women in the bible

csl81love · Sea Monkey Joined: 05 Mar 2003 Posts: 10

Yesterday I had a disturbing conversation with a man who believes that women do not have the right to teach or preach. He kept quoting the same scriptures over and over again. 1 corinthians 14:34,35,36. He said the whole problem with our world today is that women don't know their place. What do you think of this?

Heavenly Home · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2003 11:56 am Post subject:

well.... it does say that in that chapter... this is how i think.. i dont believe there should be woman preachers... or pastors.. woman can get up and exort and stuff.. we have a very powerful woman preacher in our church and is very good to listen to... but as a pastor or anything nah i dont think so

Nobby · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2003 8:18 am Post subject: Ladies in chursh

Hi csl81love,
I believe it was the law of the OT. We now live by the Grace of God in the NT. Back under the law a women couldn't even talk in church.
They also had to cover their heads, and not just a small bonnet either, they had to cover their head & their faces.

larryjf · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2003 7:17 pm Post subject:

You may think they are still living in the OT, but they quoted the NT.

One of the errors in thinking with regards to this subject is that because women are not to be pastors that means they are less than men. That is why i think people are disturbed deep down. And, it is an incorrect way of looking at it. I mean, we don't think men are less than women because women are the ones to give birth to children, do we? We all have our assigned tasks to follow through on. Some are dictated by nature and others by God (both by God really).

Men and women have different roles. That is why we are meant to come together in a marriage. We are able to better strengthen each others weaknesses and stuff like that. And, in a marriage the man is to be the head of the woman as Christ is the head of the church. This brings a critical point - Christian leadership is not like the world's. We are not to "lord it over" the people that we are leading, but to lead others by serving them. You see, the greatest in the kingdom of God is the servant of all. And, in Revelations Jesus talks about the Nicolatians, and how he hates them. The word nicolatian comes from 2 greek words: Nico meaning to rule over / and latian from the word laity meaning common people. So, Jesus hates when we "rule" over others. That's not our job. Our job is to lead by servitude.

We must obey God, and try not to let society pervert what God tells us. God does clearly say that women are not to have authority over men and teach and preach (1 cor 14:34 and 1 tim 2:11) - both quotes from the NT.

Another thing to consider is that God is a God of order, not dis-order. And, if men and women were fighting over who gets to control the church it leads to yet more strife in the body of Christ. The problem with men coming of abrasive and women feeling that they "should" be able to do whatever they want both come from their pride. And this is a terrible sin to God. So, approach it with scriptures and the love of Christ.

Men that have a problem of constantly showing their "authority" really need to be prayed for. This is not the Spirit of Christ. When did Christ ever lord His authority over anyone when He was here (and certainly He had every right to). These men are in a spiritual crisis because they take the scriptures and apply them to their flesh instead of their Spirit.

I'm sorry about how long my ramblings went on, i just couldn't stop.

In Christ.

csl81love · Sea Monkey Joined: 05 Mar 2003 Posts: 10

Thank you for your input everyone. I just wanted to know what you thought. I think that during that time, Paul said for women to be silent because they were disrupting service and as you said, they weren't allowed to speak in public and they were to follow the laws of man. The laws of man now say, we are allowed to speak and it is my humble opinion that God doesn't give women the ability to be great ministers if they aren't supposed to use it.

millerbussey · Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 4:07 pm Post subject:

it was Paul who said he didn't suffer a woman to preach, and then went on in that same passage to say in essence do what seems right to the reader. no where in the Word does it say that God doesn't want women to preach. as a matter of fact, the Word says that in the latter days, "sons and daughters" shall prophecy(preach).

RevJP · Moderator Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 6828 Location: USA

I'm wondering if there is a distinction between 'pastoring' and 'preaching'?

Women ministers, who preach but have no organized body to lead, as opposed to women who are pastoring churches...

Larry made a unique point about leadership through servitude. A POV I have not considered before and am sorry I haven't. If to pastor a church is to lead through servitude then would this not necessarily create a conflict for a woman in her role as 'helper meet' to her husband? I'm just asking off the cuff...

admin · Posted: Wed May 28, 2003 12:13 am Post subject:

What, there's women in the bible too?

Boy, I guess I better go read it again...

Smile

millerbussey · Posted: Wed May 28, 2003 5:26 am Post subject:

i agree that there is a difference between pastoring and preaching.
and i do believe that there would be a great sacrifice for a woman pastor. my own personal belief, i don't claim to have leading from the Holy Spirit on this. i think a woman pastor would be , by necessity - called to be single.