I really liked Laura's video about the shock men like John Piper, John MacArthur, and Wayne Grudem might experience when they face Jesus and He asks them why they persecuted Him. They’d ask, “When did we persecute you, Jesus?” Jesus answers, “When you silenced My daughters whom I appointed to be teachers and prophets."
Image from the youtube short. Watch the short here if you haven't seen it!
But men aren't the only ones silencing women
Women leaders themselves are silencing women by teaching that in order for a woman to be a good Christian, she must first and foremost be a godly, submissive wife. Preaching and teaching are not even considered an option for women. In fact, women are taught that they are more gullible than men; therefore, they must be careful not to lead people astray, especially their husbands.
A woman's bible study I will never forget
I remember the time I was in a woman’s bible study covering 1 Timothy chapter 2. The study emphasized verses 12-14:
1 Timothy 2:12-14 (NIV)
I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
The study emphasized that women were more gullible than men since Adam was not deceived but Eve was. To support that belief, the following verse was added to our study, 2 Timothy 3:6, "They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women…" But I remembered Roman 5:12, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man…" The heading in my Bible says that “Sin entered through Adam.” So my question was why did Paul say Adam in Romans and now named Eve in 1 Timothy 2? I looked up verse 12 in my BlueLetter bible online. My first discovery was that the word translated "authority" was NOT the normal word for authority and it is found no where else in the whole Bible! When a word is only used one time in a text or document, it is called a hapax legonomen. That means one cannot look up that word to see how it is translated or used in other places. Where else did the Bible say a woman couldn't preach?
I decided to see how many other times in the Bible women are forbidden from teaching men. I could not find any more. Wait!?! There is only one place in the whole Bible and that verse has a hapax legonomen. There are 23,145 verses in the Old Testament and 7,957 verses in the New Testament. This gives a total of 31,102 verses. So the church doctrine that forbids women from teaching and preaching is based on one verse and that one verse has a hapax legonomen. If God actually wanted to forbid women from teaching men, wouldn’t you think it would be mentioned more than once in the whole Bible? Are women really more gullible?
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I didn’t believe that I was more gullible than men. So I decided to look up that verse again. Our Bible study left off the second part of the verse in 2 Timothy 3:6, "They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires…" Notice that verse does not say all women are gullible; it is addressing those women loaded down with sins.
When I looked around the room I didn’t see a lot of women who were deep in sin. That verse does NOT support the belief that women in general are more gullible. The leader told the women that they had to be careful not to lead their husbands astray, because as women they are more gullible than men. They emphasized that the women needed to acknowledge that they were more gullible and believe it because the Bible says so! ALL THE WOMEN exempt me NODDED THEIR HEADS IN AGREEMENT.
Nullifying Genesis 2
So not only did this study silence women by prohibiting them from preaching and teaching, but it denied woman’s role as a warrior alongside their husbands as an equal partner. This nullifies the meaning of Genesis 2:18. We were created to be equal partners with our husbands. The word ezer is the same word used for God; therefore, a prudent person would conclude that it couldn’t mean a subservient helper for Adam. When ezer is used to describe God, it often describes a mighty warrior. We were created to be a help not helper, a warrior to fight alongside our husbands!
So tell me! This lie was taught to women by a woman. Will there be punishment for women leaders who lead women astray? To those who are truly deceived, God will probably show mercy. But for those who know the truth and teach error in order to keep their ministry jobs, I'm not so sure.
James 3:1 warns that "not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly."
By Divine Dissident contributor,
Sandy Bittrock
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