Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: chappell@antares (Glenn Chappell) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: St Paul and Women Message-ID: Date: 3 Jun 91 06:32:59 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Math Dept., University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign Lines: 37 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article conan@herb-ox.berkeley.edu (David Cruz-Uribe) writes: >In article James.Quilty@comp.vuw.ac.nz (James William Quilty) writes: >> The God I worship doesn't differentiate between men and women >>in any way Well, the God of the Bible does. No, he doesn't differentiate between them in *all* ways, and He certainly considers them to be of equal worth in His sight, but that doesn't mean He treats them identically. >As requested, one logical argument proving discriminationis logical: > >Axiom 1: God created men and women to fill _different_ roles. > >Axiom 2: God has ordained that men fill a leadership role in the Church. > >Argument: It follows immediately from axioms 1 and 2 that women > are not to fill leadership roles in the church. > > QED > >Please note that I do not take this argument seriously--my own personal >views are in a state of turmoil. However, as a mathematician, I felt >obliged to point out that appeals to logic are extraordinarily dangerous. >Everything hinges on the correct choice of axioms. :-) Well, if we stick to what the Bible actually *says*, we don't get the above axioms. The Bible says nothing directly about "different roles" for men and women. Rather, it says, for example, that in the church women should not have authority over men (I Tim 2:12). Thus the argument above really isn't necessary. I might add that I think everyone ought to learn to be a leader, but being a leader doesn't necessarily mean having authority over men, as in the case of a church elder/pastor/overseer/bishop/shepherd/presbyter/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it. GGC <><