(This is a follow-up question to “Women Preachers” and “Women Preachers (Part 2)”)

First of all, let me state that I am a believer in God's Word.  I do believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God; however, is it so impossible that human intervention (we are blessed with the gift of free will after all) in the compilation of the Bible did omit books?  Weren't the four gospels chosen out of all the others to be included because of the way they were written - easy to understand, story lines, and recognizable authors, etc. - because a group of humans got together and voted?  And as for my disinformation, I have to disagree - I AM a woman, therefore I know what it is like to be treated condescendingly because of that fact.  Long hair as a covering... what about short hair; are you saying that is a sin?  Silence in church assembly... so if I let out an "Amen" or "Praise Jesus" during a sermon, I am sinning, but if a man does, he is not?  Why should a woman's role not include leadership?  As for Mary Magdelene, by me quoting "kissed her on the...", I meant to illustrate their relationship not as a romantic one, but as a fellowship.  Do you mean to tell me that Jesus and Mary didn't have a relationship?  If you follow that line of logic, then it would be logical to say that He did not have a relationship with the twelve either.  She was part of His entourage, for lack of a better word, along with the twelve disciples.  Friendship/Fellowship/Discipleship is a *relationship*, is it not?  What about the paintings they have found in ancient worship sites with Mary in a teaching position with her two fingers raised that have been scratched out...by a human's male hand no doubt...simply because of sexism?  Is it not fact that at the time the Bible was written, women were considered so second-class that to even include them in a conversation or use them as a witness, was laughable?  For example, you seem to have labeled me in a derogatory way by judging me and calling me a feminist simply because I am asking a question that perhaps is not answerable until we are able to ask the Source.  No, God does not care about our gender, on this point we agree... but we humans sure do!

Sincerely,
Would Prefer Not To Be Called A Feminist

Dear Would Prefer Not To Be Called A Feminist,

To begin with, we did not mean to offend you by using the byline ‘The Feminist’ – your question was about female rights – the title seemed appropriate because ‘feminism’ is defined as ‘the advocacy for women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality with men’… isn’t that what you are trying to defend?

Now having said that, let’s address the issue.  No, parts of the Bible are not missing.  You cannot simultaneously say that the Bible is divinely inspired and also say that God allowed necessary parts of it to be lost.  If the Bible isn’t exactly as God wrote it, it isn’t God’s Book anymore.  You can’t have it both ways.  Your whole argument is based off the idea that when you run across something you find distasteful in the Scriptures (in this case, the verses concerning men’s and women’s roles), you can simply say, “We don’t have the complete Bible”.  Jesus says that not even the tiniest detail of the Scriptures have been lost (Matt 5:18).  Jude says that we have the Word of God handed down to us “once for all” (Jude 1:3).  Regardless of what ancient paintings, manuscripts, mythology, etc. you reference – the Bible is what the Bible is.  Your frustrations with what the Bible says about hair length, women leadership, etc. are not with us… they are with the Scriptures.  No matter how many times you talk about these subjects, you will still have to contend with verses like 1 Cor 11:15, 1 Cor 14:34, Eph 5:23, etc.  These verses aren’t going away.  God, from the very beginning, designed men and women to be equal heirs of salvation (1 Pet 3:7) but to have different roles.  Men and women are different – frankly, that shouldn’t be news to anybody.

The differences between men and women are often abused by both genders.  Women tell jokes about how stupid men are, and men condescend and demean women… neither behavior is right.  In the Bible, God doesn’t ignore the differences between men and women; He explains how men and women ought to live to fulfill their fullest potential.  Until we accept that we must mold our lives as God desires, we will never truly be submitting ourselves to Him… and whether male or female, we are all subject to God (Jas 4:7).

In Psalms 111:9, it says that ‘Reverence’ is His Name.  So why are so many preachers adding ‘Reverend’ to their name?  Isn't pastor or minister enough of a title?  And the thing is, so many are living ungodly lives (however sin is sin in all of us).  Should we not honor God's name as reverent?

Sincerely,
Keeping ‘Holy’ Holy

Dear Keeping ‘Holy’ Holy,

God specifically condemns religious leaders who take titles that put them on the same level as Him (Matt 23:8-10).  Many religious leaders are power-hungry and fixated upon receiving the honor of others.  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for this very same arrogant attitude (Matt 6:1-2).  Preachers are only men; they shouldn’t place themselves above others.

I keep getting conflicting info on this, and I ache for clarification and truth.

