There’s something very disturbing about yesterday’s discovery of a deep double-standard within the Bible’s seventh commandment, which punishes a married women (and her lover) who commit adultery with death, while married male rapists of unmarried women are rewarded with a new wife. The operator of the driving school where I work is Christian, and he often engages me in friendly and interesting Bible talk after work. I posed my question about adultery to him yesterday, and he responded that Jesus is a God of love, which is the answer most Christians seem to give me, pointing to the New Testament in answer to the challenges of the Old Testament. My counter-response was that though Christians may view the Old Testament as superseded by the New Testament, this does not erase the fact that the Old Testament serves as a source and reference for God’s character, which is eternal. Seen in that light, what character is it that punishes married women who commit adultery with death, and married men who commit adultery with a new wife? And why is there no commandment against rape?