Post by Kevin on Mar 23, 2020 9:47:05 GMT -7
Atheist claim: "The bible says it is ok to rape."
Deuteronomy 22:28-29
If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver.
First, it is important to recognize that these very verses prescribe a punishment of sorts for the crime of rape, namely the payment of a fine and indissoluble marriage to the raped woman (marriages were normally dissoluble under the proper circumstances). Second, the verses immediately preceding these indicate the death penalty for rapists and adulterers. Vv. 23-24 describe consensual sex with an engaged woman, in which case there is no rape and both parties are put to death. Vv. 25-27 describe the rape of an engaged woman, in which case the lack of the woman's consent is indicated by the fact that the man "forces" her, and the assumption that she cried out for help. Here the rapist is put to death.
It is in this context of having already established that rape is a capital offense that vv. 28-29 then speak of a man who has probably non-consensual sex with an unengaged virgin. The crime here is a slightly lesser crime because there is no offended husband. Moreover, the lesser penalty also reflects an attempt to mitigate the damages of the crime. That is, in this case, the offender and the woman are both eligible for marriage, and it is unlikely that anyone will want to marry the woman because she is no longer a virgin. She will thus have no one to provide for her later in life and will have no chance of posterity. This would increase her victimization. Practically speaking, the offending man is more use to her alive than dead, thus the different sentence for the crime.
#rape
Deuteronomy 22:28-29
If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver.
First, it is important to recognize that these very verses prescribe a punishment of sorts for the crime of rape, namely the payment of a fine and indissoluble marriage to the raped woman (marriages were normally dissoluble under the proper circumstances). Second, the verses immediately preceding these indicate the death penalty for rapists and adulterers. Vv. 23-24 describe consensual sex with an engaged woman, in which case there is no rape and both parties are put to death. Vv. 25-27 describe the rape of an engaged woman, in which case the lack of the woman's consent is indicated by the fact that the man "forces" her, and the assumption that she cried out for help. Here the rapist is put to death.
It is in this context of having already established that rape is a capital offense that vv. 28-29 then speak of a man who has probably non-consensual sex with an unengaged virgin. The crime here is a slightly lesser crime because there is no offended husband. Moreover, the lesser penalty also reflects an attempt to mitigate the damages of the crime. That is, in this case, the offender and the woman are both eligible for marriage, and it is unlikely that anyone will want to marry the woman because she is no longer a virgin. She will thus have no one to provide for her later in life and will have no chance of posterity. This would increase her victimization. Practically speaking, the offending man is more use to her alive than dead, thus the different sentence for the crime.
#rape