Quote:
Originally Posted by seeking1
So, I do realize that the local church was kind of hard on sisters, depending on the locality, it was harder for some sisters than others. However this is just something that I have really been wrestling with lately. Regarding women pastors my thoughts have always been along the lines of "I don't think that it's biblical but, meh, who cares". However, since I've been attending a church that has two women pastors (the lead pastor is a male) I have noticed that it seems like most of the activity in the congregation is dominated by women. So, after digging into it a little further, seeing what the Word says and reading various papers that support both viewpoints it really seems like it takes some theological "maneuvering", to support the position of women pastors. I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this.
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Your view matches that of top theologians in the field such as Daniel B. Wallace who states that it requires exegetical gymnastics to arrive at an egalitarian conclusion.
He has written extensively about this such as here:
https://bible.org/article/some-refle...agmatic-issues
What is interesting about him is that personally he is egalitarian but professionally as an expert in NT Greek, he is complementarian and does not believe that the bible supports an egalitarian position.
As an example of the "exegetical gymnastics" Wallace talks about, consider this passage:
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. (Colossians 3:18–21).
Now egalitarians argue that both wives and husbands must submit to each other. Even though it only mentions wives submitting to husbands in this verse, they draw from a verse elsewhere in scripture which says "submit to one another". This is one "gymnastical jump". The second gymastical jump is regarding the part about children obeying parents. If one reads the text as if both wives and husbands submit to each other, then should parents also obey their children?? This cannot be.
If we add to this discussion that
historically men have led the church, as supported by all major denominations until only in modern times, the egalitarian position is on a shallow ground of sand.
I personally believe that egalitarianism is a sign of degradation in the church. It is no coincidence that such a movement took hold in the church, around the same time as the LGBT and feminist movements in the 70's/80's. When I was in denominations in the 70's/80's, I observed as the traditional role of the man in the family, in society and in the church was being eroded bit by bit.
Thanks to the Reformation, the bible was made available to everyone in the common language, since the 1500/1600's. Why has it taken so long for the egalitarians to come into the church, if the teaching is truly in the Bible? I believe the teaching is not obvious in the bible, and the movement has come about from influence of the world on the church. If egalitarianism was the teaching of the bible, we surely would have seen it adopted early in the Reformation, in the 1700's for example.
The Lord showed me that this was the doing of the anti-Christ, and not from Him. All this is done under the guise of being modern and "relevance to todays culture". Worse, compromising with the world, as churches are afraid to be unpopular with the status quo in Western society. It is not so in Eastern countries, which are appalled at the acceptance of gay marriage in the West and erosion of family values and the father figure as the head of the family and the church.