The Christian Bible Does Not Teach Sexual Oppression/Inferiority

It's bad manners to bring up a different topic than the one under debate. I did not say that the Bible is the word of God, or that it is morally sound. While I may believe those things, they have no relevance as to whether the Bible itself teaches that women are, should be, or would have to be inferior. Rather, I assert this claim: The Bible does not teach that women are inferior. Rather, in all of the Old Testament citations you have pointed out, the Bible assumes the tendancy of man to treat a woman as inferior as a given, and attempts to mitigate the damage done by that cultural tendancy. As I've mentioned before, all of this is consistent with the Genesis passage of the Fall, where male superiority is presented as a factual corruption of the way the things are intended by God to be. In order to disprove this argument, I believe that logically, you need to find not just a law relating to the presumed-but-undesired inferiority of women, but a value judgement attached to that law, indicating that such oppression is desirable. Moreover, as to the references you've cited... >>Here is another verse. Why don't men have to "pare their nails" etc? Why does she have to shave her head? that seems like she's to be looked down upon, at least as far as I can tell with our culture. The context seems to support that too. The simple answer is that men didn't decorate their nails, wear elaborate hairstyles meant to worship other gods, and "pimp" themselves in similar ways. Why you would assume this was in any way, shape or form meant to humiliate her is beyond me. And, >Apparently, the woman is someone who is paid for. Why? because she's treated like property. why isn't a male paid for by the woman? Nope, rather it would have to do with the need for a man to make a sacrifice which demonstrates his ability to support her. The dowry was common practice throughout much of the world, expressly for this reason, for a very long time. Finally.... >There is also a verse that says women must wear hats in church. now, this verse could be just a cultural thing. The above quote though, says it's part of the law for them to be oppressed. But Paul is only referring to liturgical law. Ancient masses had men and women divided in two halves of the room, and women had to be silent for the simple reason that they gossiped during the men's part of the Mass. >As for the arguments you made. I could maybe see God saying, you're gonna be a damaged good, so you would be best off to marry the rapist. But, why do the people even act that way? I suppose it could be their own cultural problem. From what it looks like, it's probably part of the overall bad bible system. Arguing that you can see God doing so is based solely on your construction of God, and not on the facts. Rather, all of the passages you present show a trend - that they emphatically DO NOT expressly teach female inferiority the way that you see it expressed in other cultures of the time. For instance, the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, a heretical contemporary of the New Testament Gospels wholeheartedly rejected by Christianity, would have Peter and Jesus saying the following: 114 Simon Peter said to them, "Mary should leave us, for females are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "Look, I shall guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter heaven's kingdom." But if the best that can be claimed is that the New Testament oppresses women by wanting them to keep from gossiping at Mass, or that the Old Testament - silent in values - tried to establish laws mitigating the harm of a cultural reality, then that is simply not a teaching of oppression.