OUR VIEWPOINT
WOMEN
IN CHURCH LEADERSHIP
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Never in the history of the Church has the issue of the role women play in public worship as in this era. Due to the increase level of feminine preeminence in the culture, this issue has become a hot topic. Women are now CEO, president, senior managers, managers, and many other key positions in corporate America. In 1989, the 58-year old Rt. Rev. Barbara Clementine Harris, described as a “…a skilled urban minister and social activist...,” became the first woman Episcopal Bishop in the 2000 year history of the church (Ebony, 1989). In 2000, the Rev. Vashti Murphy McKenzie became the first woman African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) bishop in its history (Ebony, Sep. 2000). According to the then Rev. McKenzie, “A voice told me I had to take what was given to me and share it with the world. At that moment, I knew I would be a candidate [for bishop]” (Ebony, Sep. 2000). Why shouldn’t women be Bishops, Pastors, and hold other Episcopal positions in the church? Is it because of the views of the male-dominant ecclesia, that some may call “narrow-minded”, which escalates this issue? Is the Bible narrow-minded in its view or is it out-dated as some may exclaim? Let’s explore the issue.
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie First African
Methodist Episcopalian (AME) Bishop Bishop Barbara Clementine
Harris First Episcopalian Bishop
Before we explore this topic we will establish a
structure and its foundation that are at the root of this controversy. We will discuss the erroneous biblical
interpretation tactics that proponents and opponents of this issue uses, the
laws of the universe, and the prevalence of subcultures to form a foundation of
the root of this controversial issue and many other moral issues.
FIRST FOUNDATION – ERRONEOUS
BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION TACTICS
At times, it would be best if scripture were not
annotated with the chapter and verse because it creates potential “cut and
paste” tactics with the Bible. If one
is going to be a student of the Bible, the following scripture should be
adhered to avoid this erroneous tactic:
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no
prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost. (KJV)
This passage discloses that the Bible is not a
collection of private writings of men with their personal interpretations based
on their own world-view. It is an
awesome piece of divine literature written by divinely inspired men that was
divinely harmonized by the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost. Since the writers did not write the Holy
Scriptures with their opinions, it requires the readers to approach the Bible
the same way. Why? The Bible has about 40 different authors
within a 1600 year period, extending from B.C. 1492 to A.D. 100 (Larkin, 1920). The authors are from all walks of life,
educated and uneducated, and each have their own set of imperfections and yet
will forever be linked to a perfect book.
The first five books of the Old Testament were written by a man with a
speech impediment, namely Moses. The
books of praise and wisdom are written by a Father and Son team that committed
adultery and idolatry respectively, David and Solomon. Amos was a lowly sheep herder, Daniel and
Nehemiah was articulate statesmen, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a
tax-collector. Peter, James, and John
were foolish and unlearned fishermen.
Luke was a physician. Isaiah,
Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel were seers of the future. Even an educated murderer who spent a great
deal of time in jail wrote a large portion of the Holy Scriptures, the Apostle
Paul. This awesome piece of divine
literature was “piecemealed” together within a 1600-year period into a
homogenous piece of work of 66 books harmonized into 1 storyline. The Bible is not 2 parts fused as a whole
but it is a whole that can be divided into 2.
The Old Testament can be enfolded into the New Testament and the New
Testament can be folded back into the Old Testament. Genesis Chapter 1 can be harmonized with the Gospel of John
chapter 1. The “Law and Order” book of
Leviticus, written by a person with a speech impediment, can be harmonized with
the “From Law to Grace” book of Hebrews, written by an articulate educated man.
The apocalyptic book of the Old Testament, Daniel, written by an educated
statesman, can be harmonized with the apocalyptic book of the New Testament,
Revelation, written by a foolish and unlearned fisherman. The genealogy of Genesis can be harmonized
with the genealogy of Matthew and Luke. Moses and Paul lived hundreds of years
apart and impossible that they could have met one another, yet their works can
be harmonized. Daniel never met John
the revelator, yet one cannot fully understand each of their apocalyptic books
without understanding the other. Never
in history has a group of imperfect men, from all walks of life, over a 1600
year period and with these types of extreme dynamics have put together
literature that is not only homogenous but without divine error. This all leads to why the Apostle Peter
tells us, “scripture is without private interpretation” which implies permission
is not given to isolate scripture from its natural setting and place it in an
unauthorized setting to create one’s own interpretation. In other words, one can use the Bible to
create “private interpretations” when one isolate or “cut” scripture out of its
natural and historical setting and then place it outside of the setting and it
stands alone to form a “private” interpretation. If you take scripture out of its natural setting, the text will
be taken out of context and form a pretext.
We must understand that the word of God is a homogeneous divine work of
art that was formed outside of time and brought into existence through the
moving of the Holy Spirit in these aforementioned Holy Men of God. However, we tend to treat the word of God as
a book that you can “cut” from its natural setting and then “paste” it in a
setting of one’s choosing and it ends up with a private interpretation. I believe the controversy that surrounds the
women in ministry issue is due to how Christendom is using this “cut and paste”
tactics resulting in private interpretations by individuals.
SECOND FOUNDATION -
UNDERSTANDING THE LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE
The second foundation to be implemented is the
understanding of the laws of the universe from a laymen point of view. There are 4 established laws of the universe
to understand.
·
Eternal
Law – All laws exudes from here. It is
where God resides and all known and unknown attributes of God. It is where all the known and unknown laws
of God reside. We are not privy to all
that there is to know, there is so much unknown that we are only privy to
Divine, Natural, and Human laws. The
Apostle Paul tells us “…we see through a glass darkly…”
·
Divine
Law - Because we do not know all that
there is about God we must rely on what has been revealed to mankind and divine
law is what has been revealed to mankind from the Eternal. Comes from Eternal laws and this is where
all the known laws of God reside.
Divine law has been given through mankind through the revelation of
Jesus Christ via the holy scriptures, namely the Bible
·
Natural
Law - From a moral standpoint, every human being is born with a basic knowledge
of good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral. From a material universe standpoint, the laws of our material
universe are governed by natural laws (i.e. law of gravity, law of
aerodynamics, etc…) that humans and every material being must adhered to. Even if one rejects the notion of Eternal
and Divine laws, he or she is still born with the basic knowledge of what is
good and evil.
·
Human
Law – Laws that has been transferred from the aforementioned laws to the human
level that could be political or personal morays that should have its basis on
the higher laws(e.g. Eternal, Divine, Natural) The social laws of society,
written(legal system) or unwritten(morays) are examples of human law. Our Constitution, the legal system, personal
morays, value systems, belief systems are examples of human law that should be
contrived from Eternal, Divine, and Natural Laws.
To have a perfect universe, a perfect society, all 4
laws should be in harmony. It is quite
evident that our universe is not perfect, so it must be concluded that these 4
laws are not in harmony. For argument
sakes, it is the human law that must be corrected throughout humanity to bring
harmony. We must start with the
presupposition that mankind does not have the ability to make its own set of
rules and laws without conferring with the other 3 laws (eternal, divine,
natural). Chaos will result when human
law tries to exist independently from the 3 aforementioned laws. Because of the multiplicities of religions
and belief systems in our culture, our human law system tries to avoid
conferring with eternal and divine laws, and as a result, it is trying to
solely base its standards on natural laws.
The danger in this concept is that every human being is not inbred with
the same amount of basic knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, right and wrong, or good and evil, is subjective and
not objective. Consequently, many
opinions are contrived and humanity will thus conclude there are no real
absolutes. Truth will be abstract at
best, or subject to one’s own interpretation.
Until the second advent of Christ, the goal is for all 4 laws to be in
some sense of harmony and failure to do so will give way to social chaos. The
only biblically approved method to bring these laws in harmony is Civil
Disobedience. Martin Luther of the
Great Reformation period employed this method because of the heresy in the
Church.
THIRD FOUNDATION -
PREVALENCE OF SUBCULTURES
The third foundation to contend with in analyzing
this controversial issue is the rise and prevalence of subcultures. Webster’s
dictionary defines subculture as an ethnic, regional, economic, or social group
exhibiting characteristic patterns of behavior sufficient to distinguish it
from others within an embracing culture or society (Webster, 1983, p. 1173). In
layman’s term, it is a social group that withdraws its members from an
established culture and seeks to create a distinction within this group that is
different from the established culture.
A culture, on the other hand, is an established legitimate group,
nation, or entity that is recognized by the majority of the group, nation, or
entity whose function is to harmonize the 3 higher laws (i.e. eternal, divine,
and natural laws) within Human Laws.
Because every human being is different and we come from all walks of
life, it is safe to say that we are placed, knowingly or unknowingly, into a
subculture. If one lives in the United
States, Americanism is the culture.
However, some examples of subcultures are the Generation Xers, Black
Activists, White Supremacist, Feminism, Hip-hop, and Gay and Lesbianism are
just a few subcultures within the American culture. Many of these aforementioned subcultures were once considered an
ideology, it then became “a movement”, and now they’ve grown into a more
powerful social and political group known as a subculture. The strength of any established culture is
the integrity of its subcultures. Each subculture has rules and morays that are
different than another but some are similar to the others. A legitimate subculture, from a biblical
perspective, should be one whose goal is to form a value and belief system that
is in harmony with the 4 aforementioned laws of the universe. The prominence of subcultures is quite
evident in our society and it appears that there is a movement to try to
harmonize the agenda of subcultures into mainstream Christianity. As described in a previous article,
Christianity is not a subculture; it is a kingdom, or a culture above the
culture. However, until the second
advent of Christ, Christians are to operate in a subculture manner. As the scriptures tells the Christian,
“Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord of host….” This simply means that Christians are to
separate from any agendas of another subculture and to remain true to the
Kingdom of God, the Church. While
Christians are to operate in a subculture manner, they are not given the agenda
to supercede or become deviant to cultural norms. Christianity is the only group whose sole goal is to operate
within all 4 laws of the universe. Of
course many other religions, ideologies, movements, and subcultures may operate
within one or two of the 4 laws.
