HE WROTE:

The Holy Bible affirms that women are equal in value, have the same essence, and share the same divine image that the men do. They also share with the men sovereignty over the physical creation:

"Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let THEM have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male AND FEMALE he created them." Genesis 1:26-27

"This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male AND FEMALE he created THEM, and he blessed THEM and named THEM MAN when THEY were created." Genesis 5:1-2

 

RESPONSE #1

Let us examine the words closely, the Biblical verse quoted does not explain how man is the image of God, nor does it give an explanation to prove how man and woman are the image of God. The grammar of Genesis 1:26-27 identifies the man as ruler over the physical creation, since the word THEM refers to the man.

How can the woman be sovereign over the physical creation when she is subordinate to the laws of her husband who rules over her? (Genesis 3:16)

Conspicuously, the man is sovereign over the physical creation alone. In verse 27, the woman is mentioned after God gives full power to man over the physical creation, and “male AND FEMALE he created them” does not exempt the exclusion of woman in the sovereignty, it simply means the woman was created in the likeness of man, who was created in the image of God, he possesses the sovereignty over the earth which the female does not have. The Bible teaches the role of woman is to obey the husband, produce children, and become slaves to their passion. The Bible transforms women into sex objects and worthless stones, fornication and adultery is praised, woman are constantly violated and humiliated in despicable stories of lust and greed:

Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. (Jeremiah 8:10)

Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, " 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the house of Isaac.' "Therefore this is what the LORD says: " 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. (Amos 7:16-18)

Thus says the Lord: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.  I will take your wives while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor.  He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.  You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down.' (2 Samuel 12: 11-14)

Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh, between Lebonah and Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem.  They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, "Go and hide in the vineyards.  When the women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to be your wife!  And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, 'Please be understanding.  Let them have your daughters, for we didn't find enough wives for them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not give your daughters in marriage to them.'"  So the men of Benjamin did as they were told.  They kidnapped the women who took part in the celebration and carried them off to the land of their own inheritance.  Then they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.  So the assembly of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes. (Judges 21: 10- 24)

Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, "Look up and see what this is that is appearing." I asked, "What is it?" He replied, "It is a measuring basket. " And he added, "This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land." Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! He said, "This is wickedness," and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed the lead cover down over its mouth. (Zechariah 5:7-8)

"Look, I am against you! - declares Yahweh Saboath- I shall lift your skirts as high as your face and show your nakedness to the nations, your shame to the kingdoms. I shall pelt you with filth." (Nahum 3:5-6, The New Jerusalem Bible)

 

The expression “our image” was interpreted to justify slavery by preaching a “white” God.

“Let us make man in our image after our likeness. The word likeness in the original Hebrew means an exact duplication in kind...Adam was an exact duplication of Gods kind.”(Charles Capps Authority in three worlds, pp.15-16)

 

Shamoun does not imply whether he interprets the book of Genesis in terms like his Christian brothers. There are two schools of thought, one teaches that “our image” describes a physical likeness of God; the latter school teaches man is the “image of God” spiritually.

 

 

HE WROTE:

"For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. NEVERTHELESS, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God." 1 Corinthians 11:7-12

Here, Paul says that even though it is true that women were created for men and are to reflect their glory, this is only part of the picture. The complete picture is that men also come from women and are therefore dependant on them just as much as the women are dependant on the men. And yet both are completely dependant on God.

Scriptures emphatically teach that the women are one flesh with the men, and men must view their female spouses as their own bodies:

 

 

RESPONSE:

Yes, the men also come from the woman, and the woman from the man’s rib. The Bible writers do not despise the woman for being created from Adam’s rib, but they despise woman for causing the Fall of Man, seducing Adam to the tree, not resisting Satan and for being weak.

How do these verses prove the equality of man and woman? It is true they are independent on each other to multiply and replenish the earth, as both sexes cannot reproduce any offspring without a relationship, but God is the centre of all dependence.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28)

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (Genesis 9:1)

Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it." (Genesis 8:17)

Paul is correct on this issue, both sexes are dependant on God, yet that does not mean they are equal according to the Bible. Paul believed women are inferior to man; he opposed the law of marriage and stressed celibacy:

But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. (1 Corinthians 7:28)

There is difference [also] between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please [her] husband. (1 Corinthians 7:34)

 

According to this verse, the implication is clear that women should remain virgins and take a vow to celibacy, or else they would defile their body and spirit. Paul says the “married woman” only care to sexually satisfy the lusts of her husband, he prefers the unmarried woman who is chaste, and totally abstaining from sex. Paul explicitly denies the rights of reproduction given to woman. The statements above contradict what God said to Adam and Eve: “multiply and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

Paul stressed that woman are subject to the authority (rule) of their husbands, they are forbidden to speak in Church and required to stay at home (1 Corinthians 14:35)

The most accurate reading of the Bible is the King James Version, and it renders the following verse:

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of [her] husband. (Romans 7:2)

 

The Christian may object and use the NIV version argumentatively.  The text of the NIV reads:

For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

 

Here it is necessary to have knowledge of the four text-types. The KJV is based on the Byzantine text, which pre-dates the Alexandrian text (NIV, RSV) and represents the majority of Greek NT manuscripts; the word “husband” is wrongly substituted for the word “marriage”.

Scholars have proven the Byzantine prior to the Alexandrian. Therefore, we must abandon the reading “marriage” and accept the reading “husband” as the accurate translation from the Greek.

