Posted on 08/21/2006 5:51:49 PM PDT by Bob J
In earlier news it was reported that a Baptist Sunday school teacher of 54 years was let go from her position because "My belief is that the qualifications for both men and women teaching spiritual matters in a church setting end at the church door, period," the Pastor was quoted as saying.
Apparently in a letter sent to the teacher earlier in the month they qouted from First Timothy Two, 11-14 "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, she must be silent."
This news was posted on FR here and here.
It's an interesting topic considering the current discussions regarding Sharia law and the treatment of women in Islam. Some FReepers were shocked and others appeared to support the policy based on scripture interpretation.
What is your opinion?
Many Christians seem to have the same belief about the Bible ~ that every bit of it is dictated by God, and none of it can be wrong ~ just that maybe we don't understand all of it (being mortal, falible beings ourselves and all that).
Anyway, it's never been Christian doctrine to believe the Bible is just a xerox copy of a book of rules maintained by God.
In fact, the Moslems are wrong about the Koran. They have a full and complete record concernng the origin of each and every piece of it ~ right down to the names of the fellows who copied down whatever Mohammad said.
There's not a single piece that looks like a photocopy though.
No, not what God told him, but what he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say ~
The biblical idea of inspiration differs than that of dictation (as claimed by the Koran) not with the assumption that the bible writers made mistakes, but that they wrote with their own personalities and ideas...but simultaneously the Holy Spirit was writing truth through them.
It's a little like the fact that Jesus was fully human...100%, and simultaneously fully God, 100%.
Of course there are different kinds of literature in the bible, analogy, poetry, symbolism, parables, even exageration and hyperbola--among other types. The kinds of literature each part is isn't that hard to discern. The verses in question are simple instructions....meant to be read by the original readers as literally true...and, for those Christians who know God teaches us through scripture...and that it is 100% inspired (God's word)(while still being Paul's word...so not dictated) fully applicable today.
Call it biblical literalism if you will, but the alternative is baseless pick-and-choose religion--see the Episcopal Church or other mainline organizations (they are fast ceasing to be actual churches) for that.
1 Timothy 2:14 - "AND ADAM WAS NOT DECEIVED, BUT THE WOMAN BEING DECEIVED WAS IN THE TRANSGRESSION."
2 Corinthians 11:3 - The serpent beguiled Eve. It never mentions Adam being beguiled.
Until then your question is irrelevant.
I'm guessing then that you don't believe a lot of things that Paul said to the early church...
Things like the church is the bride of Christ, or that Christians will be raised from the dead, etc...
ping
At some point, maybe about the time of the Destruction of the Temple by the Romans, it became a "missionary church", and, as missionaries know, that sort of work requires a certain order and structure to the "mission".
Once the "mission" has become successful, the "missionaries" can move on to other fields, and the folks brought into the fold can conduct the business of an an organized, established congregation.
It's pretty obvious that large parts of Christianity are stuck in "missionary mode" ~ Much of what Paul has to say about "church" structure is applicable primarily to the work of a "mission" and not to an "established congregation".
There's disagreement on this question ~ with the Catholics on one side and the Protestants and Pentecostals on the other.
I doubt we can resolve it in this thread.
Timothy was likely written between 95-105 AD. Hence, Paul could not have written the Timothy... being that he was martyred in 64 AD.
You should submit this question you ask to "ask the imam". /sarcasm
Just a note, this idea of inspiration...that the bible is entirely God's word, can be found in the earliest Christian writers after the First Century. It is not a new thing attributable to modern American Christian fundamentalists. It is also the basis of the protestant reformation--and the authority in the Church.
Not everything is equally clear in the Bible it is true--there are levels of "exegetical certainty" of certain interpretations, however what is needed we do understand. Basic instructions given in the epistles of Paul are amoung the easiest to discern however...requiring a minimum of interpretation.
Things like the book of Revelation, or say the prophesies of Daniel are more difficult to understand--and therefore require greater humility in one's interpretation.
Sorry, I just feel that God uses all his servants, male or female. Let's just agree to disagree.
Paid your taxes lately? If so, you SUBMITTED. Hope they didn't beat you to a bloody pulp or break your back.
But didn't she proclaim the Good News to men, which is what women are doing today when they're teaching Sunday School?
That's not the kind of Baptist church I grew up in. One person one vote, for all those in Christ. Pretty much the same way that the decision for the new disciple was made in Acts.
Well, there we never threw lots. Maybe we need to take another look at that.
You forgot about inventing most items, taming the west, etc.
In the book of acts there were women preaching the good news.
It depends on the setting - but clearly there is a time and place where it is appropriate or we wouldn't see it in scripture.
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