However, most will satisfy some of the 4 Laws but fail to stay within
the parameters of all the laws, especially the Eternal and Divine laws. Many claim that their religion is divinely
inspired or received directions from Eternal law. However, if you hold to the premise that the Bible is the only
inspired and infallible word from God, it must be concluded that divine
inspiration is from Christ alone. This
inspiration, from Christ, can only be revealed to mankind by using correct biblical
interpretation methods and individuals approaching this matter without hidden
agendas and preconceived notions. This concept is difficult to grasp and
rejected by many in a world that promotes inclusion of all religions and ideologies
and not exclusion of them. By understanding
this concept, individuals who want to be a Christian and have allegiance to a
subculture should ask, “Does my subculture agenda harmonize with the
aforementioned 4 Laws?” and “Is the
Bible, using correct biblical interpretation methods, the basis for my belief
system?” If not, “can I harmonize my subculture, based on the premise already
discussed, with the kingdom perspective of being a Christian?”
In order to not be guilty of “singling out” the
feminist subculture, this concept and list of questions need to be adhered to
by any member of a subculture that wants to be a Christian. Due to the success
and prominence of women in our culture, women are no longer recognized just
from a gender standpoint, they are now forming into different powerful feminist
subcultures. From mere observation, it
appears that the feminist subcultures have two agendas: First, to promote the ideology of feminism
that has little or in many cases no male influence upon the life of a
female. This ideology tends to stress
sisterhood with little to no emphasis on brotherhood. Secondly, feminism tends to promote the ideology of androgyny
within the culture or to create a genderless society to minimize or eradicate
the significance of gender in a secular or religious setting. From mere observation, there is an attempt
to create an androgynous society, one without distinct masculinity in men and
femininity in women or to accentuate the features of each sex in an extremist
way to create a power play. For
instance, femininity is growing more extreme by accentuating in extreme
sensuality, whereas masculinity is growing more extreme by accentuating in extreme
machismo. This power play forces each
side to seek independence from each other that further polarizes the
sexes.
Due to the breakdown of the traditional family
unit(e.g. divorce, mental and physical abuse), Feminist Subcultures have
evolved from being ideology to being a viable alternative to those who have
become disillusioned and frustrated by the traditional family structure and the
perceived view that our social structure is male dominant. As a result, many women are drawn towards
this phenomenon and now it has grown to being a powerful political and social
group. Now that the feminist subculture
has risen to unbelievable prominence in our culture, the gender issue in
hermeneutics, or Biblical interpretation, has been brought to the forefront in
Christianity. This issue has brought to
the forefront a mandate to make all the gender referenced statements in the
Bible either gender inclusive or gender neutral in its interpretation. To make this mandate successful, one must be
convinced that the Bible’s gender specific statements were written as a result
of the male-dominant times it was written in.
If this premise is true, it could be argued that this would exempt the
Bible as being divinely inspired. If this
movement is successful in achieving this mandate, will the Bible result in heresy
if all gender references are removed?
The opponents on the other side of this issue are
usually conservative and male-dominant.
Those that are on this side of this issue are divided into two camps : The First Camp, are usually conservative
males who want to “keep women in their place” by finding scripture that ‘appear’
male-oriented in context by overstressing the gender within the context. Usually, this group overstresses the
scriptures that appear to be “male superior” and stress them in a contextual
paradigm that “women should stay in their place”. This approach is an unbalanced perspective, as a result, the
feminine gender makes a stiff challenge and further polarization occurs within
the genders in the Church. The Second
Camp, usually consist of men and women, committed to the theological branch,
Apologetics and committed to keeping the historical Christian Faith intact by
being sound in biblical interpretation and motive. In final analysis, this
issue ends up with the feminine gendered ecclesia questioning the motives of
the male-dominant ecclesia, that appears chauvinistic and the male-dominant ecclesia
questioning the ideology of the feminine gender, that appears to be in concert
with secular feminism. Thus, we have a
stalemate and further polarization within the Church over this matter.
Was the Apostle Paul an anti-feminist or male
chauvinist? Or was his statements the product of the times he was living in?
Now that the foundation is in place to evaluate this
issue, we will now set up a structure with its foundations to determine how the
scripture that speak on this subject should be interpreted. We will make an attempt to establish the
thought of the writer and to understand the hints that the Apostle Paul gives
us to encourage us to study. We will
give the importance of understanding the Original Sin, or the sin that occurred
in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve, and the Edenic Dispensation.
THOUGHT OF THE WRITER
Before the stroke of a pen is applied, a thought was
established within the writer’s mind.
