tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44328298816597915342024-03-13T10:41:32.441-04:00Men and Women in the ChurchUsing sound biblical hermeneutics (interpretation) to arrive at sound biblical teaching regarding spiritual gifts in Christ's ChurchDeidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-65243828587986188062019-04-18T13:27:00.001-04:002019-04-18T13:29:18.837-04:00Richardson Hosts Free Book Giveaway At Amazon from April 18th-22nd<br />It is a blessing to be able to return to The Center for Theological Studies (CTS) to make yet another announcement.<br />I have partnered with Amazon to offer a free Kindle book giveaway on three of my four published books. The titles are as follows:<br /><br />1) Lydia's Heart: The Case for Prevenient Grace<br /><br />2) Doctrinal Deception: Responding to Carlton Pearson's The Gospel of Inclusion<br /><br />3) More Doctrinal Deception: Bishop Carlton Pearson's Inclusion, Further Examined<br /><br />Remember, as I said above, only Kindle Books on the above three titles are free. As for paperback versions of these books, I have discounted the books to "at cost" -- meaning I'll make next to nothing on the sales. Amazon will get the profit. I get the satisfaction of seeing folks pick up copies of books to aid them on their Christian journey. Lydia's Heart: The Case for Prevenient Grace, a book I published on December 15, 2018, has been discounted from $22.50 to $14.50. Of the new discounted cost on the book, I'll only see a profit of 50 cents. Literally. I'm THAT determined to get books into the hands of those who've been wanting the titles but are paralyzed financially right now and have bigger financial problems to worry about.<br /><br />The Amazon free book giveaway starts today, April 18th, and goes through SonRise Sunday (April 21st, known to many as Easter) to Monday, April 22nd. The giveaway lasts only 5 days, so don't put off tomorrow what you can pick up today.<br /><br />Write back and let me know if you've picked up any of these three books, and the titles you downloaded on Kindle. If you decide to purchase the paperbacks, let me know which titles.<br /><br />I look forward to hearing about your purchased titles. If I can be of service, please feel free to let me know.<br /><br />In Him, DeidreDeidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-37192521645275413842014-02-03T17:47:00.001-05:002014-02-03T17:50:03.340-05:00"Death, The Last Defeat": In Memory of Teressa A. Richardson (June 28, 1956 - Feb. 3, 2009)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit
incorruption.</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Behold, I tell you a
mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and
the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">For this corruptible must
put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">So when this corruptible has
put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">‘O Death, where is your
sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The sting of death is sin,
and the strength of sin is the law. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">But thanks be to God, who
gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:50-58,
NKJV). <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Today at Men and Women in the Church, I’d like to honor the woman that was my mother, a godly
example, who showed me what a selfless, sacrificing, Christ-like life should
be; a woman who still continues to touch and influence my life, five years to
the day since the Lord took her from this life; a woman whose integrity was
seen by all those around her who knew her, worked with her, attended church
with her, and loved her. This woman, whose life is a testimony in and of
itself, is my mother, Teressa Ann Alston Richardson. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I could not let the day pass
without taking time to honor the godly mother the Lord placed into my life.
Without mom’s influence, I can’t imagine what my life would be like, nor where
I would have gone in these past 29 years. It was because my mother did the work
of the Lord in raising me “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” that I am
what I am in the Lord today. She took her parenting ministry seriously, and is
an example for all of us in how we raise our children (whether in the present
or in the future). Mom, I love you dearly and miss you constantly. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">If she were here, she’d want
the Word to be emphasized – so I won’t take another minute to commend her.
Let’s get to what excited her most, the living, breathing, miracle-working Word
of God. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">If you read the context of 1
Corinthians 15, the issue at hand concerned the resurrection. There were some
who were saying that there was no resurrection, which prompted the Apostle
Paul’s question, “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the
dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1
Cor. 15:12)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">It seems that the gospel,
preached among the Corinthians, was being denied by false doctrine. Paul
exhorts the Corinthians to consider two positions: (1) that the Lord was not
raised from the dead, and (2) that Christ was raised from the dead. He says, if
you believe Christ was raised, but He didn’t really rise, then your faith is
“worthless” or “in vain,” “useless.” In short, believing means little if Christ
did not rise from the dead. Mere faith is not enough to make something true,
unless it is already true in origin. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In verse 20, Paul testifies
boldly that “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by
Man also came the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20-21). <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Paul makes it clear here
that the “Man” (capital “M,” referring to the man Christ Jesus) brought forth
the resurrection. Remember the requirement: since the wage of sin is death (cf.
Romans 6:23), man who committed the sin had to die. So, Christ was the
solution: a man who could die for the sins of the world but could also return
from the dead. He was the perfect choice, the perfect Lamb of God who was sacrified
for the sins of the world (John 1:29). <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The message is clear: Christ
died for the sins of the world and rose for our justification, so that we could
be justified by our faith in the work of Christ on the Cross. He wasn’t hanging
there for Himself, but was “wounded for our transgressions” and “bruised for
our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5-6). He died for our sins. We owe a debt we can
never repay. The least we can do is offer our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom.
12:1-2). <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now, as Christ has died and
was raised from the dead, so too will we – those who believe in the Lord, that
is. Those who accept Christ as both Lord and Savior (not either/or, but
both/and) will rise as Christ rose from the dead. However, we cannot enter
heaven in our current, mortal state. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Mother could not enter
heaven with her earthly body. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Why? Because it’s wracked
with sin, and stained with ungodliness. If you don’t believe this to be true,
ask yourself: why did Paul tell the Roman church “do not let sin reign in your
mortal body” (Rom. 6:12)? And we, being sons and daughters of Adam and Eve,
struggle with sin as did they, as did the men and women of Scripture, as did
the earliest churches of the New Testament. Each person born of Adamite blood
struggles with sin. “There is none righteous, no not one,” Paul states clearly
(Romans 3:10).<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, how then, can we enter
heaven? Paul states it clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:50ff: “flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” In order for us to inherit the kingdom, we
have to put on not only faith, but immortality. And we can only get that by
dying a mortal death. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I cringe whenever I read the
Lord’s words to Adam in Genesis 3:19: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat
bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you
are, and to dust you shall return.” These words haunt me in the strangest way,
seeing that I, too, realize my mortality. Although I am 29 and feel as if I’m
in the prime of my life, I too, fall under the Lord’s death sentence to
humanity. It is something that, in light of my mother’s early death at 52 years
old, is always at the forefront of my mind. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">And yet, death is the last
enemy to be defeated. Death is the last mountain we have to climb, the last
river we have to swim, the last boundary we have to pass through, the last
obstacle we have to encounter. Despite all of our blessings here, this present
world is not our home; we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. As Paul says in 1
Corinthians 15:35-36,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“But someone will say, ‘How
are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’ Foolish one, what you
sow is not made alive unless it dies.” Interestingly enough, Jesus said similar
words in John 12:24 (“unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,
it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain”). In order for us to
put on immortality, we must drop this mortal flesh that is stained with sin. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is in verse 51 that Paul
says, “we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” The word “sleep”
here is a euphemism for the word “died,” so Paul is saying, in essence, that
there will be many who will be alive when the Lord returns. Not all will die,
but all who believe in the Lord (whether dead or alive) will put on
immortality, an everlasting body that cannot hunger, thirst, tire, grow old, or
die. I like the sound of this!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In verse 52, Paul says that
this transformation will take place “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”
As fast as you can blink, the change will take place. Notice that there will be
trumpets at this grand event. Since Paul mentions “the last trumpet” here, we
can be assured that there will likely be more than one trumpet to announce the
Lord’s return to earth. The last trumpet, however, is Paul’s focus: when the last
trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ (those who died believing in the Lord) will
be transformed, and those of us living on the earth will be transformed, too.
Verse 53 reiterates Paul’s point earlier that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In verses 54-57, we see Paul
using theology to praise the Lord God, the one that “theo-logy” (the study of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">theos</i>, God) is all about. After we are
transformed and put on immortality, the words of the Old Testament will come to
pass: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Currently, death is all
around us. Any day of the week, one can take a look at the news, read the
paper, or read on the Internet and find death is all around us. It places
uncertainty in our hearts; as much as we like to think of life as being
forever, the deaths of others are subtle reminders that one day, death will
come to us all. In the midst of this sadness, however, we have hope in Christ
Jesus. Death may reign in our lives now, our loved ones may die and leave us
brokenhearted, but death is the last enemy to defeat. As verse 26 tells us, “the
last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Did you read that? Death is
the LAST enemy to be destroyed. Christ set the victory in place at Calvary, and
this will be realized in our lives on an individual basis when we breathe our
last. What power can death have, what sting, when death is defeated? What
victory can the grave boast of when, having died and entered into it, we are
then raised to live eternally? In the final analysis, the grave, sin, and
death, three enemies in our mortal lives, will be conquered forever. We’ve
always believed as Christians that “death has no more dominion over us”, but
how apparent will it be in the Resurrection? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Have you ever seen C.S.
Lewis’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Voyage of the Dawn Treader</i>
at the movies? I will never forget the last scene of it, in which Reepicheep
asks Aslan whether or not he can enter his country. Aslan bids him permission,
and Reepicheep (a fearless, warrior mouse, by the way) greets his friends
before placing his sword in the sand to paddle to Aslan’s country. We all are
like Reepicheep: as long as we’re in this world, we fight to survive, fight to
defend and protect ourselves, to look out for our safety and protection. We
fight against aging, medical conditions, medicine, doctors, bosses, companies,
employment and unemployment, strained marriages, unhappy times in our
marriages, and so on. It seems as if we fight all the time – and we get so
consumed by the fight that we can’t believe it when the fight is over and we
get to “cross over to Aslan’s Country,” that is, glory. Yet and still, the time
comes when the Lord, who is faithful, grants His faithful ones eternal rest. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yes, the last enemy to be
defeated is death; and when it is, we will, like Reepicheep, put down our sword
and cross over. Mother laid her sword down in the sand and crossed over to
glory to study war no more. One day, that will be you. And one day, that will
be me. While death is still a raging enemy, it won’t rage forever. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If mother were here
today, she’d leave you with this message: the next time you’re staring death in
the face, be it over a loved one in the nursing home or a loved one given less
than 6 months to live in the hospital with a deadly cancer diagnosis, look
death in the face and say, “you’re the last enemy to be defeated, and you won’t
reign forever.” Death will only last for a short time. These words have
comforted me every day for the past five years since my mother died. She had to
pass through Death’s tunnel, but it’s not forever. One day, when the Lord
cracks the clouds, mom will be raised to immortality. And, whether I’m alive or
asleep, I too, will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Death
wants us to focus on how our loved ones suffer here, but Death is only a tunnel to
victory, the Resurrection, and eternal life for the believer. May God bless you all.</span></b><!--EndFragment-->
Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-47903093318200713792013-02-03T11:56:00.000-05:002013-02-03T12:00:57.117-05:00“The Security of Trusting in the Lord”: In Memory of Teressa A. Richardson (June 28, 1956—February 3, 2009)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“The Security
of Trusting in the Lord”: In Memory of Teressa A. Richardson (June 28,
1956—February 3, 2009)</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scripture: Psalm 91:1-4<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“He who dwells in the
shelter of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will
say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!’ For it
is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly
pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may
seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark” (Psalm 91: 1-4, New King
James Version). <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am honored and privileged
by the Lord yet again to write these words for the people of God. Today marks
the four-year anniversary of my mother’s death. Teressa Ann Alston Richardson
was my mother and my best friend. She was my Bible teacher at home, my Sunday
School teacher at church, and my encourager and prayer warrior, someone who
prayed with me and for me through all the hard times in my life. She was one
who found delight in meditating on the things of God, the Word of the Lord. After
a three-year battle with breast, lung, and brain cancer, the Lord took His
servant home to her eternal rest – where she is no longer in any pain, torment,
or worry. She is in a place of peace and rest, looking forward to meeting her
family and friends as we arrive in glory. Today, I take time at the blog to
honor the woman who impacted my life in so many ways. If I have touched
anyone’s life on this earth, it is because of the lifetime impact of my mother.
You may have never met her, but to know me is to know her: I am like her in so
many ways. I look like her, talk like her, and even have her laugh and
mannerisms. She really left her “mark” on me!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">If my mother could speak on
earth this day, she would say that there is security in trusting in the Lord. One
of her favorite passages of Scripture was Psalm 91, a passage that my deceased
Pastor, Luther Alston Jr., also loved. The Lord has since taken my Pastor of 17
years home to be with Him as well. This morning, I heard my mother and my
Pastor reading this passage in my thoughts. It was the Lord’s way of telling me
that this Word needs to be said, it needs to be proclaimed. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">We live in a world today
that is concerned about security. We are told to buy car insurance so that we
are “covered” in case of a car accident, health insurance so that we will be
“covered” in the event of sickness, property insurance to “cover” us in the
event that our property is damaged, burned down by fire, or destroyed by
natural disaster. All these “insurances” are sold and purchased to “cover” us
in case of a life disaster – whether to our selves or our property. Many
consider that purchasing these things will make us “safe.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">But the “covering” the
writer of Psalm 91 discusses today is not the covering of insurance regarding
possessions: rather, it is the covering of your life, your protection,
physically, emotionally, spiritually, from destruction, from the deception of
Satan and the wicked man who dwells on the earth. Regardless of the number of
those who oppose the people of God, Christians have a strength in the Lord that
defeats them all.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In verse 1, the writer
(presumed to be Moses, who wrote Psalm 90) uses an analogy that he will develop
further into the Psalm: that is, that the Lord’s protection is similar to a
mother bird who covers her children with her wings. Thus, he is saying that
those who abide with the Lord, who stay with the Lord, will find a place of
refuge, similar to the bird that finds protection by staying under its mother’s
wings. Birds use their wings to protect their young; in a similar way, the Lord
uses the union of Christ and Christian to protect His child (the believer) from
all sorts of physical and spiritual harm. Paul writes to the Thessalonians of
his desire to protect them when he says, “But we proved to be gentle among you,
as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7).
Both birds and humans care for their young. If they care for their young, and
the Lord is greater than them all, does not the Lord care for His children? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In verse 1, Moses says that
those who abide with the Lord, who trust in the Lord, will find the Lord’s
protection. Trusting in the Lord is more than just a one-time trust, however:
it is a daily trusting, a daily guidance and reliance upon the One who knows
all things, who knows the future, who has laid out His plans for your life. It
is a daily relinquishing of your own control and a turning to Him for
direction. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In verse 2, the writer tells
the Lord that the Lord is “my refuge and fortress, my God, in whom I trust!”.
Do you tell the Lord this on a daily basis? In the same way that the Lord wants
us to pray and talk to Him, He wants to hear us call Him “my God,” “my refuge,”
and “my fortress.” Why is the Lord a refuge? He is a place of escape when
troubles come, He is a safe hiding place, a place of assurance and protection
from the troubles of life. From the word “refuge” comes the word “refugee.” A
refugee is one who has escaped famine and war in another country. A refugee is,
in general, someone who escapes harsh conditions of any kind. Therefore, a
Christian who abides with the Lord is one who can turn to the Lord of heaven
and earth when the conditions of life take a turn for the worst. When life
around us is harsh and cold and chaotic, we can turn to the Lord in whom we
trust to find stability, comfort, peace, and joy – no matter how long the
trials last. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Moses does not go without
pointing the way to the Lord. In verse 3 he says, “for IT IS HE who delivers you
from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.” It is the Lord
who rescues us from all kinds of danger, whether the “trap” of a hunter or a
deadly disease. By using the specific situations of a hunter and a disease,
Moses is asserting that the Lord guards us against all kinds of traps that are
set for us, whether by individuals or sickness and disease. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In verse 4, we read more of
Moses’ analogy between the protection of the Lord and that of the mother bird:
“He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge.” The
word “pinion” refers to the outer part of a bird’s wings, so the Lord will
protect you from all outside harm – in the same way that a mother bird protects
her young with the outside of her wings from outside danger. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“His faithfulness is a
shield and bulwark” means that, as a shield protects a soldier from getting
wounded, so does the Lord’s constant protection prevents believers from the death
and destruction of Satan. Moses uses a simile here, a way to compare unrelated
things (the Lord’s faithfulness, a shield, and a large structure). Since the
Lord is faithful, you will have the protection that a bulwark provides. A
bulwark is a large towering structure that was used in ancient days to keep
enemies and invaders out of a territory or land. Whenever an enemy would invade
a territory, the soldiers had to climb walls in order to invade. The wall was
used to keep the enemy out. Although nations tried to prevent invasion, their
walls were simply not strong enough. With the Lord, however, His faithfulness,
His constant presence and strength, will protect you at all times. You need not
worry about invasion or destruction by Satan and his agents when you have the Lord’s
protection. His protection is fireproof and destruction-resistant!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I cannot do justice to this
entire Psalm here, but I can say that Moses intended this passage to be an
encouragement, a blessing to those who read its words. The passage mentions
things like not getting sicknesses and diseases, and many Christians still
battle these things. Yes, it is true that, as a result of the sin of man and
the fall in Genesis 3, that even Christians battle sickness and disease. Yet
and still, there are so many things that the Lord protects even the sick from,
other things that would have come without the Lord’s protection. Even for those
who are sick in body, this passage still rings true in so many ways that we
cannot see. One day, we will get to ask the Lord, “What things did you prevent
me from experiencing?”; and once we see those things, we will glorify the Lord
all the more. One day, our faith in this passage will become sight. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Mother battled cancer for
three years, and it could not have come to a more godly person than mom. Yet
and still, she realized that trouble comes to us all. Trouble came to Job, and
he was called “blameless and upright” by the Lord (Job 1:8). Trouble will come,
but the Lord’s faithfulness, as Moses says, is a shield and bulwark. Mother,
even facing cancer, found the Lord’s faithfulness to be her protection. If she
were here today, she would quote the words of Psalm 91 and tell fellow saints
to continue abiding under the Lord’s protection. Stay with the Lord, continue
to trust Him and look to Him for all things, even your next breath and step.
