, “since this day was first made known to us. It had been before observed in the West, whence the knowledge of it is derived.”

Much has been written regarding the way in which the Christmas festival came first to be observed in the Roman Church, and how the time for its observance came to be transferred to the 25^th of December; for although nothing certain is known as to the season of the year when our Lord was born, it may confidently be asserted that it cannot have been very near to the winter solstice. Neander suggests the following solution to these questions, but without committing himself to it in all respects.

“Precisely at this season of the year a series of heathen festivals occurred, the celebration of which was closely interwoven with the whole civil and social life. The Christians were on this account exposed to be led astray into many of the customs and solemnities peculiar to these festivals. Besides, these festivals had an import which easily admitted of being spiritualised, and with some slight change receiving a Christian meaning. First came the Saturnalia, which represented the happy times of the golden age, and abolished for awhile the distinction between slaves and freemen. This admitted of being easily transferred to Christianity, which, through the restoration of the fellowship between God and man, had brought in the true golden age, the true equality of all men, and the true liberty. Then came the custom peculiar to this season of making presents (the Stren*), which afterwards passed over to the Christmas festival. There was also the Festival of Infants, with which the Saturnalia concluded, just as Christmas was the true festival of the children. Lastly came the festival of the shortest day, the birthday of the sun about to return once more towards the earth, in which case a transition to the Christian point of view naturally presented itself when Christ the Sun of the spiritual world was compared with that of the material. To all these series of Pagan festivals was now therefore to be opposed that Christian festival which could be so easily connected with the feelings which lay at their root; and hence the celebration of Christmas was transferred to the 25th of December in order to draw away the Christian people from all participation in the pagan solemnities, and gradually wean the Pagans themselves from their heathen customs.”

To see how the minds even of wise men were in matters of this kind swayed by the opposing influences of truth and custom, it is only necessary to read Origen’s answer to the philosopher Celsus, when he objects that Christians did not observe the heathen festivals. He quotes Thucydides, “To keep a feast is nothing else than to do one’s duty;” and adds, “He truly celebrates a feast who does his duty and prays always, offering up continually bloodless sacrifices in prayer to God. It was a most noble saying of Paul, Ye observe days and months and seasons and years; I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labour upon you in vain. If it be objected,” he continues “that we Christians are accustomed to observe certain days, as the Lord’s day, the Preparation, Passover, Pentecost, I answer, the perfect Christian who is ever in thought, word and deed serving God the Word, he is always keeping the Lord’s day. He who is unceasingly preparing himself for the true life, abstaining from the pleasures which lead so many astray, such a one is always keeping Preparation day. He who considers that Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, and that it is his duty to eat of the flesh of the Word, never ceases to keep the Paschal feast. Lastly, he who can truly say, We are risen with Christ to sit with Him in heavenly places, is always living in the season of Pentecost.”

No sooner however has Origen said this than he turns round, disregards Paul’s “most noble” saying, and propounds a maxim not to be found in the New Testament, but which he endeavours to support from the Old. “Nevertheless, the majority of those who are accounted believers are not of this advanced class; but from being either unable or unwilling to keep every day in this manner, they require some sensible memorials to prevent spiritual things from passing altogether away from their minds. It would take too long at present to show why we are required by the law of God to keep its festivals by eating the bread of affliction, or leaven with bitter herbs, or why the law says humble your souls, or the like.”  In this way were Origen and the teachers of his time accustomed to mix together the precepts of the Law and the Gospel.

More enlightened was Socrates Scholasticus, the ecclesiastical historian, who, although he wrote so late as the fifth century, has some remarks on this subject which manifest a rare freedom of thought. Speaking of the Easter controversy, he says: “Men have altogether lost sight of the fact that when our religion superseded the Jewish economy, the obligation to observe the Mosaic law and the ceremonial types ceased. The Apostle, in his Epistle to the Galatians, demonstrates that the Jews were in bondage, as servants, but that Christians are called into the liberty of sons, and he exhorts them to disregard days, and months, and years. In his Epistle to the Colossians he distinctly declares that such observances are merely shadows: Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a feast-day, or a new moon, or a Sabbath day, which are a shadow of the things to come. . . . Men love festivals because they afford them a cessation of labour; therefore it is that each individual in every place, according to his own pleasure, has by a prevalent custom celebrated the memory of the Saving Passion. The Saviour and his apostles have enjoined us by no law to keep this feast. The apostles had no thought of appointing festival days, but of promoting a life of blamelessness and piety. It seems to me that even as many other things have become customary in different places, so the feast of Easter from a certain custom has had its particular observance, since, as I said, none of the apostles have enacted anything concerning it.”

 – Early Church History to the Death of Constantine, pgs 251-253.

The Fruit of Silence

There are countless women out there that genuinely believe that what religion teaches about women is “of God.” They have been taught that:

• Their value is “less than” a man’s in God’s eyes.
• They are to keep silence in the church; that GOD does not want to hear them in “his house.”
• They are to be in submission to their husbands, or other men.
• They cannot teach men or, have authority over them.
• They are to endure abuse and abusive marriages.
• They have no rights or autonomy, but are a product and reflection of the religious beliefs of the sects they are a part of, or a reflection of their husbands.
• They should not be educated or hold jobs.

