Is God a Misogynist? Series Part I, Rape

On another blog that I write on, I have started a series, Is God a Misogynist?

Well, let me just start this by saying, I at this time, am seeking God and Jesus Christ on this very question. Seeking His Word, and coming to Him in prayer. You see for years I walked away from the faith, not that I stopped believing in Jesus, I just, well,

stopped liking Him. Stopped liking God, I know this may sound absolutely crazy but as a woman who has suffered at the hands of MEN, having suffered rape and suffered child sexual abuse [and not just from men, one woman] let me just say, it had and still has long lasting negative impact. As a Christian we are taught to forgive and that God is sovereign and that He works all things for our own good...

yea, well, you see for women, this is a double edged sword. First you have on one hand a Loving God or Heavenly Father, so you are taught, then on the other hand you are taught in about 90% of Christian doctrine [and in Islam its worse] that basically God has put you here to be pretty much,

an ashtray for a man's penis. Sorry to be so blunt but if I am going to honestly confront this issue I am going to lay it on the table, bare and naked, and Why am I doing this?

BECAUSE IN OUR WORLD WE HAVE MILLIONS OF GIRLS AND WOMEN AND YES, YOUNG BOYS WHO ARE WOUNDED, AND I MEAN ON A DEEP SPIRITUAL LEVEL ARE WOUNDED AND HURT,

AND THERE NEEDS TO BE HEALING BUT NOT ONLY THAT, THE HATE CRIME OF 'RAPE' AND 'SEX ABUSE' HAS NOT ONLY BEEN TOLERATED IN A SECULAR PERMISSIVE CULTURE, IT HAS BEEN TOLERATED AND EVEN 'SANCTIONED' IN THE RELIGIOUS CULTURE BY A GOSPEL OF 'INDIFFERENCE'.

And by that I mean, there is very little if zero, brutal confrontation BY THE CHURCH, in dealing with RAPE, GANG RAPE AND THIS SO CALLED 'MALE ENTITLEMENT' TO RAPE.

This is WHY the radical feminists, including the separatists, have had to STAND IN THE GAP. This should not be,

but there it is and it is because as I read the Word of God there is a big conflict, that if I have, in my relationship with Christ, I can only imagine,

what it is for millions who are under belief systems that its even ordained and sanctioned by their religion that its o.k. to rape.

How in the world can any woman or girl learn to love a God whom she is taught is a supporter of RAPE? How can any girl or woman learn to even Trust a God who she thinks, said, 'ok, its o.k. to rape her'?

Its impossible, and its not surprising then that in many areas of the world we see girls as young as ten torching themselves to death, its not surprising that we see an increase of young women turning lesbian, not just because they think they are 'born' that way, I won't get into that topic here, I'm strictly talking about THOSE women who turn lesbian due to the fact that they can never trust men or love men, and while the Church may say, they are bitter and that is sin,

I would say right here, right now, one, its 99% of the time a MAN WHO SAYS THIS, two, no matter how much one may put Christ's example of suffering as a way to reach women who have been brutally assaulted, there is still this like, wall there, that while in NO WAY do we minimize the suffering of Christ who suffered and died for all of us,

I think for women, there is this separation, in suffering. I think its because we suffer, not just from unrighteousness or for doing good and being punished by evil doers, but we suffer

simply because

we are women. Of the female gender.

And when we worship a MALE GOD,

there is a wall, lets not deny it, lets not sugar coat it or polish over it like many Christian women do, because the PAIN IS REAL, and in my journey to be healed completely even if, Lord forbid I am ever raped again, I want to be able to come to Christ in prayer, to come to God and not think on one hand, He loves me then on the other, that I'm hated, or less than, or that He is a Misogynist...this is hard for me to explain,

but I guess what I am saying here is that if I have so much trouble TRUSTING IN GOD'S GOODNESS, then I know I'm not the only one.

