You might be surprised that in the civilized west the age of consent in such states as Delaware was only 7yrs of age, and only a century and a half ago~
American reformers were shocked to discover that the laws of most states set the age of consent at the age of ten or twelve, and in one state, Delaware, the age of consent was only seven. Women reformers and advocates of social purity initiated a campaign in 1885 to petition legislators to raise the legal age of consent to at least sixteen,
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you might also be surprised that legal age of consent per bible and the Torah is about 0 to 3 for a girl!..
What is the minimum age of marriage according to Jewish law?
by Rabbi Naftali Silberberg
Our Sages state1 that "it is forbidden for one to marry off his daughter until she is an adult and says 'this is the one I want to marry.'"
It is forbidden for one to marry off his daughter until she is an adult and says 'this is the one I want to marry'!
In ancient (and not so ancient) times however, marriage was often-times celebrated at a rather young age. Although we do not follow this dictum, technically speaking, a girl may be betrothed the moment she is born, and married at the age of three.2 A boy may betroth and marry at the age of thirteen.3
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Footnotes
1. Talmud Kiddushin 41a.
2. Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 37:1.
3. Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 43:1.
What is the minimum age of marriage according to Jewish law? | AskMoses.com - Judaism, Ask a Rabbi - Live
You might be surprised still? that many scholars and historians don't agree on the actual age of Aisha RA when she got married to the prophet P.. some say she was 17.. documentation wasn't as good centuries ago as it is today.. under any circumstance that is actually inconsequential.. you see if I were that guy whom ever he is making accusations, I'd tell him--
'If I wereyou I'd probably have so much editing to do in the bible'.
From Solomon to David to Jacob, to Issac to Abraham... perhaps in the new version of the bible, they'll all be idealistically married to just one at the appropriate age of 27?.. That is just the unfortunate problem with these Evangelists and bible thumpers-- they seldom read their own book.. It is kind of funny when you think about it!
as for the fellow who mocks and questions the mental status of 'someone who claims he gets his knowledge from God'.. what can we say, sorry, the American reformers and the American psychiatric association, hadn't constituted then to define who is mature for marriage and who isn't..perhaps at some stage when they form a solid opinion and stick with it, the rest of the world wouldn't be so confused?..
Homosexuality not 30 something yrs ago, was considered an act of sexual deviance in the DSM-IV of mental disorders in 1973.. after some lobbying it was deemed 'normal'.. perhaps a homo psychiatrist was offended and lobbied some?.. I have no doubt 20 yrs from now, the necrophiliacs will lobby some too and make it out of that book and people like Carl Tanzler will exhume the bodies of their dead loved ones add some wax to their decaying corpse and sleep next to them? I don't know what will be deemed appropriate 30 years from now, and that is usually the case of fickle man made laws--'opinions'!
Silly me, I still think in many parts of the world where the life expectancy is as low as 41, they aren't going to care much of what someone else, perhaps one erudite who was thought to have an incestuous relation to his daughter, such as Freud, deems appropriate, and modish to follow!
Now I am off for fajr!
:w: