The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
44:22 - "[The Levites] shall not marry a widow, or a divorced woman, but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest."
44:25 - "They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person; for father or mother, however, and for son or daughter, and for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves."
Ezekiel 45 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 46 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 47 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 48 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
Finally done with Ezekiel! :D Dancing time, people!
Is it possible maybe we'll get something a little new in the next book?
Monday: Daniel
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Ezekiel 39-43
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
Ezekiel 39 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 40 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 41 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 42 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 43 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
*yawn*
Friday: More Ezekiel
Ezekiel 39 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 40 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 41 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 42 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 43 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
*yawn*
Friday: More Ezekiel
Monday, July 25, 2011
Ezekiel 34-38
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
Ezekiel 34 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 35 - No mention of any women.
36:17 - "Mortal, when the house of Israel lived on their own soil, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds; their conduct in my sight like the uncleanness of a woman on her menstrual period."
Ezekiel 37 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 38 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
Note: The repellent and CONSCIOUS actions of the people of Israel is JUST LIKE a woman's natural and NON-CONSCIOUS menstrual cycle.
Remember, ladies, despite your lack of control over your natural bodily functions men will STILL blame, shame and punish you for having them.
As a side note and possible future post topic: I did not know that "smokin' hot wives" and referring to your wife as "bride" was a Christian thing. Apparently, it is. When I get around to checking this out further I can guarantee there will be a post filled to the brim with rant. Until then: Anyone else notice how that NASCAR prayer listed "smoking hot wife" within a list full of objects and property (tires, cars, engines, and what have you)? Stay classy, Christians.
Wednesday: More Ezekiel
Ezekiel 34 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 35 - No mention of any women.
36:17 - "Mortal, when the house of Israel lived on their own soil, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds; their conduct in my sight like the uncleanness of a woman on her menstrual period."
Ezekiel 37 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 38 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
Note: The repellent and CONSCIOUS actions of the people of Israel is JUST LIKE a woman's natural and NON-CONSCIOUS menstrual cycle.
Remember, ladies, despite your lack of control over your natural bodily functions men will STILL blame, shame and punish you for having them.
As a side note and possible future post topic: I did not know that "smokin' hot wives" and referring to your wife as "bride" was a Christian thing. Apparently, it is. When I get around to checking this out further I can guarantee there will be a post filled to the brim with rant. Until then: Anyone else notice how that NASCAR prayer listed "smoking hot wife" within a list full of objects and property (tires, cars, engines, and what have you)? Stay classy, Christians.
Wednesday: More Ezekiel
Friday, July 22, 2011
Ezekiel 29-33
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
29:12 - "I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolated countries; and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries."
30:18 - "At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark, when I break there the dominion of Egypt, and its proud might shall come to an end; the city shall be covered by a cloud, and its daughter-towns shall go into captivity."
Ezekiel 31 - No mention of any women.
32:16 - "This is a lamentation; it shall be chanted. The women of the nations shall chant it. Over Egypt and all its hordes they shall chant it, says the Lord GOD."
32:18 - "Mortal, wail over the hordes of Egypt, and send them down, with Egypt and the daughters of majestic nations, to the world below, with those who go down to the Pit."
33:26 - "You depend on your swords, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land?"
My Comments
Blah blah blah I'm God blah rar I'm big and mean and scary rar argh blah rawr I will punish anyone who doesn't love exactly as I want them to blah blah blood blah guts blah destruction and turmoil and devastation and famine and plagues and death and bloodshed and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...
Yeah, thiiiiis is getting a bit dull...
29:12 - "I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolated countries; and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries."
30:18 - "At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark, when I break there the dominion of Egypt, and its proud might shall come to an end; the city shall be covered by a cloud, and its daughter-towns shall go into captivity."
Ezekiel 31 - No mention of any women.
32:16 - "This is a lamentation; it shall be chanted. The women of the nations shall chant it. Over Egypt and all its hordes they shall chant it, says the Lord GOD."
32:18 - "Mortal, wail over the hordes of Egypt, and send them down, with Egypt and the daughters of majestic nations, to the world below, with those who go down to the Pit."
33:26 - "You depend on your swords, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land?"
My Comments
Blah blah blah I'm God blah rar I'm big and mean and scary rar argh blah rawr I will punish anyone who doesn't love exactly as I want them to blah blah blood blah guts blah destruction and turmoil and devastation and famine and plagues and death and bloodshed and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...
Yeah, thiiiiis is getting a bit dull...
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Ezekiel 24-28
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
24:7-9 - "For the blood she shed is inside it; she placed it on a bare rock; she did not pour it out on the ground, to cover it with earth. To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have placed the blood she shed on a bare rock, so that it may not be covered. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile great."
24:18 - "So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded."
24:21 "Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and your heart's desire; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword."
24:25-26 - "And you, mortal, on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their heart's affection, and also their sons and their daughters, on that day, one who has escaped will come to you to report to you the news."
Ezekiel 25 - No mention of any women.
26:5-6 - "[Tyre] shall become, in the midst of the sea, a place for spreading nets. I have spoken, says the Lord GOD. It shall become plunder for the nations, and its daughter-towns in the country shall be killed by the sword. Then they shall know that I am the LORD."
26:8 "Your daughter-towns in the country he shall put to the sword. He shall set up a siege wall against you, cast up a ramp against you, and raise a roof of shields against you."
Ezekiel 27 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 28 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
Am I the only one who is pretty sure that 24:7-9 is describing menstrual blood and not just any old blood? That's kind of the automatic thought that pops in my head whenever the Bible discusses the bleeding of a woman and doesn't specifically describe a wound or attack. Especially when the bleeding of men is never discussed in this manner, where the blood is unclean and shameful. God REALLY hates menstruation doesn't he? You'd think if it was just so disgusting he would have designed us differently. But then how would he convince others of out inferiority and uncleanliness if he didn't design us this way? Or properly punish us for that whole tree of knowledge thing? I dunno, but either way we get another reminder that female blood is just a horrible thing and shameful for others to see.
