The Bible is used even today to defend sexism. I've heard so many people make excuses for their terrible actions towards women, with the Bible as their reasoning.

In numbers chapter 31, Moses says "'Have you allowed all the women to live?' He asked them. 'They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.'"

This shocked me the first time I read it. It still does. So these women are supposedly awful and caused all these terrible things, yet they want the virgins? Also, how did they even go about determining who was a virgin and who wasn't?

"But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity not be found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones that she die." Deuteronomy 22:20-21

They had a weird obsession with virginity. And we know now thanks to science that there is no virginity test. You can't look at a woman and tell if she's had sex before so these laws are ridiculous.

For a long time I had an healthy obsession with my virginity. I thought that God would love me less if I had sex. I was so ashamed for having 'sinful' thoughts about men (and I would later discover women as well. I'll do another chapter on homosexuality and the Bible). I had always been told that God could read my thoughts and I knew he could tell I was thinking all these sexual things.

~~~

There are countless verses stating that menstruation is dirty and unclean or impure.

"And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean." Leviticus 15:20

"If a man sleeps with her and her menstrual blood gets on him, he is unclean for several days and every bed on which he lies becomes unclean." Leviticus 15:24

"Their ways before me were like the uncleanliness of a woman in her menstrual impurity" Ezekiel 36:17

Leviticus 15:19 ESV says "whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening"

I've heard some say that they could've been concerned with the literal cleanliness of a person during their period, but i still think this is a little extreme. If I sit on a chair while on my period, the chair isn't automatically dirty.

~~~~~

Paul was extremely sexist in his letters.

"I want the women to dress modestly, with decent and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner." 1 Timothy 2:9-14

I don't have a problem with modesty. But I do have a problem with all of these 'I' statements Paul is making. Is this was the Lord wants, or what Paul wants? These seems like Paul's wishes to me.

Also, the whole women shouldn't have authority over men seems pretty messed up to me. This passage says that women should sit quiet and listen, not speak up. And it's all Eve's fault apparently. Because we deserve to be punished because God let Satan tempt her to eat an apple. (Refer to the second chapter of this book).

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 states "women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church."

You might argue that Paul is simply a product of his time. A time where women were generally respected less than men in many cultures. However I counter this by saying, Paul is an apostle of Jesus. He is supposed to be writing the inspired word of God. Is this the word that God inspires?

Other verses Paul writes suggest that we are all equal in the eyes of God. For example Galatians 3:27-28. So which is it? Are we equal or no?

~~~~

Oh and if you were a virgin and raped in biblical times, your rapist had to pay up or marry you.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 says "if a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives."

Old Testament law only protects married or engaged women from their rapists. If an engaged woman is raped, the man is put to death. But an unmarried virgin would be stuck with her rapist forever.

I once thought that this was just because of the time period. But the punishment for rape in most of ancient Egypt was death. The male offender would be mutilated or exiled if he was a foreigner. (This information was found from a journal of criminal law. I'll provide the link).

The Babylonian laws against rape were a little different. The criminal had to be caught in the act or sufficient evidence had to be provided. The penalty was death.

https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1277&context=jclc

Either way this is not an acceptable thing and if the Christian God encouraged these laws, then I don't want anything to do with him. I was raped so I take this personally.