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[banah-ishah]

Idk, ask various different cultures. An example:

[banah-ishah]

The Old Testament mentions MANY infertile couples, and never condemns them for getting married despite being infertile.

Why does 1 Cor 7 say to get married? Having babies? Actually no, 1 Cor 7 says that a valid reason to get married, is to avoid sinning by having out-of-wedlock sex. It mentions the "marital duty" not as being childbearing, but as sexual relations.

Eph 5 describes marriage as being intended to emulate the relationship between Christ and the church. That's not about children.

Would it be okay for a fertile married couple to purposefully avoid having biological children (using NFP) and just adopt kids because the wife doesn't want to get pregnant?

no, from what I understand. Like sure they could have one kid biologically and whatever other kids they have are adopted, that in itself is not wrong, but as I explained before, bearing children if able is a direct responsibility and duty of married couples.

[banah-ishah]

Well Gal 5:21 does condemn drunkenness. But as for marijuana, Gen 1:30 & Gen 9:3 say that God has given us the right to every green plant. @populartheology

What are your views of drugs and alcohol? Do you think it's always a sin to get drunk? Is marijuana a generally bad thing? Just wondering how you think about mood/mind altering substances in relation to how we should live ethically/morally/lovingly/in Christ-like ways.

Biblically speaking, I don’t particularly see Jesus, who was described as a drunkard and a glutton (Matthew 11:19), was particularly concerned about substance intake. “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them” (Mattew 15:11). 

Sometimes things that go into the mouth can cause sinful behaviors. I think that mind-altering substances cannot and should not excuse someone’s behavior. What one might do when they are intoxicated can be harmful and sinful. But I don’t think the act, in it of itself, is sinful.

I think addiction is horrible because it ultimately hurts those who are addicted… but I think to call it a “sin” is dehumanizing to those who are in recovery. Addiction, to me, is more akin to illness. 

I think marijuana isn’t generally a bad thing. When I am taking it… I feel considerably much less anxious and suicidal. I think marijuana can be helpful for those suffering PTSD, depression, seizures, cancer, and other illnesses. There is a lot of racism tied in with the demonization of marijuana… and it has led to a ridiculous amount of PoC in the US prison system. I am all for the legalization of the drug. 

[banah-ishah]

Man being made last of the creatures, as the best and most excellent of all, Eve’s being made after Adam, and out of him, puts an honour upon that sex, as the glory of the man, 1 Co. 11:7 . If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust double-refined, one remove further from the earth[...] The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved. Adam lost a rib, and without any diminution to his strength or comeliness (for, doubtless, the flesh was closed without a scar); but in lieu thereof he had a help meet for him, which abundantly made up his loss: what God takes away from his people he will, one way or other, restore with advantage.

Bible commentary by Matthew Henry (early 1700s)

https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/genesis/2.html

[banah-ishah]

Also, people have abandoned their LGBT family members because of being a part of their cult. He literally says that all LGBT people are pedophiles, among other things. (I’ve literally watched days worth of his sermons. It’s like a trainwreck; you just can’t look away.)

Please whatever you do, don’t support Steven Anderson and Faithful Word Baptist Church, he’s basically what the world thinks Christians are like in that he believes that the government should be executing people for being gay (even going so far as to say that the Pulse nightclub shooting was a failure because not enough gay people died and it wasn’t carried out by the government) and he prayed that Obama would die and said that if someone assassinated him he wouldn’t condemn that person at all.

Pray for the man that God can reach him and show him what a mockery he’s making of our faith, because if not then he’s as assuredly hellbound as he believes that everyone who disagrees with him is. 

[banah-ishah]

Can you give me tips and activities to get closer to God?

Oh boy, I’m certain everybody and their mama has asked this question and there’s a lot of answers floating around the internet hahahaClassic Bible story of being closer/coming back to God is in Luke 15:11-24, definitely read it!

1. Meet with God before anyone elseAs soon as you wake up, pray and thank God for today or read a devotion. Anything, just make Him first in your day.