Also have to love the seeming randomness of 24:18. God's basically telling everybody that people are gonna die and you shouldn't give a shit about it because, really, there are far more important things at hand than people dying. So we get this small bit about how well this man follows these rules. The guy's wife dies and he just carries on. His wife's demise is nothing more than a side note in this whole affair. And really, are we supposed to be IMPRESSED with his callousness towards his wife? When we've had Lot just leave his wife as a pillar of salt without even a single tear being shed or the Levite who let his concubine be gang raped to death and then cut her into 12 parts to send to the tribes of Israel. Yeah, I have a hard time believing that many of these lead men in the Bible give two shits about their wives so I'm not all that "impressed" by this act of bravery in the face of the death of a wife.
Friday: More Ezekiel
24:7-9 - "For the blood she shed is inside it; she placed it on a bare rock; she did not pour it out on the ground, to cover it with earth. To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have placed the blood she shed on a bare rock, so that it may not be covered. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile great."
24:18 - "So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded."
24:21 "Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and your heart's desire; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword."
24:25-26 - "And you, mortal, on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their heart's affection, and also their sons and their daughters, on that day, one who has escaped will come to you to report to you the news."
Ezekiel 25 - No mention of any women.
26:5-6 - "[Tyre] shall become, in the midst of the sea, a place for spreading nets. I have spoken, says the Lord GOD. It shall become plunder for the nations, and its daughter-towns in the country shall be killed by the sword. Then they shall know that I am the LORD."
26:8 "Your daughter-towns in the country he shall put to the sword. He shall set up a siege wall against you, cast up a ramp against you, and raise a roof of shields against you."
Ezekiel 27 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 28 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
Am I the only one who is pretty sure that 24:7-9 is describing menstrual blood and not just any old blood? That's kind of the automatic thought that pops in my head whenever the Bible discusses the bleeding of a woman and doesn't specifically describe a wound or attack. Especially when the bleeding of men is never discussed in this manner, where the blood is unclean and shameful. God REALLY hates menstruation doesn't he? You'd think if it was just so disgusting he would have designed us differently. But then how would he convince others of out inferiority and uncleanliness if he didn't design us this way? Or properly punish us for that whole tree of knowledge thing? I dunno, but either way we get another reminder that female blood is just a horrible thing and shameful for others to see.
Also have to love the seeming randomness of 24:18. God's basically telling everybody that people are gonna die and you shouldn't give a shit about it because, really, there are far more important things at hand than people dying. So we get this small bit about how well this man follows these rules. The guy's wife dies and he just carries on. His wife's demise is nothing more than a side note in this whole affair. And really, are we supposed to be IMPRESSED with his callousness towards his wife? When we've had Lot just leave his wife as a pillar of salt without even a single tear being shed or the Levite who let his concubine be gang raped to death and then cut her into 12 parts to send to the tribes of Israel. Yeah, I have a hard time believing that many of these lead men in the Bible give two shits about their wives so I'm not all that "impressed" by this act of bravery in the face of the death of a wife.
Friday: More Ezekiel
Friday, July 15, 2011
Ezekiel 23
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
Ezekiel 23 - Oholah and Oholibah
The word of the LORD came to me: Mortal, there were two women, the daughters of one mother; they played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; their breasts were caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled. Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Oholah played the whore while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen. She bestowed her favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted. She did not give up her whorings that she had practiced since Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her. Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.
Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her whorings, which were worse than those of her sister. She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men. And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. But she carried her whorings further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers--a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. When she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust; and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust. When she carried on her whorings so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister. Yet she increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions. Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your young breasts.
Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and warriors, all of them riding on horses. They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances. I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels. So I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them, or remember Egypt any more. For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust; and they shall deal with you in hatred, and take away all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whorings shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your whorings have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations, and polluted yourself with their idols. You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. Thus says the Lord GOD: You shall drink your sister's cup, deep and wide; you shall be scorned and derided, it holds so much. You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria; you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its sherds, and tear out your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorings.
The LORD said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery; and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths. For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.
They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments; you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil. The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the arms of the women, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
Then I said, Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her. For they have gone in to her, as one goes in to a whore. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women. But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed; because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
For thus says the Lord GOD: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder. The assembly shall stone them and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
My Comments
Today's "whore" count is not as bad as the last one, but still gets up to 15 before the chapter is over. Not that this chapter isn't as bad as 16, oh no. The only reason the "whore" count isn't as high is because the author got MUCH more colorful with the descriptions of said whorings. I mean, really, someone got their thesaurus out and probably a few erotic writings in order to REALLY flesh out just how WHORE-ible (see what I did there?) Oholah and Oholibah are. They lust. They are defiled. They are caressed and fondled. They flaunt their nakedness. They are come into like prostitutes.
And, really, my brain could have done without the imagery of donkey penis and stallion ejaculate. I mean holy shit, this chapter reads pretty much like a violent porn. Adulterous women lusting after hordes of men and seeking out men they see in sculpture, being defiled over and over and over again by these men. All the while also being constantly punished and wounded by these men and others. Hell, even when these women are seemingly satisfied with their "whorings" the men continue their sexual acts with them (this rape being included as part of their adultery against God).
So... yeah. Here I thought Ezekiel 16 was the worst. Like I said, by no means does this chapter make Ezekiel 16 any better. This chapter isn't quite as good about showing all of the bigger sexist themes of the Bible, but it is JUST as good at giving you woman hatred in concentrate. Hatred of female sexuality, hatred of female autonomy, hatred of female control. The whole chapter could be replaces by big red letters that just said, "WOMEN ARE EVIL WHORES!!! WHORISH-WHORY-WHORE-WHORES!!! WHOOOOOOOOORES!!!" Like God got really drunk at the bar, found a few other misogynist douchebags to pal with and proceeded to just rip the women in his life a new one (with added color commentary from the douchebag gallery).
And since we're only 23 chapters into a 48 chapter book, I won't even bother thinking that this will be the last chapter long "whore" spiel that we come across. Seriously, the Bible is just way too fucking long...
Monday: More Ezekiel
Ezekiel 23 - Oholah and Oholibah
The word of the LORD came to me: Mortal, there were two women, the daughters of one mother; they played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; their breasts were caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled. Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Oholah played the whore while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen. She bestowed her favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted. She did not give up her whorings that she had practiced since Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her. Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.
Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her whorings, which were worse than those of her sister. She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men. And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. But she carried her whorings further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers--a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. When she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust; and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust. When she carried on her whorings so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister. Yet she increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions. Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your young breasts.
Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and warriors, all of them riding on horses. They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances. I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels. So I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them, or remember Egypt any more. For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust; and they shall deal with you in hatred, and take away all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whorings shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your whorings have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations, and polluted yourself with their idols. You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. Thus says the Lord GOD: You shall drink your sister's cup, deep and wide; you shall be scorned and derided, it holds so much. You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria; you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its sherds, and tear out your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorings.
The LORD said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery; and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths. For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.
They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments; you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil. The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the arms of the women, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
Then I said, Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her. For they have gone in to her, as one goes in to a whore. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women. But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed; because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
For thus says the Lord GOD: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder. The assembly shall stone them and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
My Comments
Today's "whore" count is not as bad as the last one, but still gets up to 15 before the chapter is over. Not that this chapter isn't as bad as 16, oh no. The only reason the "whore" count isn't as high is because the author got MUCH more colorful with the descriptions of said whorings. I mean, really, someone got their thesaurus out and probably a few erotic writings in order to REALLY flesh out just how WHORE-ible (see what I did there?) Oholah and Oholibah are. They lust. They are defiled. They are caressed and fondled. They flaunt their nakedness. They are come into like prostitutes.
And, really, my brain could have done without the imagery of donkey penis and stallion ejaculate. I mean holy shit, this chapter reads pretty much like a violent porn. Adulterous women lusting after hordes of men and seeking out men they see in sculpture, being defiled over and over and over again by these men. All the while also being constantly punished and wounded by these men and others. Hell, even when these women are seemingly satisfied with their "whorings" the men continue their sexual acts with them (this rape being included as part of their adultery against God).
So... yeah. Here I thought Ezekiel 16 was the worst. Like I said, by no means does this chapter make Ezekiel 16 any better. This chapter isn't quite as good about showing all of the bigger sexist themes of the Bible, but it is JUST as good at giving you woman hatred in concentrate. Hatred of female sexuality, hatred of female autonomy, hatred of female control. The whole chapter could be replaces by big red letters that just said, "WOMEN ARE EVIL WHORES!!! WHORISH-WHORY-WHORE-WHORES!!! WHOOOOOOOOORES!!!" Like God got really drunk at the bar, found a few other misogynist douchebags to pal with and proceeded to just rip the women in his life a new one (with added color commentary from the douchebag gallery).
And since we're only 23 chapters into a 48 chapter book, I won't even bother thinking that this will be the last chapter long "whore" spiel that we come across. Seriously, the Bible is just way too fucking long...
Monday: More Ezekiel
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Ezekiel 19-22
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
19:1-5 - Israel Degraded "As for you, raised up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She lay down among young lions, rearing her cubs. She raised up one of her clubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured humans. The nations sounded alarm against him; he was caught in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Eygpt. When she saw that she was thwarted, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion."
19:10-14 - "Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of branches from abundant water. its strongest stem became a ruler's scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it stood out in its height with its mass of branches. But it was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the eat wind dried it up; its fruit was stripped off, its strong stem was withered; the fire consumed it. Now it is transplanted into the wilderness, into a dry and thirsty land. And fire had gone out from its stem, has consumed its branches and fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for ruling."
Ezekiel 20 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 21 - No mention of any women.
22:7 - "Father and mother are treated with contempt in you [Israel]; the alien residing within you suffers extortion; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you."
22:10-11 - "In you they uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women in their menstrual periods. One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father's daughter."
22:25 - "Its princes within it are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things, that have made many widows within it."
My Comments
Man, it's been a while since we've had mention of how DIRTY and UNCLEAN women are when they happen to be on the rag. Yep, keeping it classy there, Bible, as usual. Also been a while since we've had a real reminder that women that belong to men are strictly OFF LIMITS. But, as usual, women who are not owned by men are totally fair game (and if you manage to rape an unclaimed woman you might even be able to buy her from her father for cheap).
Yep, the Bible is TOTALLY not anti-woman. Nope, not one bit. -_-
Friday: More Ezekiel
19:1-5 - Israel Degraded "As for you, raised up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She lay down among young lions, rearing her cubs. She raised up one of her clubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured humans. The nations sounded alarm against him; he was caught in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Eygpt. When she saw that she was thwarted, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion."
19:10-14 - "Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of branches from abundant water. its strongest stem became a ruler's scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it stood out in its height with its mass of branches. But it was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the eat wind dried it up; its fruit was stripped off, its strong stem was withered; the fire consumed it. Now it is transplanted into the wilderness, into a dry and thirsty land. And fire had gone out from its stem, has consumed its branches and fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for ruling."
Ezekiel 20 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 21 - No mention of any women.
22:7 - "Father and mother are treated with contempt in you [Israel]; the alien residing within you suffers extortion; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you."
22:10-11 - "In you they uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women in their menstrual periods. One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father's daughter."
22:25 - "Its princes within it are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things, that have made many widows within it."
My Comments
Man, it's been a while since we've had mention of how DIRTY and UNCLEAN women are when they happen to be on the rag. Yep, keeping it classy there, Bible, as usual. Also been a while since we've had a real reminder that women that belong to men are strictly OFF LIMITS. But, as usual, women who are not owned by men are totally fair game (and if you manage to rape an unclaimed woman you might even be able to buy her from her father for cheap).
Yep, the Bible is TOTALLY not anti-woman. Nope, not one bit. -_-
Friday: More Ezekiel
Monday, July 11, 2011
Ezekiel 17-18
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
Ezekiel 17 - No mention of any women.
18:6 - "If [a man is righteous and] does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period... [he shall not die]."
18:11 - "[If a son] does any of these things (though his father does none of them), who eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife... [he shall die]."
18:15 - "[But if a man has a son who sees his sins and does not] eat upon the mountain or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife... [the father shall die but the son shall not]."
My Comments
Nice to see God (all knowing and unchanging, right?) seems to have changed his mind on the whole "the sins of the father shall pass on to the sons" thing. Funny how God does tat but no one seems to question it.
If God's will is supposed to be our standard of morals, how can we judge any morals when God simply changes his mind at the drop of a hat? What if God's morals during Biblical times are COMPLETELY different now, but we wouldn't know because God seems to have given up the whole prophet bag. Well, unless you count the Book of Mormon, which I really don't.
