Bible Discussion Thread

"But i suffer not a woman to teach". You have to remember and know that back then women were not taught nor as a whole literate. Women who tried to teach often had no idea to what they were speaking because they were not taught, and that led people astray. Paul would have also known that Deborah was a female prophet who taught the word of God. I believe women can be pastors, but they should not be the sole authority. A female pastor could work with a male pastor or come in for lessons and teaching, but should not be the sole authority in the church unless there is no one else to teach. We are all called to share the word of God. "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection." Since women were not taught Paul was very for the rights of women. Look at it as if you were in school, when a teacher is talking you are to learn and be silent, so that you may hear and understand.

1 Corinthians 14

36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?

37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

They conveniently look over where Paul says everything he wrote are commandments from God and that God told Paul what to write."

Paul made it clear that its a commandment from God Himself. Since we know from the Bible that God doesn't change we know that women can't hold the positions of pastors nor does God call them to preach. If he did he would contradict Himself and make himself to be a liar.

Just to put my two cents in, was Paul addressing a specific problem that specific church was having? What was the issue? Paul himself encourages believers to listen to the teaching of the women running some congregations of the time.

Is there too much being made by some of this particular passage? What is the history of it?

As Christians, there is no male or female when it comes to the things of God. Throughout history God has used women in the church as Pastors, Evangelists, Deacons, Elders, Teachers.

Do we sometimes get all tied up in something we shouldn't even be worrying about? Might it be good to keep in mind that we are living under the freedom, both spiritual and social, that we have in Christ? Did Christ save us so we could be bound to laws, regulations, procedures that limit our ability to proclaim His Gospel?

IMO: Don't let petty, legalistic issues like that bound you up, weigh you down and bundle you up in a confusing mess of do's and don'ts. In Christ there is no male or female. The Gospel can be preached and taught and proclaimed by male, female, donkey or rock. What is important is the proclamation of Christ, not whether your dress is too short, your hair too long, your shoes too bright, your tie is tied wrong, you wear jeans and sandals, you are male, female, child or octogenarian.

Clearly, Paul was addressing pagan customs of the time and people that were steeped in ways of doing things that might not have been beneficial to a group of Christians meeting in homes and other venues. He was establishing order in the congregations. But we are living in the 21st Century and things have, of necessity, changed. And change is OK.

We are called to tell people about Christ, not about rules we must follow if we want to be Christians, that is, Spirit filled followers of Christ.

I, for one, don't really understand 1 Timothy 2:12 in its entirety. And there are other things said we don't fully understand. But "I press on!".

The letter Paul wrote to Timothy concerning women teaching and preaching. I read the comments by people and the comments some made which included "I believe". For sure, we need to beware what "we believe" but we need to pursue the truth of the text and look for clues in other texts. For instance, does anyone not think, Jesus could of settled this thing so easy by choosing a woman to be one off the twelve! But he didn't. Does anyone wonder why? When Paul is laying some ground rules for the church and the qualifications. He writes several times the man should have one wife........he never says the person should have one spouse or one husband, etc. You get the picture. I Timothy Chapter 6:3. Once again Paul has a chance to clarify. He writes again If any MAN teach otherwise......I read some of these comments about the woman Jesus spoke to being an evangelist because after her meeting with Jesus at the well she went into town and told all. Well lets examine that. You just met an individual that knew things about you he could not possibly have known. No doubt she was amazed and went into town telling everyone about this strange and wise individual. So that makes her an evangelist?????? Really????? does that mean I am a scientist if a scientist tells me a truth about cellular structure and I go into town and tell all I know what he taught me about cells??? I mean some of these comments are reaching and splitting hairs. Our generation from kindergarten up has been socially conditioned (brainwashed) into believing a certain way. When the Bible tells us something to the contrary, we want to start splitting hairs, reading something that isn't there, and outright refusing to believe what it is saying. Sometimes we may not like what we read, but it does not change the truth of the text, nor should we try to. Beware brothers and sisters.