{"id":9,"date":"2023-09-25T19:05:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T19:05:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-02-14T17:50:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T17:50:25","slug":"holy-matrimony-hanky-panky-a-divine-dive-into-old-testament-adultery-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/?p=9","title":{"rendered":"Holy Matrimony &#038; Hanky Panky: A Divine Dive into Old Testament Adultery Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, the Old Testament, that ancient tome of wisdom, rules, and a whole lot of smiting. Ever cracked it open to peek at the adultery laws? Spoiler alert: they\u2019re a wild ride, especially if you\u2019re a married lady or a virgin gal. So, grab your holy water and let\u2019s dive into the divine drama!<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgj3bjVYp_L7FPmzBsloA2EldHlauCp8Xe56H2Mx8KNDSUZNe-3gDeX-h3rVUzH5j2yC06d0FwDjZOopH-p2fsHQcKSsZIlhdqSVyOATgTvIkUaQKiA209lQ8D0cq6lCvvkjFF1QxwbxZ9jriqXI-KYBFl-Fq8cnYOr7ClsEW_El9y-9EdyPLV-I8XezX0\/s400\/68631148.webp\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"300\" data-original-width=\"400\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/68631148-1.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><b>God doesn&#8217;t approve &#8211; or, does he? The answer might surprise you.<\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div>First off, let\u2019s get one thing straight \u2013 back in the biblical days, adultery wasn\u2019t just a sneaky rendezvous in the bushes. Oh no, it was a serious no-no, with some pretty hefty consequences. I mean, we\u2019re talking stones flying and not in a groovy, psychedelic way.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Now, you might be thinking, \u201cBut what about the dudes?\u201d Ah, my friend, here\u2019s where it gets interesting. The Old Testament was pretty chill with the fellas. A married man could have a little extramarital adventure, and as long as the lady wasn\u2019t married or engaged, it was all kosher. Talk about double standards!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/84815586-1.jpg\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"520\" data-original-width=\"780\" height=\"266\" src=\"http:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/84815586-1.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><b>The dudes could get as much as they wanted whether married or not as long&nbsp;<\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><b>as she wasn&#8217;t someone else&#8217;s property.<\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div>But woe betide the married women and virgin girls caught in the act! The law was crystal clear \u2013 no hanky-panky allowed! A married woman getting cozy with a man who wasn\u2019t her hubby? That\u2019s a stoning, right there in the town square. A virgin betrothed to a dude but found with another? You guessed it, more stones flying!<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/09517e80498817aabe7e7a7cc297055f-1.jpg\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"4032\" data-original-width=\"3024\" height=\"320\" src=\"http:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/09517e80498817aabe7e7a7cc297055f-1.jpg\" width=\"240\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">Did someone say, &#8220;Stone Her?&#8221;<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<div>And the reasons? Well, it\u2019s all about lineage, baby! You see, back in the day, people were obsessed with keeping the family line purer than a snowflake. A man\u2019s seed was sacred, and they didn\u2019t want any mix-ups with the neighbor\u2019s kid claiming inheritance. It\u2019s like an ancient episode of Maury \u2013 \u201cYou are NOT the father!\u201dBut here\u2019s the kicker \u2013 if a man found a lady who wasn\u2019t betrothed or married, and they had a little roll in the hay, the punishment was\u2026 a wedding and a fine! That\u2019s right, folks, a bit of silver and a trip down the aisle, and all was forgiven. Talk about a shotgun wedding!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Now, I know what you\u2019re thinking \u2013 \u201cThis all sounds pretty unfair!\u201d And you\u2019d be right. But remember, this was a time when locusts were a legit form of divine punishment and people lived in tents in the desert. Times have changed, thank goodness!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So, next time you\u2019re swiping right or left, spare a thought for the ladies of the Old Testament, navigating a world of divine laws, flying stones, and ancient paternity tests. And remember, whether it\u2019s biblical times or the 21st century, love and relationships are always a divine comedy!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So why would this God guy set down rules that only apply to one gender? If he was real, he wouldn&#8217;t. These were property laws. Women were a form of property. A way for the father to enrich himself by selling an a daughter with an intact hymen (and yes, they checked on the wedding night) or a way for a husband to keep his property. <b>Why any woman would follow a religion that made them property is beyond me.<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, the Old Testament, that ancient tome of wisdom, rules, and a whole lot of smiting. Ever cracked it open to peek at the adultery laws? Spoiler alert: they\u2019re a wild ride, especially if you\u2019re a married lady or a virgin gal. So, grab your holy water and let\u2019s dive into the divine drama! God [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,50,47,51,41,42,44,49,43,46,48],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69,"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/69"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/averagejoeatheist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}