How can you base your morals on a book which can't even keep it's own ideas on morality straight for 700 pages?
Wednesday: More Ezekiel
Ezekiel 17 - No mention of any women.
18:6 - "If [a man is righteous and] does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period... [he shall not die]."
18:11 - "[If a son] does any of these things (though his father does none of them), who eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife... [he shall die]."
18:15 - "[But if a man has a son who sees his sins and does not] eat upon the mountain or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife... [the father shall die but the son shall not]."
My Comments
Nice to see God (all knowing and unchanging, right?) seems to have changed his mind on the whole "the sins of the father shall pass on to the sons" thing. Funny how God does tat but no one seems to question it.
If God's will is supposed to be our standard of morals, how can we judge any morals when God simply changes his mind at the drop of a hat? What if God's morals during Biblical times are COMPLETELY different now, but we wouldn't know because God seems to have given up the whole prophet bag. Well, unless you count the Book of Mormon, which I really don't.
How can you base your morals on a book which can't even keep it's own ideas on morality straight for 700 pages?
Wednesday: More Ezekiel
Friday, July 8, 2011
Ezekiel 16
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
Ezekiel 16 - God's Faithless Bride
The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you out of compassion for you; but you were thrown out in the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.
I passed by you, and saw you flailing about in your blood. As you lay in your blood, I said to you, "Live! and grow up like a plant of the field." You grew up and became tall and arrived at full womanhood; your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you, and covered your nakedness: I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off the blood from you, and anointed you with oil. I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric. I adorned you with ornaments: I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck, a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric, and embroidered cloth. You had choice flour and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen. Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor that I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God.
But you trusted in your beauty, and played the whore because of your fame, and lavished your whorings on any passer-by. You took some of your garments, and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore; nothing like this has ever been or ever shall be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver that I had given you, and made for yourself male images, and with them played the whore; and you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. Also my bread that I gave you--I fed you with choice flour and oil and honey--you set it before them as a pleasing odor; and so it was, says the Lord God. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. As if your whorings were not enough! You slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering to them. And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood.
After all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! says the Lord GOD), you built yourself a platform and made yourself a lofty place in every square; at the head of every street you built your lofty place and prostituted your beauty, offering yourself to every passer-by, and multiplying your whoring. You played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. Therefore I stretched out my hand against you, reduced your rations, and gave you up to the will of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You played the whore with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. You multiplied your whoring with Chaldea, the land of merchants; and even with this you were not satisfied.
How sick is your heart, says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore; building your platform at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a whore, because you scorned payment. Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! Gifts are given to all whores; but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all around for your whorings. So you were different from other women in your whorings: no one solicited you to play the whore; and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; you were different.
Therefore, O whore, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whoring with your lovers, and because of all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, therefore, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated; I will gather them against you from all around, and will uncover your nakedness to them, so that they may see all your nakedness. I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring blood upon you in wrath and jealousy. I will deliver you into their hands, and they shall throw down your platform and break down your lofty places; they shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful objects and leave you naked and bare. They shall bring up a mob against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. They shall burn your houses and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; I will stop you from playing the whore, and you shall also make no more payments. So I will satisfy my fury on you, and my jealousy shall turn away from you; I will be calm, and will be angry no longer. Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things; therefore, I have returned your deeds upon your head, says the Lord God.
Have you not committed lewdness beyond all your abominations? See, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you, "Like mother, like daughter." You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. You not only followed their ways, and acted according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it. Samaria has not committed half your sins; you have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have brought about for your sisters a more favorable judgment; because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes along with theirs, in order that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them. As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you are a mockery to the daughters of Aram and all her neighbors, and to the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you. You must bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, says the LORD.
An Everlasting Covenant
Yes, thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath, breaking the covenant; yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, in order that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.
My Comments
Just to get it out of the way: God is a creepy bastard.
Gotta love how incredibly passive Jerusalem is in this entire affair. She was born alone and untouched, left to her own devices which apparently means she just sat there because she can't possibly do anything herself. She flailed aimlessly in her own blood (menstrual?) until God happened along and told her to get up and grow. She does as told and then when God comes by her again and sees her at the "age of love" he basically just descends upon her and takes her as his bride without any input from Jerusalem herself in this entire affair. God dresses her up in fine cloth and jewelry and even makes sure to remind her that the only reason she has gained fame is because of the "splendor that I had bestowed upon you."
So let's go over the beginning of this again. God finds Jerusalem, takes as his bride and pretties her up and then basically tells her that he made her and he owns her. Big implication in this whole affair being that what God has given God can take away just like that. No matter that Jerusalem hasn't had any actual input in any of this, God is calling all the shots. (Seriously, God, just because the the bagpipe didn't say no doesn't mean she's okay with it)
But then, oh no! Jerusalem starts WHORING around. And yes, I take A LOT of offense at the number of times the word "whore" is used in this chapter alone. I bolded all the instances of the word "whore" or "whoring" (I didn't bother counting any synonyms for "whore" or "whoring") and there is a whopping 21 instances of those words in this chapter. The chapter is only 63 verses long and it's mentioned 21 times? Really? It was actually physically hard to read the rest of the chapter after about the first 5 uses of the word "whore." And after number 15 I was about ready to throw the damned book across the floor and throw a match at it.
So yeah, Jerusalem is apparently cheating on God, a "man" whom she never seemed to want to be with in the first place. She was taken. Conquered. Made property. Essentially raped and decorated with jewels meant to entrap her to a "man" she would have never actively attached herself to if she'd had any say in the matter. Are we surprised that Jerusalem isn't 100% faithful to God here? Especially when other tribal gods, as we've read previously, are much more friendly and willing to aid her? God takes her, openly shows the unequal power balance in the relationship (I made you and I can break you), and then is never really especially protective of her or loving to her. But, as we have learned so much through the last few books, cheating on God is a VERY big no no (pretty much the ONLY big no no in the "good book") and thus God proceeds to punish Jerusalem for the "abominations" she has committed.
Now, I find it interesting when God mentions how he shall punish Jerusalem "as women who have committed adultery and shed blood are judged." Now, looking back at the laws set down for adultery in Leviticus 20:10-16, "If a man commits adultery with his neighbors wife then both he and the wife shall be put to death. The man who lies with his father's wife has seen his father's nakedness, and both he and the wife shall be put to death. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law then both shall be put to death. If a man takes a wife and her mother also that is depravity, and they shall all be burned to death. If a woman approaches an animal to have sex with it then she and the animal shall be put to death."
