In researching the current resources on the web on the subjects of women in ministry, many excellent sites were uncovered that argued with grace and love their particular position. Others, however, were clear “false doctrines” of the first order, spewing debasement of God’s creations (humans), slander about women preachers and women in Pentecostal churches, and in women in general, teaching falsehoods, and seeking to inflict harm.
Observations
Aaccording to one site, women ....
Give out noxious fumes during menstruation that kill flowers.
They are to call their husbands’ lord or boss.
Their husband is to have total control over any money they make, or even inherit.
God loves women but with reservation.
Give out noxious fumes during menstruation that kill flowers.
They are to call their husbands’ lord or boss.
Their husband is to have total control over any money they make, or even inherit.
God loves women but with reservation.
Elsewhere there is a strong command by these people to believe the Bible literally and yet they have no difficulty taking things out of context, adding amplification based on their own opinions. So often these legalists who seem to get so angry about women as ministers of God and want woman to be eternally under rules of conduct that had died out even by Jesus’ time!
What about men? How many of these men make sure that they do not wear clothes of mixed materials? (Lev. 19.19)
I see men with some “high and tight” haircuts and yet “do not cut the hair at the sides of the head or clip off the edges of your beard…” (Lev. 21.5)
Tongues would wag if men were living up to 2 Cor. 13.12 “greet each other with a holy kiss.”
Sorry, no more pulled pork, sausage because no pig allowed (Deut. 1.8)
The ministers of ancient Israel (priests) were not to enter a place with a dead body and modern ministers attend funerals all the time. (Lev. 21.10)
Those early ministers had to also be without physical defect – some of them- indeed a lot of modern ministers would have to go (Lev. 21.21)
How about “do not go around spreading slander” ( Lev. 19.16)
Are they keeping up those “daily burnt offerings”? (Numbers 28.3)
Are they keeping their tithes every three years to give to the poor and the strangers? (Deut. 14.8)
How about “do not destroy” (Rom. 14.15)
What about the instruction to be only righteous, peaceful and joyous and recognize that one person’s faith may be stronger that your own, and that they might have liberty to do something that sets your teeth on edge? (Rom. 14.1-13).
Now, just a minute! Hold your horses there girlie, girl! Those don’t apply anymore. Oh, why not when you say that many of the same type of things about women are still at play? Sauce for goose is sauce for the gander, goes the old folk saying, and it is still very true.
Disputable Matters
“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters” Romans 14, In other words, there may be some points of disagreement among Christians, and that is apparently alright, and is not a matter for assault or attack of another Christian. Every time a truly disputable matter is listed, it involves some type of excess: immoral behavior, drunkenness, trying to destroy the faithful, etc.
The problem church of the New Testament (Corinth) had some who thought it was all right to eat meat offered to idols while some others were deeply offended. Some thought this way and some that…..and these were all right as long as they two could a) look at each with Christian love and b) not do something to destroy or harm another’s faith. Most importantly, the weaker Christian is not to be eternally tolerated but to be strengthened. As this other weaker Christian grows, he or she is not so easily offended by minor things and grows in grace. Once again, it is those pesky “rules taught by men” and not the true laws of God (Mark 7:7). Disputable Matters
“Do not destroy…” urges Paul in Romans 14.15 because the mark of a true Christian is “righteousness”, “peace”, and “joy” (v.17). “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.” One person’s weakness, Romans 14 goes, may be another person’s liberty. What is not disputable is the chief commandment is still that we love another. So, children of Adam, stop destroying others by your nominalization, nullification, disenfranchisement, abuse, manipulation, violence, and disregard for the creature fashioned in the image of God – your sister, your mother, your wife, or your daughter. Remember the greatest commandment…."love one another.”
[first published in January 2007 in "Sister of Esther")
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