Thank you so much MS E, thank you so much for watching the video and for engaging in this thoughtful dialogue. As your comments point to, the Bible is such an ancient document and there are so many things in it that cannot or should not be interpreted in a literal way as applying to all time periods. And yes, we fully value the role of using one’s critical thinking skills and always always listening to one’s own inner knowing before just blindly believing something just because someone says “the Bible clearly says”. This video was created in partnership with an organization that works primarily with evangelical Christians around the world who place great value on the Bible as the authoritative Word of God so the intent of Rebecca’s Story is to show how damaging a patriarchal interpretation of the Bible is on so many levels as it treats females as second class citizens making them vulnerable to abuse and discrimination not only in the church but in so many aspects of society as the video shows. The main theme of the video is the importance of carefully interpretation of Scripture to get the deepest current of meaning. And yes let’s all use our critical thinking!

I am sorry, but I do not think that this comment is very helpful. You said that you do not want to turn anyone atheist, but you definitely want them to abandon their faith in the Bible. You cannot expect a Christian to take their faith in Jesus seriously and also do as you say to stop believing that the Bible is God's word when Jesus himself (and the apostles he sent) said that the Bible is God's word. I do not think that your advice promotes critical thinking either. Sometimes things that seem like contradictions are not really, but only seem that way on a surface level reading. Your advice is "if it seems like it doesn't make sense on a first glance, then just throw it out," which is not good critical thinking. You are saying that if someone ever tries to explain why something is not really contradictory, then they are always forcing it and it's always stupid and illogical, which is a very extreme and absolute way of thinking. Your words also show that you do not understand or care about people of faith. In this video's story of someone like Rebecca, she found meaning in life because she believed that the story of Jesus is true. You cannot expect someone like that to throw away the story of their Creator who cares more for His children than His power simply because you tell them some passages don't add up. When reading any text, it is important to read everything in context. That means looking at the original language, the narrative context, the historical/cultural context, etc. When you do this, you will often find that there are factors you did not consider that clarify confusing issues. This does not mean that everything has a nice and neat explanation, but neither immediately accepting nor immediately rejecting are good critical thinking for anyone, regardless of whether they are a person of faith or not. Honestly, it does not seem likely that the authors of these biblical texts would be dumb enough to blatantly go against the previous writings that they believe are sacred. Therefore, looking for a deeper explanation is not irrational. I appreciate this video for showing that people of faith do not have to abandon their faith traditions in order to make positive change. By the way, looking at the historical context does not mean simply saying "these people lived a long time ago, so their ideas are not important." Also, you cannot say that the entire Bible is just the perspectives of ancient men. One great example of this is chapter 31 of Proverbs, which records the words of a king's mother where she teaches him about the best kind of woman, who is a business owner as well as wife and mother!

Beautiful story, truth fact is that heavenly father YHWH use females and males for spiritual purposes the same way he used Ruth, And esther. many people say is old testament specially manmade churches now days, but the spiritual calling of the holy spirit of YHWH is for all those who repent, obey and serve around the world so we can all follow his son Yahoshua and be disciples and lambs. Our father YHWH sees the heart of man while man see the outside and things that might not have spiritual value at all. Beautiful story💓💖💖💖🤍