So, why, when God talks about Jerusalem's punishment for her adultery, does God allow those Jerusalem committed adultery with to get involved with Jerusalem's punishment? If we're going by the very rules God himself set up, BOTH parties should be killed/beaten, not just the wife. And yet, here we have God punishing Jerusalem by having her lovers break her, strip her, leave her bare and cut her. God even makes a point of this basically being a message to women everywhere. Jerusalem is being made an example so that women may know exactly what can be expected if they ever try to "stray" from the husbands and "whore" around with other men. Obviously, most of these stories about women in the Bible and the extreme punishments they face are meant to be lessons for other women (for example, Jezebel), but this is the first instance in which it is very clearly stated what the intent and purpose of this graphic depiction of Jerusalem's punishment is meant to do.
Even when God restores Jerusalem's fortunes it's meant as a punishment. "I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes along with theirs, in order that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them... I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, in order that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord God." God restores Jerusalem only so that she may continue to suffer. I know I referenced the To The Pain scene from Princess Bride already, but again it is very relevant. God wants to leave Jerusalem alive so that she may continue to be shamed by those around her who have denigrated her and seen her nakedness. So that she may forever remember the pain that she was put through when she dared to cheat on God. So that Jerusalem will be alive and remember and thus be silenced for fear that she may incur God's wrath yet again. The bit about her being left "confounded" is odd, since that basically implies that Jerusalem is left alive and wounded without any real idea of why it all happened to her. All she is meant to know is that she is God's bitch and if she doesn't stay quiet and completely under his will and command she will face that same pain again.
Jerusalem remembers the pain but she does not know exactly why she has been made to suffer this pain? Is this because she is too stupid (and female) to really understand what she did wrong? I mean, God did find her flailing in her own blood, seemingly without the presence of mind to even get up out of her own filth. Or is this because God, as is his usual modus operandi, punished Jerusalem without telling her why (for an example of this, see Job, which will of course make it almost impossible for her to not make the same mistake twice.
I think, from now on, if anyone ever asks me why I think the Bible is garbage this chapter will be my answer. It's like all the bullshit sexist messages of the Bible all rolled into one. Women are passive. Women are too stupid to do anything without a man telling them what to do. Women are too evil to be trusted and must be kept under strict and unyielding control by men to keep them in line. Women are always consenting to sex, especially when they are incapable of simply just don't say no. Rape and torture is an acceptable punishment for a woman who has cheated on her spouse. Women are bought by men when they are married and adorned with jewelry (ie. engagement rings) and are thus property and without wills and desires of their own. Even when you punish a woman, she is too stupid to understand exactly what happened which is why no punishment is too severe and no form of control too ridiculous. Women are best when they sit down and shut up and just let the man do all the thinking and talking.
Yep, I think this will be my go to chapter from now on. Thank you, Bible, for distilling all your woman hating into one convenient chapter so that it'll be much easier for me to reference the biggest shitstain of the Bible in 8 easy syllables: E-ze-ki-el-chap-ter-six-teen.
Monday: More Ezekiel
Ezekiel 16 - God's Faithless Bride
The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you out of compassion for you; but you were thrown out in the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.
I passed by you, and saw you flailing about in your blood. As you lay in your blood, I said to you, "Live! and grow up like a plant of the field." You grew up and became tall and arrived at full womanhood; your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you, and covered your nakedness: I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off the blood from you, and anointed you with oil. I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric. I adorned you with ornaments: I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck, a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric, and embroidered cloth. You had choice flour and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen. Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor that I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God.
But you trusted in your beauty, and played the whore because of your fame, and lavished your whorings on any passer-by. You took some of your garments, and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore; nothing like this has ever been or ever shall be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver that I had given you, and made for yourself male images, and with them played the whore; and you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. Also my bread that I gave you--I fed you with choice flour and oil and honey--you set it before them as a pleasing odor; and so it was, says the Lord God. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. As if your whorings were not enough! You slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering to them. And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood.
After all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! says the Lord GOD), you built yourself a platform and made yourself a lofty place in every square; at the head of every street you built your lofty place and prostituted your beauty, offering yourself to every passer-by, and multiplying your whoring. You played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. Therefore I stretched out my hand against you, reduced your rations, and gave you up to the will of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You played the whore with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. You multiplied your whoring with Chaldea, the land of merchants; and even with this you were not satisfied.
How sick is your heart, says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore; building your platform at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a whore, because you scorned payment. Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! Gifts are given to all whores; but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all around for your whorings. So you were different from other women in your whorings: no one solicited you to play the whore; and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; you were different.
Therefore, O whore, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whoring with your lovers, and because of all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, therefore, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated; I will gather them against you from all around, and will uncover your nakedness to them, so that they may see all your nakedness. I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring blood upon you in wrath and jealousy. I will deliver you into their hands, and they shall throw down your platform and break down your lofty places; they shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful objects and leave you naked and bare. They shall bring up a mob against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. They shall burn your houses and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; I will stop you from playing the whore, and you shall also make no more payments. So I will satisfy my fury on you, and my jealousy shall turn away from you; I will be calm, and will be angry no longer. Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things; therefore, I have returned your deeds upon your head, says the Lord God.
Have you not committed lewdness beyond all your abominations? See, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you, "Like mother, like daughter." You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. You not only followed their ways, and acted according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it. Samaria has not committed half your sins; you have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have brought about for your sisters a more favorable judgment; because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes along with theirs, in order that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them. As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you are a mockery to the daughters of Aram and all her neighbors, and to the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you. You must bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, says the LORD.
An Everlasting Covenant
Yes, thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath, breaking the covenant; yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, in order that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.
My Comments
Just to get it out of the way: God is a creepy bastard.
Gotta love how incredibly passive Jerusalem is in this entire affair. She was born alone and untouched, left to her own devices which apparently means she just sat there because she can't possibly do anything herself. She flailed aimlessly in her own blood (menstrual?) until God happened along and told her to get up and grow. She does as told and then when God comes by her again and sees her at the "age of love" he basically just descends upon her and takes her as his bride without any input from Jerusalem herself in this entire affair. God dresses her up in fine cloth and jewelry and even makes sure to remind her that the only reason she has gained fame is because of the "splendor that I had bestowed upon you."
