Does God Hate Women? (Part 1): On the Allegation of Divine Misogyny at the SOGIE Senate Hearing || 4H Apologetics

This episode was aired as a 10-minute segment on September 10, 2019 (7:00PM) at 702 DZAS' Tanglaw sa Landas ng Buhay of Back to the Bible Philippines

Magse-segue muna po tayo galing sa sinimulan nating apologetics series on slavery, murder, sexism, etc na mga allegations against the Bible using the Bible pa against itself, at lilipat muna po tayo para tugunan ‘yung pressing issues concerning the Bible as you might have heard it sa recent na Senate Hearing on SOGIE nung September 4 (here's the youtube video). Hindi po natin tatalakayin ang SOGIE sa ilang segue series na ito dahil tatalakayin po ‘yan ng ating guest teacher na si Bro. Omar sa October. What we will talk about sa segue series na ito is yung mga declarations nung mga pro-SOGIE religious people patungkol sa Bible. A lot of conservative Christians I know expressed their concerns sa mga declarations na ito at minarapat nating bigyan pa ng voice and representation itong concern na ito dito sa episode na ito. In doing so, I hope na mabigyan ng grammar o expression ang criticism ng mga conservative na may high-view ng Scripture sa publiko sa pamamagitan ng broadcast na ito. We will first deal with the theology nung gay na Aglipayan and his declarations concerning the Bible’s misogyny, low regard for disabled people and slavery. We will start with part 1 today and part 2 next on the issue of misogyny.

Sabi nung gay Aglipayan ay hindi daw maaaring maging definitive guide sa rights ang Bible dahil daw sa quote-and-unquote "Timothy 2:11" ang sabi daw ay "I do not permit a woman to teach..." pero meron daw tayong "positive laws for women" suggesting 'yung pagiging irrelevant ng Bible sa usapan. Very obvious na ang object of criticism niya ay ang endorsement ng Bible to oppress women by commanding women to keep silent. Parang binubusalan ang babae na 'wag magsalita. This was his point in trying to persuade the lawmakers to pass the SOGIE Bill and to dissuade them not to listen to religious arguments based on the Bible. The argument being na dalawa lang ang kasarian na nilikha ng Diyos at 'yung mga denunciation against homosexuality.

To organize our thoughts for a response kasi maraming issue doon sa binanggit niya and also for the observation din nung mga nag-aaral ng 4H Apologetics, let us begin with this argument:  "Wag gamitin ang Bible sa discussion on rights especially women's rights dahil sa simple evidence na lang ng quote-and-unquote “Timothy 2:11” is oppressive of women.

Hindi na sikreto ang mga diskurso laban sa Christianity concerning Christian misogyny especially mga kritisismo sa atheist literature; but sadly meron din sa mga professing Christian groups tulad netong gay Aglipayan. Isa sa mga sinasabi ng mga kritiko ng faith ay tulad nito --

• [I]t strikes me as strange that more women are religious than men, and yet men dominate religion. The bible and the church fathers from all three major religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all find women repugnant with only one duty, to produce male off spring and cater to the men in their lives. They are property. . . The list of passages putting down women in the bible is almost endless. To me it is amazing that women can believe and pass on this information about themselves and even agree with it. No wonder that women often suffer from low self esteem and low self worth.* 

If the allegation found in the Bible most specifically “Timothy 2:11” is true, then we should not put any value sa Bible if it speaks on rights and the dignity of the human person. Christians like Cong Eddie Villanueva and Sen Pacquiao must be prevented na magsalita tungkol sa kanilang Christian point of view sa mga issues dahil they will reference an oppressive book that has no place sa public discourse.

Before we present ang ating counter argument banggitin ko lang ang ilang early factual mistakes of the gay Aglipayan dahil ang claim niya ay he has read the Bible based on facts.

First of all there are two letters of Paul to Timothy sa Bible so you have to say either First or Second Timothy or 1 or 2 Timothy. Second, we know he was quoting from 1 Timothy 2: 12, yet he referenced verse 11.

Having put that out of the way, ang counter argument natin is “Maaari nating gamitin ang Bible sa talakayan on women's rights dahil zeroing in on the gay Aglipayan's erroneous reasoning that Timothy 2:11 or more accurately 1 Timothy 2:12 is not oppressive of women. It in fact affirms the important role of women.

We will focus on what he emphatically pointed out as the oppressive word: be quiet. Kailangan lang nating ipaliwanag kung ano ang gustong sabihin nito at hindi ‘yung ini-insinuate niya na tila baga bubusalan ang bibig ng mga babae.

Paliwanag ni Denny Burk --

• 'Quietly' does not mean that women are never to utter a word when the church gathers for worship. This would completely contradict what Paul says about women in 1 Corinthians 11, where he tells the women how to pray and prophesy in church. His assumption is that they will pray and prophesy, which means his assumption is that they will speak during church services. We may note that the term for 'quietly' in verse 11 is similar to the term for 'quiet' in verse 2 [kung saan nabanggit ni Pablo na “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”]. When Christians are commanded to pray for a 'peaceful and quiet life,' that phrase does not describe a life in which no one talks. It aims rather at a life 'without turmoil' (cf. BDAG, s.v. ἡσυχία). Likewise here, 'quietly' does not mean complete silence. It means instead that women are to be 'without turmoil.' [o kalmado, o mahinahon, o mahinhin] The term requires women to have a “quiet demeanor and spirit that is peaceable instead of argumentative.✝️  

Non sequitur 'yung support niyang "Timothy 2:11" sa claim niyang the Bible cannot be definitive on women's rights. Walang kinalaman 'yung verse sa maski anong batas sa kababaihan. 1 Timothy 2:12 is an ecclesiastical admonition from a respected church authority for godly women to be peaceable at hindi ma-eskandalo. It is not a verse that is proof of neither a crime nor a simple oppression.

Babalikan po natin ang topic na ito sa next episode para kumpletuhin ang ating response. Also sa mga nagsasanay ng 4H apologetics, mapapansin ninyo na ito’y bitin at hindi itinuloy sa Heal at Honor. Next episode po natin ‘yan gagawin.

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*Ron Hooft, "The Bible and the Oppression of Women," HubPages (online); available at https://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/The-Bible-and-The-Oppression-of-Woman.

✝️Denny Burk, "What Does It Mean That Women Should “Remain Quiet” in Church? (1 Timothy 2)," Crossway (online); available at https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-does-it-mean-that-women-should-remain-quiet-in-church-1-timothy-2/.

Ang episode na ito ay naka pattern sa 4H Apologetics method na dinivelop ng inyong lingkod. Ang pagbabasa at pagsusuri nito ay isa sa mga paraan upang lalo kayong masanay sa 4H Apologetics kung ito ang inyong pakay. Mahalaga na tayo'y manood o makinig ng mga "big game" apologetics na hatid ng mga tulad nila Ravi Zacarias o William Lane Craig subalit baka tulad ng panonood ng NBA o PBA marunong tayo mag appreciate pero 'pag tayo na ang gagawa ay nangangapa tayo. Pagyamanin natin ang ating sarili sa tungkuling ito ng pag-a-apologetics.