Ann
If a writer came onto these boards and wrote stories portraying Lois as mean, stupid, selfish, evil, or cruel, you would be the first one to protest and say that just because someone writes that, it doesn't make it true.
However, you are willing to judge God, the bible and Christianity by what others say. Sometimes well-meaning Christians have got it wrong. It happens. Sometimes, people calling themselves Christians have acted completely contrary to what the Bible teaches. This even happened in the Bible - people made mistakes, defied God, refused to do what they knew was right. This doesn't mean God approved of what they did.
Your comment about the pope - I didn't hear that, but if it's true - again you're judging God and Christianity by what someone else says about it.
For his time and in his culture, Jesus was radically respectful of women. Many women followed him. He didn't make them 'disciples' but can you imagine the furore if he'd chosen 12 women to be his closest companions?
He called his mother 'woman' which in our time and our culture sounds disrespectful - but are you sure it had the same connotations then? I've read that 'woman' was actually a term of respect.
In John 8, a woman was brought to Jesus accused of having been caught in adultery (I too have always wondered where the man was.) What did Jesus do? Did he pick up the first stone and throw it at her? No - he turned it back on her accusers and then told her that he didn't condemn her.
He made a stand *against* the sexism in the society that condemned the woman for her actions, but not the man.
Polygamy - The bible is clear that God's ideal for marriage is one man-one woman for life. However, God has allowed other situations. As I understand it, he allowed men to have multiple wives when the number of women far exceeded the number of men, due to men being killed in war.
Had it been the other way around, I'm sure people would have accused the bible of being sexist because of the stories where women risked their lives in trying to protect the men who stayed at home, and then expected the women lucky enough to survive the war to come home and take on the responsibility of feeding and caring for multiple men.
It's all in how you look at it.
Corrina.
