- Mar 4, 2005
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Yes, many.So when people quote certain passages and say women shouldn't be pastors and just won't let it go. Keep quoting 2 Tim 3:16 heresy heresy, ad nausium.
Does this ring any bells?
But there is a big difference between quoting the Bible and quoting the Bible, in context and with understanding.
I'm not saying this to get at you/attack your position, but it's relevant to this thread, so I'll mention it.
One of the first things that I learned as a Methodist lay preacher (yes, a female one) is that exegesis is important. This means reading a passage, or verses, in context, asking what the author/speaker meant when they wrote/said them and what those around them at the time would have understood when they heard them. In the Gospels, Jesus was speaking mostly to Jews, for example, and before the resurrection. In the epistles, Paul, James, John etc were speaking to people from different cultures who were hearing the Gospel for the first time, AND also to those who were thinking "do I have to stop being a Jew? Do I still obey the law? What about circumcision etc?
Taking note of all this is not "explaining the Bible away", as someone here once wrote, but really trying to understand it.
So yes, Paul wrote that women should be silent in worship. Did he mean that literally? To discover that we need to look at his wider teachings - which include telling a woman HOW to pray and prophesy. Look at his teaching on the gifts of the Spirit - did he say that any of them were only for men? Those gifts include evangelist, teacher, pastor, Ephesians 4:11 and so on. Look at how he spoke about people speaking in tongues and prophesying during worship, 1 Corinthians 14. Did he say that it was only men who could do this? Did Paul only have make helpers, Romans 16?
How had Jesus treated women - had he allowed any to speak for him and share the Good News?
Because Paul was a Jew there is also the OT to consider; had God at any time allowed women to lead and/or prophesy and teach? What about Deborah, Miriam and Huldah? What about Esther, who, effectively, told the king what to do, saved the Jews from destruction and who is still celebrated each year in Purim?
Considering all this, how likely is it that Paul would have commanded all women everywhere to be silent and not worship or praise God? So what DID he mean?
This is a far more honest approach to Scripture than just saying "the Bible says women can't speak in church; just do it."
The Bible also says that Judas went and hanged himself - is suicide acceptable because it is "mentioned in the Bible"?
Sometimes Christians jump in and interpret, and apply, Scripture, when that is the work of the Holy Spirit.
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