And when you don’t understand, ask the Lord to provide understanding. He will
be faithful to you, no matter the situation or circumstance. Her life is a
living testimony of that. God bless. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-28348116710961182022012-02-03T12:00:00.001-05:002012-02-03T12:00:06.728-05:00"Soaring Like an Eagle": In Memory of Teressa A. Richardson (June 28, 1956-February 3, 2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJLmoKb6QiKJp111UCSn5lEqncGXN-hASxdRQjPv2Y1x-2xMBx6emHtHkqrZCX1Wo7JPdOEqVwJFwCosA1irUTMbnFkTDUc7omalEyoLm4dzV-Wz5IFtPugUY8fCut4WXgXIEtuLxA0SkN/s1600/My+family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJLmoKb6QiKJp111UCSn5lEqncGXN-hASxdRQjPv2Y1x-2xMBx6emHtHkqrZCX1Wo7JPdOEqVwJFwCosA1irUTMbnFkTDUc7omalEyoLm4dzV-Wz5IFtPugUY8fCut4WXgXIEtuLxA0SkN/s1600/My+family.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“‘To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?’ says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:25-31, New King James Version). <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Today at both The Center for Theological Studies (CTS) and Men and Women in the Church (MWC), the blogs are dedicated to a woman who touched my life in manifold ways. I could write a book about her and still continue to write long after it. There are not enough books, chapters, or pages in the world to contain all that she meant to me within them. She was my mother, teacher, best friend, and biggest fan—<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teressa A. Richardson.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Each year at this time, I give a short glimpse into life with my mother, my experiences with her, the kind of person she was, and the things she said and did. And it never grows old to think upon the things she taught me. I am blessed by God to provide yet another glimpse today into her life---and examine once more the lessons she taught me that it would do me good (and all believers) to never forget. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">As a recent graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, I often heard the questions in my apologetics classes regarding God and the existence of evil. “If God is a good God, how can evil and suffering occur in the world?” “If God is just, why has He done nothing about it?” “If God is good, why would He even allow it in the first place?” It seems that atheists never tire of posing questions that, in their minds, seem to be legitimate questions that supposedly “knock” God off His throne, put themselves in His place, and take His glory for their own. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">This past summer 2011, I did some Internet evangelism at the Amazon chat room with atheists. The whole forum was titled “The Existence of God.” From the outside, it seemed as if there were a large number of Christians at the forum. When I entered, however, there were very few. Except for me, there was only one other person who, as a Christian, wanted to win these troubled souls to Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I met a guy named Walter who, after a week of my witnessing attempts, disclosed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was in his 60s, and the doctors told him that he had (at most) 6 months to live. I got to share my mother’s story with him of how she battled breast, lung, and brain cancer for three years. He told me, “Your mother was a strong woman.” I responded, “No—it wasn’t her <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">strength</i> that saw her through; It was her <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God</i> that saw her through.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Book of Isaiah was one of mom’s most beloved books of the Bible. She loved all of the Scriptures, but Isaiah’s words had special meaning to her in her life and life’s circumstances. Through her cancer, she clung to the words of Isaiah 40 and it is my prayer that her story and life would inspire you by God’s grace to continue on the path that is set before you.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In today’s text, the Lord asks Israel, “Why do you say, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God’?” (Isaiah 40:27) Israel got to a place where the nation felt as if God was unjust to them. It seemed that the Lord no longer cared for the people “who were called by His Name,” that the ones He loved, the ones He delivered out of Egypt, He no longer had compassion for. It seemed to the nation of Israel that God was no longer just. This is why the Lord asks Israel’s question: “Why do you say... ‘my just claim is passed over by my God’?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Mother could have easily arrived at this same place. She was a woman who loved the Lord, served Him fervently, and raised her children to do the same. She had every reason (on the surface at least) to point her finger to heaven at God and say, “Lord, you no longer hear my cry. You no longer care for your servant. I have done everything to walk godly before you, and you no longer care about me or my condition.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">But that’s not what she did. No---mom didn’t do what many have done (and many contemplate doing). Instead, she simply quoted the words, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.” It is because of her faith in the Lord that she continued to pray to God, even when she didn’t understand all the answers.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Someone reading this post today feels like the nation of Israel in Isaiah 40. Wherever you are at this moment in your life, you thought you would be somewhere else. Maybe you thought you would be married, or at another job, or promoted in your current job, or in the prime of your life instead of struggling with a life-threatening illness. Perhaps you have been given those three words that could forever change your life: “It is cancer.” If this is where you are today, do not despair; God has not forgotten about you. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">What did the Lord tell Israel? “The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary...He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isa. 40:28-29). The same God that gave strength to the nation of Israel is the same God that gave my mother strength during her battle with cancer. And the same God that gave her strength is no respecter of persons---He will give you strength as well.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">How did Mom renew her strength? She went to God in prayer, she talked to the Lord when it seemed as though God had deserted her. She always told me and my sister Danielle, “When you cannot see His hand, always trust His heart.” If she were here, she would say the same thing to you: When you cannot see His hand, always trust His heart. Trust Him and know that those who wait upon Him will see their strength renewed; they will soar like eagles. They will run and not be weary, and they will walk, and not faint. God bless.</span></b><!--EndFragment-->Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-19596397563939825582011-06-28T12:00:00.002-04:002011-06-28T12:00:12.935-04:00"Rich Toward God": In Memory of My Mother, Teressa A. Richardson (June 28, 1956--Feb. 3, 2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJZMvsQ-Xeik0N_J7G9_FxN31UpdvxZoZAvWqsWXnv_v4sV0jEFqnuRw6RhWaZA0tL3TzkeIgYqIbiQ6B5AUz8ak80lWKJvZ09WPphyphenhyphenB7kRKMW_R9g6XIaa6JdLnst0KkVyuMs4q-UjTP/s1600/My+family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJZMvsQ-Xeik0N_J7G9_FxN31UpdvxZoZAvWqsWXnv_v4sV0jEFqnuRw6RhWaZA0tL3TzkeIgYqIbiQ6B5AUz8ak80lWKJvZ09WPphyphenhyphenB7kRKMW_R9g6XIaa6JdLnst0KkVyuMs4q-UjTP/s1600/My+family.jpg" /></a></div><!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’” But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21, NKJV).<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today at the Center for Theological Studies as well as Men and Women in the Church, I give tribute to the woman who gave birth to me back on August 21, 1984, at a hospital in Durham, North Carolina. I pay tribute to a woman who loved me from the first moment she laid eyes on me, and gave me a Christian upbringing, with all the love, encouragement, prayers, and shoulder to cry on she could ever have given me. This same woman raised me to be godly, to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, and mind...and to let nothing come between me and my God. She taught my Sunday school class when my twin sister (Danielle) and I were younger, cooked Sunday meals, worked 40-60 hours a week, managed the church finances, sung in the choir, and worked hard, as they say, to “bring home the bacon.” She was a loving and wonderful daughter to her parents, a great sister, and an amazing friend to me and all those who knew her. Yes, folks---this woman is still the queen of my heart after all this time. Her name is Teressa A. Richardson. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">On February 3, 2009, mom went home to be with the Lord after having battled breast cancer, lung cancer, and brain cancer for a span of three years. I have cried so many tears since she left me; and I’ve cried a lot of them lately. For those who may not know, I graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC on May 20, 2011, where I received my Master of Divinity degree in Christian Apologetics...and I missed her so much that day. I cried all during the service, and I’ve been crying every day since. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Today at the blog is set aside to honor this amazing woman of God, a warrior who has fought the good fight, finished her course, and kept the faith. As I began to think on what I would say about mom, I remembered a favorite passage of hers that she always discussed with her children, parents, and church members. That passage today will be the above quoted passage: Luke 12:16-21.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The context of the passage involves the story of two brothers, one who wanted the Lord to make the other divide the inheritance with him. Jesus tells them that life is about more than possessions. And the parable quoted above fits in at this ideal moment. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">There was a rich man who had so much wealth that he just didn’t know what to do with it. Now, it’s no secret that he was blessed. The text tells us that his “ground” (or field) “yielded plentifully.” This means that everything grew. All of his crops that he planted prospered. For most farmers, to have everything sprout and grow would be a miracle indeed, considering the weather that we’ve been having in North Carolina all summer so far! The rich man had “the Midas touch”; everything he planted prospered. As mom used to say about her parents (my grandparents), “they have green thumbs.” The rich man had a “green thumb.” Nothing but prosperity, wealth, and blessing was in sight. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now, you would think that at this moment, the man would decide to perform some act of kindness, some act of consideration for someone else other than himself. I’ve read this passage and stopped at this point to say, “Come on, rich man; stop and think. Think about all the poor people that needed food, clothing, shelter, etc. Think about those that needed some wood to warm the fire, or some food to carry them over until their next paycheck, or someone who needed a place to stay.” If his crops were doing that well, then surely, he had money to provide necessities for those who were less fortunate without asking for anything in return. Since the Lord had blessed his crops, you would think that the rich man would’ve gone and blessed someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Mom, when teaching Sunday school, would say, “I just get tired of driving down the road every day, to and from work, and seeing all these beautiful two-story homes with nobody to live in them. Does it make sense to buy a two-story home if you’re the only person living in it? And what about the homeless who walk the streets everyday with no clothes, shoes, or food? Why is it that they have to walk by the rich person’s house everyday and see a reminder that the rich person has so much, but gives so little?” She always thought about helping others. When mom died, my twin and I discovered that she had been donating money to St. Jude children’s hospital to help them find cures for child illnesses. She never told us she was doing it; we never talked about it all that much. She just had St. Jude’s receive a portion of her check every month, automatic draft. The money would go to the less fortunate, and she didn’t mind it. She was blessed to have a Batchelor of Arts degree in Accounting and Economics from Duke University (class of 1978), and she was a senior accountant at the corporate plant she worked for. Mom had a job with great benefits and great pay. She wasn’t concerned about the money that was leaving. It was a small price to pay to be a blessing to children who really needed it more than Danielle and me. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">But the rich man did not think about it. For him, <u>any</u> amount was too high to pay to bless someone else. He was only concerned about blessing himself. Do you know that so many church members do the same thing today, when they refuse to tithe a percentage of their earnings to the Lord, when they refuse to give God the firstfruits of their financial increase? Do you realize that, when we do not give to God’s church, we are robbing God? Do you not understand that, when we refuse to give financially, we are starving the poor, making the naked go without clothing, the sick children without medicine, the homeless without a home, etc.? Do you understand that, when we refuse to give financially (not just to the church but to the needy and less fortunate), we are acting just like the rich man---as if we could care less?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, he couldn’t care less, really...so he decided to do what all greedy people do: instead of thinking “go smaller,” he decided, “I know what I’ll do; I’ll do it bigger this time!” So he decided to tear down the barns he had (which were overflowing) and build bigger ones. I think that he should’ve looked at the bigger barns and gotten the hint. But greediness clouds sound judgment...and when someone is greedy through and through, there’s nothing anyone can do to turn them around. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">But little did he know that, although he would plan to build those bigger barns, he would not get to enjoy them. The very night he intended to lay down, eat, drink, and be merry, the Lord required him to stand before Him and be judged for what he had done with his life. Isn’t that interesting? Instead of spending his last moments making a difference, he decided to spend his last moments on earth thinking about himself. He had studied “ME-ology” way too much!!!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">How many times have we heard of stories of individuals doing the same things? How many times have we heard of people making plans to do much of nothing...and then, dying the very night the plans are made? One of my mother’s coworkers had planned to move to the company headquarters. He and his wife had gotten the UHaul, packed it, and were driving to Indiana where he was scheduled to get a bigger job with better benefits. He was not saved though, and all that week leading up to his departure, the Lord sent men and women to witness to him about the Lord, His gospel, and the need for this man to be saved and turn from sin to salvation. The man would listen to the pleas, but he did not respond. The last day at work, the women in the finance department (where my mother worked) witnessed to him again, but no response. Finally, it was after he and his wife got to Indiana that he died. He stepped out of the truck, pulled down the back of the truck to begin unpacking, and fell dead right on the grass with a heart attack. He had been planning to enjoy the new job, new promotion, and new home...but he did not get one hour to enjoy it!!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">And this is what happens to folks when they are rich in material possessions, and not rich where it counts---toward God. Mom was rich toward God. She loved the Lord with all her heart, served Him with all of her strength, and put Him before everyone else in her life. I sure hate that each and every one of you never got the chance to know her here. She had a relationship with the Lord that just made you envy her walk with God. I’ve been around a lot of people in my life...but very few have ever made me jealous of their walk with the Lord. Mom was one of those people.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">If she could talk to us today, if she could speak a word to those who are reading, she would say, “Be rich toward God. Store up treasure in heaven, not on earth. Be busy doing the work of the Lord. Serve Him fervently, and put Him before all things. Acknowledge His goodness and share His gospel with the lost of the world. And one day, when the Lord returns for you, you will hear the words, ‘Well done, thy good and faithful servant.’” My prayer for us all is that we will be busy doing the Lord’s work, always abounding in the work of the Lord...in this way our labor will not be in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). God bless.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><!--EndFragment-->Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-6910558205870756082011-06-11T16:24:00.003-04:002013-02-10T09:40:31.656-05:00A Conservative Egalitarianism: The Middle Way Between Complementarianism and FeminismRecently, I did a google search and found that a student in Michigan, named Chad Christian, wrote a paper in which he contrasted my view of egalitarianism with D.A. Carson's complementarianism. He concluded the paper by saying,<br />
<br />
"While I do not firmly take a stance on either side of this debate, I believe that both Carson and Richardson exercise two extreme positions in this debate" (http://chaddchristian.blogspot.com/2011/03/womans-role-in-church.html).<br />
<br />
To respond to Chad, let me say that first, I do not have an extreme position. I wrote him a response at his site, stating that my view of women and their gifts in the church does not negate the headship of the male and his authority in the home. After all, the New Testament shows us time and time again where wives are to submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22 being a good example). I am one who believes in teaching what the Bible does...so I would not tell women to not submit to their husbands. This is the position of feminists, who I dub "extreme egalitarians." The Bible tells wives to submit; for those who refuse to acknowledge scriptural teaching on this are opposing Scripture, which is the exalted, inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God.<br />
<br />
Last but not least, he writes that I oppose 1 Peter 3:7 as referring to spiritual authority. But what Chad does not understand is that I am defining "spiritual authority" in a different sense than he. He sees 1 Peter 3:7 as referring to spiritual authority, since the issue involved is headship in the home, which is given by God. I am referring to spiritual authority as having to do with the five-fold ministry of Ephesians 4 and the Spirit giftedness of 1 Corinthians 12. I am discussing ecclesiology when I discuss spiritual authority, which I deem to be distinct from God-given roles in the home. After all, Paul does the same when, in the same passage that he tells wives to submit to their husbands (5:22), he also tells the Ephesians that Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 5:23). Christ and the church are the example for the home, not the other way around. Many complementarians confuse which example is the standard...and thus, end up stifling the female voice in churches today.<br />
<br />
I am not denying that in some sense, male headship in the home is spiritual authority; what I am denying, however, is that male headship can be used as the paradigm by which men and women are to operate as believers in the church. I believe that a woman can submit to her husband in the home and yet, operate in her God-given role to preach the Word (even if he isn't called to do so) in the church of God. I see giftedness by the Spirit (preaching, teaching, pastoring, apostleship, prophecy, etc.) as spiritual authority that is manifested apart from the gender of an individual and/or whether or not the individual is to submit or lead in the home. After all, there will be no marriage between man and woman in heaven (Matt. 22:30); if the church is to usher in the coming Kingdom of God (Matt. 6:10), and the coming Kingdom will have no marriage, then the church should be a divine institution where women are able to preach, teach, apostle, and pastor as God has given them ability. This does not undermine marriage; rather, if the wife is to be the glory of her husband (1 Cor. 11:8), and the wife is preaching and teaching as God has given her ability, then she does so "to the glory of her husband." The more the husband allows his wife to exercise her gifts, the more glorious for him she will be. Conversely, the more the husband forces his wife to sit on the sidelines while he does the work of God, the less glorious he will be for God and His Kingdom. What a shame that so many men have this mindset! I thank God for those who don't, and pray for those who do that one day, their hearts and minds will be changed.<br />
