“A Voice For Silence”

Thursday, October 01, 2020

     I have belonged to a church for the past two years that did not have a woman as a preacher.   I left a church nine years ago because they ordained several women to be preachers.  One month ago, my husband finally joined this church I am speaking of, and I was elated.  Approximately one week after he joined, the pastor of the church ordained a woman to be a preacher in the church.  I stopped going to that church the first time I saw her in the pulpit and wrote the church a letter to explain why I was stopping my membership.  I told him that I did not believe that a woman was supposed to be a preacher based on Scripture, and I no longer trusted him to correctly interpret the Bible.  He came to my house, and he, my husband, and I had a long discussion.  His feelings were hurt because I said that I no longer trusted him.  We were not harsh with each other, and I apologized to him because it was not my intention to hurt his feelings, but I felt like I felt.  He even stated that I needed to be at the church with my husband even though I may have reservations regarding this matter.  My husband was raised in the Church of the Living God, so he is very used to women preachers.  He also does not read the Bible, so he does not know what the Bible says.  I am not putting him down, but this is the truth.  It does not matter who I talk to; everyone seems to want to make every woman that was ever mentioned in the Bible a preacher.  I do not believe that to be so.  Please help me with this once and for all.  Thank you.

Sincerely,
Frustrated

Dear Frustrated,

You are right to stand against women being in the pulpit.  1 Cor 14:34-35 makes it clear that women are not supposed to be in leadership positions during the church assembly.  Women have a zillion different roles within the church, but leading the public assembly isn’t one of them.  Men have the responsibility of preaching, teaching, and leading the worship services (1 Tim 2:12).  In today’s politically correct atmosphere, this can be hard for some to swallow, but as Paul said, “We have no other custom” on this topic (1 Cor 11:16).  There is simply no biblical precedence for women preachers.

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