Cheryl

voiceofsanity,

Clearly you do not know me. I came to this passage ready to accept what God said no matter what. If it meant that I was to stop teaching the bible to men and I had to kick out all the ex-JW’s who were men, then so be it. I probably would have just stopped teaching period, because I could not be prejudiced against people in all good conscience.

As far as 2000 years of scholarship on Matt’s side, let me point out that for 2,000 years this passage has not been understood. If you look in any commentary, they will tell you that the church has not been sure what Paul is getting at in verse 15. No one has made complete sense of this verse before without contradictions.

I came to the passage wanting to know what it meant. I believe that I know and I ask you to show me any contradictions in the passage regarding my understanding of it. Surely if I am wrong then there will be discrepancies. Show me any discrepancies. If you cannot, then why not?

True biblical scholarship is about consistency and honesty. I have been both consistent in my exegesis and honesty in my approach to scripture. To say otherwise is to judge my heart and that would be inconsistent with scripture to judge me in that way.