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Feel free to check out Chad's site if you so desire. Also, feel free to leave comments. God bless.Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-28379551032119876012011-02-09T18:52:00.004-05:002011-02-09T18:59:40.099-05:00Women Preachers: "The Tenth Mark of a Healthy Church"<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><em>“Expositional preaching is preaching in service to the Word. It presumes a belief in the authority of Scripture---that the Bible is actually God’s Word; but it is something much more than that. A commitment to expositional preaching is a commitment to hear God’s Word---not just to affirm that it is God’s Word but to actually submit yourself to it. <u>The Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles</u> were given, not a personal commission to go and speak, but a particular message to deliver. <u>Likewise Christian preachers today</u> have authority to speak from God only so long as they speak His message and unfold His words”</em> (Mark Dever, “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, New Expanded Edition.” Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2004, pages 40-41).</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recently I had the pleasure of reading Mark Dever’s “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.” My seminary recently had a conference titled “Nine Marks,” and Dever actually came to Southeastern to be a part of the hype. His book has done remarkably well in the evangelical world and I highly recommend it to all believers. Dever’s got one of the finest books I’ve seen on the subject...</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was particularly struck by his words on expositional preaching. Dever made expositional preaching the first of 9 marks of a healthy church. In order for the church to get the other eight marks correct, Dever writes, it is important that expositional preaching be priority number one:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><em>“The first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching. It is not only the first mark; it is far and away the most important of them all, because if you get this one right, all the others should follow”</em> (Dever, “Nine Marks,” 39).</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But his remarks above on modern-day preachers I found to be most fascinating. Let’s read his remarks once more:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><em>“Expositional preaching is preaching in service to the Word. It presumes a belief in the authority of Scripture---that the Bible is actually God’s Word; but it is something much more than that. A commitment to expositional preaching is a commitment to hear God’s Word---not just to affirm that it is God’s Word but to actually submit yourself to it. <u>The Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles</u> were given, not a personal commission to go and speak, but a particular message to deliver. <u>Likewise Christian preachers today</u> have authority to speak from God only so long as they speak His message and unfold His words”</em> (Mark Dever, “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, New Expanded Edition.” Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2004, pages 40-41).</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today’s preachers are labeled (according to Dever) the “functional descendants” of the OT prophets and NT apostles. It seems that, like the Old Testament prophets of old (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Ezekiel, Amos, Jonah, etc.) and the NT apostles (Matthew, John, Peter, Andrew, James, etc.), today’s preachers have been given a message by God that they are to deliver. But if today’s preachers function like an “Isaiah” or a “Peter,” then wouldn’t women also be viewed as preachers also?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Think about it: In the Old Testament, it is true that there were male prophets such as the ones above; however there were also female prophets (prophetesses) such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14, 2 Chronicles 34:22). The prophet Joel himself even went on to claim that in the last days, daughters alongside of sons would prophesy (Joel 2:28), not to mention the maidservants alongside of the menservants (Joel 2:29). In the New Testament, women are allowed to pray and prophesy before the congregations (1 Cor. 11:5). This indeed tells us that women had leadership roles before God’s people (Deborah as judge and prophetess), and women did not lose the capacity to lead God’s people even in the New Testament (as prophetesses praying and prophesying in front of male and female congregants). </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We can set up the argument in the following syllogism:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Premise One: The modern-day preacher stands in the line of the OT prophets.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Premise Two: Some women (Deborah, Miriam, Huldah) were OT prophets.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Conclusion: Therefore, some women can be modern-day preachers.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It seems then, that leaving women out of the discussion of modern-day preachers has less to do with Scripture than it does tradition and personal bias. But, sadly, enough, I think this is one mark of the healthy church that Mark Dever himself forgot about.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Women are vital to the success of the church, as much as men are. When one-half of the body of Christ is being shut out of leadership positions, and the other half is more than encouraged (but fails in its work), what is supposed to be done? I applaud Mark Dever for telling the world what makes healthy churches; at the same time, however, his work is not infallible...and when women are being abandoned from leadership positions, treated as though they cannot possess the spiritual gifts needed for such positions, what good does it do to write a book on marks of healthy churches? What good does it do to tell the churches, “You need more of this and that,” while pushing the female gender aside and forgetting that, they too, make up the body of Christ? </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Women preachers are indeed the “tenth mark of a healthy church.” And even if there is expositional preaching, church discipline, strong church membership, strong evangelistic programs, strong discipleship, etc., we will still have an unhealthy church---until we recognize the spiritual giftedness of women and include them amongst the godly leadership in our churches. Whatever diagnosis the church of Jesus Christ has, she has given it to herself...and only she can make it better.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQSGJWOmQKzRjtP-au_m20q6viMjLXzFIMO1PnXdzhF9SHeuk_qtETtIEVK86LLHyll12rIwcR0KE1xZR25RiExKoWrYMwvhiDWGGOQ_xCGjksQMB0k1Hr9leTmYyU2UbUSQBonsko8-Tg/s1600/Nine+Marks+of+a+Healthy+Church+by+Mark+Dever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQSGJWOmQKzRjtP-au_m20q6viMjLXzFIMO1PnXdzhF9SHeuk_qtETtIEVK86LLHyll12rIwcR0KE1xZR25RiExKoWrYMwvhiDWGGOQ_xCGjksQMB0k1Hr9leTmYyU2UbUSQBonsko8-Tg/s1600/Nine+Marks+of+a+Healthy+Church+by+Mark+Dever.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></div>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-43109037672171560822011-02-03T09:00:00.001-05:002011-02-03T09:00:11.121-05:00In Memory of My Mother, Teressa A. Richardson (June 28,1956--February 3, 2009): The Lord, Our Light and Salvation<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this will I be confident.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0alYtn7Ws8L9W9PkdkEZjbMJCZKG4Of4Lkeq13gAUtSjEqxdgypI-Fxx3Nh1Mzkff9hSeANy4o_Hw8fnvV3W2Xgh9GY4YIvFOtAlsIviH_Znck6MeKS1AKQtUB95JLdd_Zq8WNkJr9CVx/s1600/My+family.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0alYtn7Ws8L9W9PkdkEZjbMJCZKG4Of4Lkeq13gAUtSjEqxdgypI-Fxx3Nh1Mzkff9hSeANy4o_Hw8fnvV3W2Xgh9GY4YIvFOtAlsIviH_Znck6MeKS1AKQtUB95JLdd_Zq8WNkJr9CVx/s320/My+family.bmp" width="320" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek; That I may dwell in the house of the LORD, All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD” (Psalm 27, vv. 1-6, New King James Version).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Today at both the Center for Theological Studies (CTS) and Men and Women in the Church, the day is set aside to honor the memory of my mother, dearest friend, and inspiration, Teressa A. Richardson. For those who may not know, today marks the two-year anniversary of her death. Mom died back on February 3, 2009, after a three-year battle with breast cancer, lung cancer, and brain cancer. When it was time, the Lord took His servant home to be with Him for all eternity...and mother slipped away from this life. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">She died when I was still 24 years old; and even today, at age 26 (soon to turn 27), I still miss my mom in my life. No matter how many seasons come and go, holidays, birthdays, or classes, I still miss her in my life. In the last two years, I’ve learned that nothing on this earth will ever take her place...and nothing on this earth will ever truly heal the void she left in my life when she passed from it. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The passage above, Psalm 27, was one of my mother’s favorite passages. The Psalm begins with, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?” If I could sum up my mother’s life in a few words, it would be these. She was one who, even in her tough times, could still take joy in knowing that God was still on her side. I can remember best when mom was sent home for six months. She was battling lung cancer, and her doctor told her, “Ms. Richardson, you’re gonna have to be out of work for at least six months.” My heart sank when I heard the news. But mom told me something afterwards that I wasn’t expecting:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I told the doctor, ‘I will go home for six months; but I will go back to work.’ The doctor looked at me and said, ‘But Teressa, you don’t understand how big this cancer is.’ And I looked at her and said, ‘Oh, but you don’t understand <u>HOW BIG MY GOD IS</u>!’”</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mom took me by storm with those words. Even in the midst of her storm, she could say, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?”. She didn’t even fear the cancer, because the Lord was her light (He led her in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s Sake, Ps. 23:3) and He was her salvation (He could deliver her from the cancer). No matter how great her cancer was, it didn’t stand a chance when standing next to her Great and Almighty God! </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">David cried out, “When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell” (v. 2). Mom experienced deliverance from cancer in her lifetime. I remember the first time she came down with cancer when I was still in college. She told me over the phone (I was still away in college at UNC-Chapel Hill), “I’ve got something to tell you.” I kept pressing her to tell me what it was, but she waited until I was home. The news broke my heart, but that night, standing in her mother’s (my grandmother’s home), grandma, mom, Danielle, and I all stood around in a circle, holding hands, as grandma began to call upon the name of the Lord in prayer. I cried so many tears in that prayer, crying to the Lord to heal my mother...</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And I can remember when He did. That day, we all went to the clinic with mom to see her to her doctor’s visit. And I can remember when mom came out crying and saying, “The cancer is gone!” I remember crying and screaming and saying, “Thank you Jesus!”, as my family tried to calm me down. All I could do was cry and scream, “Praise the Lord!” throughout the doctor’s office. My mother was healed of her cancer, and I wanted EVERYONE to know that the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, had done it; He had healed my mother of her life-threatening disease! She returned to church and in her testimony, broke down in tears as she began to tell the church family of what God had done for her. God had healed her, and she wanted everyone to know of the goodness of the Lord. Whether in good times or bad times, mom was determined to be a witness for God with every breath she was given. As verse 3 says, even though the army enclosed around David, he was confident of God’s power. Even though the cancer enclosed mother, she was confident that her God, at any moment, could deliver her. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Verses 4 and 5 tell of David’s desire to “dwell in the house of the Lord” and his reason for so doing: “for in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set he high upon a rock” (v.5). Mom loved to dwell in the house of the Lord, to be amongst fellow believers and live in the presence of her God. Sunday mornings were church mornings, no questions asked. You could like it or not...you were going to church. If you were alive and breathing, church was the place you were headed to on Sunday morning when the sun began to shine. She loved to meet with the saints of God, encourage, and give her testimony of the Lord’s goodness. She taught Sunday school, and encouraged our church family to be about witnessing to the lost and dying people of the world. She often said that God did not save us to sit down on the pew; no---He saved us so we could go tell someone else and bring them to the “Living Water” that only Christ could give. David realized the benefit of living in the presence of God and being a child of God: when the going gets tough, God is right there fighting for His children. Mom found joy in doing the Lord’s work because she knew that, when trouble would come, God would always “show up” and come through for His own. She was always troubled at how people can have so little time for God, but cry out to Him so much when they have a disease like cancer that they cannot get rid of. And how could they expect God to remember them, when they surely seemed to care little about Him or His kingdom? She would tell the Sunday school class, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). She used to tell them that, before the days turn bad, remember God even in the good times. And she lived that out in her own life.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In verse 6, David praises God because “now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me.” God finally heard David’s cries and delivered him, as David knew God would do. In response to the Lord’s goodness, David began to bless the Lord: “Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord” (v.6). Mom experienced the goodness of God in her life; and it drove her, like David, to sing praises and bless the Lord. Even during the times in her life when she felt as if God was distant, mom would still praise Him. When God would bless her, she would praise Him and give thanks to His Name for His goodness. And when she was battling for her own health and life, mom could still praise God for His goodness. Even through her tears, she could still praise God. I thank the Lord that I got to see a woman who never tired of praising God, even in the storms of life.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If mom were here, she would ask you, “Is the Lord your light and your salvation?” Is God present in your life? Can you agree with the psalmist David in this statement? Can you say that, because God is on your side, you have nothing to fear, no need to fear? If you don’t know the Lord, I challenge you to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior today. The Bible, God’s Holy Word, declares that “nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We can only be saved at the name of Jesus Christ, and at the name of Christ alone.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You may ask, “Why do I need to receive this Jesus?” You need to receive Him because we have all sinned, and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23). We all have done something wrong to offend the Almighty God. Because He is holy, He has to deal with sin. Each of us sinned in Adam (Rom. 5:12) and deserved to die, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). But I love the end of that verse: while “the wages of sin is death” it is also true that “the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Christ paid the penalty for our sin when He died on the cross. He became the curse for us, bore the curse that we deserved to bear so that we could take on His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). Here is how the prophet Isaiah summed it all up:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for OUR transgressions, He was bruised for OUR iniquities; the chastisement for OUR peace was upon Him, and BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him THE INIQUITY OF US ALL” (Isaiah 53:4-6).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is our sin that put Christ on the cross. But He paid our debt because God so loved the world (John 3:16). It is in love that God gave His Son, and whoever believes and calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. In times of trouble, as He hid mother, so also He will hide you.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sickness, disease, and death will come, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow; but do you know the One that can heal your sin-sick soul? “There is a balm in Gilead,” and His name is Jesus. Only Jesus will do. There is no other that can take His place. If you do not receive Him, you are condemned already, and nothing but Hell eternal awaits you (John 3:17-18). But if you receive Him, not only will you receive a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24), but you will spend eternity with Him. The choice is up to you. Don’t delay: receive Him today. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://listen.grooveshark.com/s/The+Lord+Is+My+Light+danniebelle+live+In+Sweden+With+Choralerna+Album+Version+/3npK2Q?src=5">http://listen.grooveshark.com/s/The+Lord+Is+My+Light+danniebelle+live+In+Sweden+With+Choralerna+Album+Version+/3npK2Q?src=5</a></span></b></div>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-62481496048350502282011-01-21T15:28:00.001-05:002011-03-17T15:05:42.031-04:00Exegetical Fallacies in D.A. Carson's "Exegetical Fallacies," Pt. 3: Failure to Recognize Distinctions<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><em>“Of course the Bible teaches that in Christ there is no male and female (Gal. 3:28); but does the Bible mean that male and female are alike in every respect? Who is going to bear the babies? Or do I now get my turn? <u>The context of Galatians 3:28 shows the concern in that passage is with justification. In their standing before God, male and female are as one: neither enjoys any special advantage</u>, each is acquitted by grace through faith...According to Luke, Peter cites Joel to the effect that both male and female shall prophesy (Acts 2:17); and certainly in the New Testament women do in fact prophesy (Acts 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:2-16). But <u>Peter also says that the woman is the weaker vessel (1 Pet. 3:7). Whether this is taken with respect to physical strength or something else, it entails some sort of distinction</u>; and a very good case can be made from New Testament evidence that a distinction was drawn between the gift of prophecy, which men and women could equally enjoy, and the church-recognized teaching authority over men, which only men could discharge”</em> (D.A. Carson, “Exegetical Fallacies, Second Edition.” Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006, pages 92-93).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Today’s fallacy quote by D.A. Carson comes from his labeled fallacy “Failure to Recognize Distinctions.” While Carson is quite the dogmatic Calvinist, he is also a staunch complementarian. You may not believe this, but most of his book spends time critiquing egalitarians more than it does Arminians (which is the other group he attacks). </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Carson argues that, since men and women are biologically different, such biological distinctions testify to distinctions of spiritual authority in the church: </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><em>“does the Bible mean that male and female are alike in every respect? Who is going to bear the babies? Or do I now get my turn?”</em></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">The problem with this quote is that Carson goes from a biological distinction (that women are child-bearers) to spiritual authority without giving any biblical proof. At the most, this is just an absurd inference that the text does not justify. Not even the Scriptures state that spiritual authority is given on the basis of biological distinction. Rather, spiritual authority is given by the decision of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). Carson is really stretching his exegesis on this one. To be somewhat facetious, “Who is going to do sound exegesis? Carson? Or do I now get my turn”?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Next, Carson gives another somewhat biological proof for his disagreement with women teaching men: </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><em>“According to Luke, Peter cites Joel to the effect that both male and female shall prophesy (Acts 2:17); and certainly in the New Testament women do in fact prophesy (Acts 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:2-16). But <u>Peter also says that the woman is the weaker vessel (1 Pet. 3:7). Whether this is taken with respect to physical strength or something else, it entails some sort of distinction.”</u></em></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">What does “the weaker vessel” reference have to do with spiritual authority in the church? When Peter refers to the woman as the weaker vessel, he is not talking about the female intellect. 1 Peter 3:7 discusses the context of marriage (not spiritual authority in the church), so Peter is not saying that women are weak and cannot lead in church. Rather, he is referring to the woman in terms of physical strength, vulnerability in the marriage, etc. This is why men are to give honor to their wives: since Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians that “God composed the body, <u>having given greater honor to that part which lacks it</u>” (1 Cor. 12:24, NKJV). Women are not only to be honored because God gives them greater honor in their marriages, but also “that your prayers may not be hindered.” Does this mean that the man’s prayers could be hindered if he dishonors his wife in any way? Yes. Could this possibly refer to spiritual gifts: that is, that if a man dishonors his wife in her spiritual calling, he will hinder his prayers? Absolutely! I doubt, however, that complementarians give this any thought. D.A. Carson does not, in his reference to the passage. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">A wife desires to be cherished, to be appreciated, to be seen as more than a sex object to be tossed around at will. But how do complementarians justify their treatment of their wives in church when they prevent them to do what they are called to do? I am thinking of a couple at this very moment where both husband and wife have PhDs. The husband is allowed to teach, publish, write, research, and do all that is in his heart...while his wife received a PhD in order to sit by his side and take care of their children. How right is this? What did she get her PhD for if she would do nothing with it? And does the husband in this case not consider that he might be hindering his wife’s progress, the progress of their marriage, not to mention their prayers? It’s certainly something worth thinking about.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Carson ends his assessment with the idea that the Scriptures teach some sort of leadership distinction between men and women (appealing to 1 Timothy 2). The problem, however, is that one cannot just blow off the context of Galatians. Let’s now revisit Carson’s assessment of Galatians:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">“The context of Galatians 3:28 shows the concern in that passage is with justification. In their standing before God, male and female are as one: neither enjoys any special advantage</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">, each is acquitted by grace through faith.” </span></b></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Carson claims that neither male nor female “enjoys any special advantage,” and each person is “acquitted by grace through faith.” But, notice Carson’s “slide” qualification here: Carson doesn’t just say that neither enjoys special privileges; rather, the privilege that is the same for both male and female is “acquitted by grace through faith.” To Carson, salvation is alike for both male and female, but that’s all. Women are not given the same gifts as men for the same places of leadership in the church.