So let's go over the beginning of this again. God finds Jerusalem, takes as his bride and pretties her up and then basically tells her that he made her and he owns her. Big implication in this whole affair being that what God has given God can take away just like that. No matter that Jerusalem hasn't had any actual input in any of this, God is calling all the shots. (Seriously, God, just because the the bagpipe didn't say no doesn't mean she's okay with it)
But then, oh no! Jerusalem starts WHORING around. And yes, I take A LOT of offense at the number of times the word "whore" is used in this chapter alone. I bolded all the instances of the word "whore" or "whoring" (I didn't bother counting any synonyms for "whore" or "whoring") and there is a whopping 21 instances of those words in this chapter. The chapter is only 63 verses long and it's mentioned 21 times? Really? It was actually physically hard to read the rest of the chapter after about the first 5 uses of the word "whore." And after number 15 I was about ready to throw the damned book across the floor and throw a match at it.
So yeah, Jerusalem is apparently cheating on God, a "man" whom she never seemed to want to be with in the first place. She was taken. Conquered. Made property. Essentially raped and decorated with jewels meant to entrap her to a "man" she would have never actively attached herself to if she'd had any say in the matter. Are we surprised that Jerusalem isn't 100% faithful to God here? Especially when other tribal gods, as we've read previously, are much more friendly and willing to aid her? God takes her, openly shows the unequal power balance in the relationship (I made you and I can break you), and then is never really especially protective of her or loving to her. But, as we have learned so much through the last few books, cheating on God is a VERY big no no (pretty much the ONLY big no no in the "good book") and thus God proceeds to punish Jerusalem for the "abominations" she has committed.
Now, I find it interesting when God mentions how he shall punish Jerusalem "as women who have committed adultery and shed blood are judged." Now, looking back at the laws set down for adultery in Leviticus 20:10-16, "If a man commits adultery with his neighbors wife then both he and the wife shall be put to death. The man who lies with his father's wife has seen his father's nakedness, and both he and the wife shall be put to death. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law then both shall be put to death. If a man takes a wife and her mother also that is depravity, and they shall all be burned to death. If a woman approaches an animal to have sex with it then she and the animal shall be put to death."
So, why, when God talks about Jerusalem's punishment for her adultery, does God allow those Jerusalem committed adultery with to get involved with Jerusalem's punishment? If we're going by the very rules God himself set up, BOTH parties should be killed/beaten, not just the wife. And yet, here we have God punishing Jerusalem by having her lovers break her, strip her, leave her bare and cut her. God even makes a point of this basically being a message to women everywhere. Jerusalem is being made an example so that women may know exactly what can be expected if they ever try to "stray" from the husbands and "whore" around with other men. Obviously, most of these stories about women in the Bible and the extreme punishments they face are meant to be lessons for other women (for example, Jezebel), but this is the first instance in which it is very clearly stated what the intent and purpose of this graphic depiction of Jerusalem's punishment is meant to do.
Even when God restores Jerusalem's fortunes it's meant as a punishment. "I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes along with theirs, in order that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them... I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, in order that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord God." God restores Jerusalem only so that she may continue to suffer. I know I referenced the To The Pain scene from Princess Bride already, but again it is very relevant. God wants to leave Jerusalem alive so that she may continue to be shamed by those around her who have denigrated her and seen her nakedness. So that she may forever remember the pain that she was put through when she dared to cheat on God. So that Jerusalem will be alive and remember and thus be silenced for fear that she may incur God's wrath yet again. The bit about her being left "confounded" is odd, since that basically implies that Jerusalem is left alive and wounded without any real idea of why it all happened to her. All she is meant to know is that she is God's bitch and if she doesn't stay quiet and completely under his will and command she will face that same pain again.
Jerusalem remembers the pain but she does not know exactly why she has been made to suffer this pain? Is this because she is too stupid (and female) to really understand what she did wrong? I mean, God did find her flailing in her own blood, seemingly without the presence of mind to even get up out of her own filth. Or is this because God, as is his usual modus operandi, punished Jerusalem without telling her why (for an example of this, see Job, which will of course make it almost impossible for her to not make the same mistake twice.
I think, from now on, if anyone ever asks me why I think the Bible is garbage this chapter will be my answer. It's like all the bullshit sexist messages of the Bible all rolled into one. Women are passive. Women are too stupid to do anything without a man telling them what to do. Women are too evil to be trusted and must be kept under strict and unyielding control by men to keep them in line. Women are always consenting to sex, especially when they are incapable of simply just don't say no. Rape and torture is an acceptable punishment for a woman who has cheated on her spouse. Women are bought by men when they are married and adorned with jewelry (ie. engagement rings) and are thus property and without wills and desires of their own. Even when you punish a woman, she is too stupid to understand exactly what happened which is why no punishment is too severe and no form of control too ridiculous. Women are best when they sit down and shut up and just let the man do all the thinking and talking.
Yep, I think this will be my go to chapter from now on. Thank you, Bible, for distilling all your woman hating into one convenient chapter so that it'll be much easier for me to reference the biggest shitstain of the Bible in 8 easy syllables: E-ze-ki-el-chap-ter-six-teen.
Monday: More Ezekiel
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
More Sexism in the Atheist Community
Okay, I started reading Ezekiel 16 and boy, is it just wall to wall craziness concerning Jerusalem and her transgressions (again). And since I was pretty sick yesterday I didn't get any time to go through it well enough to talk as much as I'm going to need to about it. But! It seems the gods of coincidence are on my side because another big sexism issue has popped up yet again in the atheist community and it's getting quite a bit of talking about going on. So there will still be a post today, yay! So without further ado, I give you more interesting tales of sexism in the atheist community.
I think my absolute favorite part of the video is near the end where she mentions the extremely misogynist comments she's gotten about her video and the video of the panel she was on at the conference. She thanks those people for their comments because if people watch those videos and get it in their head that she's just an emotional woman blowing things out of proportion, all these people need to do is look down at the comments and see that no, she isn't exaggerating or overreacting. This sexism is very much there and it's very "kind" of people to leave those horrid comments so others can see it for themselves. Of course, most of the sexism I've come across in the atheist community isn't the overt in your face kind, so these comments are both helpful and not. I feel it's often easy for people to point at in your face comments and go, "Well, yeah, of course THAT'S sexist." But it's much harder for these same people to see the sexism in a man following a woman at 4am into an elevator to ask her up for coffee in his hotel room when the woman has made very clear prior to this that she does not want to be treated as a sexual object.
