PART –B

Women And Sex in Christianity.

Christianity and Judaism share together a part of the Bible, i.e. the Old Testament. However, both do not share the same view of God or morality. The Jews do not consider Jesus as the promised Messiah or as the second person of the Holy Trinity of the Christians.  The Old Testament is important for the Christians in so far as the New Testament is its fulfillment. As St. Augustine says, Old Testament reveals the New Testament and the New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament. The Old Testament reveals God’s revelation in history, choosing a people for Himself for the redemption of the whole human race through Christ. There are numerous prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament and quoting some of them St. Mathew uses in his gospel 16 times the phrase, “so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled.” The Christians do not consider any purificatory laws of the Jews binding on them.  When the New Testament teaching contradicts do not conform with the Old Testament the New Testament prevails. The Ten Commandments were the basic principles of morality in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament the morality goes further than that in the Beatitudes (Mt.5:1-12). Jesus said he came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. To explain further he said, the new wine is not poured into old wine skins.

1.The Ten Commandments are surpassed in the Beatitudes.

For instance:  1st Commandment says: I am the LORD your God…You shall not have other gods besides me. The Beatitudes - You cannot serve God and mammon. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

 2. You shall not invoke the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. Beatitudes: But I say to you, do not swear at all;  Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.

  3. Remember the Sabbath day—keep it holy. Beatitudes: So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

 4: Honor your father and your mother… Beatitudes:  ‘This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.’”

  5 You shall not kill… Beatitudes:  whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

 6: You shall not commit adultery. Beatitudes:  Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

  7: You shall not steal. Beatitudes:  Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

  8: You shall not bear false witness … Beatitudes:  “Stop judging, that you may not be judged…. remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.

  9: You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife… Beatitudes: Whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 

 10  You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, .. Beatitudes: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, Your Father knows what you need before you ask him (Mt.6:8).

The first of the Old Testament books were written about 1450-1200 BC.  The morality and the civilization of the people at the time was very low grade. Therefore the direction given to them was: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This was to curtail excessive retaliation for hurts suffered. This was later changed to showing the other cheek. [This was like, you give high dose of medicine when the sickness is high and you reduce the dose when sickness improves]. Jesus mentions that divorce was allowed by Moses because of the hardness of the heart of the people of that time. But the initial intent of God was not so; which was fully revealed in Jesus.

The treatment of the concept of women in Christianity is to be seen in the light of how Jesus treated women. [Here I am not going to do a treatment of women by Muhammad and Jesus. Muhammad is not worthy to be compared with Christ, the Son of God. Because there is a world of difference between both; worlds of hell and heaven and you can guess who represents what after reading the whole essay].

Jesus’ actions and teachings raised the status of women to new heights, often to the consternation and dismay of his friends and enemies. By word and deed, he went against the ancient, taken-for-granted beliefs and practices that defined women as socially, intellectually, and spiritually inferior.

Jesus gave women status and respect equal to men. Not only did he break with the anti-female culture of his era, but he set a standard for Christ-followers.

2.Jesus and the Samaritan Woman: The respectful and humane way Jesus treated and responded to the Samaritan woman [at the well] was extremely unusual, and even radical. He ignored the Jewish anti-Samaritan prejudices along with prevailing view that saw women as inferior beings (Jn.4). Jesus did this against the Rabbinical law forbidding greeting a woman or talk to her in public. That was why the disciples were taken by surprise when they saw Jesus talking with a woman alone. Even the woman herself was stunned knowing that it was the Messiah who talked to her and offered her the living water.

3.Martha and Mary: Among Jesus’ closest friends were Mary, Martha and Lazarus, who entertained him at their home. “Martha assumed the traditional female role of preparing a meal for Jesus, her guest, while her sister Mary did what only men would do, namely, learn from Jesus’ teachings. Mary was the cultural deviant, but so was Jesus, because he violated the rabbinic law of his day [about speaking to women].”(Alvin Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World. Originally published under the title Under the Influence: How Christianity Transformed Civilization (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001),p.102-103).

By teaching Mary spiritual truths, Jesus violated another rabbinic law, which said, “Let the words of the Law [Torah] be burned rather than taught to women. . . . If a man teaches his daughter the law, it is as though he taught her lechery.”(Ibid. 103-104).

 “All three of the Synoptic Gospels note that women followed Jesus, a highly unusual phenomenon in first-century Palestine. . . . This behavior may not seem unusual today, but in Jesus’ day it was highly unusual. Scholars note that in the prevailing culture only prostitutes and women of very low repute would follow a man without a male escort.”(Ibid. 104-105) These women were not groupies; some of them provided financial support for Jesus and the apostles (Luke 8:3).