Dear Ozair,

My name is Dr. Peter Payne. More than three years ago Scott Cherry passed along to me your paper on rape and pedophilia in the Bible. At that time I wrote this letter for you which I asked him to share with you. ...Did he? Either way, he has only now decided to post it here. In two or three parts I will respond to what you have said. What I had to say about point #1 below turned out to be long enough that I decided to send it by itself and send you my responses to the rest of your paper in a couple of subsequent emails. Since your paper focuses on the question of whether the Old Testament condones rape and pedophilia, I won’t respond here to why a good God would at times command the killing of everyone found in a town, and at times command command what initially may seem like genocide. (I could address that topic at another time.) Since early in your paper you raise the question of the character of God in the Old Testament, that is what I will address in this email. In a subsequent piece I will address texts you cite in support of your claim that the OT God condones rape and pedophilia. *All biblical quotations will be from the English Standard Version translation.

Dear Ozair,

My name is Claudine. A long time ago (3½ years!) Scott Cherry shared with me some of his fascinating correspondence with you about a few passages in the Old Testament books of Moses (and the Qur'an) that were stimulating intense discussion. Well, way back then I wrote this letter for you but Scott chose not to post it until now, especially focused on Deuteronomy 22:28-29.[1]

I understand your difficulty with those bible passages because like many, I share in some of your thoughts. I thought that you may like to hear from a Christian woman on the issue of what seemed to you as rape and pedophilia in the Old Testament.

Nothing can be understood if we don’t understand the beginning: In the beginning...God’s creation was perfect, but a big problem happened: Man disobeyed God. Man decided to listen and trust another voice than that of his creator even though God had warned him it would lead to death. Every other problem humanity has ever experienced stems from that.

My studies have led me to the revelation that the statement ‘Jesus is Lord’ is not merely a propositional truth that needs to be apprehended for salvation. But that "Jesus is Lord" is a mission statement.......

Is Christian social activism biblical? This debate is often at the forefront of the Church when societal ills or political propositions arise. We are confronted with the proverbial fork in the road: Should we do or say something? . . . Should we stand by in silence because we would sacrifice our Christian witness to align ourselves with the causes of the world? My hope is to offer some perspective that might help resolve this conundrum, or at the very least, provide some food for thought. 

Part of the challenge lies in our theological framework. Things such as our views on the effects of sin can greatly influence how we look at problems in this world. For example, sin causes brokenness and depraved behavior.  Therefore, some suggest what logically follows is that sin is a problem that will remain until God makes all things new. So as Christians we shouldn’t involve ourselves in temporal resolutions. Rather, we should preach that we all need Christ and that is how you deal with the problems of sin. Others argue that God has left us here as his representatives to be His salt and light. Through this representation (as salt and light) God draws people and they become part of the Church or a Christian. Which view is correct? My belief is that the latter is the more correct of the two. So let me share with you some of the reasons for this conviction.