2. Get into the Bible every day / Do a Bible studyIf you want to know God better there’s no better way then to read the Bible!You can do Book studies, Topical studies, Character studies, Saturation study (where you think about one piece of scripture over and over in your mind) or Word studies (when you take a specific word in the Bible and discover every single way that it is used throughout the Old and/or New Testaments.)

3. Have a prayer journal / Prayer wallWrite out your prayer requests and record the answers as they come. By writing out these types of things, you will not only be more keenly aware of how God is working in and around your life, but you will become a person who is able to give thanks in all circumstances. And during hard times you’ll be able to remember where God has worked in your life.

4. Get your eyes off yourselfWhen we are focused on our own self—our problems, our issues, our worries, our fears—we forget to look at God. We need to keep the eyes of our heart on God. His abundance. His presence. ame His attributes and look up verses that remind us of who He is. Speak them aloud. Write them down. Declare their truth over yourself, etc. (Psalm 91:1-4) 

5. Repent regularly / Self-examine yourself regularly Ask Him to show you how your heart is struggling. Be specific. Don’t hold back. God loves us the way we are but He loves us too much to stay that way, He wants to be more like Jesus.“Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.“ - 2 Corinthians 13:5 (MSG)

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” - Psalm 139: 23-24

6. Listen to worship musicWhen we are stuck—when our mind knows that God is close, but our heart struggles to believe it and move toward Him, it can help to listen to music that opens up our heart to Him. I have a link to my Spotify on my blog with playlists for different occasions which I find to really help.They are songs that help my heart be receptive to the Holy Spirit.

[banah-ishah]

You make such a good point and I agree with you. I thought I was the only one who concluded that sex is primarily for pleasure and unity, and only secondarily for children. My conclusion came from the biological fact that women are only capable of pregnancy for around 20% of the month (around ovulation), yet receptive to sexual relations all month long. And the 20% is only referring to when a woman isn’t already pregnant, postmenopausal, or infertile (which was quite common in Biblical times - and Isaiah 54 says that infertile women should celebrate).

The Bible says that God is the one who opens and closes the womb. So if God designed sex primarily for procreation, why did God design it so that women are fertile less than 10% of the time in which they have sex? And why did God purposely close the wombs of some married women?

As for contraception…it’s not playing God. If God wants you to have children, God can override any contraception that you use. God managed to make a virgin pregnant; God can do the same thing with a person who takes a pill.

As for oral sex, I think it’s completely natural. God made the clitoris for a reason - to be stimulated, and oral sex is the most reliable method for a woman to orgasm. Most women orgasm from oral sex but only 25% of women orgasm reliably from intercourse. & There’s absolutely no reason to believe God intended wives to orgasm less than husbands. In fact, the Bible commands the wife’s pleasure more than the husband’s pleasure. The only passages in which women are commanded to sexually satisfy their husbands, aren’t for the sake of pleasure itself, but rather to prevent adultery (Prov 15; 1 Cor 7). Meanwhile, in the same verse that obligates men to provide their wives with food, Exodus 21:10 obligates men to sexually satisfy their wives with no assertion that the intent is to prevent adultery. It’s just pleasure for its own sake. The fact that women are capable of multiple orgasms is also testament to the fact that God designed women to have just as much, if not more, pleasure than their husbands. For this reason, I think it is perfectly acceptable to engage in the sexual activity in which women are most likely to orgasm.

What are your thoughts on oral sex in marriage?

Hello!

This is actually a common question (and an important one). First, we should remember that God designed sex and we must follow His design. Sex is designed to be procreative and unitive (CCC 2351) and oral sex can never be a substitute for sexual intercourse, even in marriage. It takes away from the procreative aspect of sex and the union of the husband and wife (”Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh” [Genesis 2:24 RSVCE]). 

“If it is used in the act of foreplay that leads to sexual intercourse where the male climaxes into the female, then oral stimulation is certainly permissible for a couple to engage in within marriage” (Christopher West). Please visit that link and this one for more information about this topic. Christopher West writes about Theology of the Body and holy sexuality a lot, so I recommend reading his books, such as Good News about Sex and Marriage: Answers to Your Honest Questions about Catholic Teaching and Theology of the Body for Beginners: A Basic Introduction to Pope John Paul II’s Sexual Revolution (I’m reading this one this summer.).

