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Category: Things Christians Say

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Christians CAN Understand the Bible by Mike Ratliff

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments

want truth read bible-001

Words within [ ] belong to chief snarkologist Bruce Almighty.

It is vital for Christians to know God’s Word, to love its precepts so much that they hide it in their hearts so they will never forget it. Why? This is the foundation of discernment. God gives the gift of discernment to His people. Some have more than others [And, based on his blog and writing for the Christian Research Network, Mike Ratliff has lots of d-i-s-c-e-r-n-m-e-n-t.] of course, but we all must learn to develop it and it begins by knowing and understanding God’s Word. Why? God’s Word is our plumb line. All Christians have a right and duty, not only to learn from the church’s heritage of faith, but also to interpret Scripture for themselves [But only if their interpretations agree with mine].

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Each book of the Bible was written in a way that could be understood by the readers to whom it was addressed [You mean the people who couldn’t read or write?], not in code. I know many who refuse to accept this as they point to the books of Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation. They contend that the heavy use of symbolism in those books require them to “decode” them. However, the main thrust in these prophetic books is always clear, even if the details are clouded. Our understanding of any book in the Bible includes the words used, the historic background, and the cultural conventions of the writer and his readers. When we understand these things then we are well on the way to grasping the thoughts that are being conveyed. There is another aspect of God’s Word, however, which is the spiritual understanding [Gnosticism, anyone?]. This is the Christian discerning the reality of God, His ways with His people, His present will, and one’s own relationship to Him. This spiritual understanding will not reach the Christian from the text until God removes the veil from his or her heart [So, God keeps people from understanding the Bible?].

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Each book proceeded from the same divine mind, so the teaching of the Bible’s sixty-six books is complementary and consistent. I know of many Christian leaders who doubt that what I just wrote is true. I know of some professing Christians who comment here at times who reveal that they doubt it as well. If we find ourselves in this place of doubt then the fault is in us, not in Scripture. There are no contradictions in Scripture [*sigh*]. I know that there are some who specialize in revealing supposed contradictions, but not one has ever stood in light of proper Biblical exegesis. [Proper is code for “my infallible interpretation of the Bible.] Scripture interprets Scripture. [That’s a hoot. At best, the Bible is confusing. At worst, it is a contradictory mess that leads honest, unbiased readers to conclude that God was off his meds when he “wrote” the Bible. According to Ratliff, the Bible is true because it says it is.] This sound principle of interpreting Scripture is sometimes called the analogy of Scripture, or the analogy of faith. [Ah yes, the analogy of faith, a thin layer of sweet-smelling bullshit painted over textual errors and contradictions.]

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No meaning may be read into or imposed on Scripture that cannot with certainty be read out of Scripture—shown, that is, to be unambiguously expressed by one or more of the human writers.[Yet, 2,000 years and countless denominations later, this is EXACTLY what Christians have done.] Careful and prayerful observance of these rules is a mark of every Christian who is “rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

The weakness and apostasy we are seeing the Church in our day is directly attributable to an incredible lack of biblical discernment [Also known as people who disagree with me]. Doctrinal truth is either ignored or not known. These conditions arose when relativism invaded the church. This caused a de-emphasis of proper Bible study from the top down in the churches compromised by it. Strong Churches [Churches that I would go to] are doctrinally sound and this happens when God Word is properly taught and then studied by the believers within. This proper handling of God’s Word must be according to these guidelines which are the “ordinary means” through which God’s people become solidly grounded in God’s Word.

— Mike Ratliff, Possessing the Treasure, Christians Can Understand the Word of God, March 7, 2017

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Married Women Should Submit to Their Husbands in Everything by Ken Alexander

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments

women submit to husband

“Wives should submit to their husbands in everything” is a fundamental command for all those who want to do marriage God’s way. One can never arrive at a point where two have truly become one flesh until the two are in union and harmony with each other. This is not to say that a wife leaves wisdom behind once she takes her vows, nor does it mean she is to follow her husband into sin. Submission is to be the natural response of a godly wife to a loving husband, and when he is not loving her as he should, submission is still the response of the wife who desires to obey her Lord and Savior in everything.

God’s Word is very plain and straightforward but each verse of the Bible is informed by its immediate context and the Bible as a whole. So what are some of those times that “in everything” does not mean “EVERYTHING?”

For the few Christians who are bent on taking a wooden literal approach to this passage. it is important to understand that language and literature are intended to be understood as the common reader would understand it. Imagine all the qualifiers the apostles under the influence of the Spirit would have to give in order to communicate if they were not free to assume that the readers would be reasonable and informed in their understanding of what they are writing.

