Matilda Reich

After reading the New Testament and the prophet books of the Old Testament there is a difference in how the two portray women. It's true that it reflects the society back then and women's low status. A good example is when the Sadducees ask Jesus that hypothetical question about what becomes of the widow woman when the brother has to take her to produce the children his deceased brother didn't and so on, down to the last brother (in Matt 22: 23-33).

Now given the accounts of women in the New Testament who demonstrated spiritual intelligence, I am not sure of the sayings in the Old Testament like Timothy or even Corinthians because they sound negative and disparaging. And the true word of God is never negative or disparaging. It may be warning and condemning (like in the Old Testament) but not judging the worth.

Don’t forget that the Judaic culture was always misogynistic. In fact Jesus told the disciples that Moses was told to grant divorce due to their hardening of hearts, “to put her away”.

People question the authenticity of the New Testament all the time, but the same could be said of the Old Testament which was also written by fallible men.

It does not sound right that woman was made from man from his rib. This does not accord with the Tao’s description of the natural order - which sounds a lot more logical than the misogynist mosaic religion.

I am also not certain that it was all Eve's fault when she encouraged Adam to bite the apple from the tree of knowledge. People often ask then why would God place such a tree in the garden in the first place unless they were meant to be tempted.

I agree and think it was more like a dare and the resulting sin was from a sense of guilt rather than any actual wrong doing because they disobeyed the word of God when he said you should not eat from the tree of knowledge. But herein was the first act of free will - which was granted us anyway.

I know there is a lot of dislike of women in culture especially today thanks to the over-promotion of feminism. But the point is, at no time did Jesus ever hint that women were less than men. Remember when he told Martha not to berate her sister for choosing to sit at his feet to listen to his teachings rather than help with the serving.

The Old Testament is written by learned men who reek with misogyny and I for one find more heart felt honest divine truth in the New Testament whereas the Old Testament is more a historical account. Jesus talked to women (Mary Mag. And the samaritan woman by the well) with no less a content than if they'd been male.

October 14 2018 • Report