We cannot read the writer’s mind; however, we can get a good idea of the
writer’s intent when you properly dissect the writer’s words. We will try to explore the principle of
this issue by trying to attain the thought process of the Apostle Paul to help
give clarification to this controversial issue. By understanding the thought process, one should be better
prepared to interpret the scripture.
The attempt is to either confirm or refute the claims that his
statements were either chauvinistic or just a product of the times he was
living in.
To properly deal with the role of women in public
worship, we must explore the primary scriptures that deal with this issue. 1 Timothy 2:12-15 and 1 Corinthians 11:3-16,
and Genesis 3 are the scriptures that deal with proper conduct within the
public worship setting. The Apostle
Paul gives us hints of the topics and scripture that one should study before
properly evaluating his reason for women to not have authority over men.
|
1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman
to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. |
1Co 11:3 But I would have you know,
that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man;
and the head of Christ is God. |
|
1Ti 2:13 For Adam was first formed,
then Eve. |
1Co 11:4 Every man praying or
prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. |
|
1Ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived,
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. |
1Co 11:5 But every woman that
prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for
that is even all one as if she were shaven. |
|
1Ti 2:15 Notwithstanding she shall
be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness
with sobriety. |
1Co 11:6 For if the woman be not
covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn
or shaven, let her be covered. |
|
|
1Co 11:7 For a man indeed ought not
to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the
woman is the glory of the man. |
|
|
1Co 11:8 For the man is not of the
woman; but the woman of the man. |
|
|
1Co 11:9 Neither was the man
created for the woman; but the woman for the man. |
|
|
1Co 11:10 For this cause ought the
woman to have power on her head because of the angels. |
|
|
1Co 11:11 Nevertheless neither is
the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. |
|
|
1Co 11:12 For as the woman is of the
man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. |
|
|
1Co 11:13 Judge in yourselves: is it
comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? |
|
|
1Co 11:14 Doth not even nature
itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? |
|
|
1Co 11:15 But if a woman have long
hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. |
|
|
1Co 11:16 But if any man seem to be
contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. |
By reading the aforementioned scriptures, one may
argue if the Apostle Paul was an anti-feminist, a chauvinist, or was his views
a product of the times he was living in? Was the Apostle Paul addressing
performance capability? We have been
programmed that the Apostle was inferring that women are incapable of
ministering the word. In fact, women
are just as capable and in many cases more so than their male counterpart in
ministering the word and leading a congregation. As discussed later, performance and capability is not the
Apostle’s concern. Let us now explore
the hints that the Apostle Paul gives us to study within the context of the
main scriptures, 1 Cor. 11 and 1 Tim. 2.
Hint #1 – Paul
refers to Adam and Eve in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 11:8, 9.
This is the first time that Adam and Eve, who were
in the Original Garden of Eden, is mentioned together in scripture since the
Genesis account. Adam is mentioned
many times during the New Testament but this is the only time when both are
mentioned together. This implies that
one should study the Edenic Dispensation, or the Genesis account. One of the greatest issues and subject
matters that come from the Edenic Dispensation is the “Original Sin”. The
paradigm of the Apostle Paul is not one of capability but one of counteracting
the gender dysfunction that was caused by the Original Sin. What is the Original Sin? It was the sin of Adam and Eve transgressing
against the commandment of God in the Garden of Eden. One of the adverse results of the Original Sin was a Gender
dysfunction that occurs with the interaction of men and women. This gender dysfunction has a tendency to
maximize in a Spiritual setting. What
is the gender dysfunction? It’s a human
disorder that prevents men and women from wholesomely, distinctively, and
mutually interacting with one another.
Why else would the Apostle expend energy in writing how men and women
should conduct themselves in public worship?
The Apostle Paul gives hints that his primary purpose of instructing the
church on this issue is that our public worship setting is the “New Eden”. Why?
He gives hints such as: a.) 1
Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 11 is the only place in scripture where Adam and
Eve are inferred other than the Edenic Dispensation in the book of
Genesis. Paul is hinting to any student
of scripture that one really needs to study the Edenic Dispensation, Genesis 3,
before giving a proper assessment of women in ministry. Why? The Original Sin caused severe gender
disorder that has caused men and women a severe inability to interact with one
another wholesomely, distinctively, and mutually. If Satan undermined the Garden of Eden by first attacking the
feminine gender, he will do the same in the “New Eden”, namely the Church. When you think of all the prophets who wrote
scripture and none of them mentions these two in context suggest that Paul is
trying to make a hidden point that you should study the Genesis account in
depth. Here are some important factors
of the Genesis Account:
§
Paul
makes a strong point that Adam was created before Eve in 1 Timothy 2:13. God wants to ensure that the male is not
having an image of dominance by his male counterpart, the female. Not to punish the female but to compensate
for the male’s loss of supreme dominion over God’s creation.
§
From
a scriptural standpoint, mankind has been deprived of never knowing how men and
women should properly interact with one another before the Original Sin. God made woman to be an equal help mate for
the man, unfortunately scripture doesn’t disclose how Adam and Eve worked
mutually together prior to the Fall.