I spent my years in radical feminism hating anything to do with the Christian religion, not my faith in God but you see there was such a barrier there and I'm going to be very honest, it was DESTROYING ME, not only ME but my children, my relationships, everything, and you see that is what MISOGYNY DOES, IT KILLS THE SOULS AND SPIRIT OF WOMEN.

What is worse, to not become, forgive me for being blunt, batshit crazy, doesn't matter if a woman is religious or if a woman is one of faith or if a woman is a die hard materialist Communist-Atheist, to survive one must internalize the misogyny...even if not intentionally,

that is what happens. And on this the Radical Feminists are correct, you internalize it and learn to crucify and hate yourself. You blame yourself, you learn to hate your gender, your sexuality, everything,

but there is another negative that can result, and this is Why I eventually turned back to my faith in Christ was that all the years I spend in rebellion in my spirit and heart in Communism and in Radical Feminism, I didn't find healing,

no, what I found was an all consuming hatred of not only Men, but of God, of humanity, of myself and even though I may have been fighting for social justice and all the typical 'campaigns', in side my heart I was filled with bitterness, pain, mistrust, and yes, hate.

Sin does that....you see the one huge difference [if you don't believe in Christ you won't agree with what I'm about to say here and I'm simply sharing what I believe, not opening this up to hours upon hours of debate, etc] but the one huge difference,

that while women suffer simply for being women, women are still sinners, JESUS wasn't. And so, I think based on that I could no longer justify turning my back on Christ,

I know my sins, they are way, way too many to count and I know He Died for my Sins, not because I deserve it, no,

BUT BECAUSE HE LOVES US. HE LOVES WOMEN.

So, I find myself in this paradox and so I decided, when reading God's Word, that I was going to put all this pain at the foot of the Cross and then I was reading several books out of the Old Testament and the triggers started and I finally decided, O.K. God, this is it,

and I asked Him,

Are you a Misogynist?

And then I went back and REREAD the two books in the Old Testament and I saw them in a very different light, and I saw HOW they have been misconstrued in ways to which RELIGION and PATRIARCHY AND YES, MISOGYNIST PATRIARCHY, has utilized those passages to be

INDIFFERENT TO RAPE, TO BE INDIFFERENT TO WOMEN'S PAIN, AND YES, TO PERPETUATE MISOGYNY AND YES, TO PERPETUATE

RAPE.

And before the non-believers say, Uh Ha, let me just state for the record, the Secular world, the Pagan world, the other religions [and one even more extreme and in fact, takes the Old Testament laws and distorts them even more so and its that LEGALISM] all do the same exact thing,

its not simply the Christian or Judaic Religions, and I know this for a fact because I've had intimate experience with paganism, agnosticism, feminism both liberal and radical and btw, I've seen just as much misogyny in both of those if not worse, its just manifested differently but it IS JUST AS DESTRUCTIVE, Eastern religions, etc...and yes, Islam. [almost married into Islam, but I saw enough and it was enough--put it this way, I'm in no way shocked to see ten year old girls torching themselves to death, I'm actually surprised there isn't far more doing the same, and I've seen enough SHELLS OF DEAD SOULS OF WOMEN after years of horrid abuse and misogyny that there are no words to describe the Depth of the 'inner death' these women go through, they truly do become non-human, what happens to these women is no different than what happens when one undergoes several lobotomies, but you see the misogyny that is suffered since birth for thousands of women is just that--a very slow death and slow repeated lobotomy].

Anyway, I am not here to begin a religious debate and that isn't going to be the intent of these posts ON this topic and for that reason I will, delete ANY comments that are baiting or getting into the merits of 'religion or non-religion' because that is not my intent here...

my intent here is to share ONLY what I am learning in this journey, that yes, seeking God's face, to not only healing but also understanding BECAUSE THE NEED FOR HEALING IS DESPERATE IN OUR WORLD,

and it is my Hope, that in my journey and sharing it here, by yes, laying myself here bare and naked, in all my humanness and frailty, and human weakness, that what God reveals to me in His Word,

in prayer and what Healing I receive I can share with you, my prayer is that for any who read this, that you also see God's love for you and that you too, are healed.

