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Replying to JoeyKnothead in post #1]
Okay dear Joey (peace to you!!).
Should women preachers be allowed to do em it from the pulpit?
So two things dear Joey (and the dear reader):
1 - There is no pulpit.
We who are in Christ
are all servants... not leaders, not up on a stage behind a pulpit looking down at people. We are to serve, making ourselves least. My Lord taught me this Himself, He also teaches this in the example that He set (coming to serve, not be served, washing the feet of the apostles as an example for us to follow, etc).
And since your question is a question that can stem - at least somewhat - from the question, 'should women be leaders in the church':
2 - There is only ONE Leader: Christ Jaheshua. One Teacher: Christ Jaheshua. We who are in Christ, who are the Body of Christ, are not to be leaders, we are not to be called 'rabbi' or 'teacher' or 'father'. We are to SERVE - serve one another, serve others who are seeking Him and His Father, serve anyone He might send us to, and anyone who might be in need who we can help (because that is from love).
Male or female it does not matter. Male or female, we are to bear witness to Christ, and as the Bride, invite others (who are wishing and thirsting) to come to HIM, to drink from Him.
‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. Acts 2:18 (from a prophecy in Joel)
Since there is only one Leader in the Church, there really is no issue with the question 'should women be leaders in the church'. The answer is no. The answer is also no to the question, should
men be leaders in the church. Because the Church - which is the Body of Christ - has ONE Leader: Christ Jaheshua.
**
As for some things that Paul wrote (which religion and some men have used to base their 'no women leaders in the church' rule - something that COMPLETELY misses the point that we are ALL - male and female - to SERVE one another, not be the leaders over one another, because we all have ONE leader: the Christ):
"Consider also that our Lord’s patience brings salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him. 16He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2Peter 3:15, 16
Men were distorting things Paul wrote two thousand years ago; how much more so today, two thousand years removed from that time and place
and the laws that affected women back in that time, in Roman society? Paul was trying to protect the church (the people) from the authorities, the laws and issues of that time, and from those persecuting the church (church meaning the people in Christ, not a religion). And keep in mind that Paul is also the one who said that there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, for we are all one in Christ.
I digress, though, because regardless of what Paul wrote (which some men distort out of ignorance), Christ is the Truth, the Leader, the Master, the King. Christ is the Head of the Church (His people; His Body)... and the rest of us are brothers, sisters, servants,
serving one another and others... all of us - male and female - bearing witness to Christ. We are not leaders: we point
to the Leader. We are not the truth nor can we lead people into all truth: we point
to the One who
is the Truth, the One who
can lead people into all truth.
May you and anyone who wishes and thirsts, "Come! Take the free gift of the water of Life!"
Peace again to you, and to your loved ones, as my dear Lord gives peace,
your servant and friend and a slave of Christ,
tammy
