Lin

“I had an email from someone who said that it was egalitarians who were responsible for dividing the church and being divisive”

This is what they are being taught. There is a lot of repeating what has been taught instead of really thinking it through. The idea is that even studying this issue with an open mind is divisive and will divide the church. In practice, most egals who attend comp churches just work where they can. If they cannot, they leave. How is that divisive?

It is divisive to say that Christian egal teaching is allowing Satan into the church. This was said at the same conference where Bruce Ware taught about unsubmissive wives triggering abuse from husbands.

There is also a lot of reptitition of the teaching that this issue leads to homosexuality being accepted into the church and in ministry positions. This is simply illogical. Being a woman who wants to use the gifts the Holy Spirit gives for the edification of the church is not a sin. Homosexuality is a sin and is clearly taught as a sin in scripture. The other reason it is illogical is because homosexuality has been rampant in Patriarchal cultures throughout history and still is.  A friend of mine, a missionary in Afghanistan, was astonished at how prevalent homosexuality was there, even under the Taliban! It is just hidden better.

We must be prepared for lots of false accusations because they do not want to engage actual content of scripture. And they do not want their followers to see this as a secondary doctrine and that we should have charity toward others who disagree.