Don’t women have the same job as men in teaching the Gospel?
Question:
Hi,
I have been reading through some of your interpretations of biblical scriptures on your website and I felt it necessary to tell you that while whoever is writing them is knowledgeable on the scriptures, they seem to have missed the point of them, particularly in regards to women in the church.
Jesus gave us all the same job, which is to tell people about him. Call it witnessing, teaching or preaching it is all essentially the same thing, and both women and men are called to do the same thing.
There are many very smart and Godly women preaching today and bringing people to Christ. How can you argue with whether or not that is right or wrong depending on her gender when what she is achieving is the point?
I read your 'hate mail from a feminist' and I understood how she felt because I felt the same way reading them and I am a Christian. Why? Because they are simply incorrect.
Please be careful with what you are publishing on your website, it is a global audience and it has evidently already started having an adverse effect on people who may otherwise learn to respect and follow Jesus.
Put yourself in a women's shoes. We are no different to you in our desires for people to know God and our capabilities to tell them about him and if the Holy Spirit puts it on our hearts to speak in church or to preach to men then I'm sorry but what Paul or you or anyone else says just cannot stand up against that. It would be a sin to obstruct his will and worse, it could cost men who could hear the word from women, their salvation.
I know you are just trying to be true to the Word, we all are. But don't let your interpretation or face-value comprehension of certain passages put you off questioning why something was written and what makes sense in light of all of our jobs, which is to witness for Christ.
Thank you for reading.
Answer:
"If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen" (I Peter 4:11).
You claim that the passages cited to show what God said about women's role in the church is incorrect, but I cannot help but note that you do not argue from the Scriptures but attempt to judge me against your own opinions. There is a major problem with this method. Your opinions, like my own, are worthless.
You claim that Jesus gave all Christians the same job. But the claim is false. "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord" (I Corinthians 14:34-37). The fact that there are women violating the Lord's command does not alter what God commanded.
Women are involved in the spreading of the Gospel, but that does not translate to complete freedom to do as they please in every aspect of that teaching.
I'm quite aware of the reach of this web site. It is currently read by over 9,000 people per day and has readers in every country except for a few in central Africa and some middle eastern countries. I'm glad that God's word is making an impact and that people are noticing. May it once again be said, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too" (Acts 17:6).