§
During
the Genesis account, the term male is never mentioned without female. This implies that God’s original purpose is
for men and women to worship mutually, distinctively, and wholesomely with one
another.
§
One
should study the words of Adam before the “Original Sin” and the words he
stated after the “Original Sin”.
§
Before
the “Original Sin”, Adam’s view of the woman was one of respect, equality, and non-sexist or he
didn’t view her as a sex object.(Genesis 2:23-25)
§
After
the “Original Sin”, Adam’s view of the woman was one of disdain and accusatory
towards her of his moral failures. From
mere observation and not a scientific fact, men tend to accuse women for their
moral failures.
§
After
the “Original Sin”, Adam indirectly blames God for his moral failure by
stressing, “the woman YOU gave me”.
From mere observation and not a scientific fact, men tend to be either
accusatory towards God or non-committal than women are.
§
Adam’s
before and after statements are not in harmony with one another. This suggests that 2 things happened: A.) a
Gender dysfunction occurred after the sin, causing a severe disorder causing
the male gender to have adverse affects by his feminine counterpart in a
Spiritual setting and thus reduces his effectiveness in spiritual matters and
B.) The male gender has become negligent and careless towards God’s agenda.
§
The
only favoritism the males now have for females is primarily sensual which is a
perversion of the original intent. As a
result, the feminine gender is no longer looked upon as mutual to the male but
as an inferior object.
§
Satan’s
game plan is to have a feminine preeminent culture that will ultimately spread
to the Church culture to maximize deception throughout the Earth.
Hint #2 – Paul mentions
Angels in 1 Corinthians 11:10
In 1 Corinthians 11:10, the Apostle Paul mentions
angels, in which Paul suggests that you study Angelology. The Apostle Paul has disclosed to the Church
that “humans” are not the only ones in attendance of our Public Worship. Angels
are in attendance of our Public Worship. Our mode of operation within our public worship setting must be
in a mode to not offend our divine visitors.
There are several theories of the meaning of 1 Cor. 11:10. The first theory is it appears that a
woman’s presence has an affect on the angelic world and it suggests that
improper appearance from the feminine gender can induce a high level of
unwarranted spirit-world activity during our worship service. Another theory is due to the fact that there
is not a gender issue within the heavenly realm; angels need to see an absolute
distinction between men and women in a Public worship setting. From a scriptural standpoint, here are a
few things we know about Angels:
·
Our
culture tries to portray them as being feminine but they are actually male
inferred in scripture
·
Only
two angels are mentioned by name in scripture, namely Gabriel (Messenger Angel)
and Michael (Archangel). In recent
years, the names Raphael and Uriel have been used in some Christian Circles but
they are mentioned in books such as the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha is not considered as divinely inspired; therefore,
it shouldn’t be used as a basis for Divine truth.
·
Angels
have an hierarchy:
1.
Archangel
2.
Angel
3.
Cherubim
4.
Seraphim
5.
Thrones
6.
Dominions
7.
Powers
8.
Principalities
·
They
are not to be worshipped or prayed to.
Hint #3 –
Paul’s instruction to women is to offset the weakness of the man
When reading the text “…I suffer a woman not to
speak nor usurp authority over the man… (1 Tim. 2:12), it is easy to focus on
“I suffer not a woman to teach…” and form an opinion that the Apostle is
chauvinistic and not enough emphasis on “….nor to usurp authority over the
man”. It appears that the Apostle was
more concerned about the weakness of the man during his performance during
worship service. To properly understand
why The Apostle Paul discloses to the church “why he suffers a woman not to
speak nor usurp authority over the man”, one must study the following topics
before accessing this passage of scripture:
1.
The
Edenic Dispensation (Genesis 3)
§
The
Original Sin (Gen. 3: 6-21)
§
Cause
and Effect of The Original Sin
§
The
woman’s voice or demeanor has an adverse effect on the man(Gen. 3:17)
§
The
feminine gender is more susceptible to the voice of Satan than her male
counterpart (Satan never spoke to the man in the garden)
§
In
a Spiritual setting, Satan maximizes deception by using the woman’s voice to
exercise control over the man.
§
Antidotes
to the Original Sin
§
There
is a mystical power of the male gender that is a protection for the female
gender from Satanic influence(Gen. 3:16)
§
Child-bearing
for Women. Child-bearing is not a curse
but redemption for womankind for her role in the Original Sin.
§
Hard
work for Men. Hard work was not a curse
but a redemption for men in their role for in the Original Sin
§
The
Church is the “New Eden”
2.
Angelology
(1 Corinthians 11:10)
§
The
scripture discloses that Humans are not the only ones attending our worship
Service, Angels(Evil and Good) are in attendance as well
§
How
Does the Angelic world operate
§
Scriptural,
there are only MALE Angels
§
This
scripture implies that ANGELS are affected by the appearance and conduct of the
Woman
§
Some
Theologians have suggested that women are the earthly counterparts to their
Heavenly counterpart, namely Angels.
