My wife and I were talking about how religions claim to be directed by God, yet God never seemed to let any of them know about the danger of sexual predatora to children. The it hit me, does the Bible say anything on the subject? Is there a thou shalt not diddle kids scripture? I remember scriptures addressing lots of things, including bestiality, but can't remember anything protecting kids. I'm not saying that it isn't in there, but can't remember anything about it.
A quick Biblical question....
by dubstepped 18 Replies latest watchtower bible
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David_Jay
You will find no references to pedophilia in the Hebrew Scriptures because the Torah defines sexual intercourse as an activity both exclusive to marriage and defining of marriage.
Halakhah extended the cultural understanding of the Mosaic Law on sexuality into kosher standards, but even these tend to lean in the direction of what is allowed, not what is forbidden. Halakhah by nature instructs the Jews how to live, so there aren't lengthy discussions on all the situations that break kosher (no instructions on how NOT to live). One of the reasons this might not be covered is that marriages were often pre-arranged contracts made when a prospective bride and groom were still children. Most understood that the actual sexual union could not proceed until such a time as both were adult members of society. Until World War I most marriages in Jewry were arranged by parents or decided between families.
The moment of a marriage could happen at different ages during various different times through the history of the Jewish people. Depending on whether we ran our own communities or were under the control of a foreign power or even of the Diaspora, what constituted sex with a child and the act that consummated a contractual union could vary greatly. Under some situations in some ancient cultures martial relations were initiated among citizens as early as puberty. Therefore the defining standards of pedophilia today didn't always exist in the ancient past.
The Didache is one of the earliest documents reflecting Jewish standards about under-age sex in the first century, albeit a Jewish Christian composition. However the prohibition against "pederasty" at Didache 2:2 is actually a reference to Hellenistic homosexual unions between tutors and their disciples (women were neither tutors or disciples in this type of Greek practice). The expression however may be less a prohibition against pedophilia and more a euphemism prohibiting all types of homosexual unions according to some scholars.
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Sail Away
Is there a thou shalt not diddle kids scripture?
What a horrible way to phrase this question. Clearly, you have never been sexually assaulted, nor has anyone you love.
PS Maybe there is time for you to rethink and edit your question on behalf of those who might be triggered by it. Of late, nearly every time I come to this site, I ask myself, "Just what we're you thinking?"
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Village Idiot
This should answer the question:
15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. 16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. - Numbers 31:15-18 New International Version
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dubstepped
@SailAway - Clearly my intent was not to damage anyone that has been abused. I can't edit it now, and would if it bothers you. The intent of my post was to point out something that was sorely lacking and damaging to so many children, or you could just look at one phrase where I tried to not be so heavy and missed the mark as far as you were concerned. For the record, I know more than your assumption on the subject, and have heard the term used by some affected. If you really want to know what I was thinking, there you have it, or you can just judge me because I wrote one phrase you didn't like. I'm sorry that you or someone close to you was impacted by such a real life scenario or my phrasing, but if you do care to understand others here's your chance. Some have difficulty with different words and phrases for different reasons.
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Sail Away
Dubstepped, the comment triggered my PTSD. No judgement against you. Just reality.
So if I don't concede to your bullying, you believe the best approach is to judge me?
but if you do care to understand others here's your chance.
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dubstepped
I did not judge you, merely stated a fact, and didn't realize that I was also bullying you. Again, my apologies that you were triggered, but I'm really not going to keep going back and forth with a person that is reading into my words. Good day, I hope you feel better.
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David_Jay
I am an adult survivor of child abuse. While I cannot argue against some who might be disturbed by terms employed in the OP, I can declare that I was not. I have read much from dubstepped and, based on that experience didn't read any intent at malice or disrespect in the choice of words.
This is not to say that it isn't a good idea to watch what one says, but since we each tend to speak with a particular vernacular and may have rightly grown comfortable with one another, I give most posters here the same benefit of the doubt I give my friends in my vicinity. I count most posters here as friends, so I try to remind myself of that when someone says something I might take offense to.
But we should never say a particular reaction by a victim is improper. The oddest things might bring back very uncomfortable feelings for me at times too, things that to the average person might never be connected with abuse. I know that others can't predict what these things might be in order to avoid them since I surely can't always do the same. So I hope those of us who might find something that is written here offensive might remember that most here would never purposefully do anything to perpetuate the suffering we had to endure in our pasts. I truly believe questions like this from posters like this come about only because they are on our side, the side of survivors.
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waton
Clearly there was an interest in pre-puberty liaisons, otherwise the the brothers of the Shulamite would not have been anxious about what was written in Songs. 8:8."-- little or no breasts. --" may be even Solomon was not above robbing the cradle?
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Sail Away
David-Jay, thank you for your kind words.