That is why I am doing this...not only that but I am also, going to be posting on many true life cases of women in our world today that are horribly suffering and I am doing this to one, encourage prayer and intercessory prayer on the behalf of these women, and two, it is my hope, that there is ministries begun to help these women, in healing, physically, mentally, and spiritually. NOT so they can become 'wives', no,

and that is something I have seen in some Christian 'ministries' that I think does more to pour salt on wounds than to help, and it makes me angry to be very honest, to hear Christian women, who have never been raped or gang raped or abused sexually [or secular woman for that fact] to sit there and pretty much, in words say, get over it, its wrong for you to be bitter and so forth and just forgive and forget because you have a 'duty' to your husband or mate, or in many 'secular' terms, its your obligation to be 'pussy', you know what I'm talking about here....don't think I have to spell it out for you.

And if a woman is so hurt and damaged that she retreats from men she is then demonized, and is it any wonder why Women are increasingly turning towards women only societies even if small, and why MISANDRY [hate of men] IS ON THE INCREASE?????

You see I believe that was and is Satan's plan from the very beginning....but where I have trouble with in this whole area is when I hear anything about God's sovereignty or any passage about God handing over people to the enemy because of their sins and let me quickly clarify, I'm not talking sins like lying but in the Old Testament it was after years and years of God's patience when His people were committing all kinds of violence, injustice, oppressing the poor, the widow, the fatherless, oppressing the immigrant [oh yes, its in the Old Testament numerous times and its amazing how even today the Christian world will say God protects and will protect us and that any evil is of the devil but at the same time, they will rationalize discrimination, oppressing immigrants, single mothers, etc., and you know, God is not mocked....He hates sin, injustice, hate and guess what,

He hates RAPE. And in fact, that was one of the reasons Israel was judged, a permissive rape culture including raping the women of their neighbors [and that means other nations].

'Thou shall not covet they neighbor's wife"

that doesn't just mean having sex with your next door neighbor's wife, it means, too,

'thou shall not covet [which leads to taking by force] your neighbor's [next door, next city, next nation] wife and that includes FUTURE WIVES, it means,

THOU SHALL NOT RAPE.

So you see God does in no way justify or sanction rape, in His own Commandments.

He revealed that to me with a few other scriptures to confirm and something else, Satan is the accuser, [read Job], the father of lies. Satan is also,

the king of misogyny.

[don't bother commenting and baiting on this either because I will delete, not going to argue here, this is what I believe]

Anyway, this is a journey that I began, basically just getting real with God and putting it on the table, because for way, way too long, rape has been justified and ignored as simply something that is

women's lot in life,

and its really sad that even in the Christian church there is little if Any ministry for women in this area and the ministry that I have seen and dealt with, I feel is even more misogynist and does more to cause separation from God, and bitterness, that is life long,

than it does to bring healing. Not just healing,

restoration.

And through out this world there is a cry that goes out and God hears...a moaning of agony and pain by millions of women,

and I learned the hard way, hate is not the answer nor is it healing, nor is self-debasement by sexually acting out, nor is it drugs or angry activism, etc.,

its in Love and since God is Love,

God loves women and wants them healed and restored, not destroyed, not debased, not subjugated, not demoralized, and not internally dead.

Nor does God want women to be sexually exploited...sold, trafficked, exploited to be chattel for political gain or state or yes, religion...

there is and has been so many lies by the father of lies, Satan in regards to women, and there is a reason for that...women by having the ability to bring life into the world, a woman, brought life into the world, eternal life, Jesus Christ

and Satan has been out on the war path to destroy and kill women from day one.

That is what the Word of God says, and while I realize that its not Popular to be Christian in these times [and its going to become worse] and that its not popular in the Church or religion to confront misogyny, to really, really confront it,

this is something that God has put on my heart. Not just in confronting poverty, oppression, or fighting to change laws...but to confront how God's name and character has been profaned and blamed for the oppression of women,

enough, is enough.