Sadly, there are countless women the world over that have been brainwashed into believing they are worthless because of these religious teachings.  Their value as women, have been stripped from them. The abuses that women endure even today defy conscience and morality. Sexual abuse and mutilation are rampant and affect all ages of women even down to the smallest little girls. Sex trafficking and prostitution are rampant. Physical abuse and emotional abuses are widespread.  All of these things are a result of religion propagating a mindset in men the world over that leads to all of these abuses. But the truth is that GOD did not say or teach any of these things listed above about women! Consistently, on this blog, I have been exposing the corruptions in translation and teaching by the translators of the early centuries. I have cited the evidence from re-known scholars of today and the early centuries; as well as historians. The evidence is clear and, it is damning to religion and those that use it as a weapon to control, dominate and abuse women.

As usual, I will cite one of several Hebrew and Greek Scholars of the early centuries on this subject – Katherine Bushnell. She has taken great pains to expose the lies of the religious elite and the errors in their teachings and translation of scripture.

**********

That we might make no mistake as to God’s own approval upon women of old who broke the silence of public assemblies, we have it expressly told us that Miriam, Deborah, Huldah and Anna were all “prophetesses,”—for they are so called where their names are mentioned. It behooves us to ask, What is it to prophesy, in the Biblical use of the word? Scholars will agree that the primal thought of the word is that of one who is acting as a spokesman for another. The idea of prediction is not necessarily implied. But as a true prophet in the Bible is one who speaks for God, and as God does not live nor necessarily speak, within the limits of time, by which mortals are bound (but, to Him, yesterday, today and tomorrow are all present), therefore it follows that what He causes mortals to say for Him often relates to a future as yet not experienced by them; hence we use this verb in a secondary sense, “to foretell.” But let us keep in mind its proper meaning, – to speak for God.

It is certain that women were not, as theology has claimed, subordinated to men from the day Eve sinned. History proves that that subordination was gradually brought about by men themselves, and was not accomplished for hundreds of years. It is as certain that not one syllable can be found in the Old Testament ordering women to “keep silence” in the Jewish public assemblies; and it would be astounding, since women were NOT silenced under the Old Covenant, if it were true that they were silenced for the sin of Eve under the New, and strike at the very heart of the teaching of which is, “There is therefore NOW no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

The congregation of Israel, a religious body called by God out of bondage and into the wilderness, was certainly a “church.” Indeed, Stephen spoke of it as “the church in the wilderness,” Acts 7:38. The very first note of praise raised by God in that “church,” was responded to by Miriam and her women, with timbrel and dance—“Miriam the Prophetess” (Ex. 15:20). And why should she have been called by the inspired Word “the prophetess,” if God had never, and did never use her voice to declare His will to Israel? God gives no empty (lying) titles. And this woman prophetess, was one of three great leaders of whom God said: “I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. . . and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron and Miriam” (Micah 6:4).

And women were not silent in the Tabernacle, after the children of Israel became a settled people in the Promised Land. Where else did Hannah sing that wonderful psalm of praise she composed for the dedication of Samuel to the Lord’s service at the Tabernacle? All the context here goes to show she “prayed” it (1Sam. 2:1) in public (compare 1:28 and 2:11); and it became public property, preserved to us to the present day, and its comforting words re-echoed in a dozen Psalms, composed in later days, like this, for the service of the Temple.

And women were not silent in the Temple: We have high authority for believing that two Psalms, at least, were meant for women’s voices alone (Psalm 8 and 45). Hannah must have been gifted in music. Her Song proved this; and her son Samuel, as can be gleaned from many incidental statements in the Bible (and as has been so well brought out in a book by Dean Payne-Smith. “Prophecy a Preparation for Christ”), taught his young prophets, whom he had in training, to praise the Lord in song.

This writer says: “One of that choir [of the prophet Samuel] was Heman, the son of Joel, Samuel’s first-born (1 Chron. 6:33, 1 Sam 8:2), who there acquired that mastery of music which made him one of the three singers selected by David. . . to arrange and preside over the Temple service (1 Chron. 25). Blessed with a numerous family, who all seem to have inherited Samuel’s musical ability, he trained them all for song in the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, psalteries and harps (1 Chron. 25:6), and it is remarkable that no less than fourteen of the twenty-four courses of singers were Samuel’s own descendants, and that as long as the first Temple stood they were the chief performers of that Psalmody which he had instituted.”

“God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the Lord.” This certainly proves that women did not “keep silence” in the Temple. We know this also from the mention of the “woman-singers” in Ezra 2:65, and Neh. 7:67. The same thing is made clear by the description of a religious procession, Psalm 68:25. If, as Dean Payne-Smith says, “Psalmody commenced with that hymn of triumph sung by Miriam and the women on the shores of the Red Sea, with timbrel and dance,” surely psalmody was introduced into the Temple service by the Song of Hanna, taken up by Samuel and his female as well as male descendants, through Heman, and extended through the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, by both women and men. There is no just reason for supposing that women ever ceased to have their part in prophecy with song, up to the days of Anna, the aged prophetess, who never left the Temple, but preached there, to the worshippers, that Messiah had come (Luke 2:36,38).

