Wayne Delia

Yes indeed, you are correct, and I apologize profusely. My mangled reference was the same couplet of verses from the next chapter, 15. This is ironic for me, since 1 Corinthians 14 has always been a "favorite" of mine ever since I was best man at my best friend's wedding in 1986. He asked me to do a reading from 1 Corinthians 13, and at the rehearsal, I read exactly those verses from 1 Corinthians 14, which cracked up most of us and annoyed the rest. I also launched into a commentary on another reading from Genesis on the role of women in marriage, beginning with "Genesis is one of my favorite progressive rock bands." One of the chapters of Paul's 2nd letter to Timothy also seems to put women in their place: they'll receive salvation through childbearing, so "barefoot and pregnant" seems to be proper.

WMD

Katarzyna

That's not exactly true--slavery does exist in the US, the UK, Canada, etc. It exists, but is illegal. Perhaps it would be better to say state-sanctioned slavery does not exist.

Kat

Amaleq13

You are a brave, brave man.

truelies

In Hebrew society nominal legal adulthood was as was the case with the Romans around the age of 14 or so. Again like Rome/Greece most other classical societies young Hebrew women married soon after reaching legal adulthood while grooms tended to be a decade or so older. Just an observation (no Stats, no LINKS just personal observation of folks I have known) here, but in our own society in the relatively small number of first marriages when the groom is about 8 - 10 years older than a young bride say 18/20 the marriages do seem to be much more stable and long lasting.

You should note also that Slavery as practiced by the Hebrews was much closer to what was called indenture in the 1700's and vastly more benign than the rigourous slavery practiced in the surrounding pagan societies, Rome or Greece in particular. I think you will find also that what is being referred to as Rape is more along the lines of what we would refer to as seduction rather than the "Central Park" jogger episode that the term brings to mind. In the case of war captives which admittedly the term also covered you must admit that being the recipient of the legal rights that went with Jewish marriage was a step or two above the women in Nations unlucky enough to lose a War with the Greeks/Romans/Assyrians.........

Doctor X

Wayne:

Indeed!

truelies:

Unless they were all sacrifices under the herem such as the Amalekites. . . .

--J.D.

Julian

From a JREF newsletter:

1. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5.) Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)

2. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed.(Deut 22:13-21) Marriage of a Christian and a pagan shall be forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)

3. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)

4. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Gen. 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)

They kinda make it too easy, don't they?

truelies

What is JREF?

Julian

JREF = The James Randi Educational Foundation:

www.rand.org

His weekly newsletter is a must read.

Toto

Here's another marriage-related Bible bashing:

The Top 15 Biblical Ways To Acquire A Wife

Toto

Don't you mean www.randi.org ?

The Rand Foundation does not have the same delightful sense of humor.