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">But does not God gives gifts as He pleases (1 Cor. 12:11)? If this be the case, then how can Carson argue that a distinction in gender explains the Holy Spirit’s moving? Don’t you think that the Holy Spirit could have explained this if He desired to? Since the Spirit is the Creator of the early church, could He not have spoken to us clearly about the Spirit giving gifts “according to gender”? Paul clearly knew how to write “male and female” in Galatians 3:28---so why didn’t he write that in 1 Corinthians 12:11? </span></b></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Carson’s exegesis has problems simply because he attempts to make distinctions in gifting a result of gender, not a result of the Spirit’s own decision. I guess the next question becomes, “Does the Spirit desire to gift according to gender?”...and sadly enough, Carson has staked out on a position that is unbiblical. If anyone has failed to recognize distinctions, it’s D.A. Carson himself, the same man (may I admit) that wrote a book explaining the nature and practice of exegetical fallacies.</span></b>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-63662667960635402392011-01-18T14:00:00.003-05:002011-03-17T15:03:18.718-04:00Exegetical Fallacies in D.A. Carson's "Exegetical Fallacies," Pt. 2: Reconciling 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Corinthians 14<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">For those who desire to see Pt. 1 of this series, please go to my other blog, The Center for Theological Studies (CTS).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><em>“In this case, however, there is no need for such a procedure of last resort. The passage can be and has been adequately explained in its context. There are ample parallels to this way of looking to the Old Testament for a principle, not a quotation (and the principle in question is doubtless Gen. 2:20b-24, referred to by Paul both in 1 Cor. 11:8-9 and in 1 Tim. 2:13); and the demand for silence on the part of women does not bring on irreconcilable conflict with 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, where under certain conditions women are permitted to pray and prophesy, because <u>the silence of 14:33b-36 is limited by context: women are to keep silent in connection with the evaluation of prophecies, to which the context refers, for otherwise they would be assuming a role of doctrinal authority in the congregation (contra 1 Tim. 2:11-15)</u>”</em> (D.A. Carson, “Exegetical Fallacies, Second Edition.” Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006, pages 40-41).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">In the last post, I critiqued Dr. Carson’s idea of a tense fallacy regarding I. Howard Marshall’s interpretation of Hebrews 3. I made it clear there that Carson simply takes the perfect tense, looks to the end of the human life, and concludes that those who are true believers are only those who endure to the end. You may not have caught on to it, but what Carson is saying is, “Only those who endure to the end ever believed to begin with.” The sad part about such a statement is, that if one does not endure to the end, according to Carson, such an individual was “never saved to begin with.” But, if the individual was never saved, then how about you and me? How about those who love God in the present, who serve Him, worship Him, and do His work? If believers in the here and now must endure to even know if they are saved, how can they know they are saved “now”? How can they know if they are saved “today”? See, Dr. Carson’s words sound believable until we start to question the believer’s salvation---then, things turn ugly. But Carson’s question is a good one for those who insist that the apostate “was never saved.” If the apostate can do what he did, how do you and I know that we will not end up like him? To know the end in the here and now takes a special omniscience, one that you and I do not possess whatsoever. Therefore, when we question that the apostate was ever saved, we are questioning if even we ourselves are saved...and I doubt the believer wants to take that treacherous step.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">In today’s post, however, I will not discuss the doctrine of apostasy...instead, I will tackle another fallacy of Carson’s: “Appeal to unknown or unlikely meanings.” In the quote above, we find Carson critiquing an assessment of Walter Kaiser Jr.’s regarding the word “nomos” (Grk. “law”) in 1 Corinthians 14:33-36. Kaiser argues that the word “nomos” there refers to rabbinical law. Carson insists that this is highly unlikely, and then goes on to give his own assessment of what “law” Paul may have referred to: “<u>the silence of 14:33b-36 is limited by context: women are to keep silent in connection with the evaluation of prophecies, to which the context refers, for otherwise they would be assuming a role of doctrinal authority in the congregation (contra 1 Tim. 2:11-15)</u>.”</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">In the sentence before the one I just quoted (see quote above at the top of the post), Carson feels the need to reconcile 1 Corinthians 14 with the permission of women to prophecy before the congregation in 1 Corinthians 11. His solution? Women can pray and prophesy (as 1 Cor. 11 allows), but they cannot “evaluate prophecies.”</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Now, whenever a solution or remedy is proposed to texts that seem to conflict with one another, the solution always has to be tested against the context. If there is a solution proposed that may sound believable but does not fit the context, then believers must toss the theory out and look for another proposal that will adhere to sound hermeneutics.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Since Dr. Carson has proposed the prohibition of women from prophecy evaluation, it’s now time to check that view against the context of 1 Corinthians (before we can decide whether or not it would even adhere to 1 Timothy 2).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">First, let’s note that the background to 1 Corinthians 14:33 is concerned with bringing understanding to the body of Christ (as well as unbelievers). At the beginning of chapter 14, Paul tells the Corinthians that their focus on tongues as a spiritual gift is lopsidedly misguided: that is, they should desire to prophesy above all. Why? Because “<u>he who speaks in a tongue</u> does not speak to men but to God, for <u>no one understands him</u>...but he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men...edifies the church” (1 Cor. 14:2-4, NKJV).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">This theme is continued in his discussion of speaking in tongues: “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Cor. 14:19). The goal of speaking in the church is to edify the body of Christ, to encourage, to push forward into the things of God. How can that be done if the person does not understand the language in which someone is speaking? How can one put something into action that he or she does not understand? Paul uses this logic to argue that speaking in tongues is a good gift and fit for use before God...but it is not to be publicly proclaimed amongst believers, especially when there is no interpreter to bridge communication between the unknown language and confused believers (1 Cor. 14:28).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">In verses 29-32, Paul begins to turn the discussion towards prophets and prophecy: “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For <u>you can all prophesy one by one</u>, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.” What Paul is doing here is exactly what he is doing in all of chapter 14--- providing instructions on how to maintain order and harmony in the body of Christ. Things are out of place, as the Corinthians themselves desire to speak in tongues and are so doing, despite the presence/absence of an interpreter. Paul is aware that worship serves are becoming places where confusion runs rampant, so he feels the need to address the issues. With the prophets, each is to have his/her turn in prophesying, while each is to judge in turn. Paul’s emphasis on “ALL may learn and ALL may be encouraged” (v.31) is his way of saying, “everyone has a moment to act in church. No one person has to “bull-doze” the others in order to get a moment to prophesy and judge. There is enough room in God’s House (the church) for everyone to be given their opportunity to exercise their gifts.” In essence, “Corinthians, what are you fighting about?”</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">When we get to the prohibition against women speaking in church, the tendency is to do what Carson does: to claim that women are prohibited from evaluating prophecy, and tie it in with 1 Timothy 2 (which is Carson’s prooftext for everything women can and cannot do. What about the other texts regarding women?). However, the context does not point out that women cannot evaluate prophecy. After all, look at Paul’s words:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">“And the spirits of the prophets <u>are subject to the prophets</u>” (1 Cor. 14:32).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">If this follows with verses 31 and before, then Paul is saying that judging prophecy is to be left to those who are prophets in the house of God. And this contradicts Carson’s idea that women cannot judge prophecy because women themselves are prophets. As Carson himself says in the quote above, “...under certain conditions women are permitted to pray <u>and prophesy</u>” (Carson, “Exegetical Fallacies,” page 40). If women are allowed to pray “and prophesy,” then why would women be automatically forbidden from evaluation prophecy? I’ll set up a syllogism:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Premise #1: Only prophets can judge prophecy.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Premise #2: Some women are prophets.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Conclusion: Therefore, female prophets (prophetesses) cannot judge prophecy.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">The conclusion does not follow from the premises. If women are prophets, and prophets are the ones to judge prophecy, then why would women be prohibited from judging prophecy? Carson’s thought here does not follow, considering his own admission that women were allowed to prophesy in the Corinthian congregation. He is only left, in the end, to appeal to 1 Timothy 2 to make his case.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">By so arguing, Carson has forgotten the principal rule of hermeneutics: that is, that one must first assessment a statement made in the context in which the statement was written. One cannot make a case to link the prohibition of 1 Corinthians 14:34 with 1 Timothy 2 unless he or she knows what the statement meant to the Corinthian congregation in 1 Corinthians 14 (and the larger context of 1 Corinthians). Then and only then, can Carson appeal to 1 Timothy 2. As is seen here, Carson claims that he is calling Walt Kaiser, Jr. on a fallacy--- but instead, he fumbles and commits one of his own. See? “I told ya” that it’s ironic Carson commits exegetical fallacies in a book written against committing exegetical fallacies...</span></b></div>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-20438147610032529912011-01-14T11:38:00.000-05:002011-01-14T11:38:30.738-05:00New Series! Dear Men and Women,<br />
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Your blog owner, Deidre Richardson here. I'm writing to share with you a new series I'm about to undergo at the site "Men and Women" as well as my other research site, "The Center for Theological Studies" (CTS). I sent CTS a post regarding the new series. I thought I'd send it to you all as well. May the Lord bless you in the days ahead. Happy New Year!<br />
- Deidre<br />
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<strong> Dear Readership,</strong><br />
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<strong> Happy New Year again to you! About a week ago, I wrote my latest post at CTS. I realize that it has been an entire week since I've written. I wanna take time here to apologize to my readership for the time that I have been away. I am currently registered in a January term class here at Southeastern Seminary, called "Critical Thinking and Argumentation." I've spent the last two weeks going to class everyday from 8am-12:30pm, followed by a nap at home...only to wake up, shower, get dressed, grab dinner, and study with a brother of mine. It's been one heck of a two weeks!! Continue to pray for me; I am doing well, but I've pulled all-nighters everyday for the last two weeks just to make sure I'm up and awake for class at 8am. I don't do very well with morning classes, so I've been sleeping about 5 hours or so doing the day in order to have just enough sleep to stay up and do homework all night. In addition to the chapters of reading and the 150-page book my class has been reading (which I'll talk about in a minute), I've also been given the joy of having computer software (called "LogiCola") that tests your knowledge of the chapters in the book. I recently took my midterm in the Critical Thinking class and was thankful that I played with the software during the week. Many of the questions came from the software...so it was good to see that my efforts did not go unrewarded :-)</strong><br />
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<strong> On to the book my class has been reading...the title of the book is called "Exegetical Fallacies" by D. A. Carson. Now that I've read the book, I have to write an 8-page sermon (exegetical), using ten of the 56 fallacies Carson mentions in his book. It's a fun assignment...but it's also a hard one. I'm gonna struggle most with committing logical fallacies. I've been taught as an apologetics major here at Southeastern that God is a God of logic, a God of order...as creatures made in God's image and likeness, we too, should strive to think God's thoughts after Him. So committing logical fallacies to get a good grade...it's what I'm required to do, but my fear is that I'll write a sermon thinking I've committed fallacies that may not even be fallacies :-) such is the fear of every seminary student...</strong><br />
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<strong>Having read Carson's book, I noticed that he tends to critique the views of Arminians and the position I'd like to refer to as "Spirit-gifting" in regards to the issue of women in ministry. I have used the term "egalitarian" at my other site, "Men and Women in the Church," but I do so to distinguish it from the view of complementarianism. There are some things that egalitarians believe that I do not. Among these, some egalitarians, particularly feminists, like to refer to "women's rights" in regards to women in the church. Instead, I focus more on Spirit-gifting because to me, the debate on men and women in the church is not political, but Scriptural. I hold to the headship of men in the home, but I do so because wives are commanded to submit to their husbands in several places in the New Testament. However, I don't see the kind of evidence that complementarianism espouses regarding women in the church in the Scriptures themselves. Rather, I see the presupposition (or assumption) that 1 Timothy 2: 8-15 means that women cannot be in leadership, and then everything else in Scripture regarding women is defined in terms of that one text (others being Titus 2 or 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 14, etc.). I think 1 Timothy 2 as it has been interpreted by complementarians cannot stand up to the claims the Scriptures themselves make regarding the gifting of the Spirit. God didn't create roles irrespective of Spirit-gifting; rather, He created roles "in accordance with" Spirit-gifting. As a result, complementarians have to prove that a woman cannot serve in a role because she is not given certain gifts, rather than just "women have certain fixed roles in the church." And I don't think anyone can claim that God can't gift a woman to preach, teach, pastor, etc. To make that claim would amount to heresy, as some would begin to limit God's sovereignty. Calvinists (and even some Arminians) should think twice before making this mistake.</strong><br />
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<strong> And that brings me to the announcement. This coming week, starting Monday, January 17, 2011, I intend to start a new series here at the Center for Theological Studies titled "Exegetical Fallacies in D.A. Carson's 'Exegetical Fallacies.'" I think that Dr. Carson, as much as I respect him, has fallacies on his own (ironicly) in a book in which he tells believers not to commit exegetical fallacies. What I aim to do in this new series is show that Carson brings his own presuppositions to the biblical evidence, and that he attacks all views that disagree with his and uses both Arminians and egalitarians as part of his "fallacy" attacks. I have to be honest and admit that he does attack some of his Calvinist brethren who smear Calvin's name (and claim that Calvin separated faith and reason), but these examples are few compared to the "overwhelming" (I can use no less of an honest term) attacks he makes against egalitarians and their claims. I for one here at the Center often critique sharply the views of those who disagree with me...but I have my reasons. And I hope that you, the readership, will seriously study my views of theology and the Scriptures and question whether or not I hold to the biblical text. I desire to be faithful to what God says in His Word. I realize that we all have presuppositions, but that is not the issue; rather, the question to ask ourselves is, "Does the Bible support the way I think about this?", or, "Does the Bible support my perspective on this given issue?". These are the kinds of questions we must ask ourselves.</strong><br />
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<strong> So much for a brief announcement! In any case, I just wanted to let you all know that I am soon to return to CTS. I have much to tell and show in the coming days about the new understanding the course in Critical Thinking has provided. God bless you all...and keep studying the Scriptures for the glory of God.</strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-45330647318765160012010-11-11T21:55:00.005-05:002010-11-11T22:20:51.322-05:00"No Longer Binding"<span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><em>“In the first-century situation with its generally patriarchal society, where women played little part in public affairs, teaching by women could be regarded as an unacceptable breach of behavior patterns, whether among Jews or also among some Gentiles. ACCORDINGLY, THE RESTRICTION CAN BE INTERPRETED AS A CULTURALLY SHAPED PROHIBITION THAT IS NO LONGER BINDING IN A DIFFERENT SETTING. The difficulty is in the appeal to Scripture that is used to back up the prohibition. It has a twofold argument that Adam was created prior to Eve (and therefore is superior), and that it is Eve who was deceived by the serpent (with the implication that women are still more likely to be deceived than men). THIS SEEMS TO BE A DOCTRINAL RATHER THAN A CULTURAL CONSIDERATION AND IS DECISIVE FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT THE AUTHORITY OF A PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE MUST BE ACCEPTED EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS TO RUN AGAINST THE GRAIN OF NT TEACHING GENERALLY (e.g., Gal. 3:28)” </em>(I. Howard Marshall, “1 Timothy,” from “Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey” by Kevin Vanhoozer, General Editor. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009, page 166).<br />
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Have you ever had a moment in which someone you admired or had great respect for said something that you disagreed with? I had that moment when reading the above quote. Marshall writes that the prohibition in 1 Timothy 2:12 could be interpreted as “a culturally shaped prohibition that is no longer binding...” These words trouble me greatly. <br />
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Now, I have to confess: I was raised in a very strict Christian home where the Bible was the infallible, inerrant, inspired, Word of God. No one questioned in my family that the Bible was the ultimate source of authority for godly living. But along with these presuppositions regarding Scripture was placed another presupposition: that is, that the words of Scripture themselves were always binding on God’s people; that is, that in every verse of Scripture, there was a principle that could be applied to contemporary living (as was the thought of two thousand years ago).<br />
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Imagine then, what I thought when I stumbled upon I. Howard Marshall’s words. I have great respect for Dr. Marshall. I read his work, own some of his work, and value him as a theologian and Greek scholar. But I disagree with interpreting 1 Timothy 2:12 as just a “culturally shaped prohibition.”<br />
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I think the problem with the universal principle behind 1 Timothy 2:12 involves how to take the prohibition, wrapped in its context, and “connect the bridge” (my hermeneutics professor once said) from the time of the first century to the twenty-first century. To discover the universal principle behind the verse, we must first accept the idea that the Scriptures are binding at all times, in all places. The universal binding of Scripture can be seen via two passages, 2 Timothy 3 and 2 Peter 1:</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NKJV).<br />
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“knowing this first, that NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE IS OF ANY PRIVATE INTERPRETATION, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but HOLY MEN OF GOD SPOKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT” (2 Peter 1:20-21).<br />
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2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that “all Scripture” is inspired and useful for “instruction in righteousness.” The word “all” in the Greek is “pas,” which, according to Thayer’s Dictionary means “individually, each, every, any, whole,” etc. The parts of Scripture comprise to create “all Scripture.” If this is the case, then everything that is said about “all Scripture” includes 1 Timothy 2:12. I’ll set up a syllogism:<br />