It was not until after woman had brought the Redeemer into the word,–not until after she had given her testimony to the most important facts in the Christian’s faith, and convinced the early disciples of their truth; not until long after Paul’s days, when “grievous wolves” had entered the flock, as Paul said they would do (Acts 20:29); and wrested Paul’s language, as Peter said they did (2 Pet. 3:15-16), that the teaching arose that Paul had silenced women, veiled them, and subordinated them to men. We have shown that his language is capable of more consistent interpretation.

–Katherine Bushnell, God’s Word to Women, pgs 340-342.

**********

Consistently, I have given voice to the corruptions regarding women. Once again, I give voice to the corruption that women have been silenced. They have not. What is taught by religions the world over regarding women is either abusive or, leads to abusive mindsets, attitudes and actions. Women have borne the brunt of some of the most heinous crimes against humanity as a result of religious teachings aimed at subjugating and controlling women. Their value has been stripped from them so much so that many men regard them as nothing more than property to be used and discarded. In countries where they are allowed to be part of the work force, they are underpaid for the same jobs that men do; and in many instances, they are bullied and sexually discriminated against by other men.  Their dignity and autonomy has been stripped from them as well. They are being forced into servitude to wicked and abusive men as a result; with no protections afforded them from such abuse.  The culture that has mutated from these mindsets is a rape culture. Women are not protected by laws, instead victims of rape are being held up as the “guilty party” instead of holding men accountable for their crimes against women.

Women need to educate themselves outside of mens teachings of what THEY say “God said” and really study what God actually says. In doing so, we will find that much of what we believed is rooted in the “opinions and doctrines of men” and is only aimed at sexual dominance and control. It has taken centuries for the religious mindsets to proliferate and create the culture we live in today. Today, not only are women being raped, children and infants are being raped!  But it’s not too late for that to be changed. It just takes the courage of victims everywhere to step up to the plate and speak out about the abuses they have endured. The problems are all rooted in “silence.” Silence breeds corruption, violence and abuse and, those that bear the putrid fruit of the violence – suffering, psychological disorders, physical pain and suffering, death—are women and children. Laws need to change drastically to hold MEN accountable for their own actions, instead of punishing victims. These changes in law have to start with voices being heard – victims voices from every corner of the world.

A New Perspective on the Genesis – Part 2

The following is the continuation from the excerpt of part one from The Ages Before Moses. Part one of this lecture covered the Genesis in its form, scope and substance. Part two will now cover the harmonies of Bible and Science, Man and, a lesson in Grace.

**********

The Ages Before Moses

John Monro Gibson, 1879

The Harmonies of Bible and Science

 We have said that almost everybody knows about the difficulties, but how few are there comparatively that know about the wonderful harmonies? So much is said and written about the difficulties, that many have the idea that the narrative is full of difficulties—nothing but difficulties—nothing that agrees with science as we know it now; whereas, when we look at it, we find the correspondencies most wonderful all the way through. Let us look at a few of them. And first, the absence of dates. The fact is very noteworthy that there is such abundance of space left for long periods, not till quite recently demanded by science. And this does not depend on any theory of day-periods; for those who still hold to the literal days; find all the room required before the first day is mentioned. Not six thousand years ago, but “in the beginning.” How grand and how true in its vagueness.

Another negative characteristic worth noticing here is the absence of details where none are needed. For example, there is almost nothing said in detail about the heavens. What is said about the heavens in addition to the bare fact of creation, is only in reference to the earth, as, for example, when the sun and moon are treated of, not as separate worlds, but only in their relation to this earth as giving light to it and affording measurements of time. There is no attempt to drag in the spectroscope!

 Note: This is strikingly indicated in the Hebrew text, by the accent punctuation: “In the beginning-created-God-the heavens and earth. And the earth—it was without form and void;” which is, read in full: “And the earth” (for it is only the earth that this narrative has to do with),–etc. Bearing this in mind, it is evident that when heaven is spoken of again as in the eighth verse, it is not the universe at large, but the visible heaven, as the definition indeed most accurately points out: “God called the firmament (expanse) Heaven.”

A certain infidel lately seemed to think he had made a point against the Bible by remarking that the author of it had compressed the astronomy of the universe into five words. Just think of the ignorance this betrays. It proceeds on the assumption that the author of this apocalypse intended to teach the world the astronomy of the universe; and then, of course, it would have been a very foolish thing for him to discuss the whole subject in five words. Whereas, in this very reticence we have a note of truth. If this work had been the work of some mere cosmogonist, some theorist as to the origin of the universe, he would have been sure to have given us a great deal of information about the stars. But a prophet of the Lord has nothing to do with astronomy as such. All that he has to do with the stars is to make it clear that the most distant orbs of light are included in the domain of the Great Supreme, and this he can do as well in five words as in five thousand; and so, wisely avoiding all detail, he simply says, “He made the stars also.”  There was danger that men might suppose some power resident in these distant stars distinct from the power that ruled the earth. He would have them to understand that the same God that rules over this little earth, rules to the uttermost bounds of the great universe. And this great truth he lays on immovable foundations by the sublimely simple words, “He made the stars also.”

