It is unfortunate that so many people will use portions of Scripture to justify numerous ungodly things, like Westboro Baptist displaying a "God Hates Fags" sign on the street corner, or blowing up abortion clinics, or treating women like second-class citizens. But does the Bible really promote the suppression of women like this guy Nick Kristof thinks?
He first quotes Jimmy Carter and talks about how he hates the suppression of women, that religion contributes to this wrongdoing. Interestingly enough, Jimmy Carter also pushed that women should be pastors and leaders in the church, in which the Scriptures do forbid but the justification for that will be explained later on (and it isn't because women are inferior).
I'll be honest and blunt here: non-Christians seem to love passing judgment on the Christian faith, while if we try and defend our position we get called intolerant and told not to judge people...interesting paradox. True, biblical Christianity is almost never what is truly critiqued by those not in the faith, and this leads to many misconceptions as to what Christianity is and is about. And of course they don't believe in the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, which is why they scoff and laugh at certain parts (which they take out of context and twist to suit their own passions).
For example, this Kristof guy quotes part of 1 Timothy 2, and has no idea of the model of how the church here on earth should be run. He says "The New Testament quotes St. Paul (I Timothy 2) as saying that women 'must be silent.'" And he just leaves it there, doesn't mention the context or anything...and so any reader of this guy might say, "Oh he's right, it does say that, and therefore Christianity is intolerant and oppressive." I'd be willing to say this is academic dishonesty since he obviously didn't do his homework on this section of Scripture, and since he also didn't quote the entire verse. It's not saying women aren't ever to speak; Paul said, "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness." Paul is instructing Timothy as to how the church must be run, and here he is telling the women that if they disagree with some doctrine, that they are to ask their husbands rather than just blatantly argue and disagree.
Kristof goes on to say "In fairness, many scholars believe that Paul did not in fact write the passages calling on women to be silent." Oh really? Interestingly enough, the apostle Peter had something to say about this sort of thing:
[15] And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. [17] You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. [18] But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. - 2 Peter 3:14-18
It wasn't but a few decades when people were misusing the Scriptures that Paul wrote, so it's no surprise that men are doing it today...and for scholars to just say, "Oh Paul didn't really write that" is not because of historical authenticity but rather from personal emotions and feelings. They think he could not have written that because it's divisive. Scripture isn't the issue here, it's non-Christians thinking that they know how to interpret the Bible. Read 1 Corinthians 2 and Paul says that those who aren't saved don't have the Spirit of God in them, and therefore can't understand the things of God because they're spiritually discerned. (They probably hate that portion on the Bible too, maybe Paul didn't write that either)
Okay, I'm done talking about the article, and now I'm gonna wrap this up.
Once Adam and Eve fell in the garden of Eden, the entire world was thrown into confusion and is tainted with sin. Adam and Eve were created to have a perfect relationship with God, yet they disobeyed Him and caused every human being to be born with a sinful nature. God created animals, with humans being in complete control of them--ever wondered why animals attack people now? May seem weird, but the fall in Genesis 3 is the answer. Humans were to have dominion over every thing on earth, to be in complete control of it all, but that's been lost. Since things aren't perfect here anymore, we're all subject to various frustrations. No relationship here on Earth will be perfect, and this is why many numerous people find fault with how the Christian woman is supposed to act when it comes to marriage. Read Ephesians 5 and you'll see that in fact the husband is given more instruction than the wife. The wife is to submit (love and respect) her husband, while the husband is to love her and lay down his life to her. So there is submission on both parts, just like every Christian is called to submit to one another out the reverence of Christ.
Please read everything in context, especially the Bible, before you start making unwise, uneducated statements, Christians and non-Christians.
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