God designed sex. It is procreative, unitive, and meant for marriage. It is beautiful and holy when we follow His design for it.

I hope this helped! God bless you!

Ad Jesum per Mariam,

María de Fátima

[banah-ishah]

Adam & Eve: Deconstructed

The story of Adam and Eve has often been used to debase women, but if you look at the original text, it’s actually oddly empowering for women. Let’s start from the beginning.

Helpmeet

"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” (Gen 2:18) The word used for “helper” here is “ezer”, which is always used to refer to someone providing life-saving help. In fact, it’s most often used to refer to help given by God. 

Made Out Of Adam’s Rib?

“Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” (Gen 2:22)

The word used for rib here is NEVER used elsewhere to refer to a rib. It refers to “side”[1]. So Eve wasn’t taken from Adam’s rib, but from Adam’s side. So Eve was originally part of Adam. The feminine aspects of Adam were removed from Adam and made into a second person. Ancient Jewish rabbis believed that Adam and Eve were originally hermaphrodite but were then split into 2 different people[2]. This makes sense, considering Adam says afterwards that Eve is “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”.

This was used to make sense of Genesis 1:27 which says "So God created man in his own image - in the image of God created him. Male and female he created them." “Him” seems to refer to 1 person. Some modern misogynists like to use this to claim that women weren’t made in God’s image, but Genesis 5:2 clarifies that woman is included in the word “man”. The word “man” is the word used to refer to humanity as a whole; it is not the same word used for “male” later in the verse.

Also, if the woman wasn’t made in God’s image, I’d like to know why the word used to describe her (“ezer”) is used to refer primarily to God elsewhere in scriptures. Also, if not from God, I’d like to know where Eve got her ability to give birth to people made in the image of God (Deut 32:18 says God gives birth).

And by the logic Eve isn’t made in God’s image because she was constructed out of Adam...well, that means that nobody except for Adam is made in God’s image, because everybody else was constructed from a woman’s body. Except the fact that everybody is made in God’s image (James 3:9).

Woman: A Temple of God?

Elsewhere in Genesis, the word used for the construction of Eve in Gen 2:22 was used almost exclusively to refer to the construction of a temple for God[3]. The word used in Gen 2:7 for the creation of Adam was used to refer exclusively to the creation of beasts. Take that as you will. (Did I mention yet that I have NO idea how people have managed to misconstrue this story into claiming that women are inferior?)

Why Was Eve Approached First?

Now that we know that Eve was made to be Adam’s ezer, with ezer referring to life-saving help, it becomes more understandable why the snake would approach Eve first; she was the one supposed to be protecting Adam spiritually. Unfortunately, Eve made a mistake in this instance.

But was Adam blameless? No, he did the equivalent of watching your wife drink bleach while doing nothing to stop it. A lot of people don’t notice that Adam was there the whole time; Gen 3:6 says that “she gave to her husband who was with her.”

The Consequences

I was going to label this section as “the punishments” but I’m no longer convinced they were punishments. Rather, they were consequences, because now that Adam and Eve had knowledge of good and evil, it could’ve been easy to just stop depending on God, & distance themselves from God (which is only bad for humans - God doesn’t need us, we need God). Thus, the consequences were incentives for us to remain dependent on (and therefore close to) God.

2 Cor 1:9-10 says “In fact, we felt that we had received a death sentence so we would not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us.”

Childbearing is potentially deadly for women, which causes us to depend on God. Indeed, Psalm 22:9, Genesis 4:1, and Isaiah 66:9 say that God helps in childbirth (which assigns a midwifery function to God, and during that time period, men never engaged in midwifery - so that’s a point against the idea that God is male).

The stresses of pregnancy and childbearing would make it more difficult to work, and therefore make a woman dependent on her husband to provide for her needs during that time, which is why the Bible says “he will rule over you”. According to the Bible, being a “ruler” is to serve the people under your rulership, and to put them before yourself:

“[...]The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them[...] It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matt 20:25-28)

Eph 5 utilizes Christ - who “did not come to be served, but to serve” - as the example of an ideal husband. So Gen 3:16 isn’t saying that husbands will be able to “lord it over” their wives, but rather that husbands will be needed to protect and provide for their wives (as is commanded in Exodus 21:10, Eph 5, & Neh 4:14). I guess the one negative part of this is a bit of an ego-kill: Eve would still be Adam’s life-saving helper (ezer), but now she would be dependent on him too. It balances the scales.