But passing from that which is merely negative, see how many positive harmonies there are. First, there is the fact of a beginning. The old infidel objection used to be that “all things have continued as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Nobody pretends to take that position now that science points so clearly to beginnings of everything. You can trace back man to his beginning in the geological cycles. You can trace back mammals to their beginning; birds, fishes, insects to their beginnings; vegetation to its beginning; rocks to their beginning. The general fact of a genesis is immovably established by science.

 Secondly, “The heavens and the earth.” Note the order. Though almost nothing is said about the heavens, yet what is said is not at all in conflict with what we now know about them. We know now that the earth is not the centre of the universe. Look forward to Genesis 4:2, and you will find the transition to the reverse order—quite appropriate there, as we shall see in the next lecture; but here, where the genesis of all things, the origin of the universe, is the subject, it is not the earth and the heavens, but “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

 Thirdly, there is the original chaos. “The earth was without form and void.” Turn to the early pages of any good modern scientific book, that attempts to set forth the genesis of the earth from a scientific standpoint, and you will find just this condition described. Observe, too, in passing, how carefully the statement is limited to the earth. The universe was not chaotic then.

Fourthly, the work of creation is not a simultaneous, but an extended one. If the author had been guessing or theorizing, he would have been much more likely to hit on the idea of simultaneous, than successive creation. But the idea of successive creation is now proved by science to be true.

Fifthly, there is a progressive development, and yet not a continuous progression without any drawbacks. There are evenings and mornings: just what science tells us of the ages of the past. Here it is worth while perhaps to notice the careful use of the word “created.” An objection has been made to the want of continuity in the so-called orthodox doctrine of creation, the orthodox doctrine being supposed to be that of fresh creation at every point. But the Bible is not responsible for many “fresh creations.” The word “created: is only used three times in the record. First, as applied to the original creation of the universe, possibly in the most embryonic state. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Next, in connection with the introduction of life (v.2), and last, in reference to the creation of man (v.27). In no other place is anything said about direct creation. It is rather making, appointing, ordering, saying “Let there be,” “Let the waters bring forth,” etc. Now, is it not a significant fact that these three points where, and where alone, the idea of absolute creation is introduced, are just the three points at which the great apostles of continuity find it impossible to make their connections? You will not find any one that is able to show any other origin for the spirit of man than the Creator Himself. You cannot find any one that is able to show any other origin of animal life than the Creator Himself. There have been very strenuous efforts made a great many times to show that the living may originate from the not-living; but all these efforts have failed. And the origin of matter is just as mysterious as the origin of life. No other origin can be even conceived of the primal matter of the universe than fiat of the Great Creator. Thus we find the word “creation” used just at the times when modern science tells us it is most appropriate.

Sixthly, the progression is from the lower to the higher. An inventor would have been much more likely to guess that man was created first, and afterward the other creatures subordinate to him. But the record begins at the bottom of the scale and goes up, step by step, to the top: again, just what geology tells us. All these are great general correspondencies; but we might,

Seventhly, go into details and find harmonies even there, all the way through. Take the fact of light appearing on the first day. The Hebrew word for “light” is wide enough to cover the associated phenomena of heat and electricity, and are not these the primal forces of the universe? Again, it used to be a standard difficulty with skeptics that light was said to exist before the sun was visible from the earth. Science here has come to the rescue, and who doubts it now? It is very interesting to see a distinguished geologist like Dana using this very fact that light is said to have existed before the sun shone upon the earth as a proof of the divine origin of this document, on the ground that no one would have guessed what must have seemed so unlikely then. So much for the progress TOWARD the Bible which science has made since the day when a skeptical writer said of the Mosaic narrative, “It would still be correct enough in great principles were it not for one individual oversight and one unlucky blunder!”—the oversight being the solid firmament (whose oversight?), and the blunder, light apart from the sun (whose blunder?).

I have spoken already about the words “created” and “made,” in relation to the discriminating use of them. This word raqia, too, how admirable it is to express the tenuity of our atmosphere, especially as contrasted with the clumsy words used by the enlightened Greeks (stereoma), the noble Romans (firmamentum), and even by learned Englishmen of the nineteenth century (firmament)! And not to dwell on mere words as we well might, look at the general order of creation: vegetation before animal life, birds and fishes before mammals, and all the lower animals before man. Is not that just the order you find in geology? More particularly, while man is last he is not created on a separate day. He comes in on the sixth day along with the higher animals, yet not in the beginning, but toward the close of the period. Again, just what geology tells us.

These are only some of the many wonderful harmonies between this old revelation and modern science. I would like to see the doctrine of changes applied to this problem, to determine what probability there would be of a mere guesser or inventor hitting upon so many things that correspond with what modern science reveals. I don’t believe there would be one chance in a million! Is it not far harder for a sensible man to believe that this wonderful apocalypse is the fruit of ignorance and guesswork, than that it is the product of inspiration? It is simply absurd to imagine that an ignorant man could have guessed so happily. Nay, more. Let any of the scientific men of today set themselves down to write out a history of creation in a space no larger than what occupied by the first chapter of Genesis and I do not believe they could improve on it at all. And if they did succeed in producing anything that would pass for the present, in all probability in ten years it would be out of date. Our apocalypse of creation is not only better than could be expected of an uninspired man in the days of the world’s ignorance, but it is better than Tyndall, or Huxley, or Haeckel could do yet. If they think not, let them take a single sheet of paper and try!

