Happy Promise Keeper

Jennifer …… to sue your own term of endearment …… Hi, Hon!!!!

No, you are mischaracterizing me when you broadly state, “You seriously believe that women are restricted from preaching God’s Holy Word because of their gender??”

No, Jennifer, I will simply share with you what the whole context of the Word states that women can do …. and SHOULD be doing ….. instead of seeking to usurp male authority in church and family. It is my contention that if our ladies would focus on the things they CAN and SHOULD do, they simply wouldn’t have time to fixate on things they CAN’T do.

I Tim. 2:11-15

11A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15But womenwill be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

I Tim. 5: 9-16
9No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband 10and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
11As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. 12Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. 13Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. 14So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.
16If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.

Titus 1:5-9

5The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Titus 2:3-5

3Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Jennifer, please show me how a woman can possibly qualify as an elder/bishop/overseer/pastor??? You can’t, at least without a faulty exegesis of the Bible. We know from The Principle that women may not teach men in the church or home nor have authority over men in the church and home.

Other than these two categories — that is, (1) teaching the man and (2) having authority over the man — the New Testament reveals an extensive record of godly women ministering in a wide variety of spiritual gifts, ministries, and activities, for example —

• Prayer ministries of many kinds

• Prophecy, and by association, other gifts of the Spirit

• Older women teaching younger women

• Financial support of ministries

• Service ministries

• Help ministries

• “Working very hard in the Lord”

• Witnessing

• Good works

• Helping the poor

• Hospitality

• Assisting her husband in sharing the Lord and His truths with people

• Being “mothers” to many in the church

• Being loving, godly wives

• Raising their children in the Christian faith

• Teaching other children, for example, in Sunday School

• Testifying

• Specific applications of these many opportunities actually open the door to an almost limitless variety of specific ministry activities for women, consistent with the Scriptural principles shared in this study.

Again, I ask the question. If women would spend their time doing what they CAN and SHOULD be doing, how could they possibly have the time to invest in things they CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be doing???