Originally posted by Pastor Larry:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />I'm so happy, so blessed, to be free from the kind of Baptists who use the Bible to tell God what he can and cannot do.
Of course then there are people like yourself who presume to tell God what he can or cannot do without using the Bible which God gave to us. The Bible is given to us for a reason: To learn about who God is and what he wants us to do. God is the one who said women should not have authority over a man. We are not scared of that. I would, in fact, be scared of disobeying that, as you should be.
Never presume to set your own mind about the word of God, as you have done here. When God speaks, he means it. </font>[/QUOTE]Phoebe: A deacon of the Church which is at Cenchrea, Romans 16:1
Deborah: A judge over Israel, Judges 4:4
Paul said a woman should not have authority over a man. He also is credited with saying "In Christ there is niether male nor female. So what is God saying? I look to Jesus to help me figure it out, and the only incident that gives us indication is in Luke 10. Mary is welcome with the apostles, and it is Jesus who insists she be allowed to stay. It is women who first see Him alive and are the first to proclaim the essence of the Gospel, that he is risen.
I could go on but I am accustomed to Fundamentalist like yourself "explaining away" pasages that don't fit into your Man-made systems. I will challenge your absurd doctrine that God reveals himself by writing a book, any time, any day, by showing you from the book itself that we do not need a perfect book to believe in a perefect God. How do I know this? Because God is perfect and as much as I love the Bible, it is not. The difference between you an me is simple. I love the Bible more than you do. I am not afraid to accept it for what it is, and do deal with all of it, not just the parts that confirm my bigotries and prejudices. If you mean what you say,"When God says something he means it", then why are you not out advocating the death penalty for adultery, blasphemy, dishonoring parents, and 15 other offenses not including murder? If the Bible says to do it then God says to do it. Right?
In Genesis 1 the animals are made first but in Genesis 2 the man is made first. Read it for yourself. Which creation account did God mean to be taken literally? The first or the second. It can't be both.
In Matthew Joseph and Mary are from Bethlehem. Jesus is born there and they flee to Egypt to escape Herod's wrath. Then they go to Nazareth because it is not safe to go back to Bethlehem. But in Luke Joseph and Mary are from Nazareth and go to Bethlehem to be registered for the tax, go to Jerusalem eight days after Jesus is born, then immediately go back to Nazareth. Which story is literally true?
If the Bible was perfect and totally consistent on all matters of theology there would be no debate about election and free will because there would not be the various passages that lead to different conclusions. I could go on and on but what is the point of trying to just ask you to be honest with the texts, when I know you won't.
God reveals himself by annointing men and women to be his prophets, his rulers, his servants of every kind. He reveals himself in his mighty deeds. He ultimately and perfectly reveals himself in Jesus Christ. The books, which make up the Bible, are written by men in response to what God has done. The Bible is not the act of God Himself, but it is a magnificant collection of literature that attempts to record and interpret God's personal involement and participation in human history. If the Bible were in fact God's perfect revelation of Himself, it would be perfect, and it is not. It is not uniform in theology, nor history, and certainly not perfect in matters of science, but the beauty of the Bible is that it doesn't have to be for God to come shining through, his perfect will there to be discovered.
So it is you who tell God what he can and can't do. You say God cannot call a woman to be a pastor because the bible says this or that. All God has to do is call one and fill her with his spirit for you to be proven wrong. And I have seen the great work of God done in and through female pastors. You blind yourself to God's work in our time. Your foolish man made traditions and doctrines about the bible blind you to its deeper truths, and cause you to fight against good and wonderful movements of the Holy Spirit. I truly pitty you.
One last word for you. What is this thing with authority? You just have a low view of women, not a high regard for scripture or you wouldn't be so blind to so much that is there. In the church of Jesus Christ he is the authority and he gives his spirit freely. We are to serve each other, not lord it over each other.If a woman leads a church to do the things Jesus said we must do, and if that church does indeed do the things Jesus said his followers would do, she is a pastor, and the fruits of her labor prove she is a pastor.
Dave