**********

Regarding Man

Finally, what do we learn about Man? Here we have man in his heavenly relations. When we come to the narrative of the Fall we shall meet him in his earthly relations. But here he is introduced in his relations to God. “God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He him.”

Here, in the first place, we see man’s true place in nature. He is not altogether separated from the animals below him. As we have already seen, he was created on the same day with the highest group of animals. But while his lower earthly relations are not ignored, it is by his heavenly relations, his relations to God, that his place in nature is assigned him. “God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. (Gen. 1:27)” It is important for us to take firm hold of this truth in these days. When man’s place in nature is discussed nowadays, an anatomy seems to be the first and the last resort. It has even been suggested by a very eminent anthropologist (Haeckel) that the investigation would be more satisfactorily made upon subjects “packed into large vessels filled with spirits of wine!”  The corpus, the corpse, is the final appeal. No account is taken of man’s spiritual powers; no notice taken at all of his higher nature, by which he is related to God. Tell me which is the more important part of a man, his bodily organism, by which he is related to the beasts below him, or his spiritual nature, by which he is related to God above him? Is not the Bible, when it gives man his place in nature as created in the image of his Maker, far more rational than these materialists, who only give us his place in relation to the lower animals?

Let us look for a moment at this truth, of man made in the image of God, as a foundation truth in theological as well as anthropological science. In the first place, it is the only basis of Revelation. If it had not been true that man was made in the image of God, a revelation from God would have been an uttered impossibility. Just think of it for a moment. We are told in the Bible that “God is Love.” Would that convey any idea to our minds if there were no such thing as love in our hearts? Or when we are told that God is just, could we have any conception of the meaning if we did not know from our own natures what justice is? Or take the great and blessed truth of the Fatherhood of God; what possible notion of it could we have, if fatherhood were unknown among men? So you will find, when you think of it, that it would have been impossible to have any idea of God at all, unless we had been made in His image. The truth that man was made in the image of God is the only rational basis of revelation.

Further, we have here a rational basis for the Incarnation. What more natural, when God would reveal Himself in some way that would appeal to our senses, when He would come near to us and let us know Him as a Friend—what more natural than to take the form of a man, seeing man was made in the image of God? The doctrine of the New Testament is that the man Christ Jesus was “the Image of the Invisible God.” The doctrine of the Old Testament is that man was made in the image of the Invisible God. You see the harmony between the two: man in the image of God, and Jesus Christ “the Image of God.” Thus we find here a rational basis for the Incarnation.

We find, still further, a rational basis for the doctrine of Regeneration by the Holy Spirit. We are told there in Genesis, that “God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul,” and in another passage that “the inspiration of the Almighty gave him understanding.” Is it not, then, reasonable to suppose that the inspiration of the Almighty will be necessary to restore to him his understanding, to restore to him his true life, when he has lost it through sin? Do we not find again a beautiful correspondence between the Old Testament doctrine of man’s regeneration, as both requiring the inspiration of the Almighty, the inbreathing of the Spirit of God? So that in this old doctrine concerning man and his place in nature, as made in the image of God, we find the only rational basis for a revelation of God, for a revelation of God in Christ, for a revelation of God in Christ by the Holy Spirit: a trinity of truth in unity.

And still further in this old doctrine of man made in the image of God, we have the foundation laid for those glorious hopes that are set before us in the New Testament. When we look at man’s lower nature and his relation to the animals, it seems hard for us to believe the glorious things spoken in the Bible about the prospect that is before us of dwelling in God’s holy heavens and reigning with Christ upon His throne. What the Bible has to say about our future destiny as sons of God, seems too good to be true. And indeed so long as we dwell upon our earthly relations and have in view only our lower nature and our material bodies we cannot rise to these conceptions. But when we think of ourselves as being made in the image of God, it does not seem any longer unreasonable or extravagant that we should share the glory of God. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Let us only rise to our true dignity as sons of God, and then we shall be prepared to realize our lofty destiny as heirs of the glory of God!

We have finished what we had to say on the substance of this revelation. We have had important truth concerning God, concerning Nature, and concerning Man. Can we learn any lessons of Grace before we close? It is true that sin is not yet in the world. So grace is not needed, and accordingly has no place directly in this apocalypse. But cannot we learn some lessons of grace indirectly? May it not be that God’s work in nature is a picture of His work in grace? Look and see.

**********

A Lesson in Grace

The first thing in the transformation of chaos to cosmos is Light. God said, “let light be, and light was.” That was the first thing needed to prepare the way for the coming order. And it is the first thing needed to illumine the chaos of the sinner’s heart. God must say, “let light be,” before the sinner can be brought “from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God.” The next thing, after the production of light and the primal forces of the universe, is Order, advancing steadily from stage to stage. So God deals with the soul that comes to Him. He first gives light, gives it in a moment as by a word, and after the sudden change, follows a gradual transformation. Just as the Spirit of the Lord moved on the old chaos, and gradually it was reduced to order, so the Spirit of the Lord moves on the dark and troubled waters of the heart and restores it stage by stage to order; and at each stage He says, “It is good, it is good.” The Lord rejoices in His work.