God commanded His people to observe the Sabbath and Feast days (even Jesus and His disciples did), and whoever believes on Jesus' name are His people.  Jesus didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill it and make it better (with His gift of the Holy Spirit and circumcision of our hearts), and so the law still stands.  Why do so many christians think it is okay not to observe them?

Because I am not a Jew, is it crazy/worthless for me to observe these days?  I'm only trying to follow Jesus' examples.  What is so wrong with that?

Sincerely,
Eaten Up By This

Dear Eaten Up By This,

Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament law when He died upon the cross (Lk 24:44-47).  The Old Testament law was a tutor to lead us to Christ, but now that Christ is here, we are no longer under that law (Gal 3:24-25). We are told to not worry about feasts and festivals in the New Testament (Col 2:16).  Jews kept the feast days; christians keep the New Testament, the law of Christ (Gal 6:2).

I belong to a Baptist church.  The pastor calls himself a “shepherd”… but don't care about his sheep.  He tells every one to hug everyone's neck but don't do that himself.  He do not shake anyone’s hand.  Don't even know the names of people and don't care.  It is not a big church, only three hundred members.  It is a fully-paid church with a capacity of 750.  Now he wants to buy a larger facility and wants every one to pay extra for it and told the congregation that those who do not wish to support him should leave the church!  He fired the associate pastor because he did not agree to his idea.  His wife is the music minister, and he gets a fabulous salary between the two.  He also sells his personal CD’s and his wife's music CD’s to make extra money.  We were paying for his luxurious house with swimming pool.  In this economy, people are struggling to make both ends meet.  There are people in our church who lost their homes to foreclosures and got their power cut off, but all he cares is for the people to contribute more money for his idea.  What can we do to get rid of this money and power-hungry preacher and his family, so that we will have a quiet place to worship?  We have contributed to this church heavily in the past but don't think we should do it any more.

Sincerely,
Fed Up

Dear Fed Up,

Our advice is to take this money-grubbing false teacher’s advice – LEAVE.  All you can ever do is work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12).  We get buckets of questions from people asking for help because every church they find seems to only care about money… it’s horrid what people have done in the name of religion.  Unfortunately, there is nothing new under the sun (Eccl 1:9).  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for the same greedy behavior (Lk 20:46-47).

In the end, you want to be a christian – not a Baptist, Methodist, Calvinist, Lutheran, etc.  Baptist churches only make Baptists, Methodist churches only make Methodists, and so on.  You need to find a church that belongs to Christ, not men.  This preacher has warped and twisted the Scriptures to make religion all about him… and not about God.  Such men have a very strict judgment awaiting them (Jas 3:1).  We would be happy to help you find a faithful church that will teach the Bible and leave all the manmade garbage out.  E-mail us at askyourpreacher@mvchurchofchrist.org if you would like help finding a peaceful, faithful, and godly church to attend in your area.

The recent series of posts on creeds got me thinking about a few more questions.  It seems like there's a tendency to make concise statements of important beliefs such as "speak where the Bible speaks; be silent were the Bible is silent," "No creed but the Bible," or "To be saved one must hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized and remain faithful."  It seems like sayings such as the Apostle's Creed or the Nicene Creed can be tweaked a little, so that they agree with Scripture as much as these shorter sayings do.  What's fundamentally different about saying, "We are a church that accepts this modified version of the Apostle's Creed" versus "We are a church that speaks where the Bible speaks and is silent where the Bible is silent?"

Sincerely,
Catch Phrase

Dear Catch Phrase,

The difference between a creed and a concise statement of beliefs is often subtle, but it is also important.  Creeds often start out as simple statements meant as “sermonettes” on Bible topics, but eventually, they take on a life of their own.  A creed is defined by the dictionary as ‘a set of beliefs or aims that guide someone’s life’.  A creed is created when someone takes a commentary on the Bible and turns that commentary into a stand-alone doctrine.  There is a difference between saying, “To be saved one must hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized and remain faithful… here let me show you in the Bible where it says that” and simply stating something as doctrine without Biblical proof.  Creeds are created when a statement becomes authorized as a specific standard for a church.  A creed is a statement of belief that is treated as an accepted authoritative standard separate and apart from the Bible.  There is nothing wrong with making concise statements about important beliefs… we just better be ready to back them up with the authority of the Scriptures.  Otherwise, we will be guilty of going beyond what God wrote (1 Cor 4:6).