Are women to 'Sit down & shut up' in the church? 1 Cor 1

luvnlife · Lion King Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 1133 Location: US

1 Cor 14:
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Are women still to keep silent in the church? I realize according to the scriptures above that the law of the time dictated that women were treated differently, almost like children of the same time period. Remember the old saying, "Children are to be seen and not heard"?

A few things have changed since then. For one thing, the laws regarding womens' place in society. For another, many women attend church with their children without husbands. Many women in modern times are divorced or widowed and so are heads of households. If a woman were a widow back in those times, the church was expected to embrace the woman and her family. Communities have become larger and churches often don't help widows. It is up to her. This type of attitude may have served well in Pauls day but in todays society, it could only serve to hold entire generations back. In a lot of instances, the bridge between God and children in a family is the woman who is solely responsible for their upbringing.

I need help on this one.

Thanks,

Much Luv Confused or disgusted

theseldomscene · Banned Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 7817

does a man still have to love his wife like CHRIST loves the church and provide for her?...i mean i know he used to have to but things have changed...a woman can work now and get the same level of education as a man...she has opportunities in many instances that a man does not have....her role has changed...

they are is not the same type of women that women were back then and they proudly admit that...even in the church they often say they are free and independant....and they can, even in marriage, make thier own decisions and the age of submission to a man is over....so then...

if the woman is free...the man must be too....

MoJo · Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:47 pm Post subject:

hi luvnlife. I'm not going to be able to help you on this one, I'm afraid. My mother and I have discussed this a few times and of course it pops up on the boards often enough. One of the questions I always have is if our gathering together on the boards can be considered a gathering of the church, in which case women would be breaking Paul's words all the time. He says, women should keep silence as is shown in the law, but I've never been able to find a reference to this in the OT law unless one assumes Paul means the shortage of the female voice in the OT, which idea just occurred to me this very moment. Idea

My mother and I have chosen to basically leave it alone, although we agree we wouldn't become pastors or priests. I've never really been able to understand these scriptures and the other reference in Timothy.

The way I look at it is that if I was seriously breaking some commandment by speaking on these boards, then I don't believe I would continue in God's favor by receiving the amount of growing instruction that I do. IOW, it would manifest itself in chastisement of some sort and I've never felt that.

So, basically, I don't go there.

Very Happy

Key of Twilight · Big Hamster Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 90

It has to go back to some kind of contextual thing. Some social law or something back then but it could have some meaning today though i am sure that meaning is not the same as if you take it literally... If we had a historian around they might be able to tell us...

Silver Surfer · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:24 am Post subject:

luvnlife · Lion King Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 1133 Location: US

Silver Surfer · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 6:37 am Post subject:

RevJP · Moderator Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 6845 Location: USA

Luv,

There are numerous resources regarding historical, anthropological, archaeological studies and understandings of biblical times and how they relate to the writings of scripture (in particular the NT).

This information is more readily accessed during theological education in seminaries, universities and such, but still can be found in books available at your local bible bookstore.

As with any field of study like this, the depth and breadth of the research is vast, so easy to post references are sometimes hard to come by.

I write this in response to your question that I've seen a few times in various threads regarding the writings of Paul where you indicate that we don't know the reasons surrounding the issues Paul addressed and you ask "how do we know this?"

I wish I had a clear, easy to access book regarding this subject that I could refer you to, but we truly are discussing hundreds of years of research and academia by hundreds upon hundreds of scholars, archeologist's, anthropologists, historians, etc.