Notice that right after God tells Eve that Adam will rule over her (which indicates protecting and providing for her, from a Biblical perspective), God informs Adam of the struggles he will endure in order to fulfill this function and provide for his family. It should be noted that Eve’s “curse” was one verse long, while Adam’s was three verses long. Furthermore, the passage only condemned Eve to pain during childbearing, but condemned Adam to sorrow "all the days of [his] life."

This is consistent with my idea that these aren’t “curses” but rather incentives to remain close to God - something that would be easier for Eve since she was built as a Temple of God (as per the terminology used in regards to her creation). This is also consistent with countless studies that do demonstrate that women are more religious than men [5].

Your Seed And Her Seed

Genesis 3:15, a statement from God to the serpent, is commonly assumed to be referring to Jesus: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

So...Jesus is the woman’s seed. I find it interesting that the one person who was the seed of a woman, and not a man, is the person who’s sinless and perfect. But that makes sense of the fact that the Bible elsewhere says that sin is spread by Adam not Eve (1 Corinthians 15:22).

References

[1] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/hatztzela_6763.htm

[2] http://www.jewishanswers.org/ask-the-rabbi-category/jewish-texts/the-chumash-five-books-of-moses/adam-and-eve-story/?p=2537

[3] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/vaiyiven_1129.htm

[4] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/vaiyitzer_3335.htm

[5] https://www.pewforum.org/2009/02/26/the-stronger-sex-spiritually-speaking/

[banah-ishah]

Is God Male?

Earlier I was arguing with a guy who was saying that God is male. He argued that this is the case because God is referred to with male titles (Lord, Father, King, etc) and pronouns.

By the logic that God is male because God is referred to as Father, we could also conclude that God is an inanimate object, because God is referred to as a “rock” 5 times in the Old Testament, and elsewhere as a “fortress”. We could also conclude that Jesus is literal bread, because Jesus referred to himself as “the Bread of Life” (John 6:35). We are also literal sheep because the Bible says so (Ezekiel 34:11-16 among many other places).

Furthermore, by this logic, cities and churches are literally women. We know this because churches (Eph 5:25–30) and cities (Lam 1:1-7; Rev 17:18; Ez 23:1-4; Rev 21; Rev 3:12) are consistently referred to with female titles and pronouns throughout the Bible.

The city of Jerusalem, especially, is a woman. And she’s our mother, too, at least if we go by the logic that God is a man because the Bible says God is our father: "But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother." (Gal 4:26)

But the city of Jerusalem didn’t give birth to us, did she? No...God gave birth to us, according to Deuteronomy 32:18. The Bible also continuously refers to Christians as “born again”...who gave birth to us again? That’s presumed to be God. This is mighty confusing, because never before in my life have I heard of a male giving birth. Could these titles be metaphors to illustrate certain realities?

Taking these metaphors literally also brings up some moral predicaments. Namely, we know that God is consistently referred to as a Father. However, God was also called the husband of Israel (Jer. 31:31-3; Isaiah 54:4-5). If these verses are to be taken literally, this would indicate that God is both the father and husband of Israel. Incest is heavily condemned in the Bible. 

But these titles and pronouns are not to be taken literally (cities and churches DO contain males, after all), but rather are used to illustrate the roles of God in relation to humanity. Despite being populated by many males, cities and churches are symbolically referred to with female titles and pronouns because they are protected and provided for by God, as a woman is protected and provided for by her husband (Eph 5:25-30). Women aren’t expected to protect and provide for their husbands. Likewise, despite also having many feminine characteristics, God is referred to by male titles and pronouns to illustrate that God is our protector and provider, just as is a husband or father to his wife or child. 

