I have found my position on this subject, as you can read in my last 3 posts on the matter. However, I do very much sympathize with the feminist movement, because historically in the protestant west, I think we have never actually got it right - it has been 'women can't do anything', or 'women can do everything', one extreme to the other, where as I believe the Bible teaches that neither extreme is actually the right one.
Even at Cliff College where I am attending, before the womens-lib movement, it was a male-only college, which is clearly wrong. Women have every right to education. Women have every right to leadership and authority in pretty much every sphere of life, except over men, within the church. Women can lead and have authority over other women within the church, and over children in the church, but not over the whole church, that role is the only one which is restricted. Women can lead a nation (Judges 4), women can run their own business (Prov 31), women can pray and prophecy in the church (1 Cor 11), and women can hold positions of administration within the church (Rom 16:1). Many of these truths historically have not been applied. I believe that the bible teaching is actually very pro-female, just look at the above list. I do also believe that the Bible simply teaches that male and female are different although equal. It is possible that the bible has been percieved to be male-dominated because this truth has permeated the entire book. This does not mean that the Bible is sexist or has been tainted and damaged by a misogynistic society (as Christians we cannot take this viewpoint without throwing out the whole book), it means that it uniformly teaches that spiritual pastoral leadership of the believers is male.
I will soon arrange all 4 of my blogs on this issue as one, and set it out as a piece of research, not as diary entries.
Even at Cliff College where I am attending, before the womens-lib movement, it was a male-only college, which is clearly wrong. Women have every right to education. Women have every right to leadership and authority in pretty much every sphere of life, except over men, within the church. Women can lead and have authority over other women within the church, and over children in the church, but not over the whole church, that role is the only one which is restricted. Women can lead a nation (Judges 4), women can run their own business (Prov 31), women can pray and prophecy in the church (1 Cor 11), and women can hold positions of administration within the church (Rom 16:1). Many of these truths historically have not been applied. I believe that the bible teaching is actually very pro-female, just look at the above list. I do also believe that the Bible simply teaches that male and female are different although equal. It is possible that the bible has been percieved to be male-dominated because this truth has permeated the entire book. This does not mean that the Bible is sexist or has been tainted and damaged by a misogynistic society (as Christians we cannot take this viewpoint without throwing out the whole book), it means that it uniformly teaches that spiritual pastoral leadership of the believers is male.
I will soon arrange all 4 of my blogs on this issue as one, and set it out as a piece of research, not as diary entries.
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