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The twists and excuses that many Christian wives, and too often Christian pastors, use to get around the clear instructions for a wife to submit in everything, often consign the Christian marriage into a structure that God does not intend for marriage. In these marriages a husband leads only so far as the wife allows him to lead, and he must relegate his decision making to his wife’s final authority as to whether he is being loving towards her or meets her test of how she feels about God’s leading her on the matter. Both of these concepts clearly violate the intent of “in everything.” So the fear that any exception to the rule will be turned by a wife into rendering the passage meaningless is not without merit, nor without common day practice in many Christian marriages today.

Even recognizing the proclivity of women to twist and turn a clear passage like this one into meaninglessness, Lori and I are not going to insist that the “in everything” means EVERYTHING when it clearly does not endorse following a husband into sin or abuse. Our job as teachers is not to wrestle wives into a box of submission because it is best for them, especially when married to godly guys, but instead to try and lead Christian women to choose to willingly submit to the one they chose to marry, to love and to lead them. This fear of “give a wife an inch and she will take a yard” is not what should dictate our understanding of God’s Word.

Instead, love demands that a husband patiently wait on his wife to grow up into a marriage where is she is willing to follow him into everything he leads her in so long as it is “as to the Lord” and without sin. She must learn that unless the Bible is clearly against what her husband desires of her she is to submit if she wants to do marriage God’s way. If she is unsure as to whether she should submit or not, she should not rely on her own individual interpretation of the Word, nor on her feelings of what God is telling her, but test if it is sin or not by speaking to an older godly woman or an elder’s wife.

— Ken Alexander, The Transformed Wife, Does Submitting to Husbands in everything mean EVERYTHING?, March 6, 2017

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Liberals Hate Everything Evangelicals Stand For by Lee Duigon

Bruce Gerencser 6 Comments

lee duigonRemember when they booed God at the Democrat National Convention, 2012? It should have told us what we were in for, but Mitt Romney found a way to lose the election in spite of that display.

Now, five years later, we have managed to win a national election—and Democrats are back to booing God. The latest example was at a Republican town hall meeting in Louisiana, hosted by Sen. Bill Cassidy, at which Democrat “protesters”—do they even know what they’re “protesting”?—loudly booed both the opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

The prayer got them really riled up. “Prayer? Prayer?” cried one incredulous progressive. “Pray on your own time!” bellowed another. And a woman, at the top of her lungs, invoked the name of Lucifer, who runs American leftism when George Soros is otherwise occupied. They got especially raucous at the mention of Jesus’ name; and then they heckled and booed the recitation of the Pledge. At this point we usually hear liberals deny they’re anti-Christian and angrily declare, “Don’t you dare question our patriotism!”

Again, these people are energetically showing us who they are, and shame on us if we don’t listen.

Why do liberals hate God? Because they’re after His job. They want to sit where He sits, and they insist that they can and will do all the things He should have done, but couldn’t do because He doesn’t exist. They, by the brute force of an all-powerful government run by themselves, will wipe out income inequality, abolish hate, war, poverty, disease, and while they’re at it, Save The Planet. And we’ll all live happily ever after as Citizens of the World. They haven’t gotten around yet to offering us forgiveness of sins and eternal life, but they’re working on it.

So they boo God, boo the country, and put up yard signs, as one of my neighbors has done, proclaiming such gems of tolerance and wisdom as “Patriotism is for Scoundrels,” “Blankety-blank Clingers,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Science (they mean Global Warming, evolution, and abortion) is Real”… and, as the bottom line, “Kindness is Everything!” I don’t think I want to know how they define kindness. The Bible has already told me that: “the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel” (Proverbs 12:10). Leftist “kindness” usually involves a lot of barbed wire and piles of dead bodies.

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They have cut the cable that anchored them to God, and now try to tie up to the water. Anyone can see how well that works.

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Whether or not these liberals are beyond hope of repair is not for us to say. But we need to have our heads examined if we even think about ever again allowing them to run the country. They hate everything we love, and they will take it away from us if they can.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: God Doesn’t Love Everyone by Justin Hoke

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment


The logical conclusion of the popular, “God loves all men” doctrine is that God sincerely loves those who will spend eternity in Hell. In other words, all those in hell are truly loved by God with a love which is displayed by eternal conscious torment that will never end. For all time these objects of God’s love will experience the full wrath of His hatred for sin being eternally separated from Him while enduring the same punishment as devils and demons. But take comfort you damned, because god is sad that you are in the place He sent you, experiencing the everlasting torments He is lavishing upon you.

