Women in the Church

“A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” (I Timothy 2:11-15)

There are many churches nowadays that are readily condemning homosexuality (which only mention very briefly, in passing, in the Bible) and claim they are following scriptures. These churches ordain women pastors and have many women leaders leading men. This is a clear violation of the above scripture. In fact, there are more scriptures in the Bible telling women to keep silent and submit to men than saying homosexuality is a sin. However, how many women in church nowadays are following those scriptures? Why pick and choose scriptures that are convenient to practice?

The above is my response to one of the letters in Malaysiakini (http://malaysiakini.com/letters/142706). I don't think I want to argue with evangelical Christians about whether homosexuality is biblical or not because they have already made up their minds that it is a sin. However, just as Jesus says about a plank in your own eye, the evangelical Christians don't seem to see the inconsistency in the way they interpret scriptures. The role and position of women in church is the best example. If one just read the Bible and let the Bible speaks for itself, one basically will come to the conclusion that women should submit to men because God created them as helpers to men. In fact, if you look at out Muslim women in Malaysia, they follow the biblical guidance of how to be a godly woman much better than many evangelical Christian women.

Why no one says anything about that violation of the Bible? First, there are still few Bible believing denominations that are keeping their women in line with the biblical teaching (Brethren, Presbyterian etc) so that kind of become like a denominational thingy. Second, women nowadays have a lot of power and not easily bullied (LGBT don't have that kind of power so they are easily targeted). I bet these church women will be up in arms if any of the church minister were to preach that women should keep silent and submit to men. Thirdly, this basically reflect the homophobic prejudice of the church.

These Evangelical Protestants may not realize that Protestantism is about diversity. Look at the number of denominations in the Protestant community. For an evangelical to actually claim he/she has the correct way to interpret the Bible is basically a bunch of bull. They can't even agree among themselves what is the right way to interpret the Bible. Women's role in the church is one. Throw in speaking in tongues you will have these evangelicals tongue and cheek arguing with each other.

This is the folly of people who think they have already found the truth and have the correct way to interpret the truth. They can only see the saw dust in others' eyes but can't see the plank in their own eyes.

BLISS