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1)”All Scripture” is inspired by God and useful.<br />
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2) 1 Timothy 2:12 is part of Scripture.<br />
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3) If all Scripture is divinely inspired and useful, and 1 Timothy 2:12 is a part of Scripture, then 1 Timothy 2:12 is divinely inspired and useful.<br />
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This being the case, we must find out what universal principle we can draw from the text itself. One of the main universal principles we can draw out of the text is to attack false teaching. In the immediate context of 1 Timothy 2 is 1 Timothy 1, where Paul gives Timothy his reason for leaving Timothy behind in Ephesus:</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia---remain in Ephesus THAT YOU MAY CHARGE SOME THAT THEY TEACH NO OTHER DOCTRINE” (1 Timothy 1:1).<br />
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“knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate...and if there is any other thing that is CONTRARY TO SOUND DOCTRINE” (1 Tim. 1:9-10).<br />
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“desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” (1 Tim. 1:7).<br />
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In the immediate context of chapter 2, the issue that plagues the church at Ephesus is false teaching. So, a universal principle could be, “contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) and put down the false teaching. Paul does this himself when he writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:13-14, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” Here, Paul was setting the record straight: it was not Adam who was deceived (“Adam was not deceived”), it was Eve; and Adam was first in creation, not Eve (“Adam was formed first, then Eve”). <br />
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Now, by providing words above, I don’t mean to say that ONLY WOMEN who are teaching false doctrine should be put down. This is where I stand against many conservatives: I think that the Bible’s emphasis is to put down false teaching always, regardless of whether it comes from a man or a woman (1 Tim. 6:3-5; 1 Tim. 4; 2 Tim. 2:17-18; Titus 1:10-14 and Titus 2; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Colossians 2:8-10; Galatians 3-5; Romans 11; etc). <br />
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Scripture seems to attack false teaching, from beginning to end. Even after the Pastorals (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus) there is attack made on false teaching in the letters of 2 Peter, Jude, and so on. I. Howard Marshall errs in his argument when he writes that the prohibition is possibly a “culturally-shaped” prohibition without a universally binding principle. If one believes the Bible to be the ultimate authoritative standard for the Christian life, then one must affirm the universally-binding principles of the Word of God. Someone who fails to affirm a universal principle in the teaching prohibition might feel the need someday to argue that the biblical teaching on the exclusivity of Christ as “The Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6) is only a temporary statement as well.</strong></span>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-57216622464774276162010-11-06T20:20:00.003-04:002010-11-06T20:28:33.356-04:00Female Rabbi Ordained in Germany<strong>Dear Readership,</strong><br />
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<strong>I just stumbled today upon this article regarding a female, Alina Treiger, who was just ordained to be the first female rabbi since 1935. If I'm not mistaken, Alina Treiger was ordained to the German rabbi circle on November 4, 2010. To read the article, go here: </strong><br />
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</strong><br />
<strong>http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6188567,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf</strong><br />
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<strong>I desire to know your thoughts on this somewhat history-making event for Germany. Please comment here to give me some feedback. I'm sure this will make for interesting discussion.</strong><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIbq0IzfA6BVw04u0VWYkef17QejdhohJYpr7VEREe8GMgz5OQ0b0teumej0bKx_IdHkUlazsHwJiHdKv_GQ9WF2568J9EK2-x_d1Wa8u_lUEx0WSkLaqg_ctkazaj9Q7j-Lc-EriCWbWz/s1600/Female+Rabbi+Ordained+in+Germany.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIbq0IzfA6BVw04u0VWYkef17QejdhohJYpr7VEREe8GMgz5OQ0b0teumej0bKx_IdHkUlazsHwJiHdKv_GQ9WF2568J9EK2-x_d1Wa8u_lUEx0WSkLaqg_ctkazaj9Q7j-Lc-EriCWbWz/s320/Female+Rabbi+Ordained+in+Germany.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-32092347404786066432010-11-05T19:18:00.001-04:002010-11-11T14:20:57.546-05:00"A Deeper Theological Issue"<b><i>“Why this concern to separate the roles of men and women and to silence women teachers in the church’s worship? At the practical level, SILENCING WOMEN TEACHERS CUT THE FALSE TEACHING OFF AT ITS SOURCE---wealthy women, as we have seen, were probably financing the false teachers and spreading the false teachers’ heresy themselves, and younger widows, happily released from any obligation to marry and care for children, were going about from house to house teaching the heresy”</i> (Frank Thielman, “Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach.” Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005, page 419).<br />
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Reading the above quote from Frank Thielman’s New Testament Theology encouraged my heart somewhat. I stayed up late this morning to see what he had to say about the Pastoral Epistles. I’ve read a great deal of his theology textbook this semester and I like the things he has to say. His work has been impeccable, in all of the letters of the NT he traces. So I wanted to know his thoughts. Immediately, I began to think of the site here, “Men and Women,” and it became clear to me that I would have a blog post---whether it would be a positive or negative one, I would have something new to add to the work done here.<br />
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I sat down and read attentively. And in his section titled “The Church Gathered For Worship,” I read the above quote. All along, Thielman implicated women in the false teaching at Ephesus:<br />
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<i>“...false teachers are ‘ruining whole households’ (Titus 1:11). They apparently do this by insinuating themselves into homes and CONVINCING ALREADY CORRUPT WOMEN OF THEIR FALSE TEACHING (2 TIM. 3:6). PERHAPS WE CAN ALSO LINK TOGETHER PAUL’S claim that a desire for wealth motivated the false teachers (1 Tim. 6:5; cf. 6:6-10, 17-19), his concern that women not make ostentatious displays of their wealth (2:9), and HIS CONCERN THAT WOMEN NOT TEACH IN THE CHURCH (2:11-14). WEALTHY WOMEN IN EPHESUS MAY HAVE BEEN PAYING THE FALSE TEACHERS TO TUTOR THEM AND THEN CONVEYING THE FALSE TEACHING THEY LEARNED TO THE CHURCHES THAT MET IN THEIR HOUSES”</i> (Thielman, 412).<br />
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<i>“If men in the church are involved in angry disputes, they cannot lift holy hands in prayer, and if their behavior hinders their prayers, then it also hinders the advancement of the gospel (2:1-8). If WOMEN IN THE CHURCH ARE abandoning modesty and like Eve, succumbing to Satan’s offer of sinful knowledge, AND THEN TEACHING THIS ERROR TO OTHERS (2:9-14; 5:15), then their very salvation is threatened (2:15)”</i> (414).<br />
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<i>“WOMEN---particularly the wealthy women who may have paid the false teachers to tutor them, and the younger widows whom the church has supported from its common funds---ARE APPARENTLY AMONG THE CHIEF ADVOCATES OF THE HERESY THAT HAS LED TO THIS BEHAVIOR. WEALTHY WOMEN ARE PERHAPS TEACHING THE HERESY IN THEIR HOUSES while the men spend church meetings not in prayer but in angry disputes about the heresy. THE YOUNGER WIDOWS, freed by the largesse of the church from the responsibilities of marriage and child-rearing, which they do not believe in anyway, CAN SPEND THEIR TIME MAKING THE ROUNDS OF BELIEVERS’ HOUSEHOLDS ADVOCATING THE FALSE TEACHING”</i> (417).<br />
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In these four references (the beginning quote plus the three quotes above), Thielman seems to link women with the false teaching: not only were they listening to it and entertaining it, they were also teaching it themselves. In the first quote above, Thielman states that to prohibit women from teaching would stop the spread of heresy. Since women were the ones propagating and clinging to the heresy, prohibiting the women teaching would stop the false teachers’ influence in the church at Ephesus. In turn, the false teachers would have to find some other way to stir up trouble (aside from the women). <br />
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But this is where Thielman then takes a turn for the worse:<br />
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<i>“As is already apparent from Paul’s willingness to separate the roles of the sexes in worship in 2:8-9 and to silence all women teachers in 2:12, however, a deeper theological issue is at stake in this gender-specific ordering of worship. Paul states this issue explicitly in 2:13-15. God fashioned human beings in two genders, male and female, and the order in which he created them implies distinct roles in the church for each gender...women should submit to the authority of the church’s male leadership because ‘Adam was formed first, then Eve’ (2:13). Men, rather than women, should teach BECAUSE EVE RATHER THAN ADAM WAS SATAN’S FIRST VICTIM IN THE DECEPTION THAT LED TO THE DISOBEDIENCE DESCRIBED IN GENESIS 3:6. THE IMPLICATION IS CLEAR: Adam and Eve violated the divine ordering of the genders when Eve led Adam to disobey God’s command”</i> (419).<br />
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Up to this point, Thielman has shown us in context that women were involved in teaching heresy; that women were not only soaking up the teaching but spreading that to others, presumably other women in the congregation. In addition there is evidence that these women may very well have been told to “learn in silence with full submission” (2:11) because they had been disrupting the learning process during worship services. But how then, does his last statement connect to the four quotes he made prior to this last one? <br />
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What I’m asking is, “How can Thielman connect women to false teaching in the context of 1 Timothy 2 and then “broaden” the scope of teaching to all teaching in general in his application of the text? Yes, hermeneutics (the study of biblical interpretation) teaches us that context-specific principles can be generalized and applied to everyday life; but why can this text not refer to anyone teaching falsely, whether it be man or woman? And why can’t it be the case that women are not to teach heresy, not that they are prohibited from teaching sound doctrine?<br />
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For Thielman, the answer is found in Paul’s usage of Genesis. I have stated here at the site, however, that Paul writes “And Adam was not deceived” for a reason: if Genesis does not provide these words, why does Paul use them? He does so to defend the Law as it was being attacked in the book of Genesis. Thielman notes this as well (page 410), but does not make the connection. He even goes on to talk about the Nag Hammadi document “On the Origin of the World,” which states that “the goddess Pistis Sophia created the god of Genesis (‘the ruler’) and then withdrew to her region of light, leaving ‘the ruler’ with the impression that ‘[he] alone existed’” (Thielman, 410; quoting “On the Origin of the World”). However, Thielman still does not put two and two together that, if the Gnostic document claimed that the woman “created the god of Genesis,” that she must have been seen as having been created first---before the man. Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2:13 make sense in light of this document. Paul then, was trying to refute the false (Gnostic) teaching that Eve was created before Adam, by affirming what the Bible teaches--- that Adam was created before Eve.<br />
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Thielman goes to such lengths to argue women as propagators of the false heresy (and students of the false teachers), not to mention that “proto-Gnostic teaching” (Thielman, 422) comprised the nature of the false teaching prevalent via women in the church at Ephesus. Why then, when he comes to his application, does he divorce the issue of false teaching from the application? Does God not want us to stomp out false teaching today? Does the Lord no longer care when falsehood is being taught in our pulpits, classrooms, and churches? Is it okay for Sunday School lessons to be plagued with gross statements about God that detract from (rather than reflect) His character? If God is still committed to this, then why is this theme of “anti-false teaching” not provided in Thielman’s analysis? Why is it that the point of Paul’s prohibition to the women is to keep them from teaching or holding offices of leadership in the churches?<br />
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In the end, all we receive of Thielman’s response to my questions above is “a deeper theological issue is at stake in this gender-specific ordering of worship” (419). But how do we know this “deeper theological issue” is really present in the text? In fact, Thielman’s words about women and the creation order are only mentioned for the first time in his modern-day application. All throughout his exegesis, he has focused on the false teaching and its impact. He has failed to do his homework and show us why Paul was so concerned with “putting women in their place” in the epistle. <br />
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Wanna know what my analysis is? I think Paul was concerned with the women neglecting duties of childbearing and homecare because to focus on such duties would prevent women from being prey to the false teachers and their heresy. Paul wanted women to do what was godly so that, by their example, they could serve as leaders in the church. After all, “if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1 Tim. 3:5, NKJV). </b>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-46385994784440919422010-10-13T20:15:00.000-04:002010-10-13T20:15:17.987-04:00What I Didn't Expect To Find...<b>I fought the urge to go to class today. Fall Break just came and went, almost as if it had never come. And sitting in my apartment today, I said out loud, “I don’t wanna go to class.”<br />
I usually get in this “I-don’t-wanna-go” mood a lot...but a dear friend said to me, “Go to class”...so off to class I went.<br />
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I never expected to get to class and deal with the discussion of women in ministry. This subject has been mentioned before in my class, but whenever the topic arises, I know the theological slant of my professor and fellow students...so I just let it go and try to find something else with which to occupy my mind. Usually, I’ve found that when one disagrees, the best way to keep from getting angry is to find something else upon which to focus one’s attention. Sometimes, aversion is bliss...<br />
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Today, the text that my class spent almost an hour on was the controversial passage of 1 Timothy 2. My professor spent time examining this passage, telling the seminar class that “I’m a complementarian because of 1 Timothy 2.” For him, the chapter itself gives specific instructions (with no details hidden) that women are not to have spiritual authority over men in the church. I stayed quiet during the one-hour discussion because I wanted to find out my professor’s reason for so believing. <br />
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He did state, however, during his lecture time on the passage that “I think the best case an inerrantist can make for the egalitarian position is to argue that Paul wrote to Timothy regarding a specific case in the church at Ephesus, but that this specific situation was for the time of Paul’s letter and is not for today.”<br />
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Now, before I go on, let me say that I believe that Scripture itself can always show us something in the current era. We never arrive at a place where we have “outgrown” the Word of God. So, as an inerrantist (one who believes Scripture to be without error), I believe that Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2 are meant to teach us a universal principle. I simply disagree with complementarians over the nature of that universal principle (“what” the principle is).<br />
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After conceding that an inerrantist could hold to a rather formidable position (i.e., the church faced a specific, unusual situation) on the passage, the professor said, “Now, I’ll show you why I think the passage is teaching a universal principle. Turn to 1 Timothy 2.” With those words, the class (me included) feasted our eyes on a passage that I’ve read, seemingly, a million times. And then, the professor told us to turn to verse 13. The verse reads,<br />
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“For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:13, NKJV).<br />
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The professor then said, “See, Adam was created first. This holds true for today, right? As a result, I think that this verse shows that Paul’s prohibition is still binding for all women in the church at all times.”<br />
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Let me first credit the prof with what he did right: first, he started at the beginning of the prohibition (1 Tim. 2:11), and it’s always a good thing to start at the beginning of any passage. However, let me now critique the prof: he did not finish the passage itself; rather, he arrived at verse 13 and read no further. What about verses 14 and 15? Don’t they play a role in the interpretation of the prohibition as well? <br />
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Let’s go back and evaluate the professor’s reasoning. Verse 13, according to him, is still binding today. That is true: Adam, according to Scripture, was created before Eve. That hasn’t changed, and neither has the Law (all of the Old Testament). God’s Word never changes, and, since this be the case, then Genesis has not changed. When it states that Adam was the first human created by God, it means it.<br />
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But my question to this prof would have been, “What about verse 14?” Why does Paul get defensive in his stance regarding Adam? That is, why does Paul state that “Adam was not deceived”? Where in the Scriptures themselves do we find these words? We don’t---not even in Genesis. So the fact that Paul is having to defend Adam’s non-deception and Eve’s deception lends credence to the idea that Paul is writing his prohibition against women in order to defend the Law---not because he’s giving a word or two on what he thinks women ought to do in the church.<br />
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And what about context? Does not 1 Timothy 1 serve as the immediate, surrounding context to 1 Timothy 2? Why was 1 Timothy 1 not consulted when the prof arrived at his interpretation? Now the professor did note that “there is much related to false teaching going on in the letter”; however, why not read the verses on that material to let the class see why the egalitarian position has some strength? Why instead, would the prof turn to the class and ask them, “What do you think are some of the possible evidences egalitarians would use to defend women in ministry?” <br />
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And this prof happens to be one who always says, “A text means what it means in its context.” If the text cannot be divorced from the context, then why does he divorce the text from its context in his own interpretation? If one has to go against his own beliefs in interpretation (i.e., if the prof has to take the passage out of context), doesn’t this signal that something is wrong with the interpretation? If we cannot sin and expect grace to abound (Romans 3:5-8), then how can we disconnect text from context and expect our interpretation to be correct? How can one start wrong and end up right? And if one starts wrong and ends up right, does this create a “Machiavellian” hermeneutic, where the end (i.e., what I think the text says) justifies the means (whether or not I place the passage in its context)? <br />
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What I didn’t expect to find today was a discussion on 1 Timothy 2. What I also didn’t expect to find, however, was a transgression of hermeneutic principles in the name of what he believed to be the right interpretation. Chalk it all up to what happens when we become the traditions we espouse so dearly.</b>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-65961542031679803972010-09-14T04:19:00.001-04:002010-09-26T23:13:14.778-04:00Gnosticism In The Pastorals, Pt. II: Eve's Song<strong>“O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Timothy 6:20, New King James Version).<br />
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The word “contradictions” here in the NKJV is the word “antitheseis” in the Greek, meaning “anti” (against) and “theseis” (arguments). The word “antithesis,” then, means “against arguments.” Used in the context of 1 Timothy 6:20, Paul is saying to Timothy that he should avoid the “arguments against” the truth from “pseudonumou gnoseos,” meaning “false-named knowledge.”<br />
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This series will take us through what are called “The Nag Hammadi Scriptures.” For those who have never been introduced to the Nag Hammadi, they are, in the words of James M. Robinson, “a collection of thirteen papyrus codices----bound books, not scrolls---that were buried near the city of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt most likely in the second half of the fourth century CE...this is indeed a dramatic escalation of source material on early Christian, Neoplatonic, Hermetic, Sethian, and Valentinian thought” (James M. Robinson, “Preface,” from “The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, The International Edition.” New York: HarperOne, 2007, page xi).<br />