Because Angels practice extreme propriety in worship, women should
reflect the same on Earth.
§
The
Liturgy of our Worship service must be designed to avoid offending our divine
visitors – ANGELS
§
Some
Theologians have suggested if our Divine Visitors are offended they will leave
our Worship Service (Gill )
3.
The
Old Testament Agenda – Law & Works
§
The
male gender is very useful in spreading the concept of Law & Works
§
Old
Testament dominated by Male Dominance
§
The
negative effects of Male Dominance - DISOBEDIENCE
§
Aberrant
Gross Behavior
§
Murder
§
Rape
§
Adultery
4.
The
New Testament Agenda – Grace & Mercy
§
The
feminine gender is very useful in spreading the concept of Grace & Mercy
§
The
New Testament liberated womankind after Gen. 3:15 was fulfilled by the
incarnate Christ
§
The
liberation has made society susceptible to feminine preeminence
§
The
negative effects of feminine preeminence - DECEPTION
§
Male
Incompetence is maximized
§
Deception
is maximized
§
Spiritism
is maximized
§
Occultism
is maximized
Hint #4 – Paul
refers to Eastern Culture in 1 Cor. 11
§
One
should study Eastern culture
§
In
the eastern culture, the clothing did not have significant gender
distinctions.
§
Plan
A, was to allow the natural laws of nature to provide the gender
distinctions(e.g. hairstyle and appearance of the woman that did not have a
social hint of masculinity)
§
Plan
B, if Plan A was violated or if a woman’s hairstyle and/or appearance did not
have a social acceptance that showed propriety, submission, and a clear
distinction from men, a dress code of the culture, that was recognized by the
majority of the culture, must be implemented to show propriety, submission and
absolute gender distinction. In the
eastern culture, a hair covering met these conditions. In the western culture, a modest dress or
skirt meets this condition.
§
Due
to the fact that the clothing did not have significant gender distinctions, the
man was not to cover his head because in the eastern culture head covering was
a ritual given to women to show the gender distinction, submission, and
propriety.
§
In
today’s culture, we have clothing that provides an absolute distinction if Plan
A is not adhered to. Women have dresses
and Men pants (although women wear pants in our culture as well).
§
It
is the opinion of the writer that women should, in most cases, wear a dress and
men should wear pants during a Public Worship setting. Not because it is a sin
for women to wear pants, quite the contrary, but to help maximize this concept
of men and women having an apparent image of absolute gender distinction within
a Public worship setting. Also, this
concept should be adhered to out of respect for our divine visitors,
Angels. Angels visit our public
worship settings (1 Cor. 11:10, Heb. 13:2) and our angelic visitors need to see
propriety, submission, and absolute gender distinctions within our public
worship setting (They do the same in the Spirit World). The dress code of women in a dress and men
in pants helps maximizes this. A woman wearing a dress during public worship is
equivalent to the eastern culture of women wearing a head covering. (NOTE: this
is only applicable to the PUBLIC WORSHIP setting (e.g. Church, Bible Study,
etc…).
Hint #5 – Paul tells us that
women are saved in childbearing
§
It
is this verse that gives further clarity about Genesis 3 and it also reveals
that the Apostle Paul’s mindset was on the cause and effect of the Edenic
episode.
§
This
verse reveals that pain in child-birth was not a curse given to women but
salvation to womankind. Why? Every child-birth gives a sense of
redemption for mankind that is subject to death everyday. In Public Worship, the salvation plan is
effective when married women demonstrates a mothering nature because it
emulates the Plan of Salvation in that “we must be born again” and we must
nurture the spiritual life like a mother does.
Children create an object for women to revert their attention to in
order to revert their attention away from their husbands or other men. This revert attention gives men a less
distraction to contend with. Men are
weak performing God’s Agenda when it comes to women reverting their attention
towards them.
§
If
child-bearing is woman’s salvation, what is men’s? It is found in Gen. 3:17-19.
In this passage, God changes the laws of nature to make men work hard
and laborious. A leisurely life is a
detriment for men because it makes him succumb to feminine preeminence. From mere observation, more leisurely our
culture is becoming or one without hard physical labor, the weaker the male
species is becoming. HARD WORK is
salvation for men. For this reason the
Apostle Paul wanted the males to demonstrate their personal salvation in Public
Worship in 1 Tim. 2:8 by working or lifting up holy hands unto the Lord
§
This
verse reveals that the woman was given a personal salvation,
child-bearing. It also brings sense to
1 Tim. 2:8 in that men should do the performing because it is their personal
salvation(hard work) given by God in Genesis 3
WHAT IS DECEPTION
We have said a great deal about deception. What is deception from a biblical
perspective? Simply put, it is when
mankind explicitly or implicitly thinks they are God or that mankind can act
independently from God. Satan’s game
plan is to maneuver mankind in a position of independency of God. Satan tried this tactic with Christ after
Christ 40-day fast (Mat. 4: 1-11) The Edenic Dispensation demonstrates that the
most effective way for this plan to be maximized is to employ a feminine
preeminent culture. During the Edenic
discourse, Satan never spoke with Adam he only spoke to Eve. Satan enticed her with the phrase “…ye shall
be as gods….” (Gen. 3:5 KJV). The
Edenic discourse demonstrates that the feminine gender is highly susceptible to
the voice of Satan (Gen. 3:1-5 KJV). It
is important to note that this is not an implied suggestion that only women can
be deceived. On the contrary, men can
be deceived but feminine preeminence escalates deception at a much more rapid
pace and men are usually weak towards feminine preeminence and thus fall into
deception as well. To offset this
tendency, God did 5 things for womankind:
- He changed the nature
of Satan to appear hideous to mankind especially women (Gen. 3:14). This was to ensure that women would not
be susceptible to the voice of Satan.
