What about her?
I was reading 2 Samuel 13 today and I found myself becoming angry with some of the injustice in the Bible. I was reading the story of Amnon and Tamar. The story starts like this,
“David’s son Absalon had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible that he could ever fulfill his love for her.” (2 Sam. 13:1-2)
This is already weird because you have David’s son wanting to hook up with his sister who he is completely crazy in lust for! Let me stop just for a moment, there are tons of absolutely beautiful girls in this world that most guys have absolutely no shot at meeting – it’s okay to realize she is out of your league and stop there. Well Amnon couldn’t handle it and so he arranged for her to come and cook him a meal so he could take advantage of her.
When she sits beside him to serve his dinner Amnon pushes himself on her and rapes her.
“But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling sister.” (13:11)
Hold on while I throw up….okay I’m back. Tamar would not go to bed with her brother Amnon and so it says, “…he raped her.” (13:14)
In an instance this beautiful woman lost more than her virginity – she lost her dignity. She was now going to be sentenced to live a life of rejection. She was no longer worthy as a person; she was used goods, abused and then spit out to live in isolation and rejection. This is what pisses me off. Amnon finished the deal and then following his release it says he burns with hate towards her. In this society if a woman slept with a man who was not her husband she was dirty. It was not often the man who paid the consequence, it was more so the woman. Even in the New Testament you see women being impacted the most from men’s sexual fantasy.
Amnon doesn’t care at all what the impact will be on Tamar. He no longer cares about her and his lust has been satisfied. She is thrown aside like a dirty rag. As I thought about this a bit more I realized he never cared about her. All he wanted was to fulfill his own lustful desires, experience the conquest, and move on without any consequences.
You know how often this happens in our society? I am not talking about rape. I am talking about how often men and women are abused for the selfish gain of someone else. People are often discarded and put aside without a care in the world to their future and their feelings.
When you look at pornography you contribute to this behavior. I don’t care if you think what you are doing is not hurting anyone or not, here’s the truth: you are contributing to a society of abuse.
Next time you think about viewing a pornographic image or movie – think about the girl as a person loved by God. Does this change your thoughts and your attitude? If this doesn’t change you then what if Tamar was your daughter? What if the girl on the screen being abused by you was your flesh and blood? Changing your outlook yet?
If you are Tamar and have become accustomed to abuse at the hands of others, remember God’s love is never abusive, harmful, or selfish in nature. May we all adopt the heart of God for people and stop contributing to the wrongs of our society motivated by selfishness.