We get still another view of God’s working when we reach the animate creation. The earth had not only been “without form,” but “void,” and now that Light has come, and Order has followed, it only remains that the void be filled with life. Light, Order, Life: these are the three remedies for chaos, with its darkness, confusion, and death. And we, too, want something to fill the void, and so God in Christ comes to us, and by His Spirit gives us life: a life which, following the order of the creation record, is gradually becoming higher and higher, nobler and nobler, until it reaches up to God Himself. Then, when all is finished, God says, “Behold, it is very good.” So shall it be at the last, when God has finished His work; when everything within has been reduced to order, when life has reached its culmination, when we have become at last like Him, who is “the Life.” Then the Lord will look upon His finished work in grace, and say: “Behold, it is very good.” What follows? “The rest that remaineth for the people of God.” Not the rest of inactivity. God has not been inactive during his seventh day. It was only rest from the work of reducing things to order. He no longer needed to reduce things to order. It was only the administration of that which was already brought to order that was henceforth necessary. So after God has come into our souls, and everything has been reduced to order, and we have been brought to that perfect day, we shall enjoy the rest of heaven, the rest of unwearied, active service, and onward, unobstructed progress that remaineth for the people of God. “There shall be no night there,” no confusion there, no death there. Light, Order, Life, all very good, for evermore! – pgs 55-76, Ages Before Moses.

A New Perspective on the Genesis

Every now and again, I come across an historical text that I find quite interesting. The following is an excerpt from The Ages Before Moses. The author wrote this somewhere between 1838 and 1879. The work itself was published in 1879 as a series of lectures, but the writings contained in it span many decades for this author. What stood out for me in this lecture was his perception of the seven days of creation and what he brings out regarding the harmonies of the Bible and Science. It is a most interesting perception for us to think upon and consider as we continue to weigh out evidences presented to us. Throughout this excerpt, many different things will strike a chord in the mind of the reader – an idea, a thought, a concept – all worth some serious contemplation on our part. Much of what this author has to say, one will notice, stands at odds with what many fundamentalist Christians teach in today’s churches. I put this here today, to allow readers to gain a new perspective and consider what this author has to say. There are many “truths” that this author brings to light in his many different works, some of which, I quote in my book, Religion’s Cell. Sometimes, it’s just refreshing to see some truths put in such a way that it brings the Bible and Science together in harmony. This author does just this. Because of the length of this lecture, I will put it out in two parts; both of which, will be worth reading just for the new concepts and ideas covered on this topic of Genesis and all that it involves. This first section will cover the Genesis in its form, scope and substance. Part two, to come, will cover the harmonies of Bible and Science, Man and, a lesson in Grace.

 

The Genesis

John Monro Gibson, D.D., The Ages Before Moses, 1879

–deeds and lives that lie Foreshortened in the tract of time.”

Of this kind of foreshortening the book of Genesis is a remarkable example. The lives of the men that lived before Abraham, long as they were, pass so rapidly before the eye that it is difficult to realize that in the course of a few short chapters, many long centuries have been traversed. And the deeds of the Great Creator before the time of Adam, are recorded in such rapid succession, and with such sublimity of condensation, that it is only after the imagination has been thoroughly accustomed to the deep perspective, that we are able even to feebly realize that in the course of a few short verses whole ages of time have been compassed.

These earliest ages of the world’s history will come before us in proceeding to consider the Genesis proper, as we may call that portion of the larger Genesis contained in the first chapter and the first three verses of the second chapter, which ought by all means to have been included in the former.

In looking at this Genesis record we shall consider first the form of it, then the scope of it, and finally its substance.

**********

It’s Form

 Here it is very important to notice that it is not historical in form. The book of Genesis as a whole is historical, and from this we are apt to suppose that every part of it is so. Now it is quite manifest that this portion of it is not historical. The histories of the Bible, as far as their human authorship is concerned, were produced just like other histories. They are the reports of eye-witness, or of those who obtained their information from eye-witnesses, or from persons competent to testify to the facts. The book of Genesis as a whole is historical, and from this we can suppose that every part of it is as well. But, who were the eye-witnesses to the first chapter of Genesis?  Obviously, there were none. Therefore it must have been an apocalypse. God must have revealed it to some of the prophets, in early times. (See Luke 1:70). We are not told how He revealed it, but it looks as if it may well have been in the usual way, namely, by visions. (See Num. 12:6). It would seem as though a series of pictures of creation had passed before the mind of the ancient seer. And, as in other parts of Scripture where God made known His will by visions, so here there are voices falling on the ear, as well as scenes presented to the eye. “God said: Let there be Light.” “God called the Light, Day,” etc.

And here it is most interesting to compare the apocalypse at the beginning with that at the end of the Bible. How natural it was, how necessary, that we should have an apocalypse at the beginning to tell us of that part of the earth’s history which transpired before man existed. And how necessary, too, that we should have an apocalypse to tell us what it was important for us to know about the undiscovered future.