So Paul is emphasizing that the LAW of the husband rules over woman, this is exactly what Genesis says:

To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." (Genesis 3:16)

"Adam was deceived by Eve, not Eve by Adam... it is right that he whom that woman induced to sin should assume the role of guide lest he fall again through feminine instability." Ambrose (339-97)

 

The Bible abolishes the status of equality between the man and woman, because of Eve’s weakness, disobedience, and seduction of Adam into the Forbidden tree; she must live under the supervision, law, and restrictions of her husband, who is now superior over her. This verse is strongly reflected throughout the Bible. What did the Bible writers think about woman?

"When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening."  (Leviticus 15:19-23)

When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. (Leviticus 15:19, NIV)

"...if a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days...but if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks..."  (Leviticus 12:2-5)

"I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare." "Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have discovered: "Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-while I was still searching but not finding- I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all."  (Ecclesiastes 7:26-28)

"If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do. (Exodus 21:7)

If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity. (Deuteronomy 25:11-12)

"And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire." (Leviticus 21:19)

 

The whole argument of Shamoun fails because he is only using the New Testament to prove his case; the Old Testament teaches the exact opposite of what Shamoun is trying to prove. How can you substantiate your claims by these verses? You are trapped in Darkness as they cannot be harmonized but only further the cause of Islam because such repugnant and depredatory verses cannot be found anywhere in the Holy Quran.

Tell me, where the Quran says “she shall be burnt with fire?” These wicked and evil verses are only found in the Bible, which you call the Word of God.

We shall proceed.

 

The low status of woman in Christianity is based on the Bible; the primary influence is the story of Adam and Eve, recorded in Genesis, prior to the Revelation of the Quran that absolved them:

Orthodox Jewish men, in their daily morning prayer, recite "Blessed be God King of the universe that Thou has not made me a woman." The women, on the other hand, thank God every morning for "making me according to Thy will." http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=55146

Rabbinic literature not only views women as inferior to men; it sometimes treats them as contemptible. The infamous prayer “Praised be God that he has not created me a gentile; praised be God that he has not created me a woman” and the injunction “Rather should the words of the Torah be burned than to be entrusted to a woman” are but two examples of the attitudes toward women. (Bonnie Thurston, Women in the New Testament, p. 15)

The early Christians probably prayed in a similar manner, thanking God for not creating them women, who is denounced for causing the Fall of Humanity from the Garden

 

Tertullian stated:

 

If there dwelt upon earth a faith as great as is the reward of faith which is expected in the heavens, no one of you at all, best beloved sisters, from the time that she had first "known the Lord,"¹ and learned (the truth) concerning her own (that is, woman's) condition, would have desired too gladsome (not to say too ostentatious) a style of dress; so as not rather to go about in humble garb, and rather to affect meanness of appearance, walking about as Eve mourning and repentant, in order that by every garb of penitence² she might the more fully expiate that which she derives from Eve,-the ignominy, I mean, of the first sin, and the odium (attaching to her as the cause) of human perdition. "In pains and in anxieties dost thou bear (children), woman; and toward thine husband (is) thy inclination, and he lords It over thee."³ And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age:⁴ the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil's gateway: you are the unsealer⁵ of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserter of the divine law: you are she who persuaded⁶ him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On account of your desert-that is, death-even the Son of God had to die. (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-04/anf04-06.htm)

 

The words of Tertullian “walk about as Eve mourning” is gleaned in the Bible:

"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."(Genesis 3:16)

Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. (James 4:9) 

Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:3)

Where did the Bible writers get the inspiration to write “Change your laughter to mourning” and “Sorrow is better than laughter?” The Babylon captivity is connected to the book of Ecclesiastes, but James teaches that sadness is the result of Eve’s disobedience, and why mankind is suffocating on earth. The above three verses can be perfectly harmonized to indicate the sorrow and grief instigated by the first woman, Eve.

Shamoun quotes from Paul to prove his, but he hardly quotes from the Gospels.

Christians believe Paul was Jew born in Tarsus, therefore he accepted the story of Genesis and this means he also accepted the curse was placed on Eve, and not Adam.

To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. (Genesis 3:17)

During the life of Noah, the fact was repeated that God cursed the ground, and not Adam:

He named him Noah and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed." (Genesis 5:29)

According to the commentaries by the early Church fathers, they interpreted these verses to mean that God “cursed the ground” and not Adam, literally. Here is what they said regarding the so-called “curse of Adam”, implying the curse was placed on Eve alone:

“…But he does not see that Moses, who is much older than the Greek literature, introduces God as promising to those who lived according to His law the holy land, which is "a good land and a large, a land flowing with milk and honey;" which promise is not to be understood to refer, as some suppose, to that part of the earth which we call Judea; for it, however good it may be, still forms part of the earth, which was originally cursed for the transgression of Adam. Origen, CHAP. XXVIII., Against Celsus, Book 7

 

According to the curse, the woman received a double punishment, which is clearly described in the Bible:

To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." (Genesis 3:16)

This verse is interpreted to the fullest extant, and reflected in the New Testament:

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: (1 Peter 3:1-5)

The “holy women” are the wives among the Children of Israel, who observed the Jewish Law, and believed in God, they were subjected to their husband’s law in accordance with Genesis 3:15!

 

God doubled the woman’s curse, not only because she ate from the tree, but also for being deceived, and seducing Adam to taste the delicious fruit. Tertullian interpreted the story by saying that satan chose Eve because of her weakness and vulnerability. Now the husband will RULE over the wife (female) until the Day of Judgment, even the pain of bearing children will not cease, until death overtakes the body and the soul returns to God (Ecclesiastes 12:7) The punishment for man is to “sweat for a living” (Genesis 3:19) just because he “listened” to his wife (Genesis 3:17) but there is no such curse in the Holy Quran.