Women Should be Silent in Church? - 1 Corinthians 14

Should women be silent in Church?

What was Paul thinking when he wrote to the Corinthian church? Have a read of 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 - Does it clearly make a case that women should not preach in the church?

1 Corinthians 14: 33-35 'As in all the congregations of the saints, 34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.'

This is a verse used by some to discredit the authority women have to preach in the church today. What is Paul saying in this Scripture? Is this a blanket statement that holds true in today's church? I argue that this verse is laden with cultural underpinnings, that need to be explored.

N.T. Wright discusses 1 Cor 14, where Paul urges the Corinthian women to be silent in Church, and while he admits it may well be an interpolation [that is a verse that was added later] from outside of Paul, he also offers another suggestion.

Back in the 1st Century Middle East, men and women would sit separately in Church, and the service would be spoken in classical Arabic, a language in which the men understood and the women did not. During the sermon, as you could imagine, the women begin chatting to themselves, slowly increasing their volume, until the point where the minister must tell the women to keep the noise down. Therefore Paul’s call for women to be silent in church was more of a practical request, so that at least the men could hear the message. To read more on N.T.Wright's article on Women in Ministry, click here.

Galatians 3:28 is known to hold the key to Paul's view on women in ministry, and while a verse plucked out by itself is not always helpful, this verse is foundational to understand Paul's view on the topic. Galatians 3:28 says, 'There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.' Paul's understanding of equality between women and men, was one that developed following his conversion to Christ, and one that goes against the grain of the male-dominated Jewish culture of his day. Taking Galatians 3:28 and feeding that into 1 Corinthians 14, says to me, that men and women are equal, and while Paul may have given a practical request to the Corinthian church, both women and men have the authority and God-given power to preach the gospel of Jesus today.

Should women be silent in the church? No.
Are women and men equal in ministry? Yes.
Are women and men equal in the eyes of God? Of course. (God shows no favourtism) Share

The 'I like it on ....' Facebook phenomenon

If you are confused as to what 'campaign' Pete was discussing in yesterday's blog. Here is all the inside info as to what the "I like it on ..." Facebook game is all about. This is the only information available from the source of this campaign, it is not linked with any official Breast Cancer Awareness Organisation, nor is there any indication as to whose 'brainchild' it was.

"Remember the game last year about what color bra you were wearing at the moment? The purpose was to increase awareness of October Breast Cancer Awareness month. It was a tremendous success and we had men wondering for days what was with the colors and it made it to the news. This year's game has to do with your handbag/purse, where we put our handbag the moment we get home for example "I like it on the couch", "I like it on the kitchen counter", "I like it on the dresser" well u get the idea. Just put your answer as your status with nothing more than that and cut n paste this message and forward to all your FB female friends to their inbox. The bra game made it to the news. Let's see how powerful we women really are!!!

REMEMBER - DO NOT PUT YOUR ANSWER AS A REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE- PUT IT IN YOUR STATUS!!! PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW"

Breast Cancer awareness/support/cure are very important issues to promote. I have huge respect for organisations that are committed to these causes and seek to support them any way I can. I have my own family connection to breast cancer which has caused me to have huge respect for those who have to cope with the horrible effects of this and other cancers.

I have one question, if the one reference to Breast Cancer was removed, what would you think about this message? Share

I like it on the Rubbish Tip - Breast Cancer Awareness

We all need to become more aware about Breast Cancer. So lets use SEX as our marketing tool. It is sure to work. Women will have a chuckle as they update their facebook status:
* I like it on the staircase
* I like it on the kitchen table (supposedly refering to their handbags)

Is this good marketing or a pathetic use at using sex to sell an idea?

We very quickly become confused. Lets break it down. We use marketing technique 'A' to sell the idea 'B'. If 'A' is effective then 'B' will catch on as an idea. Now if 'B' is extremely important, and life altering, does it then matter what the substance of 'A' is? I mean if 'B' is so very important, surely it is irrelevant what the content of 'A' is? Or are they ethically mutually exclusive, and so if 'A' is wrong in and of itself, then it is irrelevant regarding the importance of 'B'.

I argue strongly here, that the Breast Cancer Awareness marketing techniques used (that is, 'A') is related to the sexualisation of women, and is moraly wrong. I am saying that this marketing technique is wrong in and of itself; and while the idea of breast cancer awareness is very important, using sex to drive home the idea is just the brain child of a lazy marketing department and it continues to pervade our culture with lustful sex and the sexualisation of women.

Please don't use the argument - "well there are more important things to worry about than this". Sure. But there always is. We could talk about a blog regarding someone with foot pain - but is this irrelevant because someone in Sri Lanka has elephantitis? We could talk about how to stop a migraine - but should we stop talking about this because there is someone who is on life-support needing brain surgery? The sexualisation of women is wrong, and this marketing technique taken on face value, is cheap and pathetic.

Ohh, I just thought of a new Prostate Cancer awareness idea - Every man drop their dacks, tack a picture of their private parts and upload it to facebook... Ohh, sorry, did I go too far that time? Or am I just creatively using sex to get my idea across? Share