In our discussions on Genesis there has come one puzzling question. If Adam alone sinned willfully and the woman fell into sin through deception, then why did God punish Eve so severely for her sin?
I would like to propose that we have misunderstood what happened when God dealt with Adam, the woman and the serpent. [...]
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Another common objection to women in ministry is the claim that when women speak and lead publicly it dishonors men.
The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) speaks of this as dishonoring the “calling” of men:
We would say that the teaching inappropriate for a woman is the teaching of men in settings or ways that dishonor [...]
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While there are many who say that women cannot receive from God that which will benefit men as they believe that all wisdom that God has for mankind must come through the agency of a man, may I remind us today that the Wisdom of God - God Himself came into the world through a [...]
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One of the problems with complementarian definitions is that they aren’t complete enough on the surface to reveal the underlying nature of their hierarchical disposition. However when one pushes to get the answers to some difficult questions, the picture becomes a lot clearer that actually shows the complementarian stand to be male bias in the [...]
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Posted in 1 Timothy 2, Authority and Women, Injustice towards women, News, Opposing viewpoints, Prejudice in the church, Southern Baptists, Spiritual gifts, Women Pastors, Women serving in the church on Nov 17th, 2009
On November 11, 2009 the Georgia Baptist Convention adopted a policy that ended its 148 year relationship with First Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia. According to the Associated Baptist News,
Pastor Julie Pennington-Russell read a letter at the end of both worship services Nov. 15 from Robert White, executive director of the 1.3 million-member state convention. It [...]
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Recently I had a woman write me who was troubled by some Bible texts that seemed to indicate that God preferred men. I felt that the questions she posed and the answers I provided would be good to put on line in case there are other women out there who also have been troubled by [...]
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The following is a very eye opening article by Lee Grady. From Fire in My Bones online, November, 2009. Copyright 2009 Strang Communications; all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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Christian teaching on male headship is often used as a weapon against women. This abuse must be confronted.
Last week during a ministry trip to Hungary I heard a painfully familiar [...]
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My article is now up on the Australian conference for the Presbyterian church. Click here to read the article and feel free to comment.
What do you think? Are blog conferences like this a good thing? Will it help to bridge the gap between complementarians and egalitarians?
I will be posting a review of Mike Seaver’s arguments from [...]
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Posted in 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Timothy 2, Answering complementarian arguments, Authority and Women, Challenges, Complementarian errors, Debates, Egalitarian web sites, Handling Opposition, Injustice towards women, Opposing viewpoints, Prejudice in the church, Reaching out to Complementarians, Southern Baptists, Women Pastors, Women serving in the church on Sep 2nd, 2009
Responses to question #5
In the last blog post Cheryl Schatz posed her fifth set of questions to Mike Seaver regarding their discussion/debate on women in ministry. Links to all the previous questions and responses is at the end of this post. This discussion will be Cheryl’s response to Mike’s answers on question #5 and Mike’s rejoinder. Mike’s [...]
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Posted in 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy 3, Authority and Women, Authority and leadership, Debates, Egalitarian vs complementarian, Injustice towards women, Opposing viewpoints, Prejudice in the church, Spiritual gifts, Women Pastors, Women serving in the church on Aug 26th, 2009
Responses to question #4
In the last blog post Cheryl Schatz posed her 4th set of questions to Mike Seaver regarding their discussion/debate on women in ministry. Links to all the previous questions and responses is at the end of this post. This discussion will be Cheryl’s response to Mike’s answers on question #4 and Mike’s rejoinder.
Cheryl Schatz [...]
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Posted in 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy 3, Authority and Women, Authority and leadership, Challenges, Debates, Egalitarian vs complementarian, Injustice towards women, Opposing viewpoints, Prejudice in the church, Spiritual gifts, Women Pastors, Women serving in the church on Aug 24th, 2009
This is question #4 of a 10 question discussion/debate between Mike Seaver and Cheryl Schatz on the issue of women in ministry. The discussion will take the form of five questions posed by Cheryl Schatz with answers by Mike Seaver and then five questions posed by Mike Seaver with answers by Cheryl Schatz. Each question and [...]