The unknown past—the unknown future—both of these needed an apocalypse, and so we have it. And how numerous and striking the correspondencies between the two. For example, we have the seven days of creation at the beginning; and at the end we have the seven churches and the seven seals and the seven vials and the seven trumpets and the seven voices. Then again, when you compare the first few chapters of Genesis with the closing chapters of the Bible, you see the same great ideas reappearing. In the first apocalypse we have the heavens and the earth. In Genesis we have the Paridise of Eden; in Revelation the paradise of God. In Genesis we are told of the rivers of Eden, and the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Life “in the midst of the garden;” in Revelation we are told of the River of the water of Life, and the Tree of Life upon its banks, and “in the midst of the Paradise of God.” At the beginning of the Bible we have the institution of marriage; and at the end we have “the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Many other comparisons might be made between the two, showing the connection between the first and the last book of that wonderful Bible which opens with an apocalypse of the dateless past, and closes with an apocalypse of the dateless future. So much for the form of this book.

**********

The Scope

Next let’s look at the scope of it:

First of all, it is dateless. There is no date at the beginning of it. It simply says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” There is no date at the end of it. This is not often noticed. We are told, “The evening and the morning were the first day,” the second day, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth day, but we are not told that the evening and the morning were the seventh day. There is no date, then, at the end, any more than at the beginning of it. We shall see the importance of this a little later.

Next, it is measureless. There is nothing in it to measure the scope of it. It has been said that it is measured by the narrow boundary of six or seven days. There seems abundant reason to conclude that there was no such intention of limiting the scope of this chapter. In the first place, notice that three days are spoken of before any measures of time are given. So the first day and the second day and the third day were without measure. Again, in Gen. 2:4, the same word “day” is used to cover the entire time of the creation work. Then there is evidence to show that the Jews, and in particular the sacred writers, did not understand the day of creation in the limited sense of either twenty-four or twelve hours. Take the ninetieth Psalm for example. Observe that this Psalm starts from the idea of creation; and it is worth while to notice that the title of the Psalm ascribes it to Moses, so that we may have here the views of the author of the Pentateuch himself. Well, what does he say? “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from age to age Thou are God.” These words translated “everlasting” in our version refer to enormous periods. And observe there is no reference to the future, as many suppose. It is all to the past, to the past of creation, as its majestic history sweeps on “from Olam to Olam,” from age to age. And again in the fourth verse: “A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past.” Or take the parallel passage in the New Testament, 2 Peter 3:8: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” And observe that here, too, the mind of the writer has been carried back to the book of Genesis, for only a few sentences before he has been speaking of “the beginning of the creation” (v.4).

As a good exercise on this subject, let me recommend you take some of the numerous references to creation in the Scriptures and see if you can find a single one that conveys the idea that the work of creation transpired in a short space of time. If the sacred writers had really entertained the idea that so great a work was done in so short a time, would not some notice have been taken of so wonderful an act?  Whereas, if any reference to time is made at all, it is the thought of ages rather than of days that is impressed on the mind. In this connection it may be well to refer to the ideas about creation which are found outside of the Jewish people; and here the remarkable fact meets us that, while the heathen traditions of the creation have so much resemblance to the Mosaic Revelation, as to indicated identity of origin, the idea of long periods is quite familiar. Take the following sentence from the Brahminical records as a specimen: “One thousand divine ages are a day of Brahma, the creator.” These are very ancient authorities you will see, for the extension of time expressed in the word day; and by no means liable to the suspicion of their being driven to it in order to escape geological difficulties! And in the same way sufficient evidence has been adduced to show that Josephus and many of the old Jewish rabbis, and some of the early Christian fathers too—Irenaeus in the second century, Origen in the third, and Augustine in the fourth—did not regard the Bible as committed to literal days in the creation narrative.

Further, what if the days instead of representing the periods of creation represented the time of the vision? May it not have been a seven-day vision, and this only a brief account of it? And if it took so long a time for the vision to pass before the seer’s mind, what a conception of age-long periods would it give him. If a scene passing before your mind should occupy only fifteen minutes in passing, it would appear a long time. If it took an hour, it would seem very long; and if it took an evening and a morning, it would seem almost interminable. I do not urge this very strongly, but it seems to me not by any means unreasonable.

Note: While we hold very strongly to the interpretation of the days above given, we have nothing but respect for the views of those who interpret the days literally and bring in the periods of geology between the first and second verses. It is of course impossible for both to be right; and yet either may be a tenable hypothesis. And it is very important to remember that while different hypothesis necessarily discredit each other, they by no means discredit the sacred text. No one pretends that there was any intention of teaching geology. All that is wanted is room for the discoveries of science: and the greater the number of so-called “reconciliation” hypothesis, provided only they be tenable, the more evidence have we of the wisdom displayed in presenting the truth so as to be final spiritually, and yet so singularly OPEN for future physical investigation.

