Women as priestesses, sorry, no, not for their lack of pastoral ability or preaching ability or fervor or holiness, not from a lack of any holiness, but from the point of view of the participation in the Eucharist -- a Holy Tradition that Christ inaugurated with the Last Supper
With this, as I said -- a woman preacher etc. I see no issue with so in your case none at all
Not sure who it was on this forum, but someone stated the same thing. It was about six months ago or so. I spend a good two weeks going through the scriptures and historical background of the issue.
Like you, I was raised with the same concepts and teachings for most of my life. I even was ordained as a minister but found it was not my calling. It is a controversy (did not seem to be in the early church where women were actually preachers spreading the word starting from the day of Pentecost). It does not appear to be a problem until the actual organization of the church and the various councils gathered to put some order in the movement (we all know the Council of Nicea). Then (apparently because the church leaders were from cultures that held women in low regard) the concept we were taught was implemented. My traditional upbringing and experiences is with the Restoration Movement in the US prior to the Civil War. The movement pretty much rejects the various councils and works to restore the church to what one finds in the early churches. The Holy Tradition that Christ . . . did not become the HOLY TRADITION until implemented by one of the councils (as per the teachings of the Restoration Movement of Campbell, Stone and others).
If one reads the Scriptures, one finds that the early church members met on the first day of the week and broke bread in remembrance of Christ’s Last Supper. The Christian Jews also attended the Sabbath Services on Saturday as well. No HOLY WRIT or show of great celebration - just met together and humbly carried out the traditions you speak of with little fanfare.
The participation in any “ritual” almost makes the concept meaningless and the ritual taking the place of the meaning (not meant to be argumentative just practical). The all-men ministers was very much part of the tradition of the Restoration Movement but probably as a tradition and not Biblical. When one says we are all equal spiritually, one really cannot say “equal except . . “ We either are or we are not. As Christians we share in the spiritual feast of our Lord without exceptions. That is the final personal argument that changed my mind along with those two weeks of intense research. Junia was an apostle with all that this term implies. Apostles carried out all the leadership functions without exception prior to any council or writ saying who could and who could not. Phoebe was a deaconess with everything that term implies as well.
I came to his conclusion with much research, thought and prayer. It is controversial and IMHO, one may want to be so positive in one’s belief on such controversial and none salvation related issues. I have changed my mind on a lot of the traditions and customs I was taught and believed over the years. Of course, I find it interesting that so many of the “liberal Christian congregations” are losing huge numbers of their members and the ministers cannot seem to figure out why. See http://dmergent.org/ for a good example of the liberal Christian view.
I am sickened by much of what some of these ministers write in regard to homosexuality and other things and their rationalization of what the Scriptures actually teach. Why would anyone attend such an organization when they can just join the local golf club or other social organization and get the same hugs and pats on the head. I think we both know why they are losing membership - they have ceased to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Just saying there is a valid argument to be made on the issue.
Oops -— I posted mine before I read yours. But we seem to be making the same points. Great minds... :o)