The love of God is therefore logically reduced to a sort of pathetic wishing that somehow things could be different. While the Sovereign God is reduced to a helpless victim of circumstance who desires one thing but is forced to live with another. The God of the Bible, however, is in complete control over all things whatsoever comes to pass. When the modern church says God would save all if He could, the God of the Bible says, “’My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,” (Isaiah 46:10).

The Bible does not teach the man made “God loves all men” doctrine. The Bible says we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Those who do not love God lack the evidence that God loves them. Further, the Bible says that God loves the Righteous but hates the wicked (Psalm 5:4-6; 11:5). And that God created the wicked for destruction (Proverbs 16:4; Romans 9:22).
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I would suggest that the man made, “God loves all men doctrine”, is creating a culture of hard-hearted people who have no fear of God or Hell (Romans 3:18; Ezekiel 33:1-6). Like the Jews in the first century who rejected their own Messiah (John 8:30-47), the men of our generation are convinced that they are the apple of God’s eye (Matthew 7:21-23; 1John 1:5-7). They cannot hear God’s command to repent because it makes no sense. Why repent, why change, when God already loves me just as I am.
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God does not love those who will spend eternity in Hell (Psalm 1:6; 5:4-6; 11:5; 37:20; 112:10; Proverbs 15:9; 2 Peter 2:12). Yes while they are granted the gift of this passing life God provides for them as He does all living things, the rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45; Psalm 145:9; Acts 14:16-17). But it is not right to call this common providential care love. This kindness of God will only add to the suffering of those in hell (Luke 16:31), for in these acts of providence God clearly reveals to all men both His eternal power and Godhead leaving them without excuse (Romans 1:18-32).
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It is my hope that we will be granted to repent of promising the love of God to all men. That we will be more careful, to be honest about the love of God. And that we will preach faithfully the gospel, the only message able to truly bring people into the love of God (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:18)

Justin Hoke, Pulpit and  Pen, Does God Love All Men?, February 28, 2017

Note

Justin Hoke is the pastor of Lake Shastina Community Bible Church in Weed, California.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: It’s Shameful for a Man to Have Long Hair by Tom Malone

Bruce Gerencser 4 Comments

tom maloneWe have been talking about liberalism in Christianity. I want now to talk about a fundamental, local, New Testament church like this one and others, scattered across America. There is coldness and worldliness even in these churches.

Jesus predicted that it would happen, in Matthew 24:12: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”. This is the day of “situation ethics”. This is the day when people say, “everyone’s doing it; so why not me?”. The Bible says, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”. Now folks, we have reached that coldness in the true, fundamental churches of America. I know organizations of fundamental, Bible-believing churches that are sound in the faith but dead. Coldness leads to liberalism. You can’t stay cold and stay true. If you are cold, you will soon depart from the truth. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”   Saved people are cold to each other. I see in the true church of Jesus Christ men struggling for their own personal benefit. There is a coldness toward each other, a no-care attitude about other Christians, and a disregard for the true body of Christ. God knows there is a coldness toward lost souls. How few Christians really care that multitudes are without God.

There is a coldness and an indifference to old-fashioned Bible preaching. God said, speaking to Isaiah, “Lift up thy voice, cry aloud, spare not, make my people know they have sinned.”  You think of God’s admonition in 2nd Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers…”. You think of Christians being joined in lodges and associations with unbelievers. You think of Christians in business with unbelievers. You may not be able to find a grocery store run by Christians. The mechanic who works on your car may not be a Christian. The man who cuts your hair may not be a Christian. I am not talking about a Utopia but about a communion. God said there is never to be a communion between a saved and an unsaved person. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers…”   Here is what God says we are to do about it: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate…” (vs. 17). You say, “What is the answer to it?” That is the answer. I am preaching to people who belong to modernistic churches. I have people tell me, ”I don’t hear the truth where I go.”. But you keep going! You send in your money. You help support it. You pay a man of the cloth to speak who denies the Bible. So you are as guilty as he is. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate…” is the answer.

Folks, worldliness and coldness have come even into the true churches. You see it in the imitation of the world. First, I mention immodest dress. God knows the women of America are helping to send this country to Hell. Women, God bless you! We love you and we want to respect you, but for God’s sake, dress like a Christian. Paul wrote in 1st Timothy 2:9 and 10:   “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”   Why wouldn’t a Christian woman want to dress modestly? Some of you don’t like it, and you will whisper back and forth at the dinner table. But some of you want to be like the world. The people around you are going to Hell because you are no different from the world There are coldness and worldliness even in the church.

