Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ferwerda@clt.enet.dec.com (Paul Ferwerda) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: ambitious women may approach the altar now ... Message-ID: Date: 10 May 91 06:55:46 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Nashua, New Hampshire Lines: 58 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu |> But what if that creation story is not entirely (strictly speaking) |> historical? What if it's allegorical? What if it's just a yarn? |> Your "eternal principle ... based on the facts of ... God's creation", |> which stems from Paul's interpretation, could be very shaky indeed. |> I think that one's view of Scripture is fundamental to where one gives the "benefit of the doubt" on things that are hard to understand. Someone who believes that all Scripture is God breathed is going to attempt to give priority to what Scripture seems to say if Scripture seems to be saying something with which scocietal norms disagree. I'm thinking hard about this whole issue of women and authority,etc. I was thinking about slavery the other day and the fact that we all acknowledge it to be wrong, and yet the Bible doesn't condemn it outright. It seems to be more concerned with the way that people are living out their relationship to God than with questions of power in relationships. What if slavery is less important to God than the master and slave's relationship to Him and does that have any implications to the right of women to assume all roles in the church? Based on my limited experience, I see women as being equal with men before God, as being equally talented and gifted whether in preaching or counseling or any of the other things that typically are involved in the role of someone exercising authority in the church. My experience indicates that some women are fully capable of exercising authority and doing it as well if not better then some men. My view of Scripture says that just because my experience says one thing, I better not interpret away Paul's statements just because they done't jive with my experience. My current conclusion is that in God's eyes it must be possible to have different roles and still be equal before him. I'm also uncomfortable about "demanding" my rights before God, whether it is right to do something in particular or perform a certain role. As I see it, as Christians we have no "rights" whatsoever. I don't have a "right" to be ordained, even if I feel called, or I'm a great preacher. Any role I perform in the body of Christ is at Christ's pleasure and his pleasure may run counter to my common sense. My Dad was a missionary who was killed when he was 28. By all accounts the work was very successful and people were coming to know the Lord. My common sense tells me that it was a waste for God to take him and it made no sense. My faith in God tells me that he is in control and he works things to his good purposes. I guess the upshot of this is that I'm uncomfortable with anyone demanding that they be allowed to perform a particular role in the church, especially if the demand could be seen as running counter to some explicit Biblical instruction. --- Paul EASYNET=> loptsn::ferwerda Gordon UUCP=> decwrl!clt.enet.dec.com!ferwerda Loptson DARPA Internet=> ferwerda%clt.enet.dec.com Ferwerda Tel (603) 881 2221