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The Nag Hammadi are a collection of thirteen books that contain many different theological and philosophical treatises. The name of the Nag Hammadi was given to them because of where they were found (Nag Hammadi, Egypt). According to James Robinson, “most of the tractates are Gnostic” (xi), which leads us to believe that Gnostic thought was highly cherished by the community that lived at Nag Hammadi. It is Gnostic thought that I will be exploring in this enormous series we are embarking upon. The purpose of examining the Gnostic Gospels is so that we can see the types of teaching that existed in Gnostic thought. Upon studying the Pastorals and the Gnostic Gospels, one will understand why the context of the Pastorals had nothing to do with women in ministry and everything to do with false teaching and its destructive impact upon the church of Jesus Christ.<br />
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To begin our study of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures, I thought it would be best to start with a small section of a Gnostic work. Tonight’s small section will come from the Gnostic essay, “On the Origin of the World,” described by Marvin Meyer as “a smart Gnostic essay by an author who uses argumentation, narration, and colorful illustration in order to demonstrate the basic points of a Gnostic worldview” (“The Nag Hammadi Scriptures,” page 199).<br />
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The section I will come from in “On the Origin of the World” is Eve’s speech, called “The Song of Eve” (114, 4-24):<br />
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“Eve is the first virgin, and she gave birth to her first child without a man. She was her own physician. For this reason she is said to have declared:<br />
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‘I am PART OF MY MOTHER, and I AM THE MOTHER.<br />
I am the WIFE, I am the VIRGIN.<br />
I am PREGNANT, I am the PHYSICIAN,<br />
I am the comforter of birth pains.<br />
My husband PRODUCED ME, and I AM HIS MOTHER, <br />
And he is my father and lord.<br />
He is my strength, he speaks of what he wants reasonably.<br />
I AM BECOMING, but I HAVE GIVEN BIRTH TO A LORDLY PERSON’” (“Song of Eve,” from “On the Origin of the World,” 114, 4-24. From the “Nag Hammadi Scriptures, The International Edition.” New York: HarperOne, 2007, page 213).<br />
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What is a contradiction? I said it above that a contradiction, or the Greek word “antitheseis,” refers to that which “argues against” something said before it. Well, contradictions are all over the place in the Song of Eve. First, she states, “I am part of my mother, and I am the mother.” How does this occur? How can person be both an offspring AND the parent all at the same time? Were this true, Eve would have been “self-created,” which is a contradiction (and an absurdity!). <br />
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The next line “I am the wife, I am the virgin,” is also absurd. If someone is a wife (married), how then can they be a virgin (a sign of singleness)? To be a “wifely virgin” is similar to a woman who is a “married batchlorette” or a man who is a “married batchelor.” The two terms side-by-side are a contradiction, for both cannot be true at the same time. It is likely that a man could once be a “batchelor” and then “married” or vice versa; but both cannot be true simultaneously.<br />
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The next major absurdity in the Song of Eve is “My husband produced me, and I am his mother.” How can Eve be the offspring of her “husband,” first of all? If she is his wife, how can she be both wife AND child? Next, if she is either wife or child, how then can she be her husband’s “mother”? These are absurdities that make no sense. And her “husband” cannot be her “father” and “lord”; all three cannot peacefully coexist. A father cannot be a husband (this is incest), and a husband cannot be a father.<br />
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Last but not least, what about “I am becoming, but I have given birth to a lordly person”? How can Eve be “becoming” and yet “begetting” at the same time? In order to give birth to a “lordly person,” Eve must be a person herself, with a fixed essence of humanness; this doesn’t exist, however, if Eve is “becoming.” Once again, the contradiction is all over the place.<br />
<br />
To conclude, let me say that Paul was write when he wrote to Titus in Crete that he should “avoid foolish disputes...for they are UNPROFITABLE and USELESS” (Titus 3:9). The Song of Eve is such an example: it is a song that is full of contradiction (things that go against common sense) and useless. It serves no purpose to write in the manner in which Eve’s speech is written. Is it no wonder that Paul attacked this heresy of the first-century the way he did? </strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-54931544840742203462010-09-14T01:03:00.003-04:002010-09-14T01:04:42.412-04:00Gnosticism In the Pastorals, Pt. I: Introduction to Context<strong> <em>“The so-called Pastoral Epistles—the two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus—,which go back to the beginning of the second century and were perhaps written in Ephesus, discuss the Gnostic heresy, which they explicitly name ‘Gnosis,’ less intensively, but they insist the more on a strict separation; the pursuit of Gnosis is thought to be useless. The soil is here prepared for the later polemic against the heretics: the false teaching is contrasted with the right, sound teaching, the abandonment of which means apostasy from truth, reason and conscience…little can be learned about the ideas of THE REJECTED HERESY; IT SEEMS TO BE A STRANGE MIXTURE OF GNOSTIC DOCTRINES AND JEWISH PIETY, A JEWISH-CHRISTIAN FORM OF GNOSIS. MYTHS (I.E. FABLES) AND GENEALOGIES PLAY A PART, EVIDENTLY IN THE SENSE OF GNOSTIC PLEROMA SPECULATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS OF THE LAW. ONE GLORIES IN HIGHER KNOWLEDGE AND MAKES ASCETIC DEMANDS AS E.G. ABSTINENCE FROM MARRIAGE AND THE CONSUMPTION OF CERTAIN FOODS”</em> (“Gnosis: The Nature & History of Gnosticism” by Kurt Rudolph. Edinburgh: T&T Clark Limited, 1984, pages 302-303).<br /><br />Kurt Rudolph argues in the quote above that Gnostic teaching existed in churches of the first century (after Christ’s ascension). First, he tells us that “the Gnostic heresy…which they explicitly name GNOSIS” is the name of the false teaching in the church. To demonstrate this, Rudolph cites 1 Timothy 6:20— <br /><br />“O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of WHAT IS FALSELY CALLED KNOWLEDGE” (1 Tim. 6:20, NKJV).<br /><br />The Greek word for “knowledge” is “gnosis.” “Gnosis” is the noun form of “knowledge,” but a word similar to “gnosis” is “ginosko,” meaning “to know.” This is where the word “gnosticism” comes from. Gnosticism is “the study of knowledge.”<br /><br />Rudolph tells us that “little can be learned about the ideas of the rejected heresy…Myths (i.e. fables) and genealogies play a part, evidently in the sense of Gnostic pleroma speculations and interpretations of the law.”<br /><br />1 Timothy 1 tells us that myths and genealogies were included in the Gnostic heresy:<br /><br />“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to FABLES AND ENDLESS GENEALOGIES, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith” (1 Timothy 1:3-4, NKJV).<br /><br />The Greek word “genealogiais,” from which our English word “genealogies” derives, refers to a record of birth, a family line or family tree. According to Thayer’s Dictionary of the New Testament, the word “genealogiais” refers to “a record of descent or lineage.” The heresy of the first century, therefore, involved issues of creation order. I will not go into great discussion now, but “genealogies” may be the problem that Paul is getting at in 1 Timothy 2:12-14, when Paul states that “Adam was formed first, then Eve” (1 Tim. 2:13). The reason behind why Paul must argue that Adam was the origin (“author” or “authentikos”) of man is because the women there were arguing that Eve was created first. This will be a most interesting thing to explore when we dive into the Gnostic Gospels themselves. <br /><br />Not only were myths and genealogies a problem for Timothy at Ephesus, they also troubled Titus on the island of Crete. Paul writes:<br /><br />“But avoid foolish disputes, GENEALOGIES, contentions, and STRIVINGS ABOUT THE LAW; for they are unprofitable and useless” (Titus 3:9). <br /><br />As we can see, genealogies are also a problem at the church in Crete. In addition to this, though, we find that the Law and “strivings about” it are problems as well. The Law was also a problem for the church at Ephesus:<br /><br />“From which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, DESIRING TO BE TEACHERS OF THE LAW, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS GOOD, IF ONE USES IT LAWFULLY, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate…and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:6-10).<br /><br />The Law, being the Old Testament Scriptures, was also a part of the chaos at the church at Ephesus as well. Paul, however, wanted Timothy to know that the Law is not bad in and of itself—but it can be bad based upon how the Law is used. If the Law is used in a good way, then it will do much good…but if it be used in a wrong way, it will do much harm. We also see that there are those who desire to teach, but are saying the wrong things and don’t understand that they are propagating heresy and false teaching. Perhaps the women of 1 Timothy 2:11-15 are included here…<br /><br />One more thing to point out: since the Law itself is involved in the chaos of the churches of Ephesus and Crete, perhaps the Law has something to do with Paul’s need in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 to affirm that Adam was created first and Eve was the one deceived. These events would line up with the events of Genesis chapters 1-3. After all, Genesis is a book of the Law (the OT Scriptures), is it not??<br /><br />There are other things Rudolph includes in the above quote that I will leave for future days. At the moment, however, let me just say that the goal of this post was to provide for my readership a chance to “peek” into the issues of the Pastorals (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus) and what they can reveal to us about the Gnostic heresy of the first century. While the Gnostic movement was not as formalized as it was in the second and third centuries (one-hundred to two-hundred years later), the ideas were certainly floating around the church. I will begin to glean evidence from Scripture regarding the false teaching in my next post. </strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-42633480833192474422010-09-12T11:17:00.004-04:002010-09-12T11:44:02.240-04:00The Early Church and Gnosticism: The Context Behind the Pastorals<strong>Dearest Readership,<br /><br /> What a joy it is to write this announcement! I am so thankful to the Lord that He has allowed me the opportunity to return to my personal blog ("Men and Women") and continue writing to the glory of God. <br /><br /> I desire to announce that the work here at Men and Women in the Church will begin to take a different turn from the last series I did here. That series was on the Trinity and how we see good news for women in the fact that Christ's subordination on earth was not an eternal subordination. To have a situation of "God in hierarchy" in eternity would lead to such heresies as "tritheism" (three Gods, instead of one God) and the Lord Jesus Himself would be beneath us in eternity. Even Jesus said in the Gospels that there will be no marriage in heaven---which means that male headship in the home will not last forever! And if the church of God is supposed to be the visible sign of the kingdom of God come to earth, then we have got to stop completely living with a "life on earth is how it is" mentality. If we are now sons of God, we have to prepare for the day when we will fully live out that sonship...this means, then, that men have got to stop thinking in terms of power and control and begin to think of what life in Christ is really all about.<br /><br /> Those who stress the differences of the Trinity members do so at great peril; those who stress the similarities too much begin to conflate the Trinity (and the Son and Father, for instance, could be labeled the same person in this mindset). What believers must learn to do is demonstrate both the similarities and differences of the Trinity members. But we must not let go of the fact that, whether it be "Father," "Son," or "Spirit," none are "less God" than the other members. All three members of the Trinity are God, and share the essence of divinity. Because of this, neither can be "eternally subordinate" to the others, in the same way that no one human is eternally subordinate to any other human. <br /><br /> The new series will deal with a subject that I have been wanting to approach for a long time: that is, the context of the Pastorals. I have written some work here on complementarian scholars who argue that Gnosticism and false teaching is not the context of the Pastorals, and that the real issue is the role of women in the church. I intend to look at the Pastorals themselves to glean all the info we can about the situations that existed in the letters themselves; next, I intend to focus on how the details of the Pastorals "line up" with what we know of Gnosticism and the Gnostic Gospels. In addition, I will provide quotes from the church fathers themselves, who battled Gnosticism from even within the church (take Marcion for example, who even truncated down his version of the canon, even diminishing the amount of material in Luke's Gospel; Luke's was all he kept in his version of the Scriptures). All of this research is geared at showing believers that Paul did battle Gnosticism in his day (what scholars call "Proto-Gnosticism," meaning "first Gnostic thought"). <br /><br /> It is my prayer that this will put to rest the idea that the Pastorals are just all about church leadership and that they are simply manuals for church leadership. While Paul does provide administrative counsel in these letters, he does so because of the atmosphere at the time: the church was battling false teaching from without that was being brought "within" the church. No wonder then, that Paul could write to the Corinthians, "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3, NKJV)!<br /><br /> Thanks so much for your support...and I apologize for my time away. For those of you who desire to see what I've been working on in all the time I've been away, please read posts written at my other blog, "Center for Theological Studies." I've done some interesting work there on the Doctrine of Eternal Security (or Doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints) as well as discussed issues of hermeneutics in the biblical text. I think the church needs to know what hermeneutics is and how valuable it was to the early church (and should be to us today).<br /><br /> Continue to pray for me and the work done here in cyberspace. May God grant you the opportunity to hang in here with me as we embark on this exciting series. May the Lord bless you and keep you until the day of His return.</strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-52639025101837953262010-07-25T19:20:00.002-04:002010-07-25T19:22:54.258-04:00When Theory Meets Practice: What Happens When Complementarians "Practice What They Preach"<strong> Just this past week, I stopped by a local bookstore. I enjoy spending time “lusting” amongst the shelves, loaded with nothing but academically-delicious books (yes, I just made that phrase up!). While in there, I talked with a woman who is a higher-up in the bookstore, second in command only to another manager. She runs the day-to-day work in the bookstore, and everyone who works the cashiers and all take orders from her. Needless to say, she’s the “right-hand woman” around the place.<br /><br />We talked some days ago about the manager, who is supposedly retiring sometime in the near future. In any case, the man who owns the place will need a new manager to run his store...and there she is, a qualified businessperson to run it, with about 15 years of experience in the store itself (the manager has worked the store for 25 years). Sadly enough, though, she probably will not be placed in charge of it because...you guessed it! She’s a woman!<br /><br />Some of the owner’s friends played golf with him one day and expressed that their sons needed jobs. Since they and the bookstore owner are such good friends, they figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask the owner for jobs for their sons; and the owner found it no trouble at all to grant their sons the jobs. The owner told the friends, “They don’t even need to interview for the positions; just tell them to be in the bookstore Monday at 9am, and the jobs are theirs.”<br /><br />Monday morning came, and the sons found themselves in the bookstore. Just as the sons were putting on their uniforms, the woman (the good friend I talked with) told them, “Now, after you get your uniforms on, I need you to start stacking the new books for the new semester courses on the shelves in the back room.” All through the day, the sons found it hard to work; they were little inspired, and everything seemed to come hard. All they wanted to do was see 5pm roll around so they could go home and relax after what they believed to be a “hard day.”<br /><br />As 5pm rolled around, the sons were relieved to clock out. What they wanted to do, though, was have a little chat with the store owner. Evidently, something grieved them to the point where they needed to talk about it for some time.<br />As they were in the office talking with the store manager, the assistant came in and overheard the conversation. “I’m glad you wanted to give me a job,” one of the sons said. “But I didn’t know that I would have to work for a woman; I thought I was working directly for you. I thought I was taking orders from you.”<br /><br />“What’s wrong with my assistant, Linda?” The manager said.<br />“Oh, nothing’s wrong with her.” At this point all the sons chimed in.<br /><br />“We think that she’s great; she helped us find all the shelves, showed us around the store, helped us with price labeling and everything. She’s great.”<br /><br />“Well, then, the problem is...” At this point, the manager began to turn serious.<br /><br />“Well...she’s a woman,” one son reluctantly said.<br /><br />“Well, of course, she is,” the manager exclaimed. “Don’t you think I see that?”<br /><br />“Don’t you have a problem with that?” One of the sons asked. <br /><br />“The Bible itself teaches from 1 Timothy 2 that the man is over the woman--- ‘Adam was formed first, then Eve.’ By right, one of us should have the assistant manager’s position, and she should be reporting to us.”<br /><br />The manager responded with a firm but dedicated tone. “Linda will work here as the assistant manager; and if you gentlemen don’t like that, find somewhere else to work.” The manager walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving the sons to their shame. The next day, the sons took his advice, turned in their uniforms, and left the store.<br /><br />In the account above, we can see that the sons had a problem with reporting to a female. In their minds, 1 Timothy 2 entitled them to rule over a woman. No woman, regardless of experience and qualifications, should be a leader in anything; rather, she should report to a man and have a man over her. And why? Because “that’s her place.” <br /><br />Funny though, but isn’t that discrimination? And yet, when it comes to the church, suddenly, discrimination isn’t all that bad. When discrimination revolves around the church, isn’t it striking that it is so highly tolerated, taught, and promoted? <br /><br />This, my friends, is the result of what happens when complementarians “practice what they preach.” And, in my opinion, I think we should see it more often---prayerfully, one day, complementarians will wake up and understand how biblically incorrect, theologically-damaging, and Lord-disdaining their theology of women really is...</strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-18700435551223592372010-06-28T11:36:00.001-04:002010-06-28T11:37:56.437-04:00A Tribute To My Mother, Teressa A. Richardson (June 28, 1956---Feb. 3, 2009): Martha and Mary<strong>Today at the blog is a day set aside to celebrate the life of my mother, Teressa A. Richardson. For those of you who may not know, mom died at the tender age of 52 years old, having battled breast cancer, lung cancer, and finally brain cancer over a span of some three years. She would have been 54 years old this day.<br /><br />Today, I’d like to set aside this day to honor mom, the woman who influenced me in so many ways to be the blog writer whose work you read daily. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: without my mother this blog would never have been created. In a sense, whenever I take up a challenge in a post and put words on the screen, it’s as if mom were here speaking them herself. <br /><br />Preparing for this day was somewhat bittersweet. Some weeks ago, I began to brainstorm regarding what I would post at the blogs to honor mom. And then, I began to go over again and again in my head the type of woman mom was, the things she did, the songs she sung, the lessons she taught me and my twin sister (Danielle), and the funny stories she used to tell. I even have memories of mom’s joke e-mails. She was a senior accountant at her corporation, so she was always over a computer typing, double-checking numbers, sending e-mails, or setting up meetings. I remember the weekends when the corporation would perform what is called “inventory,” when the company had to see how many engines were in the plant (she worked at an engine plant), how many were in good condition (and good for sale), and how many were defective and needed to be rebuilt before they could sale. Mom would take my sister and I to work on random Saturdays, and we would sit at her desk (and the desk of a co-worker), and play card games, surf the web, etc. She always told us to behave ourselves because, should we have misbehaved, we might not have been able to return. According to mom, the more we behaved, the better the chances of getting to come visit her job.<br /><br />The memories are many indeed...and even now, despite the heartbreak, I can still smile when I think of the three of us (Mom, Danielle, and me) together, laughing until our stomachs hurt. Usually, we were ALWAYS somewhere laughing until our stomachs hurt. To laugh until your insides hurt was a typical action in our insane family. <br /><br />But mom was not only “mom,” “daughter,” “sister,” “friend,” “coworker,” and “boss”...she was also a Sunday school teacher. Mom bought commentaries galore in her lifetime. We have so many Bibles that there are enough there for twelve future grandchildren and beyond (I might be a little outrageous with the “twelve” there...). Whenever I would come home from school and classes, mom would be sitting at her dining table, pouring over the books. Even when she began to live with my grandmother (her mother) while battling cancer, she was still studying...and she was STILL pouring over the commentaries. She had so many that I had to borrow from her extensive collection! Suffice it to say that, while I attended seminary, mom “owned” a seminary of her own (lol). She told me, upon seeing my first set of books in my Master’s degree, that “I’m gonna read everything you read.” According to mom, her seminary education was coming right to her door through me!