Saturday, September 16, 2006
David Letterman-- ventriloquist week!
You got to love it-- David Letterman is featuring ventriloquists all week long Sept. 18th - 23rd. It will be great to see Dunham's Walter and others. Get your TIVOs and VCRs ready.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Sunday School Teacher Fired Because of Gender
Just a few weeks ago, a woman who had been teaching Sunday School in the First Baptist Church of Watertown, NY state was fired because she was a woman. (see http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/21/menonly.sundayschool.ap/index.html) The church's new pastor, Rev. Tim LeBouf, cited a passage in I Timothy saying that women should be quiet in church and should not be teaching men. As a result, the dear woman who was teaching Sunday School longer than the pastor was alive, was fired from this volunteer position.
It is always amazing to see how rigid and wooden we can become at interpreting the Bible. In the verse before the one quoted, it forbids the braiding of hair and wearing of gold or silver jewelry by women. If you want to be literal than be consistent. In the verse following the one cited by the pastor, it says that women are saved by bearing children. Again, if you want to be literal, than be consistent in your approach. Don't pick and choose.
It seems to me that the best approach to interpreting Scripture is to compare it with other Scripture. If so, you will discover that there are only two places in the New Testament suggesting that women should be quiet in the church. Both instances are riddled with textual problems. In the Timothy passage, the writer seems to be saying "I don't let women..." which may indicate his personal preference rather than a lasting doctrine. Beyond this, many suggest that this writing reflects a non-Pauline, non-first century vocabulary. The other place that quiet women are mentioned is in Corinthians. This passage also has problems as it is clearly an insertion. The discussion before and after the verses in question relate to speaking in tongues. And moreover, the same writer just a few chapters earlier specifically says that when women speak/prophesy/preach in church, they should do so with their heads covered. Clearly the same writer wouldn't give instructions on how women are to preach in church if he strictly forbade it.
The long and short of it is, before you disenfranchise half of humanity from doing the work of God, you better have firm Scriptural footing. Keeping women from teaching Sunday School that may include men is as silly as keeping women from proclaiming the good news.
It is always amazing to see how rigid and wooden we can become at interpreting the Bible. In the verse before the one quoted, it forbids the braiding of hair and wearing of gold or silver jewelry by women. If you want to be literal than be consistent. In the verse following the one cited by the pastor, it says that women are saved by bearing children. Again, if you want to be literal, than be consistent in your approach. Don't pick and choose.
It seems to me that the best approach to interpreting Scripture is to compare it with other Scripture. If so, you will discover that there are only two places in the New Testament suggesting that women should be quiet in the church. Both instances are riddled with textual problems. In the Timothy passage, the writer seems to be saying "I don't let women..." which may indicate his personal preference rather than a lasting doctrine. Beyond this, many suggest that this writing reflects a non-Pauline, non-first century vocabulary. The other place that quiet women are mentioned is in Corinthians. This passage also has problems as it is clearly an insertion. The discussion before and after the verses in question relate to speaking in tongues. And moreover, the same writer just a few chapters earlier specifically says that when women speak/prophesy/preach in church, they should do so with their heads covered. Clearly the same writer wouldn't give instructions on how women are to preach in church if he strictly forbade it.
The long and short of it is, before you disenfranchise half of humanity from doing the work of God, you better have firm Scriptural footing. Keeping women from teaching Sunday School that may include men is as silly as keeping women from proclaiming the good news.
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