- He put provided women
an inbred hatred towards Satan (Gen. 3:15)
- He promised womankind
that the Savior of the world would be manifested through them the Savior
will redeem mankind by destroying the works of Satan (Gen. 3:15). The savior of the world was manifested
to the world without the help of the male (Mat. 1:20). God wanted the birth of Christ to be
salvation twofold: a.)The sole salvation for women to relieve them of the
burden that they’ve endured as a result of the Original Sin, and b.) The
Salvation for all of mankind.
- He gave her a personal
salvation in Child-birthing (Gen. 3:16, 1 Tim. 2:15). Women usually take death harder than
men and this is because the womankind had to take the burden of being the
instigator of deception in the fall of mankind. As a result, God gave women their own personal salvation in
child-birthing because it gives a sense of “redemption” from the awful
results of death by bringing life into the world. It emulates the “New Birth” we have in
Christ.
- He put womankind under
a mystical covering, the male, to protect her from her susceptibility
towards satanic influence (Gen. 3:16).
This verse has always been interpreted as a punishment towards
women to “keep her in place” and a “gloating tool” for men to say “I’m
superior to the woman”. This is
neither a punishment nor a “gloating tool”; this passage reveals that God
wanted to protect the woman from evil Spirit-World influence by providing
male leadership.
In men to offset this tendency, God did 3 things for
men:
- He changed the laws of
nature to ensure that men would have to work hard and laborious for his
total well-being (Gen. 3:17). This
was to ensure that men would not be susceptible to voice of the woman
(Gen. 3:17).
- He incorporated hard
work (Gen. 3:18, 19). A leisurely
life is a detriment for men because it makes him succumb to feminine
preeminence. From mere
observation, more leisurely our culture is becoming or one without hard
physical labor, the weaker the male species is becoming. HARD WORK is salvation for men in that
men will have a deeper appreciation for the salvation that Christ provided
because it is not based on works.
- God implemented a life
span for all of mankind. We are
all subject to death. Death is
actually a sense of salvation so that we are not eternally affected by sin
and its awful attributes.
Satan’s plan is to get women and men to reject God’s
gender-directed antidote to the Original Sin and to provide its own antidote or
to implement a belief system that “we are Gods ourselves and we can provide our
own cure for our problems”. This plan,
in a subtle fashion, is manifesting itself in the Church. How many so-called messengers of God, man or
woman, speak as a messenger of God without supporting their claims with
scripture? Many have placed themselves
above reproach and in essence are saying “My words are just as authoritative as
the Bible so you must listen to me or else you will be out of the favor of
God”. How many Christian circles have
adopted the premise that the Bible, with correct interpretation techniques, is
not the final authority in our lives?
How many messengers like to affirm their positions by self-promoting and
overstressing their religious title (e.g.
Prophet, Prophetess, Bishop, Apostle) to intimidate their audience and
thus create an atmosphere that would allow them to speak as God or even above
him? By understanding the Edenic Dispensation,
one would understand that a feminine preeminent Church culture tends to create
a haven for this unwarranted activity and mindset in the Church.
In sum, the Apostle Paul was not making a
chauvinistic or anti-feminist instruction to prevent women speaking. On the contrary, women could teach or speak
but her appearance was not of one that had the supreme authority over the man(1
Cor. 11:5) for the benefit of the Angels that are in attendance of our Public
Worship (1 Cor. 11:10). Why? The Apostle Paul understood that the Church
is now the “NEW EDEN” and just how Satan undermined the “ORIGINAL EDEN” by
using the Woman to deceive her male counterpart, he will use the same tactics
to undermine the “NEW EDEN”. The
Apostle wanted to minimize this effort as much as possible so that doctrinal
heresy stays at a minimal.
WHAT DO YOU DO NOW THAT
WOMEN ARE IN THESE POSITIONS?
How should we respond when we see Women in a
leadership role that scripture forbids?