It's important to see the harsher comments, especially for those who are very new to the concept of sexism. Unfortunately, if that's all we give these people they will only see the most extreme misogyny as sexist and anything else is just women "misinterpreting" a situation.
For example, Shakesville does a great job of taking down some comments that Richard Dawkins made on a post Pharyngula did mentioning the Skepchick panel and the situation with the man in the elevator. I'm gonna be honest, I'm extremely disappointed to read these comments by Richard Dawkins. His book The God Delusion did so much for me while I was struggling with not having religion and helped me answer a lot of questions I had about my skepticism. So yeah, it hurts a bit to see that a man I kinda looked up to really isn't any better than the other entitled men I deal with on a daily basis. Note: It would seem Skepchick feels much the same about Dawkin's comments, since she just put up a very excellent post on those comments and her stance as a feminist in the atheist community.
Richard Dawkins seems to understand (in a rather condescending manner) that extreme acts of violence against women (Muslim women, at least) is misogynistic. Female genital mutilation, rapes, being stoned to death, not being allowed the basic freedom to leave the house or basic mobility like driving a car. He seems to see that these acts are sexist and violent against women. Much like the overtly sexist Youtube comments, these are things many people do not argue about.
Yet, when given a scenario that many women face on a daily basis (unwelcomed come-ons from strange men) he shrugs that off as nothing more than simple "words" that Skepchick just took the wrong way. Yeah, like I haven't heard THAT before when I've recounted cat calls or other come-ons to people. Or you hear that this is a stupid thing to talk about because other women in other parts of the world are going through so much worse! Like we can't multitask when it comes to getting rid of sexism. These more non-violent or extreme acts of sexism are not obvious to these men. Or, when made obvious, not treated as an issue that actually needs to be addressed.
So while I do love that the Youtube commenters, in their exercises in sexism, help to make Skepchick's point, those comments alone will not win the fight. We need to continue to point out the non-violent sexism that we women face every day and we can't back down. It saddens me that one of the most influential men in the atheist movement seems to completely miss the point no matter how many people are trying to show him exactly how he's missing the point. This will only encourage many men in the atheist community to stay the way they are and not change.
Richard Dawkins, I am disappoint, and I don't think I will really ever look at you the same way again, since it seems you would probably find it difficult to see me as a rational, thinking human when I hold many of the same thoughts as Skepchick. I really have no tolerance for people like that anymore.
I can only hope that his completely ridiculous comments and those who support said comments will help those people in the atheist community who are on the feminist fence see what exactly is going on and that something does need to be done to address these issues. Skepchick stated that she wasn't a feminist before, that she was in the atheist community and felt feminism had played out and women were equal and done. But as she got more into the community and began to speak out on issues that many disagreed with, the misogyny came out and she began to see that no, sexism is not over and done with and feminism is still needed. Blaghag makes a similiar statement early on in the comments of Skepchick's post as well.
I'm honestly happy to see this issue seems like it's FINALLY being taken seriously by many of the big bloggers in the atheist community. Especially after the fiasco at that other atheist panel where the talk of sexism actually led to people mocking and laughing a woman out of the room. I don't know why this is getting more attention than the other incident. Maybe it's because people got sidetracked with stupid discussions on whether to call women "females" or not during the last incident. Maybe it's because Richard Dawkins actually stuck his fat privileged head into this debate and suddenly it's not just an issue of a few "bad eggs" in the atheist community but not it also includes some of its biggest players. I don't know, but I really am happy to see that this seems to be getting people REALLY talking and seriously looking at how the men in the atheist movement act. I can only hope that it will lead to some progress because I really would like to get back into the community again. Well, I don't know about that. I kind of stopped being a fan of the community because of the extreme hard science bias, too (really, it gets tiring having people think your college major is a huge joke), and I don't think that'll really ever go away.
But is nothing else, more talk like this and more people really seeing that what us women have been talking about all this time is really happening and is really hurtful might start bringing more women into the atheist movement and more women as speakers and leaders. Even if I don't ever feel completely welcome in the community, it would be very much worth it to have more female voices being heard loud and proud in the movement.
Also, if you have not yet been to the Stop Street Harrassment blog, I highly recommend it. Especially if you are under the impression that the scenario Skepchick mentioned is an isolated incident.
Edit: Skepchick.org has put up a post containing letters written to Richard Dawkins concerning the comments he's made about the Rebecca Watson incident. They are very much worth the read.
Friday: (hopefully!) More Ezekiel
I think my absolute favorite part of the video is near the end where she mentions the extremely misogynist comments she's gotten about her video and the video of the panel she was on at the conference. She thanks those people for their comments because if people watch those videos and get it in their head that she's just an emotional woman blowing things out of proportion, all these people need to do is look down at the comments and see that no, she isn't exaggerating or overreacting. This sexism is very much there and it's very "kind" of people to leave those horrid comments so others can see it for themselves. Of course, most of the sexism I've come across in the atheist community isn't the overt in your face kind, so these comments are both helpful and not. I feel it's often easy for people to point at in your face comments and go, "Well, yeah, of course THAT'S sexist." But it's much harder for these same people to see the sexism in a man following a woman at 4am into an elevator to ask her up for coffee in his hotel room when the woman has made very clear prior to this that she does not want to be treated as a sexual object.
It's important to see the harsher comments, especially for those who are very new to the concept of sexism. Unfortunately, if that's all we give these people they will only see the most extreme misogyny as sexist and anything else is just women "misinterpreting" a situation.
For example, Shakesville does a great job of taking down some comments that Richard Dawkins made on a post Pharyngula did mentioning the Skepchick panel and the situation with the man in the elevator. I'm gonna be honest, I'm extremely disappointed to read these comments by Richard Dawkins. His book The God Delusion did so much for me while I was struggling with not having religion and helped me answer a lot of questions I had about my skepticism. So yeah, it hurts a bit to see that a man I kinda looked up to really isn't any better than the other entitled men I deal with on a daily basis. Note: It would seem Skepchick feels much the same about Dawkin's comments, since she just put up a very excellent post on those comments and her stance as a feminist in the atheist community.
