Some Bible skeptics have made the argument that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was raped by God because she didn’t give consent for Jesus’ birth. Is this true? Is there any evidence to the contrary?
Continue readingDoes the Bible say a woman has to marry her rapist in Deut 22:28-29? Most translations don’t use the word rape because the Hebrew text doesn’t use that word in these specific verses. That verse describes what happens in the case of fornication when a woman is neither married nor engaged and just has sex. If they are caught, no one is stoned to death, and the man is required to pay her dowry and marry her, but only with her father’s permission.
Continue readingIn Deuteronomy 22:13-30, Moses reiterated the sexual purity rules outlined in the Moral Purity laws of Leviticus and then elaborated on them. Many are disturbed when they see that only a woman is punished for her lack of virginity, never the man. However, this law is not against a lack of virginity but instead against initiating a marriage with a lie, when looking at the broader context of Deuteronomy 22.
Continue readingWas Mary a sinless perpetual virgin? Well, scripture says that the only person that never sinned was Jesus (Rom 3:23, Heb 4:14-15, & 2 Cor 5:21), and it also implies that Mary had children with Joseph after Jesus (Acts 1:14), and it specifies that they had intercourse after Jesus was born (Matt 1:25). This is a non-biblical church tradition. Believers are only accountable for believing what is written, not what we are told out of tradition.
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