Gospel Today Gets Adult Magazine Treatment
Apparently making reference to Hillary’s cracks and Palin’s shattering of a glass ceiling, the Gospel Today hits stores with headlines such as ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling.’ Included in such a headline is the topic ‘Female Pastors’ and such is why the magazine has found its way from the store front to under the counter. Like those ‘adult’ magazines that are usually out-of-sight and should be out-of-mind, this issue of Gospel Today has seemingly been pulled from the shelves and either removed or must be asked for hidden behind the counter.
The problem is not with the individuals themselves (meaning the 5 women), but Scripture and the office they claim to hold in the church. The magazine could have chosen any other women who also consider themselves pastors to place on the cover, and the results of Southern Baptists would have been the same. So, it is not the individual, but the claim.
When considering the idea of whether or not a woman should run for public office, etc. that is somewhat different from that of one claiming to desire the office of pastor of a church. There are some who believe a woman should never hold an office giving them authority over a man, whereas some believe it is in church where the woman cannot hold certain offices but can hold offices outside of the church such as political, etc. Though, I will not be considering these at present, for the article is based on women holding the office of pastor in a church and whether such is biblically or unbiblically founded.
We must also realize that we are not saying that God cannot or does not use women to further the gospel or minister to people, nor are we saying women are lower and less important than men. What we must understand is that when it comes to Scripture and the local churches made of those who profess Christ, the Scripture must be our guide and any variance leads us to sin.
Scripture declares full well the qualifications for both a bishop (pastor) and a deacon. Both in respect are given clear meaning that each is to be a man, for they are to be ‘the husband of one wife’. Regardless of ones conviction to the meaning of ‘the husband of one wife’ there is a surety that no woman can ever be ‘the husband of one wife.’
It is quite spiritually immature on the part of any Christian to claim men that still hold to Scripture on this issue are being sexist or unfair to women. There are no biblical grounds whereby these qualifications maybe dismissed or overruled to allow such corruption to work its way into the local church or Church body as a whole.
Such references to Chloe and Deborah do show God using women, but fails to give any creditability that Scripture allows a woman to hold the office of a pastor or deacon. There is no reason to get into a debate over the word ‘servant’ and such in the Greek, because no matter what conclusion one may choose, we are still left with the Scripture declaring in Acts 6, 1 Timothy 3, and Titus 1 such offices must be filled by men.
I would also like to ponder the thought of Chris Turner’s (a spokesman for Lifeway Resources) comment ‘It is contrary to what we believe.’ If that be the case and reason for pulling the magazine from the shelves of Lifeway book stores, then surely they have created a ‘committee’ (pun intended) to search all the literature and rid the stores of all non Southern Baptist teachings.
Ref:
http://www.gospeltoday.com/
http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/stories/2008/09/18/gospel_magazine_pulled.html
http://www.benedictionblogson.com/2008/09/20/sbc-lifeway-bookstores-put-gospel-today-under-the-counter/
The problem is not with the individuals themselves (meaning the 5 women), but Scripture and the office they claim to hold in the church. The magazine could have chosen any other women who also consider themselves pastors to place on the cover, and the results of Southern Baptists would have been the same. So, it is not the individual, but the claim.
When considering the idea of whether or not a woman should run for public office, etc. that is somewhat different from that of one claiming to desire the office of pastor of a church. There are some who believe a woman should never hold an office giving them authority over a man, whereas some believe it is in church where the woman cannot hold certain offices but can hold offices outside of the church such as political, etc. Though, I will not be considering these at present, for the article is based on women holding the office of pastor in a church and whether such is biblically or unbiblically founded.
We must also realize that we are not saying that God cannot or does not use women to further the gospel or minister to people, nor are we saying women are lower and less important than men. What we must understand is that when it comes to Scripture and the local churches made of those who profess Christ, the Scripture must be our guide and any variance leads us to sin.
Scripture declares full well the qualifications for both a bishop (pastor) and a deacon. Both in respect are given clear meaning that each is to be a man, for they are to be ‘the husband of one wife’. Regardless of ones conviction to the meaning of ‘the husband of one wife’ there is a surety that no woman can ever be ‘the husband of one wife.’
It is quite spiritually immature on the part of any Christian to claim men that still hold to Scripture on this issue are being sexist or unfair to women. There are no biblical grounds whereby these qualifications maybe dismissed or overruled to allow such corruption to work its way into the local church or Church body as a whole.
Such references to Chloe and Deborah do show God using women, but fails to give any creditability that Scripture allows a woman to hold the office of a pastor or deacon. There is no reason to get into a debate over the word ‘servant’ and such in the Greek, because no matter what conclusion one may choose, we are still left with the Scripture declaring in Acts 6, 1 Timothy 3, and Titus 1 such offices must be filled by men.
I would also like to ponder the thought of Chris Turner’s (a spokesman for Lifeway Resources) comment ‘It is contrary to what we believe.’ If that be the case and reason for pulling the magazine from the shelves of Lifeway book stores, then surely they have created a ‘committee’ (pun intended) to search all the literature and rid the stores of all non Southern Baptist teachings.
Ref:
http://www.gospeltoday.com/
http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/stories/2008/09/18/gospel_magazine_pulled.html
http://www.benedictionblogson.com/2008/09/20/sbc-lifeway-bookstores-put-gospel-today-under-the-counter/
2 comments:
Yes. According to the Bible, women must only submit to the authority of their husbands.
Wow. Reminds me of the muslim countries who subjugate women in the name of Allah. Surely, you have much in common with those misogynistic fools.
Beast
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