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On August 19, 2009 John Piper tackles a question on an abusive husband and Piper’s answer directs women on how they should take abuse from their husbands. The answer is typical of a complementarian who sees the husband as king and priest and the wife as the follower of her priest-king.
My comments will be below [...]
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This is question #3 of a 10 question debate between Mike Seaver and Cheryl Schatz on the issue of women in ministry. The discussion will take the form of five questions posed by Cheryl Schatz with answers by Mike Seaver and then five questions posed by Mike Seaver with answers by Cheryl Schatz. Each question [...]
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Posted in 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy 3, Adam and headship, Authority and Women, Blogs by others, Complementarian errors, Injustice towards women, Man as Priest of the home, Marriage and women in ministry, Opposing viewpoints, Spiritual Abuse, Submission, Women serving in the church on Aug 14th, 2009
On John Piper’s web site is posted a question that someone asked of him about the application of complementarianism that affects women. The question is:
Do you think complementarianism is so important to some people that they deny women more opportunities than the Bible denies them?
I was shocked at John Piper’s response. You really need to [...]
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This post is from an inspiration I got from Katie Cole’s blog and a two part segment on Youtube on the issue of women in ministry from the series “Designing Women”. Katie writes:
One Bible verse, quoted to me out of context on its own, is no longer sufficient for me.
I think you will find the [...]
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When does explaining God’s word make one an enemy of the church? According to Mike Seaver, a woman who is allowed to teach the word of God to men, even if she is under the authority of her husband and even if she has received authority from her pastor to teach the bible (and assuming [...]
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Many people think that God was especially hard on Eve after she was deceived by the serpent in the garden. In fact hierarchists have determined that God was so hard on Eve by punishing her with a multitude of lashes for her sin, that some might get the idea that God punished the one who [...]
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In an interesting blog post on Pyromaniacs the February 10th post, author Dan Phillips tries to link the rebellion of King Uzziah and his punishment of leprosy with the “unfaithful” act of women who apparently are committing treachery against God by becoming pastors. Is this really true? Are women pastors committing treachery against God? First [...]
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Recently I was contacted by Dr. Barb Orlowski who has compiled her research on spiritual abuse into a manuscript that will form the basis of a yet unpublished book called “Ministering Restoration: Recovering Spiritual Harmony”. Dr. Orlowski wrote to me because she is interested in the issue of women in ministry as it was part [...]
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CBMW relates a story told by Anne Graham Lotz in the Washington Post where Mrs Lotz writes:
What legitimate, Biblical role do women have within the church? That question demanded an answer early in my ministry when I accepted an invitation to address a large convention of pastors.
When I stood in the lectern at the convention [...]
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Wade Burleson has written an exceptionally thought-provoking post on the difference between one young woman’s journey through her pain (it appears to be a rejection of herself by a boyfriend) into the pathway of accepting a tradition that gives authoritarian license to males vs one young slave woman’s courage in standing up against authoritarian license. [...]
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Posted in Authority and Women, Authority and leadership, Blogs by others, Complementarian errors, Contradictions, Egalitarian vs complementarian, Injustice towards women, News, Opposing viewpoints, Prejudice in the church, Questions, Women Pastors, Women serving in the church on Sep 28th, 2008
USA Today has an editorial written by David P Gushee in which Mr. Gushee challenges complementarians that they are actually semi-egalitarians and they should be willing to openly acknowledge this. Gushee says that he writes about this issue as a moderate evangelical Christian.
Gushee writes that there are many theologically conservative Christians who accept Sarah Palin [...]
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Wade Burleson has commented on Irving Bible Church’s decision to allow women to preach the gospel to the congregation on a Sunday morning and the attacks that this church has experienced because of this decision. Wade writes:
I shiver when I hear my fellow evangelicals call a church that asks a woman to preach the gospel [...]
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In this continuing look at the creation and fall of man, today we come to the conversation between the woman and the serpent.
The first thing that we notice about the question that the serpent gives to the woman is that it is an attack on God as the source of supply for both Adam and [...]
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With all the hostile name-calling tactics against egalitarians rampant on the internet, godly, peace-loving complementarians may wonder what they can do in their current position to bring peace amongst the body of Christ. I am glad you asked. Below are my recommendations on how you can bring peace to the body of Christ [...]
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