"The Bible OK's rape" how do I respond?

[Shinobu]

Another forum I check from time to time, believes that the Bible says OK to rape. They use it quite a bit to denounce the Bible and the Christian faith.

How could I answer this?:

Murder, rape and pillage of the Midianites (Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)

*They attacked Midian just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. All five of the Midianite kings – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba – died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was furious with all the military commanders who had returned from the battle. “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. "These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD’s people. Now kill all the boys and all the women who have slept with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.*

On the site, they claim this passage indicates that the woman were raped. They seem to be quite mislead and also seem to make their own translations of the Bible.

Thank you

 

[justcatholic]

God in the OT only told the Israel soldiers to kill all those who did evil in his sight, especially those who slept with men, committed idolatry and other stuff. The virgins were pure in God’s sight. Nowhere does God tell the soldiers to take the virgins for sex, but just to take them into captivity and not kill them.

 

[Shinobu]

justcatholic:

God in the OT only told the Israel soldiers to kill all those who did evil in his sight, especially those who slept with men, committed idolatry and other stuff. The virgins were pure in God’s sight. Nowhere does God tell the soldiers to take the virgins for sex, but just to take them into captivity and not kill them.

Thank you. That is what I took away from the verse, but they claim that if the woman were taken then they surely were used for sex. I think they are confused as to why the women were taken and the men and children were killed.

Thank you for your answer, I think I know how to explain this now!

 

[rwoehmke]

In following actions and laws presumably sanctioned or demanded by God in the Old Testament, one must view them in the context of the New Testament teachings of Jesus. If they are not compatible with the teachings of Jesus, it is most probable that the characters of the Old Testament were at best doing what in their minds God would want. The Bible as a whole is in a real sense the story of mankinds evolving relationship with and knowledge of God and His desires. These are brought to fruition for us with the life and teaching of Jesus.Today we are just learning from the Church that perhaps we are wrong about the justice of the death penalty. Would any modern Christian take his son outside the walls of the city and stone him to death for some infraction. It is sanctioned perhaps even demanded in the Old Testament. I think in Dueteronamy or Leviticus.

 

[Shinobu]

Is there any way to explain why the little boys were killed and not the girls?

 

[selvaraj]

Now we are in the new Covenant.
Luke 16:16 says,“The Law of Moses(OT) and the writings of the prophets were in effect up to the time of John the Baptist; since then the Good News about the Kingdom of God is being told, and every one forces his way in”

In Christ,
selvaraj.

 

[Catholic2003]

Shinobu:

Is there any way to explain why the little boys were killed and not the girls?

And the non-virgin girls but not the virgin girls.

 

[porthos11]

Shinobu:

Thank you. That is what I took away from the verse, but they claim that if the woman were taken then they surely were used for sex. I think they are confused as to why the women were taken and the men and children were killed.

Thank you for your answer, I think I know how to explain this now!

There was a provision given to the Israelites governing the marriage of female POW’s.

"When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hands, and you take them captive, 11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have desire for her and would take her for yourself as wife, 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails. 13And she shall put off her captive’s garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14Then, if you have no delight in her, you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.

Of course, this is unthinkable by today’s standards, but compared to the way women were treated by the neighboring nations, this was highly civilized. Note that the provisions allow her a period of mourning, but she then becomes his wife, not a sex slave. It also allows her divorce (apparently a different standard due to her alien heritage, perhaps), but note that even though it seems like she is objectified (she is, really), the Israelite cannot sell her, but must set her free.

 

[adventistnomore]

In reality, we must remember what Christ told the pharisees… many of the laws and commands instituted in the Old Covenant were God’s concessions to the Isrealites for the “hardness of their hearts,” especially those that allowed for men to put away their wives. (Matt. 19:7-8) Think God for Christ who has restored the divine, eternal Law that transcends these former, imperfect institutions.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Deuteronomy 22:22-29 seems to deal with the issue of rape. If man lay with another man’s wife, or with a woman betrothed to another man, he is to die. If a man lay with an unbetrothed woman, he is to pay her father the customary marriage price for virgins and, if her father permits it, he is to marry her.

 

[Shinobu]

Thank you so much! So much helpful info here!

I wish I could learn this stuff myself, however I do not knoww here to start. Are their any good sites on the internet that explain the Bible from a Catholic perspective?

I am in the home Catholic study course and they have a book about this, however I need to finish the book I have now which is about the history of Catholocism.