I don’t know if any of you ever read the Song of Solomon in the Christian Bible. But it is downright dirty. I think it also involves an unmarried couple. I could be wrong on that one. Because I never read it thru. And although we studied the Old Testament in RC high school, we never got to that book (perhaps not surprisingly).
I have nothing against healthy sexuality, mind you. If anything (and I do mean anything) involves consenting adults, I have no problem with it. But the Bible is Christian. And traditional Christians are actually supposed to be against that stuff. No?
Another question, I have had for some time now. Why is the Song of Solomon never quoted? Conservative Christians quote the Bible left and right. But they never quote that book. Am I wrong? I mean it is a bona fide book in the bible, is it not?
It’s also in the Jewish Bible. It’s essentially a dialogue between a man and woman (a bride and bridegroom?), celebrating sexual intimacy. Why would “traditional Christians” have anything against sexuality? Christians have sex too, and sex is actually viewed as a gift from God. This book celebrates that. Sure, many evangelicals have hang-ups about specific sex acts, but overall, most Christians don’t view sex as evil. Like anything, it’s become broken in a sinful world, but SoS can be seen as an example of how sex should be, in an unbroken world.
I believe the Jews read it as an allegory between God and Israel, Christians often read it as an allegory between Christ and the church.
No. We enjoy sex, yes we do!
Song of Solomon is in the regular readings, although not frequently. Search on revised common lectionary song of solomon —
They quote the parts they want to quote. The god of the bible is a mean horrible being. Infanticide, genocide punishing people for things they didn’t do etc. He is sure not the all loving being Christians say he is, so they only quote the parts that show god in a good light. I’ve always thought most Christians only know the stuff they hear in church and most have never read the bible critically(not with the presumption that is the unerring word of god). If they did, I think a lot of them would leave the religion. Of course when one talks to most of them about it, at least in my experience, they give the god works in mysterious ways cop out. I had one tell me that while killing innocent children seems horrible to us, since we don’t know god’s plan it is really an act of love.
Not that part. You guys may have tolen it, but you didn’t write it and it isn’t yours.
As for the meaning, though some certainly use the interpretations people have given, but from the Brittanica we see
It was written long before Paul decided sex was bad, so perhaps it is just what it seems like.
Davids and Solomon both had lots of wives, and they weren’t around just to do their sewing if you know what I mean and I think you do.
I had one tell me that while killing innocent children seems horrible to us, since we don’t know god’s plan it is really an act of love.
If you consider child killing an act of love, then you are not worthy of worship or praise. Also, if you value the free will of the rapist and murderer over the well being of the victim, then you are the most vile being in all of fiction. There are other words I could use, and often have on YouTube, but there’s different standards in place here. Just know that god as depicted in the bible, if he existed at all, would only be worthy of contempt and derision.
The Song of Songs is in the Hebrew Scriptures, along with a whole lot of disparate other things – poetry, mythology, history, genealogy, folktales. There’s quite a bit of sex in those scriptures, both nice and nasty, along with everything else.
Christians did not write the Hebrew Scriptures (which Christians often call the Old Testament). They merely adopted them, as Jesus thought they were important. Ask a rabbi why it’s in there. Or why anything is in there.
And you, OP, should really read the whole poem. It’s truly lovely.
I read a source before - can’t recall where - that said that in a psychological survey done of women and sexual behavior, conservative Christian women reported the highest % rates of orgasms experienced in sex out of any category of women. Make of that what you will.
Exactly. The Jewish Bible was not written purely as a religious text - it’s also be a history book, a law book and a collection of the nation’s most important stories and poems. It’s the Jewish National Epic, the story of a people, and that means a lot more than just religion.
No, abortion is not killing a child, it is stopping a process that could lead to a fully functioning human being. Anyway, this is not the thread for this argument. Message me when you post this in the appropriate forum, I’ll fight you on this there.