Let us now revert to the fact already notice, that the seventh day is left open. It is not said of the seventh day as of the others, “the evening and the morning were the seventh day.” Why not? Because all the rest of the Bible is included in the seventh day. This is evidently the thought in the Saviour’s mind, when in defending Himself for healing a man on the Sabbath, He says: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work’ (John v. 17). It is as if He said: “My Father’s Sabbath has been in process all these years since He rested from His creation work as Sustainer and Redeemer: and so may I; My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” And the very same idea is full wrought out in the intricate, but interesting passage in the fourth chapter of Hebrews.

We are living, then, in the seventh day. In what part of it? Remember the order. It is “the evening and the morning.” The Hebrew order—through darkness to light—is the divine order, which ends in the darkness of midnight. Is it the evening still? Or did the morning break when the Sun of Righteousness appeared upon the horizon eighteen centuries ago? If so, we are only in the early dawn as yet. There is a great deal of darkness about us. But the Day of the Lord is coming, a day which shall know no ending, for “there shall be no night there.” The path of the exalted Saviour through the ages, however obscure it now may be to sight, will be shown at last to have been like that of the true disciple in his day and generation, “as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the Perfect Day.” So much for the magnificent scope of the Bible “Genesis. We come now to the substance of the revelation. Here we have three great subjects: God, Nature, and Man.

**********

The Substance

First, what do we learn from God? His existence is simply postulated: “In the beginning God”—How much grander, stronger, and better than any argumentation would have been. The existence of God really needs no argument. It comes to us in the shape of an intuition. It is inborn in us, and those who are atheists, are atheists in spite of themselves, I was going to say. They have struggled away from their natural convictions. Atheism is not natural. And downright atheism is a very rare thing indeed. We have also the unity of God as against the polytheism of the heathen world; and the spirituality and personality of God as against all pantheistic notions of Deity. Then, finally, His supremacy as “God over all.” If we could realize the extent of the evil arising out of the superstitions of the ancient world, we should see how important it was to set forth the conception of God’s supremacy over all in the beginning. Take the superstitious notions about the weather as an illustration. What a comfort to all to whom this Revelation came, to be assured, long before there was or could be any science of meteorology, that all these changes, that seemed so capricious, were under the control of One intelligent and beneficent Power. Or, again, think of the tendency to worship the heavenly bodies. What a complete antidote to this tendency was the announcement of the fact that all these came into existence by the fiat of the Almighty, and were consequently under His absolute control. The supremacy of God is a very important part of the apocalypse of Genesis.

Have we anything about the Trinity? Attention is often called to the plural form of the name of God, used with a singular verb, the idea being that the plural form gives the conception of trinity and the singular verb that of unity. I do not think we should lay much stress upon this, however, because the plural in the Hebrew language is often used as signifying the excellence, the greatness, the majesty of the subject in reference to which it is used. So the plural may be used here to signify the greatness of God. But the apostle John has called our attention to the presence in this narrative of Him whom we call the Second Person of the Trinity. “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). God SAID: “Let there be Light.” And we can see for ourselves “the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters.” We have then God, the Word, and the Spirit, all brought before us in the work of creation. As we review the truth about God contained in this apocalypse, we should feel constrained to bow the knee in lowly adoration. What a well-spring of worship is there in these opening sentences of the Bible, and how the solemnizing and elevating effect of them appears in all the subsequent literature of the Hebrews. Hence comes that lofty appreciation of nature which is found nowhere else in the ancient world, and is so conspicuous and so inspiring throughout the pages of the Bible. Read the one hundred and fourth Psalm for example, the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, and the closing chapters of the book of Job, and you will hear the majestic echoes of that voice of majesty that speaks so grandly in the Genesis. “Hallelujah!” “Hallelujah!” is the never-dying refrain of the Creation Epic: “Praise ye the Lord.”

Next, what do we learn about Nature? Here, unhappily, the attention of Bible students has been almost exclusively directed to certain difficulties. These difficulties all arise, as it seems to me, from three sources, and the Bible is not to blame for any of them. First source: treating the passage as if it were history, whereas it is apocalypse. Second source: taking it as intended to teach science, especially astronomical and geological science. Third source of difficulty: the mistakes of translators. For example, the unfortunate word firmament continually comes to the front as one of the “mistakes of Moses.” Strange that a Latin word should be a mistake of Moses! Did Moses know Latin? Did he ever write the letters f,I,r,m, etc.? Not only is the word “firmament” not in the Hebrew Bible, but it does not represent the Hebrew word at all. The word firmament means something strong, solid. The Hebrew word, for which it is an unfortunate translation, signifies something that is very thin, extended, spread out; just the best word that could be chosen to signify the atmosphere.

Note: The mistake is really a mistake of science. It was the false astronomy of Alexandria that led the Septuagint translators to translate raqia, expanse, into arepewya, firmament. Then there is the word “whales,” that Professor Huxley made so merry over a year ago. But the Hebrew does not say whales. The Hebrew word refers to great sea monsters, and is just the very best word the Hebrew language affords to describe such animals as the plesiosaurus and ichthyosaurus and other creatures that abounded in the time probably referred to there.

Let us only guard against these three sources of error, and we shall not find many difficulties. If we would only avoid the mistakes of Moses’ critics, we would not show our ignorance by talking about the mistakes of Moses.

—Click Here for Part 2