The Young Turks

You're letting a twisted interpretation of the Bible sound sane instead of believing your own eyes. For the first few centuries of the Christian Church, women were equals to men, as with Jewish women who were/are on the proverbial pedestals. But in the 4th century, a group of men got together and voted on what the Bible "says". Down with women, especially downgrading Mary Magdelene from apostle/evangelist to whore. Priests in the Middle Ages had to be celebate, not because of anything in the Bible, but to prevent them from passing on their posessions to family instead of the Church.

Interpretations of the Bible - There are lots of different versions and translations, some bad, some awful. The most recent translations directly from the Aramaic and Greek revealed some surprising things. Nowhere in the Aramaic of the New Testament does it mention that Mary was a virgin, only a young woman. Revelations is about Christians in Rome, not the end of the world, and thousands of other misinterpretations. The Jews in Egypt may have been hired help and not slaves [but treated almost as badly], according to recent archeological evidence.

I live in the "Bible Belt" where unquestioned preachers are everything to my neighbors. I get exasperated when evangelicals come to my door to convert me, so I always quote from the sermon on the mount where [paraphrased] Jesus said that you shouldn't wear your religion like a loud tie--go into your room and pray quietly. I have 3 Bibles, the Koran, Tripitaka/Mahayana, Vedas/Upanishads, analects of Confucius. It amazes me that the evangelists can quote scripture and have no idea what it actually says, like justifying beating their children because of "spare the rod and spoil the child" which really means a shepherd's rod for guidance, not punishment.

I went to the library and borrowed Isaac Asimov's annotated Bible which puts the text in historical context, read the entire book, and used his references to read other books. I've been reading through the Anchor Bible series, so far about 20 volumes--only about 100 more to go. And James Michener's, The Source, is also an interesting foundation.

Your quote from the Bible is probably as bad as it sounds. I discount almost anything written about woman by Paul, since it appears from his writing that he didn't like women. Ephesians says that women should submit to their husbands, but husbands should love--not submit--to their wives. What do you believe, your friend's explanation or your own lying eyes?