[banah-ishah]

This is why I don't call myself a feminist anymore. I support women's well-being, but too many people (including feminists) assume that feminism is about turning women masculine. Too many feminists think it's necessary to make women behave like men in order to be valuable.

if your feminism has no room for “girly girls”, get tf out of my face with it

same goes for girls who are soft spoken and don’t like to yell or be crass

same goes for girls who like doing their hair and makeup

same goes for girls who aspire to be stay at home moms

same goes for girls who unapologetically love the men in their lives

same goes for girls who aren’t physically strong

same goes for girls who are kind and tender

same goes for girls who don’t wear makeup and dress modestly

same goes for girls who want to wait for marriage

same goes for girls who are deeply religious

same goes for girls who cry easily

If you make fun of these women, if you laugh at them and say they’re dependent, stupid, weak, and can’t think for themselves, don’t you dare call yourself a feminist. We do not have to be masculine to deserve respect. Despite what the common trend in Hollywood seems to insist, MANY MANY girls and women do not want to be tough, or leaders, or warriors, or businesswomen. AND THATS OKAY.

Not all girls want to be the knight in shining armor. A princess can be a hero without wielding a sword.

[banah-ishah]

Yeah, basically it's about how God will help us have the strength to get through suffering, and come out stronger on the other side, and closer to God. It's more about soothing our emotional/spiritual distress, and helping us grow, than solving our struggles in practical matters

this blog is firmly anti prosperity gospel 

[banah-ishah]

I have a strong feeling that if the Bible had said that God made the woman first, and the man afterwards, because "it's not good for woman to be alone; I shall make a helpmeet suitable for her", people would have interpreted it very differently from how they interpret the verse now.

Instead of assuming it refers to an inferior assistant, they would align themselves more to the accurate definition of the original word ("ezer") which actually refers to a helper that's more advanced than you are (like a doctor; the Bible actually uses the word most frequently to refer to help by God).

[banah-ishah]

Thanks so much for the corrected stats on child abuse. I'm so sick of hearing people demonize mothers for that. "Most abused children are victimized by their mothers!!!" Um, yeah? And most abused children in the US are victimized by white people; does that mean that white people are more likely to abuse children, or is it just a reflection of the fact that most parents in general are white?

If they understand that logic, why can't they understand this? Because they're not thinking with logic; they're thinking with misogyny and just trying to confirm their own preconceived biases.

Men are so “privileged,” that they have less of a chance to win custody of children after a divorce, along with having higher suicide rates, homeless rates, and die at work rates. Yeah…. soooo “privileged” 

[banah-ishah]

@awitchholyandangelic It is *not* a sin in the context of marriage, the setting for which God designed it. Proof is in both scripture and biology.

Scripturally, check out Song of Solomon which celebrates sexual pleasure within marriage.

Biologically, the clitoris is proof that God intended for us to have sexual pleasure. If God didn't want us to experience sexual pleasure, why would God invent the clitoris, which has no purpose except for sexual pleasure? And the clitoris has no direct influence on procreation either, so that demonstrates that humans - at least women - are designed to experience sexual pleasure even without procreative purposes.

However, sex is definitely a sin outside of marriage. It's called fornication & is heavily condemned in the Bible. God designed sex to be enjoyed in a proper context, which is marriage.

Thanks for the question :) if you have any more, let me know!

Proof that marital sexual relations exist for more than just procreation:

- Song of Solomon embraces sexual relations as bringing pleasure and bonding within marriage

- 1 Cor 7 says that people should get married in order to have sexual relations…to procreate? No, to avoid fornication.

- The menstrual cycle. Women are only fertile for a few days each month (around ovulation), yet are sexually receptive all month long.

- Since the clitoris is most effectively stimulated to orgasm in ways besides intercourse, the clitoris is proof that sex exists for pleasure even independent of procreation - at least for women. (The clitoris is why I’m amazed by the Catholic Catechism’s condemnation of manual and oral sex. Why would God make the clitoris if not to be stimulated?)

[banah-ishah]

You may not be able to change the world entirely, but you can change the world for (at least) one person :)

I’m upset because I want to change the world but the world is too big and people are too mean

[banah-ishah]

Canticle of Mary (Magnificat) Jen Norton Acrylic on canvas, 24″x30″

purchase on Etsy

[banah-ishah]

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Kim Vandapool (2011)