Should you walk out a public worship meeting when you see a woman in the
authority role? Or, Should you “tune
her out” when she begins to minister the word of God? Absolutely not, the
instructions to the Church was not the intent of the Apostle Paul to be used as
an absolute grounds for heresy (if this were the case, Christ would have
affirmed this), it was a good guideline for the Church to use to create a
positive distraction-free atmosphere for the men in their performance in
spreading the growth of the Church. To
maximize this effort, minimizing the adverse affects that women cause over the
man with “Their Voice” (Gen. 3:15), as a result of The Original Sin, was needed
to help the men perform with the least amount of hindrances from his feminine
counterpart as possible. Also, The
Apostle Paul wanted to minimize deceptive practices that have a tendency to be
maximized through a feminine preeminent atmosphere that will ultimately hinder
growth. How should men respond to a
woman in authority? The male audience should have an outlook similar to the instructions
the Apostle Paul gave to the Philippian Church, “….help those women who’ve
labored with me in the gospel…,” he exclaims.
The men should not expend more energy into “keeping the women in place”
but more energy should be expended on being in strategic positions in Church
leadership to be a mystical covering for women to allow them to use the gifts
that God has given them to use. Many
women want to be used by God and men must work through the tendency to be
loathing towards the things of God and one of their functions should be to
ensure that all the members of the body of Christ have a proper environment to
utilize the gifts that God has given them.
Men should understand that this should not be at the forefront of
doctrinal issues. It should NOT be a
primary doctrinal issue; it should be secondary at best. Secondary, not in the sense of not being
important, but it shouldn’t be important enough to divide over this
controversial issue. It really was an
issue of how to conduct ourselves within a Public Worship setting that will be
effective and efficient to reach the world for Christ without undergoing major
deception within its construct. In
other words, the Apostle Paul gave clear guidelines on what would effectively
and efficiently spread the good news of our salvation to the world and minimize
deception within the Church. If the
guidelines are violated, one’s salvation is NOT threatened but it will minimize
the effect of spreading salvation and maximize Deception within the
Church. How should women in authority
respond to this issue? First, women
should ensure that they are not in compliance with the feminist subculture and
their mandate of eliminating male influence within every construct of the woman’s
life and this can be done by application of sound doctrine from the word of
God. The Feminist Subculture, along
with the other aforementioned subcultures, is a powerful group and you no
longer have to be a “card carrying member” to still have an allegiance and
influence by their agenda. If
disbanding the position of authority, that scripture discourages is not
feasible or not a welcomed alternative, it is important that Women understand
that the promotion of feminine preeminence within the Church hierarchy will
maximize the potential for mass spiritual deception within the church. The paradigm should be one that is to
protect the integrity of the Church and not to seek for positions in the
Church. Remember, Christ warns us about
seeking for the “higher positions” (Luke 14:7-11). It is the opinion of the writer that a woman in leadership should
find some male leadership to be accountable to in order to provide a “mystical”
covering to minimize deception within the church. This is not a “male superior” stance and it doesn’t seek to
promote Male dominance, but one that understands the principle that the Apostle
Paul has disclosed to the church for men and women to work mutually and
distinctly together to help promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The goal should
be to spread the Gospel and avoid deception at all cost. To maximize the spreading of salvation to
the world, men and women must operate with the personal salvation that was
given to each after the “Original Sin” during the public worship service. With men it is to work or demonstrate
salvation, with the lifting up of hands without doubt and wrath (1 Tim. 2:8).
With women it is creating a powerful presentation by your modesty or propriety
(1 Tim. 2:9) and to operate more in a silent mode to diminish the distractions
for the men while they are performing.
Finally, after debating vigorously over this divided
issue, we must understand that although women are not the preferred gender to
be the messenger of authority, as prescribed in scripture, a greater emphasis
should be put on the Message, which is greater than the Messenger, man or
woman. The Church should not divide
over this issue but try to foster an atmosphere of success for both men and
women to utilize and fuse the gifts and talents that God has bestowed on both
to effectively change the world that will minimize the possibility of deception
within the Church. So, in the end we
all can say “Amen” to the message of truth, whether male or female.
Thank you for allowing us to share our viewpoint
Pastor
Johnny Outing Jr.
First Christian Fellowship Assembly Inc.
I invite anyone who does not know Christ as their personal savior click here ---à Romans 10:9.
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References
Ebony Magazine, September
2000, First Female AME Bishop in 231 years, Vol. 55, Issue 11, p. 184,
retrieved from Proquest on November 29, 2003
Ebony Magazine, May 1989,
Festival of Firsts: The First Woman Episcopal Bishop, Vol. 44, Issue 7, p. 40,
retrieved from Proquest on November 29, 2003
Gill, John. John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible – 1 Corinthians 11:10, 1999, retrieved from http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/GillsExpositionoftheBible/gil.cgi?book=1co&chapter=011&verse=010&next=011&prev=009
on November 26, 2003
Larkin, Clarence, Rightly
Dividing the Word, 1920, p. 1
Merriam-Webster, Webster’s
Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1983
All rights reserved by The First Christian Fellowship
Assembly Inc. © 2003