So, for starters, I want to share this, Darfur, Sudan, because this is going to be the first region that I am asking for you to join me in intercessory prayer for,

there is a need for ministry to help heal and restore ALL these girls and women and children, the rape needs to stop, and the 'lie of shame' because these women have done nothing wrong,

the SHAME GOES ON THE MEN, WHO RAPE,

NOT THESE WOMEN,

they are human beings, not 'damaged goods',

there needs to be so much healing and restoration and so this is where I'm going to begin...putting it out here, not only that I am praying for God's judgment on these men and the ones and ideology that sanctions these rapes and that by God's hand these women will be delivered, that the children will be delivered and that the haters will KNOW IT IS GOD, that God will glorify His name and His power,

and that God will bring Justice to these women and children. And to the societies effected and the future generations.

It is not enough to demand the end to the genocide and rape, we need to reach out, any way we can...not just to stop the horrors,

but to also bring healing and restoration. I so often hear if God is a God of Love why this, this and this?

Its not because of God's inaction, its because of People's inaction, God works through US too, faith without works is dead.

Here is the story and the link, WARNING, MAY TRIGGER

Darfur war breeds 'dirty babies'

By Ishbel Matheson
BBC News, Darfur

IPB Image
Darfuri women believe rape is being used as a weapon.

Fatma gently unwraps the bright, pink folds of her shawl, to reveal her baby girl.

Darfur abuse victim Fatma with her baby
Darfuri women believe rape is being used as a weapon
The sickly, three-month-old child, named Hawa, is the result of terrible atrocity.

When Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, came to Fatma's home in January, they threatened to kill her father.

Fatma intervened but the gunmen turned on her.

"They said to me: 'You are a prostitute'," she says.

"They pinned me down, one on my hands and one on my legs. The others took turns."

Fatma was held for four hours and raped repeatedly.

They left her alive, but injured so badly, that she could not walk.

When her family eventually found her, they had to carry her home.

Marked for life

Two months later, Fatma realised that she was pregnant. She is just 15 years old.

"At first my father wanted to throw me out. But others pleaded with him."

Her family moved to a refugee camp in the town of Kass, along with other survivors from her village.

They want to destroy everything - by violating us, they want to make our men ashamed and to demoralise them Hawa Seliman Mohammed, rape victim. But in this traditional society, Fatma and her baby are marked for life.

The young mum tells how neighbours whisper about her.

"They say I'm a bad girl - that I had this Janjaweed baby. They say that I should be sent away," she says.

As she speaks, baby Hawa frets and cries. She is malnourished and light as a feather.

Her mother presses her to her breast, but she has no milk.

We ask an older woman who is present, to try to help us soothe the baby.

She refuses, cursing the child as if she were a bad omen.

"She is calling the baby 'a dirty girl'," says Unicef's Eman el-Tigani.

"Fatma has no future here. Islam does not allow for a baby to be killed. Otherwise this baby would be dead."

Rape 'commonplace'

Fatma and her baby are victims of a brutal scorched-earth campaign in this remote region in western Sudan.

More than two million people have been driven from their lands, in what the UN has called it the "worst humanitarian crisis in the world".

Human rights groups say Arab militia backed by the Sudanese government are seizing the land from Africans in Darfur.

The Sudanese government says it has been fighting a rebellion. It denies funding and arming the militia.

Whatever the politics of the conflict, the crime of rape is disturbingly prevalent.

Every day, aid workers hear reports of women and girls from African tribes being abducted and gang-raped.

Shame amid love

Fatma is not the only one to be bearing the baby of a enemy fighter.

As she tells her story, other heavily pregnant women listen.

I will keep her - I want my baby
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4099601.stm

Human rights groups say Arab militia backed by the Sudanese government are seizing the land from Africans in Darfur.
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