<br /><br />One of mom’s favorite accounts in all of Scripture consists of the account of “Martha and Mary”:<br /> <br />“38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’[k] feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” <br />41 And Jesus[l] answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42, NKJV)<br /> <br /> The account of the text given shows us that there were two sisters, Mary and Martha, who had two different approaches to Jesus’ arrival at the home: while Martha worked hard to serve, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet to hear His teaching. Martha became offended: “Lord, DO YOU NOT CARE that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me” (v.40).<br /><br />What Martha wanted Jesus to do was scold Mary. In her mind at least, she was doing the “proper” thing while Mary was “being lazy.” In Martha’s reasoning, Jesus had arrived, and it was time to get to work, transforming the house to spotless in order that Jesus may be pleased. What Martha didn’t understand though, was that what pleased Jesus, more than the condition of the home, was THE CONDITION OF THE HEART! Instead of rebuking Mary, Jesus turns and says, <br /><br />“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. BUT ONE THING IS NEEDED, and MARY HAS CHOSEN THAT GOOD PART, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).<br /><br />Martha’s housework was really a “distraction” from what she needed most. Instead of scolding Mary, Martha needed to follow Mary’s example. Jesus’ response to her is that “one thing is needed,” that is, to sit at His feet and listen and learn. Martha, then, was worrying about things of no eternal significance. Her house cleaning would only benefit that day; but Mary’s learning would benefit her for a lifetime. We can easily see the significance of learning at the feet of Jesus over the daily fleeting pursuits that we can easily pour ourselves into.<br /><br />Mom always felt as if this account was of importance to her. “God’s trying to tell me something,” she would always say. No matter where she went, whether it be to a church service or a bookstore, she always managed to find something on the “Martha and Mary” account. Martha and Mary were everywhere, and some days, she would point out a Martha and Mary book and then laugh. “The Lord just keeps letting me run into this account. What is it that He’s trying to teach me?” <br /><br />The funny thing is, that when mom was diagnosed with cancer, she began to wonder about her life’s work. “I just wanna make sure that I’m doing what the Lord desires I do. I don’t wanna live my entire life and stand before Him, not having done what I was supposed to.” I used to tell her, “Mom, you won’t. You’re seeking to do what pleases Him most, and believe me, you’re either doing it now or you will get to do it.” <br /><br />And when she died, I felt as if she had died too soon. I still believe that regardless of the quality of life a person lives (whether in Christ or not), fifty-two years old is still too young of an age in which to die. But my grief over her death was also due to the plans and dreams that I had for us. We had discussed my twin sister, Danielle, and figured that she would marry first (between the two of us). Then, mom and I would travel the world. She always wanted to see other countries, get a chance to travel and witness for Christ. She had such a heart for missions, and winning others to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For her, that was the most exciting thing in all of life itself---to tell others about Jesus. And she did that: she told everyone she could about Him, even a store owner who responded, “I’ve had greater people than you tell me about Him, and I’ve not given in yet.” This same grumpy, old man who was lost and in need of Christ is the same man mom told about Jesus and the gospel. She was fearless for Christ, even in the face of doubt and rejection. <br /><br />But even though mom died young, she died having done what she was placed on earth to do. I’m convinced that the “Martha and Mary” account was mom’s daily reminder of what was important. Mom had “Martha” traits: she was a parent raising a set of twins; a coworker; a boss who had people to oversee; a daughter, who financially provided for her parents with every paycheck she ever received; a sister, who needed to spend quality time with her brother, sister, and three nephews; a choir member, who often helped to organize the choir for Sundays. Even when she was tired, she would still open her mouth and sing at least one song for Christ. In addition, she was the financial secretary, managing the church finances, as well as a Sunday school teacher, who had souls to instruct from the Word of God. Mom studied for every Sunday school lesson, and taught every class with God-given energy that everyone knew came from above. <br /><br />Having “Martha” traits, however, didn’t take away from the “Mary” portion: In addition to being a diligent worker for Christ, mom also realized her need to hear the Lord in her daily living and the importance of time spent hearing the Word of the Lord. I would wake up on Sundays to the smell of breakfast pervading the house (from the kitchen to my bedroom and beyond) as well as Sunday preaching on the television screen. That’s how all Sundays started. And if you happened to wake up one morning with no television on, that’s because she had the radio turned on to songs of worship. From the time we’d leave the house to the time we’d return, mom would have worship music on the radio. I was never asked to go to church on Sundays: I was going to church, like it or not. Mom took my instruction in the Word as part of her parental duties (not optional) to “bring me up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4, NKJV). And church was always important. Sundays were set aside for worship, Tuesday nights were set aside for Bible study. No questions asked!!<br /><br />I miss mom today; and I’ve missed her every day for the last almost year and a half since she departed this life. But I know that when she left us, she had fulfilled her mission on earth. It turns out that the “Martha and Mary” account was one she took to heart, and implemented in all she said and did...and the fact that I am here today, studying the Word of the Lord and researching to the glory of God, testifies to just how important being a “Mary” really was to her. Sure---she was a “Martha”; But she learned how to be a “Mary”. And because she was a Mary and sacrificed much to “sit at Jesus’ feet” (study the Word, hear the Word, teach the Word to her children), she lost no time at all. On that cold February morning when she left us, she was, in that sense, the “oldest” woman in all of human existence. <br /><br />If mom were here, she’d challenge you to be a “Mary.” So that’s what I’m gonna do: challenge you, my readership, to live as “Mary.” There are many things you will do throughout your lives that will have no eternal significance. But I say to you, that only what you do for Christ will last. And since our work for Christ is the only thing of eternal significance in this world (second to receiving eternal life), then we should be busy kingdom-building. How can we start today? By “sitting at Jesus’ feet,” hearing His Word, learning more of His Word. I tell you today that if we learn from my mother’s (Mary’s) example, death will take from us no time at all.</strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-36059861993472585802010-05-29T16:31:00.002-04:002010-06-25T10:17:49.018-04:00A Chinese Lunch<strong> Today I did lunch with a dear brother of mine. We had been trying to meet up together all semester, to take some time to discuss our favorite area of discussion--- THEOLOGY! So we finally met up and did a Chinese lunch today. Boy am I so glad to have brothers!!!<br /><br />Our first topic of conversation involved evangelism and how to present the gospel to someone who does not believe in God and has no concern for learning about this God we believe in at all. But eventually, the conversation took a turn down a road that he and I both knew we would arrive at; and we ended up discussing two issues that seem to really flow together: the issue of Calvinism versus Arminianism (see my blog at CTS regarding the nature of this debate) and...an issue I love here very much: the issue of men and women in the church.<br /><br />We began by discussing 1 Timothy 2, a passage that, as I’ve established, has been viewed by complementarians as a passage that “decisively” (their own words) kills the issue of whether or not women should lead in the church. I took my dear brother back to 1 Corinthians 11, another passage that talks about some form of creation order. There, I showed him that men and women are BOTH dependent “in the Lord.” The sphere of God’s house is the place where men and women are functionally equal, despite the woman’s functional submission to her husband in the home. Even the husband has no independence from the wife in the church (according to 1 Cor. 11:11-12)!<br /><br />Then he asked me the question, “Does dependence nullify authority?” I told him that the husband has been given headship in the home, but God holds the headship of the church, and is free to do what He pleases in His House (Eph. 5:23). If Christ is the head of the church, and headship in the church belongs to Christ, then why does the Bride have to argue over which “bride” (member) of the Bride (Church) should lead? <br /><br />Finally, my brother looked at me and said that he understands the differences between Calvinists (who are also complementarians) and Arminians (egalitarians): those who are Calvinists are more likely to be complementarians because they see that God chooses not only those who will be saved, but also chooses what gender (and as a result of gender, what gifts) a person will have. Arminians, on the other hand, who believe that everything is foreknown but not predetermined (chosen beforehand), see some indeterminate aspects to life itself, that everything is not picked out by God. In his mindset, Arminians, therefore, would choose to argue for women’s equal leadership opportunities in the church.<br /><br />I think there is some truth to what he is saying regarding theology; however, I don’t think that a theological grid is the most important reason why the line divides along Calvinist (complementarian) and Arminian (egalitarian) lines. The most important factor that creates the divide is the biblical text. For me as both a Classical Arminian and a conservative egalitarian, I see the Bible itself as the dividing line. I cannot agree with complementarian argumentation because ultimately, they draw “inferences” to the biblical text without sufficient biblical proof. If God truly desired to tell women what they could not do in the church, why is it not as clear as the divine command for wives to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22; 1 Pet. 3:1; Col. 3:18; Titus 2:5)?? It seems that the Holy Spirit, the Author of Holy Scripture, was not hesitant when He wanted to communicate to wives the need to submit to husbands. If complementarians are so right about women in leadership, why is the Spirit extremely silent on this issue? And why is it that the church has to “draw inferences” instead of drawing from Scripture? If “the simplest answer is often the best explanation,” then the answer to the question is “the Spirit does not make prohibition of woman leadership clear because He does not desire to prohibit women from leadership in the church." <br /><br />In his chapter on “Human Nature” in the work “A Theology for the Church,” John Hammett writes regarding 1 Timothy 2:<br /><br /><em>“The passage begins with a call to let women learn, a somewhat revolutionary idea in some parts of the Mediterranean world of that time. But, Paul continues, women should not teach or exercise authority over a man. BUT HOW DOES THIS TEXT RELATE TO ROLES IN THE CHURCH? It seems clear from elsewhere in Scripture that THIS IS NOT A BLANKET PROHIBITION. For example, believers are commanded to teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16), and Paul gives instructions concerning the praying and prophesying of women (1 Cor. 11:2-16). CONTEXT SEEMS TO INDICATE THAT THE TYPE OF TEACHING AND AUTHORITY PAUL HAS IN MIND IS THAT OF AN ELDER, for the qualifications for that office is the topic Paul turns to in 1 Timothy 3, and the duties of an elder include authoritative teaching and leading. Thus, 1 Timothy 2:11-15 prohibits women from serving in the role of elder or pastor”</em> (John Hammett, “Human Nature,” from “A Theology for the Church” by Daniel L. Akin, editor. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2007, page 359). <br /><br />But Hammett’s analysis here is rather subjective. Do we even read of women and elder in the same sentence in 1 Timothy 3? No. The issue of women teaching, then, is to first be investigated within the chapter of its location (which is chapter 2). Next, what about chapter 1? Hammett invests time on why women can’t teach according to chapter 3, but overlooks chapter 1 entirely. Hammett does not address the problems Paul does: (1) false teachers (1:3) and false doctrine (1:3), which consisted of “fables and endless genealogies” (1:4), as well as (2) students who desired to teach but were propagating false doctrine ignorantly (1:7). If these problems were to be incorporated into interpretation, then 1 Timothy 2 would be seen as Paul counteracting false teaching, not prohibiting women from serving in leadership roles. Hammett doesn’t address any of these mentionables of chapter 1. Why is this? It’s an interesting question indeed...<br /><br />Last but not least, there is the question regarding women teaching: if women are ONLY prohibited from the office of elder and pastor (which seems to be Hammett’s conclusion), then are women prohibited from teaching men in a mixed Sunday school class? I find it fascinating that Hammett doesn’t argue against women teaching mixed Sunday school classes, and yet, so many churches prohibit women from so doing. Why is this? If scholars are not prohibiting women teaching, then why are so many churches prohibiting women from teaching? Although Hammett states that “this [1 Tim. 2] is not a blanket prohibition,” the churches sure seem convinced that it is...<br /><br />Aside from Hammett’s interpretation of 1 Timothy 2, however, Hammett does make a good point about the weak argument from inference:<br /><br /><em>“Some complementarians think that the order established by God in marriage should also be an argument for a similar order within the church. Thus, just as women cannot be husbands or fathers in the family, so they cannot (or at least should not) be elders or pastors within the larger family, the church. While this view has a good deal of merit, WE ARE NOT LEFT TO SUCH AN INFERENTIAL ARGUMENT”</em> (358).<br /><br />Even Hammett admits that the above complementarian “consistency” is nothing more than an inference. And if the argument is just an inference, then we are left to Scripture to see what it tells us. And even the evidence against women as pastors (including Hammett’s analysis) is questionable.<br /><br />Back to the Chinese lunch. At the end of the lunch time, I realized that my brother simply did not have a biblical text for his case. All he had was a collection of inferential arguments with no Scripture as justification. If Scripture provides no evidence against women, then the “traditional” view of complementarianism is nothing more than tradition; and if we believe the Bible to be the ultimate authority in every area of life, then we must either elevate tradition to Scripture or toss tradition out. And I know which one I choose...how about you?</strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-90384064808908898732010-05-17T23:32:00.001-04:002010-05-17T23:36:00.338-04:00The Rebel Bride: A Response to the Charge of Inconsistency<strong> Some time ago, a friend of mine (who has been struggling with the issue of whether or not women should be elders and pastors in the modern-day church) told me that he doesn’t see evidence in the New Testament for women in pastoral leadership. His reason? According to him (and those who have instructed him), the creation order (which he believes 1 Timothy 2:12-15 teaches). My response to his statement was that if 1 Timothy 2 said what he believed it did, why is it that we read so much of wife submission (Eph. 5:22, Col. 3:18, 1 Pet. 3:1), but do not read of the submission of women to men in the church? The Scriptures, however, do command that the sheep of the flock submit to those who lead in the church (Heb. 13:17, 1 Thess. 5:12-13, 1 Tim. 5:17-18), but it never directly tells women to be submissive to the men of the church. Instead, what we find is that women, like men, prayed and prophesied publicly in the early church (1 Cor. 11:5), and women even served as apostles (Junia, Rom. 16:7). Women such as Phoebe were active as not only recognized workers of the church, but even as ambassadors or representatives to other churches (Rom. 16:1-2). Contrary to the belief of most complementarians, women even conducted churches in their homes (such as Nympha, Col. 4:15). Last but not least, women such as Euodia and Syntyche served side-by-side with Paul in preaching the gospel (Phil. 4:2-3). All this evidence cannot be a biblical “mistake.” No---it serves as an incredible witness to the role women played both in the church itself and outside of it. And all of this New Testament evidence doesn’t even mention the great prophetesses (such as Huldah) and judge (Deborah) of the Old Testament!!<br /><br />In this post, I wanna tackle the issue of inconsistency. It has been said that conservative egalitarians are inconsistent when they advocate male headship in the home but teamwork leadership (both male and female) in the church. I was labeled “inconsistent” by my friend above, when I made this same statement to him. <br /><br />But I would like to stop and pose this question to complementarians everywhere? How are conservative egalitarians inconsistent for their view? The Bible is what decides inconsistency, not my logic. If the Scriptures do not point out the error of egalitarianism, then its position is just as valid (if not more than) as complementarianism. <br /><br />What do the Scriptures say? That’s the kind of question I like to hear...to answer this question, let’s look at the Bible.<br /><br />As I mentioned above, the Bible confirms male headship in the home. A good example of this is Ephesians 5:22---<br /><br />“Wives, submit to your own husbands, AS TO THE LORD.” (NKJV)<br /><br />As this verse tells us, wives are to submit to their husbands as if they are submitting to the very Lord Himself. The husband has been given headship in the home. This is undisputed amongst complementarians and conservative egalitarians. I mention “conservative” egalitarians because there are liberal egalitarians (some are called “feminists”) who assert that male headship must be overthrown. While I sympathize with feminists and their mistreatment by male authorities, I cannot say that I agree with them. God has given the male headship in the home, whether you and I like it or not. If the Bible is the Word of God, then we must accept everything in it (whether or not it fits a preference of ours or not).<br /><br />Having said that, though, the next question would be, “Does the Bible confirm male headship in the church?” the answer to this question would be a resounding no!! Let’s read further in the text of Ephesians 5:<br /><br />“For the husband is THE HEAD OF THE WIFE, as also Christ is THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH; and He is the Savior of the body” (Eph. 5:23, NKJV).<br /><br />Here we see that, while the husband is the head of the home, his headship stops there; Christ is the head of the church, and He will share His place with NOONE! So for complementarians hung up over male headship, check Ephesians 5:23. Nowhere does it affirm the male as the head of the church. So if the male is not the head of the church, then what is he in the church? Part of the bride. As Paul writes in Ephesians 5:29-30,<br /><br />“For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, JUST AS THE LORD DOES THE CHURCH. FOR WE ARE MEMBERS OF HIS BODY, of His flesh and of His bones.”<br /><br />No matter the gender, whether male or female, both genders comprise “the body of Christ.” Christ is the head, and we are the body. And the head is greater than the body, so Christ is Lord over and above all of us, whether male or female, whether Pastor, Elder, Deacon, choir member, nursery worker, etc.<br /><br />Now that Ephesians 5 has cleared the air, one more question remains: Is the conservative egalitarian consistent in his/her view of male headship in the home and teamwork leadership in the church? Yes. The answer is found in the husband-wife analogy of both home and church relationships. Let’s revisit Ephesians 5:23 once more:<br /><br />“For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church...”<br /><br />Here we see the “husband-wife” analogy in both spheres. In the home, the male is the husband, and the female is the wife. In the church, Christ is the husband (the head), and the church is the wife, the Bride. We can see this in verse 25:<br /><br />“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR HER” (Eph. 5:25).<br /><br />The church, then, is the Bride of Christ (Christ being the husband). This is why the church in the Greek is an “ekklesia,” the “ia” ending serving as a “feminine” noun ending. Paul continues this analogy further in the same chapter:<br /><br />“‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak CONCERNING CHRIST AND THE CHURCH” (Eph. 5:31-32).<br /><br />So the verse Paul quotes from Genesis 2:24 he now tells us refers to Christ and the church. So the church is the Bride of Christ, and Christ is the Husband of the church. <br /><br />Where then, is the inconsistency? We’ve seen that between male and female (and between Christ and church) that there is a husband and a wife established in both spheres. So, I ask complementarians, “What’s the problem?” Don’t worry: I think I know what it is...they continue to desire to replace women in the church because of a presupposition concerning 1 Timothy 2. But if Ephesians 5:23 tells us that Christ is the head of the church, and 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us that the Spirit gives spiritual gifts “as He wills,” then how can complementarians continue to assert that 1 Tim. 2 refers to male leadership in the church? I think this is a fitting time for complementarians to step back and take a look at their scriptural interpretation. If you ask me, I think their interpretation of 1 Timothy 2 needs some serious reform...and the church needs to stop playing “rebel bride” and submit to her Husband (that is, Christ) by allowing Him to decide the giftedness of the church instead of the church herself.</strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-74812227427146597292010-03-11T15:54:00.002-05:002010-03-11T15:59:21.067-05:00Old Testament Theology...and Women?, Part III: Living the Conclusion<strong> <em>“The church ought to encourage women to minister according to their God-given gifts by, among other ways, opening up avenues of ministry such as those listed in Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Corinthians 12-14, and if appropriate, in connection with honoring them financially (Rom. 16:2; 1 Tim. 5:17). The Bible commends the equality of women with men in their being, dignity, GIFTS, and ministry. THE SPIRIT VALIDATES THIS BY CALLING AND GIFTING WOMEN TO THE SAME KINDS OF MINISTRIES AS MEN, SUCH AS PROPHESYING (Acts 20:9), TEACHING (cf. Acts 18:26), PASTORING, evangelizing, and helping the church in all sorts of ways (cf. Romans 16). Nevertheless, the church should not appoint women (Greek ‘gune’) to an office, such as being an elder (‘presbyteros’)...wherein she has authority over her husband (Greek ‘aner,’ Heb. 13:17)”</em> (Bruce Waltke, “An Old Testament Theology,” pages 245-246).<br /><br />I’ve spent the last few days discussing the problems with Bruce Waltke’s view of women and their ministries in his work on Old Testament Theology. And this post will be no different in that respect: once again, I will deal with more statements from Bruce Waltke’s assessment of women in ministry.<br /><br />The first thing I’d like to note is his assessment that the Spirit equally gifts men and women: “The Spirit validates this by calling and gifting women to the same kinds of ministries as men, such as prophesying...teaching...PASTORING...” <br /><br />This statement most surprised me! I mean, Waltke has noted earlier in the same chapter, titled “The Gift of the Bride,” that women have equal access to the gifts; but here, he actually says that one of the ministries that women have is “pastoring.” I never expected him to say such a thing!!! <br /><br />However, while applauding Waltke for this bold statement (which I’ve never read from the hand of a complementarian), I must also disagree with the statement he provides following this remarkable acknowledgement: <br /><br /><em>“Nevertheless, the church should not appoint women (Greek ‘gune’) to an office, such as being an elder (‘presbyteros’)...wherein she has authority over her husband (Greek ‘aner,’ Heb. 13:17).”</em> <br /><br />There is a problem with the last statement Waltke provides: that is, that Waltke is actually advocating something devastating to the church. He is basically saying that, while women are gifted in pastoring ministries, and God has gifted them equal to men, they are still not to hold down pastoral authority (for example) over men in the church. Notice as well that he is talking about “women” and “husband.” I infer from this that he means “wife,” but all throughout the chapter, it seems that he has been referencing all women:<br /><br /><em>“...He [Jesus] IMPLICITLY confirmed the role of men as rulers by not appointing A WOMAN as one of the twelve apostles on whom the church is built...”</em> (Waltke, 235)<br /><br /><em>“My thesis, in brief, is that the two creation accounts reveal God’s design for men and women. They are written to help them understand their natures and THE ROLES FOR WHICH THEY WERE CREATED...” </em>(232)<br /><br /><em>“The sexual, social, and economic equality of all believers will be obliterated in the eschaton, but until the redemption of our bodies, believers still participate in the first creation with its sexual, social, and economic distinctions. The biblical instructions regarding the distinctive roles of MEN AND WOMEN...address that reality and serve the best interests of BOTH SEXES”</em> (243).<br /><br />From the above quotes, it doesn’t seem as if the so-called “rule against women” is just for wives---but instead, for ALL women, whether wives or not. <br /><br />But what about single women, women who have no husband? Are they subject to this rule? It seems to be the case that single women are just as referenced as the married women. The only reference made to 1 Corinthian 7 regards the children of a married woman who is “holy” despite the fact her husband is “unholy.” (1 Cor. 7:14, page 238) There is no reference made to single women, who are also mentioned in that same exact chapter (vv.8,25,34). Why is this? I have no clue. I guess Waltke will have to produce another revised edition and clue us in on this one...<br /><br />Now, on to the task at hand. Waltke has stated that women do have the “pastoring” gift (Waltke, 246), but that women are not allowed to actually “be a pastor” of a church. So women can’t be elders, pastors, nothing of that sort, that will allow them to be in leadership over men and lead men in church administration whatsoever.<br /><br />Is there a problem with this view? YES! Simply put, Waltke is telling women that regardless of their gift, they can never serve in leadership. If a woman has the gift of “pastoring,” she can be a “Pastor’s Wife” and aid her husband---give him advice, make suggestions, etc. However, she could never be a Pastor--- UNLESS, in the minds of most conservatives (and yes, I’m being honest about my own background!), her husband is a pastor. She can be a “co-Pastor” IF and only IF her husband is a Pastor. Her gift will never place her over her husband...so, if she is a called Pastor, she cannot actually DO pastoral ministry unless her husband is also made a Pastor. Her giftedness and place in the body of Christ is dependent upon her husband’s. <br /><br />What makes it worse is the fact that in many cases, wives cannot pastor (simply because their husbands do not feel called to pastoral ministry). But what about the lazy and slothful servant do we not understand (Matt. 25:24-30)? The wicked servant failed to use his talent---and he was punished eternally for so doing (Matt. 25:30). How can the church advocate that women, although possessing leadership gifts, disobey Christ and not use them...and then turn around and tell the women that they must obey Christ by being submissive to their husbands? How can they say, “Disobey Christ and obey Christ in this matter,” all at the same time in the same way???<br /><br />Last but not least, what are the gifts for if they are not given to the church to be used? Paul answers this question:<br /><br />“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, FOR THE EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WORK OF MINISTRY, FOR THE EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST...”(Ephesians 4:11-12, NKJV)<br /><br />The purpose of receiving the gifts is to use them. How then, is the church obeying Paul’s words here if women, no matter how great the pastoring ability, are not able to pastor churches? How can a woman lead with skill and diligence if she is sidelined or placed in the nursery, or given a young children’s Sunday school class? How will she “equip” the saints if she is supposed to watch over the flock of God...but told that she can only counsel and talk to young girls, teenage girls, young adult women, and elderly women instead? How is she pastoring and counseling effectively as an overseer if she can only “oversee” one half of the church congregation (that being, the women)???<br /><br />In 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about the necessity of all gifts and abilities within the church:<br /><br />“And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ No. much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary...God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that THERE SHOULD BE NO SCHISM IN THE BODY, but that the members should have the same care for one another” (1 Cor. 12:21-25).<br /><br />Paul instructs the congregation that EVERY PART (i.e., EVERY GIFT in the context of the chapter itself) is needed in the body of Christ. If this is true, then women and their pastoring abilities are NEEDED in the body of Christ. Women who are called to pastor, for example, are needed in the pastoring role so they can implement God’s will for His church through their gift. <br /><br />If the foot is amputated, how can the foot help a person walk from place to place? A person cannot have their foot amputated and still say, “That’s my foot...it is effective in helping me travel.” Humans understand that if we have a body part that we call our own, there is something that it should do for us. In the same way, if we have women in our churches who are called to pastor, they should be allowed to pastor. Why would God give them a gift and then tell them to not use it? It seems that when one follows the complementarian logic, God begins to contradict Himself---which is one clear sign that we should not listen to the complementarian nonsense...</strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-75912983304951825982010-03-10T00:21:00.004-05:002010-03-10T09:17:27.940-05:00Old Testament Theology...and Women?, Part II: Assessing Waltke's Use of 1 Corinthians 11:8-9<strong> In my last post on Bruce Waltke, I made the point that he seemed to affirm that men and women are on equal terms in the Old Testament regarding spiritual gifts (such as the case of Huldah the prophetess). However, Waltke decides to separate gifts and offices not for the purpose of demonstrating the will of God, but for the purposes of arguing against women in leadership: <br /><br /><em>“Paul gives governmental priority to the many BY THE SEQUENCE OF CREATION of man and woman and by the purpose for which the woman was created”</em> (Waltke, “An Old Testament Theology,” page 242).<br /><br />Since he cites 1 Corinthians 11:8-9 as his argument, let’s take a look at that here:<br /><br />“For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man” (1 Cor. 11:8-9, NKJV).<br /><br />This is Waltke’s proof text for why women should not be in leadership. However, what Waltke forgets is that there is a text after this passage. Let’s look at the following verses:<br /><br />“Nevertheless, NEITHER IS MAN INDEPENDENT OF WOMAN, nor woman independent of man, IN THE LORD. For as woman came from man, EVEN SO MAN ALSO COMES THROUGH THE WOMAN; but all things are from God” (1 Cor. 11:11-12, NKJV).<br /><br />Funny how Waltke’s interpretation looks skewed now, doesn’t it? What Waltke fails to do (as well as most complementarians) is read through the rest of Paul’s argument. If he had done so, he would see that Paul sets up the Genesis origin account, but nullifies it when he says, “nevertheless,” and “man also comes through the woman.” When he states that “neither is independent of each other in the Lord,” he states that there is an even keel in spiritual authority that does not mandate that a woman wear a “sign” or “symbol of authority.” Notice in the text, as I stated it in the last post, that both men (v.4) and women (v.5) are praying and prophesying in 1 Corinthians 11.<br /><br />One could easily think that this would be the end of the post, right? Well...think again!! Our dear friend Waltke has a response to my interpretation (egalitarian):<br /><br /><em>“According to 1 Corinthians 11:11-12, THE MAN AND WOMAN ARE DEPENDENT ON ONE ANOTHER FOR THEIR EXISTENCE. Their interdependence, however, does not rule out male priority in government. Likewise, the United States Supreme Court does not exist independently from the people, but the people are subordinate to its rulings”</em> (“An Old Testament Theology,” page 243).<br /><br />I have two responses to Waltke’s argument. First, notice that he affirms what I did above. However, what he does next, though, is he uses an argument from logic that nullifies the context and Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 11. What he attempts to do is say, “even though man and woman are dependent on one another in the Lord, men can still be over women in the church.” However, if this was the intention of Paul’s letter, why would he tell us that both men and women are praying and prophesying (same activities and gifts, 1 Cor. 11:4,5), as well as use the word “nevertheless”? The word “nevertheless” used here is the Greek word “plen” (pronounced “plain”), which means “moreover, besides, but, except,” etc. <br /><br />I looked up the word “moreover” in The Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus, and I found this definition:<br /><br /><em>“further; besides. Furthermore, not only that, MORE THAN THAT, WHAT IS MORE; to boot, into the bargain, IN ADDITION.” </em>(The Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus, “moreover”)<br /><br />The words in the definition of “moreover,” tell you that what Paul says after “nevertheless” (as the NKJV translates it) outweighs what Paul said in his previous argument. The word “plen” (“plain”) also means “however,” or “but,” which is a contrast with the material just before it. The word is a Greek conjunction; and conjunctions are “connective words,” which bridge sentences together. So if Paul is saying “however” or “moreover” here, he must be saying, “Listen up; what I am about to say contrasts with what I just said.” And if Paul is giving a contrast with his prior discussion of the man being above the woman, then he is not affirming such a hierarchy here---which puts Waltke’s interpretation on the sidelines.<br /><br /><br /> Secondly, Waltke does not provide us with support from Scripture. All he does is give us a rational argument. When it comes to showing why women should not be in leadership, complementarians spend time “making inferences” instead of showing Scripture for what it is. Waltke’s argument breaks down, and all he can say is, “this still does not rule out my presupposition.” How does it not, when the text explicitly places man and woman in an equal balance in spiritual authority, when Paul does not mandate women to wear head coverings (which would have been the sign of a man’s authority over the woman, a sign of the husband-wife relationship)? Waltke doesn’t have an answer for this. Instead, he attempts to resort to logic. But that seems to be what the complementarians do these days...instead of finding explicit references from Scripture to support their points.<br /><br />Anyone can read the English words like “nevertheless” and conclude that Paul is contrasting his next statement with his last statement. And this is the problem with Waltke and the complementarians: they make a mountain out of a mole hill. Why do this if the process of reading Scripture is so simple? Because they desire to uphold tradition...and they will do it at all costs. </strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4432829881659791534.post-56221272097772506172010-03-09T22:06:00.004-05:002010-03-09T22:10:08.165-05:00Old Testament Theology...and Women?, Part I: Bruce Waltke's Argument<strong> I’m taking a seminary course this semester titled “Old Testament Theology.” And for the last several weeks, my class has been going through the basic features of OT theology, like poetry, prose, narrative, etc. We’ve been looking at all the types of writing in Scripture and how the writers of Scripture crafted the writing the way they did to give us a certain message. Paying attention to the message involves paying attention to form of the text, that the form helps shape the interpretation.<br /><br />But I never thought that this course would also involve an entire chapter on women and their “prescribed” roles in the home and the church. <br /><br />Now, before I continue, let me first say that I count myself to be a conservative theologian. What this means is that I believe that when Scripture tells the wives to submit to their husbands, I believe Scripture to be true. However, I believe that husbands are called to be like the “Lord” (uppercase L); and by serving as the ‘lord’ (lowercase L) of their homes, men are to “love their wives as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 5:25). Men leading in their homes can lead with love, concern, and the utmost care for their spouses and children. In the same way that humanity is to have a God-given, benevolent rule over the earth (Gen. 1:26-28), so men are to be benevolent leaders in their homes.<br /><br />But I disagree with the assumption made in most conservative circles today, which says that men are to lead in the home and, therefore ARE CALLED TO LEAD IN THE CHURCH. I don’t see that labeled in Scripture. Rather, I see both men and women called, and both genders provided for in terms of work in the church. More specifically, I don’t see where men are told that only THEY can be the elders, pastors, and leaders. And it is my whole-hearted belief that such passages like 1 Timothy 2 have been twisted in the name of “old Southern tradition.” In reality, the “stretched metaphor” of the men ruling in the churches because they rule in the home is an inference drawn from Scripture (or so believed)---but where is the cold hard proof? In the end, if there are no explicit texts that give men full leadership in the church, then men ruling in the churches becomes about as necessary as the color of the carpet, or the style of worship. And if these things just mentioned have no explicit texts to uphold a certain belief, then I think it’s wrong to say that the carpet MUST be red, or the worship style MUST be traditional...or that men MUST rule in the churches. Paul gave a loud declaration when he said that Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 4:15; 5:23-24). If Christ is the head of the church, then no matter how powerful the male leader, he is still not the head. No deacon, preacher, elder, or otherwise will ever be the head of the church. That is reserved for Christ alone. All the pastor will ever be is the “undershepherd,” or “overseer,” which is a position that lies beneath the Lord, who is “the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls” (1 Peter 2:25, NKJV).<br /><br /><br />Bruce Waltke, author of “An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach,” writes the following regarding 1 Corinthians 11:<br /><br /><em>“God establishes this pattern (the order of creation) by creating Adam first and the woman to help the man (Gen. 2:18). As Paul notes in a passage dealing with the role of men and women, one that demands its own study, ‘man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man’ (1 Cor. 11:8-9). In other words, Paul GIVES GOVERNMENTAL PRIORITY TO THE MAN BY THE SEQUENCE OF CREATION OF MAN AND WOMAN AND BY THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE WOMAN WAS CREATED. Is it not plausible to assume that if God intended equality in government, he would have formed Eve and Adam at the same time and made them helpers suitable to each other? If he had wanted a matriarchy, would God not have formed Eve first and created the husband to be a suitable helper to his wife?”</em> (Bruce Waltke, “An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach.” Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007, page 242)<br /><br /><br />There is no doubt where Waltke stands on this one: he is a conservative...and a die-hard complementarian. His argument is not surprising, but I will examine it nonetheless.<br /><br />Let’s look at the passage that he quotes. In 1 Cor. 11:8-9, the discussion in the church involves the issue of women wearing head coverings. Notice in verses 4 and 5 that the men AND women are doing the same things: “every man PRAYING OR PROPHESYING” (v.4), and “every woman who PRAYS OR PROPHESIES” (v.5). The only difference is that the men should not cover their heads (in this verse), while the women should (v.5). Both men and women are equally acknowledged in the ministries of prayer and prophecy. <br /><br />Waltke actually acknowledges equal gifts among men and women, and emphasizes that even the Old Testament testifies to this very fact:<br /><br /><em>“Huldah is a most remarkable prophetess with regard to the question of women’s roles in worship and ministry...Josiah directs five leaders to inquire of I AM (God) about the book. INSTEAD OF GOING TO JEREMIAH AND ZEPHANIAH, they go to their contemporary, Huldah, to verify the book (2 Kings 22:8-20)”</em> (caps mine) (Waltke, 240).<br /><br />Waltke’s comment about Huldah and prophetesses? “In the Old Testament, women are called to be ‘prophetesses’ ON AN EQUAL FOOTING WITH THE PROPHETS” (Waltke, 240).<br /><br />It looks as if Waltke understands that the gifting of the Spirit places women on an equal footing with men. He actually titles five sections around the theme of equality: “Equality in Creation, Equality in Parenting, Equality in Charisma (Gifts), Equality in Prayer, Equality in Worship” (Waltke, 239-240). <br /><br />But then, Waltke gets to leadership in the church...and he blows it entirely! Waltke’s first mistake after the above equality affirmations is to separate gifts and offices:<br /><br /><em>“Here we need to distinguish clearly between call to ministry and appointment to an office since they are not the same thing”</em> (Waltke, 241).<br /><br />I agree with Waltke. For instance, being a helper in the church is not the same as being a deacon. While a deacon has the “ministry of helps,” every person who possesses this gift does not end up serving in the office of deacon. A deacon can possess the gift, but possessing the gift does not guarantee the office. In this manner, I affirm what Waltke says. But I disagree when Waltke tries to show why women should not serve in the offices of pastor and elder:<br /><br /><em>“Male authority in the home and in the church is founded on the order of creation and reinforced in the order of redemption as presented in both the Old and New Testaments”</em> (242).<br /><br />In response to Waltke, I’d like to say two things: first, male authority in the home is not founded on the creation order, but in the very words of God Himself as a punishment to Eve for her sin in the Garden(Genesis 3:16). If God had clearly intended to appoint Adam as the head of his wife in the home, then why is it that we only find God saying these words to Eve in Genesis 3 with the fall and not earlier? <br /><br />Complementarians such as Waltke like to play with vague generalities and draw inferences. But when are conservatives gonna get back to finding EXPLICIT references in Scripture---and when are we gonna stop using vague references to emphasize our points? If God says it in Scripture, there will be some place within the canon of the text where the concept will be as clear as day. Every text in the Bible is not a vague generality; and I despise this sort of technique used by complementarians to attempt to validate their personal belief.<br /><br />Secondly, there are no texts that give men the right to be the head of the church (not even 1 Timothy 2 does this). I have interpreted this text dozens of times here at the site. For all those who desire to read my thoughts, go to the blog sections on the right of the main page and click on the section “1 Timothy 2.” Respond to this post or the others if you have comments, questions, observations, etc.<br /><br /><br />The point being made here is that the order of creation does not place the man over the woman in the churches. And 1 Corinthians 11 works against the complementarian position. What does it say? Well, I’ll get to that in my next post.</strong>Deidre Richardson, B.A., M.Div.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04415891901162852180noreply@blogger.com0