Richard Dawkins seems to understand (in a rather condescending manner) that extreme acts of violence against women (Muslim women, at least) is misogynistic. Female genital mutilation, rapes, being stoned to death, not being allowed the basic freedom to leave the house or basic mobility like driving a car. He seems to see that these acts are sexist and violent against women. Much like the overtly sexist Youtube comments, these are things many people do not argue about.
Yet, when given a scenario that many women face on a daily basis (unwelcomed come-ons from strange men) he shrugs that off as nothing more than simple "words" that Skepchick just took the wrong way. Yeah, like I haven't heard THAT before when I've recounted cat calls or other come-ons to people. Or you hear that this is a stupid thing to talk about because other women in other parts of the world are going through so much worse! Like we can't multitask when it comes to getting rid of sexism. These more non-violent or extreme acts of sexism are not obvious to these men. Or, when made obvious, not treated as an issue that actually needs to be addressed.
So while I do love that the Youtube commenters, in their exercises in sexism, help to make Skepchick's point, those comments alone will not win the fight. We need to continue to point out the non-violent sexism that we women face every day and we can't back down. It saddens me that one of the most influential men in the atheist movement seems to completely miss the point no matter how many people are trying to show him exactly how he's missing the point. This will only encourage many men in the atheist community to stay the way they are and not change.
Richard Dawkins, I am disappoint, and I don't think I will really ever look at you the same way again, since it seems you would probably find it difficult to see me as a rational, thinking human when I hold many of the same thoughts as Skepchick. I really have no tolerance for people like that anymore.
I can only hope that his completely ridiculous comments and those who support said comments will help those people in the atheist community who are on the feminist fence see what exactly is going on and that something does need to be done to address these issues. Skepchick stated that she wasn't a feminist before, that she was in the atheist community and felt feminism had played out and women were equal and done. But as she got more into the community and began to speak out on issues that many disagreed with, the misogyny came out and she began to see that no, sexism is not over and done with and feminism is still needed. Blaghag makes a similiar statement early on in the comments of Skepchick's post as well.
I'm honestly happy to see this issue seems like it's FINALLY being taken seriously by many of the big bloggers in the atheist community. Especially after the fiasco at that other atheist panel where the talk of sexism actually led to people mocking and laughing a woman out of the room. I don't know why this is getting more attention than the other incident. Maybe it's because people got sidetracked with stupid discussions on whether to call women "females" or not during the last incident. Maybe it's because Richard Dawkins actually stuck his fat privileged head into this debate and suddenly it's not just an issue of a few "bad eggs" in the atheist community but not it also includes some of its biggest players. I don't know, but I really am happy to see that this seems to be getting people REALLY talking and seriously looking at how the men in the atheist movement act. I can only hope that it will lead to some progress because I really would like to get back into the community again. Well, I don't know about that. I kind of stopped being a fan of the community because of the extreme hard science bias, too (really, it gets tiring having people think your college major is a huge joke), and I don't think that'll really ever go away.
But is nothing else, more talk like this and more people really seeing that what us women have been talking about all this time is really happening and is really hurtful might start bringing more women into the atheist movement and more women as speakers and leaders. Even if I don't ever feel completely welcome in the community, it would be very much worth it to have more female voices being heard loud and proud in the movement.
Also, if you have not yet been to the Stop Street Harrassment blog, I highly recommend it. Especially if you are under the impression that the scenario Skepchick mentioned is an isolated incident.
Edit: Skepchick.org has put up a post containing letters written to Richard Dawkins concerning the comments he's made about the Rebecca Watson incident. They are very much worth the read.
Friday: (hopefully!) More Ezekiel
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy 4th of July
Off partying today. New blog post will be up Wednesday.
To all those in the US, happy 4th! Hope you get to see some fantastic fireworks today. I fear I shall be left out of the firework festivities on account of the drought still going on, but there shall be fun none the less. :)
To all those in the US, happy 4th! Hope you get to see some fantastic fireworks today. I fear I shall be left out of the firework festivities on account of the drought still going on, but there shall be fun none the less. :)
Friday, July 1, 2011
Ezekiel 11-15
The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
Ezekiel 11 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 12 - No mention of any women.
13:17-23 - "As for you, mortal, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own imagination; prophesy against them and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the women who sew bands on all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every height, in the hunt for human lives! Will you hunt down lives among my people, and maintain your own lives? You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death persons who should not die and keeping alive persons who should not live, by your lies to my people, who listen to lies. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I am against your bands with which you hunt lives; I will tear them from your arms, and let the lives go free, the lives that you hunt down like birds. I will tear off your veils, and save my people from your hands; they shall no longer be prey in your hands; and you shall know that I am the LORD. Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened them, and you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives; therefore you shall no longer see false visions or practice divination; I will save my people from your hand. Then you will know that I am the LORD."
14:16 - "Even if these three men [Noah, Daniel and Job] were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate."
14:18 - "Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be saved. "
14:20 - "Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness."
14:22 - "Yet, survivors shall be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; they will come out to you. When you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it."
Ezekiel 15 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
Wednesday: More Ezekiel
Ezekiel 11 - No mention of any women.
Ezekiel 12 - No mention of any women.
13:17-23 - "As for you, mortal, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own imagination; prophesy against them and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the women who sew bands on all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every height, in the hunt for human lives! Will you hunt down lives among my people, and maintain your own lives? You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death persons who should not die and keeping alive persons who should not live, by your lies to my people, who listen to lies. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I am against your bands with which you hunt lives; I will tear them from your arms, and let the lives go free, the lives that you hunt down like birds. I will tear off your veils, and save my people from your hands; they shall no longer be prey in your hands; and you shall know that I am the LORD. Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened them, and you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives; therefore you shall no longer see false visions or practice divination; I will save my people from your hand. Then you will know that I am the LORD."
14:16 - "Even if these three men [Noah, Daniel and Job] were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate."
14:18 - "Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be saved. "
14:20 - "Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness."
14:22 - "Yet, survivors shall be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; they will come out to you. When you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it."
Ezekiel 15 - No mention of any women.
My Comments
Wednesday: More Ezekiel
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