Let me tell you something else and I say it in love. You may say, “You don’t love men with long hair.”. Oh yes I do! But the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 11:14, “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?”. And the word “nature” there is “instinct”. What the verse is saying is, “Does not even instinct itself teach us it is a shame for a man to have long hair?”. That chapter is dealing with the fact that a lady ought to have long hair and that her covering before God is her hair. The same chapter says that instinct teaches us that it is a shame for a man to have hair like a woman. This long hair on men and short skirts on women are not pleasing to God.

We need to clean up. Don’t give me this old line, “Jesus had long hair”. All you have seen are pictures not more than two or three hundred years old, some artist’s conception of what Jesus looked like. Don’t give me that line. We don’t know whether Jesus had long hair, or sideburns, or what! but the Bible says it is a shame for a man to have long hair. While talking to someone the other day about the discipline and dress code in our school, this one said, “You mean people will put up with that?”.   I said, “Put up with what?” “Put up with what you put them through.”   I said, “We are not going to put them through anything but a happiness mill. They are happy that way.”. The most miserable people in the world are these folks who go around crabbing about the establishment because they want to be different. If you want to be different, get saved, get an old-fashioned revival in your heart, get a Bible under your arm and some tracts in your pocket and start soul winning and going to church. Folks will say, “Well boy, that fellow sure is different, isn’t he? In fact, I believe he is a little nutty!” Then you will really be enjoying it, right up to the hilt!

— Tom Malone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Pontiac, Michigan, excerpt from 1971 sermon titled Can America Survive?

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Can You Be Raped by the Devil?

Bruce Gerencser 13 Comments
magic mike demons
Magic Mike. Hot men or demons from hell?

As bizarre as it sounds, those who minister to people in occult bondage say it’s more common than you think. Possession

For nearly two decades, Contessa Adams felt as though she had no power against the demonic violators of her body. She felt trapped in secrecy and shame and knew that the demons tormenting her wanted things to stay that way.

But God had another agenda for Adams when she found Christ in 1979. The former stripper has a ministry through which she exposes one of Satan’s darkest secrets—sexual demons.

These spiritual rapists [rape is all about violence and power, not pleasure] , as Adams describes them in her book, Consequences, often prey on people by performing sexual acts through nightmares and erotic dreams. Some people become so dependent upon these demonic experiences that they actually look forward to them.

“Anybody that has been attacked by them will tell you … they’re worried [that] they could not find that pleasure with mortal people,” says Adams, who claims she was once possessed by sexual demons.

The two most identifiable sexual demons are the incubus, which is a male sexual demon that traditionally assaults women, and the succubus, which is a female sexual demon that assaults men. Sometimes they also lure people into homosexual behavior.

Adams notes that one evangelist, whose name she would not divulge, was so troubled by the sexual pleasure the succubus gave her that she even contemplated suicide.

Adams says the succubus spirit that used to attack her confused her so much that she contemplated becoming a lesbian.

“Unless you’re strong enough [oh Lord Jesus, PLEASE let me be weak!] to rebuke it, they’ll keep coming back,” she says. “You must speak the Word of God, knowing you have power in the name of Jesus.”

Eddie Smith, the president of U.S. Prayer Track and a respected leader in deliverance ministry, believes that experiences like Adams’ are common. He and his wife, Alice, have ministered to “at least hundreds” of people suffering from demonic sexual attacks.

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Adams believes the most valuable tool against these sexual demons is based on Matthew 12:44, which speaks of when a demon is cast out and then looks to return, but finds the house is clean, swept and in order. People must have their houses in order so that a demon can no longer gain entrance, Adams says. It is a part of the reprogramming process that takes place when an individual submits his or her life to God.

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Adams says: “Fear is their forerunner. If you get paralyzed by fear, they actually will come and rape you. But if you draw near to God, Satan has to flee. Satan’s job is to suggest that you not draw near to God, so that he does not have to flee.”

— Cedric Harmon, Charisma Magazine, Can You be Raped by the Devil?,November 19, 2012

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Satan is Omniscient

Bruce Gerencser 9 Comments

satan clutching the world

Satan is your accuser. He has all the dirt on you. He knows what you did. And what if he told your church or your friends what you’ve done? That little secret you try to keep hidden from everyone, even from God. Satan knows about it. Satan has a dirt-file on you, and he will not let you forget the fact.

— Tony Reinke, Desiring God, Satan Wants to Blackmail You, February 22, 2017

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Atheists Have No Reason to be Kind to People by Billy Graham

Bruce Gerencser 3 Comments
billy graham 1951
Billy Graham, 1951, when he was still Associated with the Sword of the Lord

Many people have noticed the worst they’ve ever been treated is by people who claim to love the Lord. These same people notice that those who profess to be atheists appear to be much kinder than Christians.

The Bible says the world shall know us by our fruit, but what happens when that fruit isn’t blooming?

One reader had a similar question for evangelist Billy Graham.

The reader asks: “The kindest person I know is my atheist friend who has no use for God. On the other hand, some of the most difficult and unpleasant people I know say they are Christians. How do you explain this?”

Wise as always, Graham answered:

Not every Christian is like this, of course—but admittedly some are, although they shouldn’t be. And not every atheist is like this either, of course—but some are, and in a world that’s often cruel and thoughtless, we ought to be thankful for every act of kindness.

Why is your atheist friend like this? By God’s grace, some people simply have been blessed with a sunny and kind personality, or they had parents who taught them to be kind. Perhaps this was her situation. But I do know this: Your friend isn’t this way because of her atheism, but in spite of it. A person who doesn’t believe in God has little reason to behave sacrificially toward others (although it may make them feel good inside if they are kind).

I also know this: If your friend ever opens her heart and life to Jesus Christ, she’ll become an even kinder and more loving person than she is right now. God will come to live within her by His Holy Spirit, and her life will begin to change. The Bible says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faith, meekness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).

Don’t let the bad example of a few weak Christians keep you from Christ. Instead, by faith commit your life to Jesus Christ and ask Him to change you into the person He wants you to be. Then pray for your friend, and ask God to make you an example to her of Christ’s life-changing power and love.

— Billy Graham (as quoted by Jessilyn Justice), Charisma News, Why is it Atheists Can be Much Nicer Than Church Folk?, February 16, 2017

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: ‘One Million Moms’ Upset Over Taco Bell’s Use of the Word Hell

Bruce Gerencser 4 Comments

taco bell

Taco Bell is following a trend in crude commercials. While a few fast food restaurants are cleaning up their ads, Taco Bell decided to air a commercial that includes foul language.

The newest Taco Bell commercial says, “When your morning is hell, just go to Taco Bell.” They should not use the word hell in a jingle. We all know children repeat what they hear [like when they hear the word HELL in church?].

Taco Bell’s “Morning is hell” ad is irresponsible and offensive. This inappropriate advertisement is airing during primetime when children are likely watching. It is extremely destructive and damaging to impressionable children viewing the commercial.

Please contact Taco Bell through our website and ask the company to pull the current ad immediately! Also, encourage Taco Bell to be more responsible in future marketing campaigns. If Taco Bell wants our business, it must no longer use foul language in its ads.

— Monica Cole, One Million Moms, Taco Bell has joined in Tasteless Advertising, February 16, 2017

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Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Women Are the Property of Their Husbands by Larry Solomon

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

traditional marriage

God made wives the property of their husbands.

There are some relationships in Scripture where the submission of one to another does not involve the ownership of one by the other. Examples of this would be the Biblical admonition to citizens to submit to civil governments and for church members to submit to their church leaders.  God does not give governments ownership rights over their citizens and he does not give church leaders ownership rights over their members. These two spheres of authority are limited in their powers and jurisdictions.

But God established some spheres of human authority where ownership of human property is either allowed (such as slavery under certain circumstances) or ownership is simply implied such as the relationship between a father and his children or a husband and his wife.

The ownership of the wife by the husband is confirmed in the 10th commandment where a man’s wife is included in a list of his possessions:

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.“ Exodus 20:17 (KJV)

Again in the book of  Deuteronomy a man’s wife is included in his possessions:

“And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.” Deuteronomy 20:5-7 (KJV)

These possessions all belonged to the man and he had the right to make use of them.  In fact he was encouraged to make use of these possessions.

There are many that falsely attack the Bible based on these and other passages saying that the Bible makes a woman a possession that is no more valuable than cattle(Exodus 20:17) and a peace of land (Deuteronomy 20:5-7).

Another way of saying their argument is “If a woman is owned by her husband then she has no value as a person”.

But this could not be farther from the truth.  While it conflicts with our modern values a person can be owned by another and yet have great value. The Bible says “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.“ (Proverbs 31:10). I don’t know about you – but I think rubies are far more valuable than a house, cattle or a vineyard!

Also the Bible calls on husbands to give “honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel“(I Peter 3:7).  So just because women are the property of their husbands does not mean husbands can treat them the same as their cattle.  This a false argument proposed by those who do understand the Biblical concept of human property verses the world’s concept of human property.

— Larry Solomon, Biblical Gender Roles, Does God Want a Wife’s Beauty Hidden From the World?, July 11, 2014 (Recently updated)