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Women’s Ordination

Women’s Ordination

Recently I was asked to read an article that addressed the issue of ordination of women. The article, while advocating for female pastors, opposed ordination for women as ordination included “church authority” to baptize and establish churches. The author appealed to the example of Lucifer in heaven being jealous of Christ and Korah being jealous of Aaron and neither being content with their position as evidence that God has selected men to be ordained and women should not be jealous of ordination but content with their position.

The following is my response to the article:

The issue of achieving equality in a world of sin, where human hearts are filled with selfishness, is difficult. And I appreciate any open-minded attempt to move toward a unity of love. But the appeal to Lucifer’s jealousy of Christ is misapplied to the question of ordination of women. Why? Lucifer’s inequality to Christ is inherent, i.e. God is God, created beings are created beings, and thus Lucifer’s rebellion was against his inherent inequality attempting to create a lie that a created being was God. Such is not the case with men and women, both are human.

The case of Korah is also misapplied, as the author failed to understand the unique nature of the Israelites and their “acting roles” in the “theater” of the sanctuary. Just as in any theatrical production the actors all have specified roles to play, so too in the Jewish economy God gave specified roles for the various actors to play. The production would never succeed if all the actors wanted to play the same role. But, in actual practice (i.e. in the actual experience of salvation) all the Israelites were called to be a “kingdom of priests” not just the descendants of Aaron. (Exodus 19:6) It was only within the confines of the sanctuary “theater” that the descendants of Aaron were the priests, as they represented the converted, while the rest of the tribes acted out the role of the unconverted persons, so that the “annual recurring play” could enact the plan of salvation. It was simply a teaching tool, not reality. In the New Testament we are told that all the believers (both men and women) are the “priesthood.”

Many people who appeal to Biblical examples regarding the role of women in the church fail to account for the historical context in which God meets people where they are. He tolerates deviations from his ideal, in which sinful minds are entrenched, in order to connect with us and lead us out of our bigotry and selfishness and back to his ultimate restoration. Sadly, we often love our bigotry more than God’s ideal!

God didn’t condemn polygamy in the OT, but had Paul address it in the NT. Polygamy didn’t suddenly become wrong in the NT. And pointing to examples like Korah to address issues of women’s ordination, or even to Paul, would be like pointing to OT polygamy to address issues of marriage. It would be wrong to point to the practice in the OT as historical evidence of how God would like things. Regarding how women were treated during the time the Bible was written, is an artifact of the bigotry of humanity, not a revelation of God’s plan. God merely tolerated male dominance, as he did polygamy in order to connect with humanity and lead them back to true unity and equality. God’s pronouncement in Genesis that Adam would rule over Eve, was not God’s ideal, but God’s foreknowledge proclaiming how sin would distort the divinely established equality.

If you disagree with my assertion, then perhaps, since Korah was cited as a case example for determining who is qualified to serve as a priest of God, we might benefit from utilizing other instructions from that same era.

A person was disqualified from the priesthood if he had any physical defect, including poor vision. (Lev 21:20) Should we void the credentials of all serving pastors who wear glasses or suffer other ailments? Is this Biblical instruction any less inspired than the example of Korah?

Lev 19:19 prohibits wearing clothes made of two types of material, should we disqualify from the pastorate those who wear a wool/poly blend? Is this direction less inspired than the injunction regarding women?

When we operate on an imposed law construct, with God the imposer of law, then we struggle with such issues because God has said it, therefore the rule must be followed. Many fail to realize that God’s government is based on principles and those principles can be applied differently in different settings, so in one place God can say “use the tithe and buy fermented wine and rejoice before the Lord” (DT 14:26) but another place say that such drink is a mocker. (Prov 20:1)

As we move closer to God, his methods of love become more and more our methods until we are one day like him in character. We come back into complete unity with God and the only “inequality” that remains is the inherent differences built into our being by God, such as women bearing children and men being physically stronger. But there are no inherent differences in moral worth, intelligence, spiritual insight, compassion, love, ability to lead people to Christ, or serve as priests in God’s church.

As long as selfishness reigns in the hearts of men inequality, discrimination, domination, subordination and self-exaltation will continue to manifest itself in our relationships, including within the church. But as love casts out our fear, as selfishness is replaced with selflessness, and as we are restored more fully to God’s image, then inequality will evaporate and true oneness with God and each other will be experienced. Then perhaps we will return to the Biblical model of ordination being the affirmation by the church of the gifts the Holy Spirit has already imparted, regardless of gender. 

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I have been tuning into your weekly study classes for a while now and wanted express my appreciation for the teachings that ha been a huge blessing in opening up the true message of the word. Viewing scripture under an imposed law theory always, without fail, raised more questions, concerns, and conflicting scripture interpretations that were discouraging at the very least. Looking at scripture through the design law lens has brought more truth to light for me personally and an understanding of our Heavenly Father that places Him “above all others,” where I am now more than thrilled to witness and serve Him.  I “stumbled” across this ministry a year or so ago and would only watch a few minutes at a time. But the more I listened and the longer I paid attention, the more my spiritual eyes were opened to the ever present truths of scripture. The comprehension of the great controversy and it’s origin by the lies perpetrated and perpetuated throughout the Bible on the attack of God’s character and government is truly priceless. Keep up the Good Work! Your servanthood is desperately needed in such a time as this!

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Thank you for all of your work to correct misconceptions about God’s character. So many people that my husband and I have talked to seem to be against the natural law construct and view it as “errant” and “dangerous.” Having learned more about it through your blogs and lessons, I don’t really understand why they view it that way, except that it means they have to relearn theology they have known for their entire lives. But I’m so excited to relearn this. For the past few years I have been questioning how I could trust a God who punishes arbitrarily and is full of wrath for those who don’t obey His commands. That view made me afraid to “mess up” or “not be good enough,” even within my relationship with God. I really appreciated the point you bring out about God not wanting us to serve Him because we are afraid, but because we love Him.

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Hearing Dr. Jennings’ presentations in person came at a pivotal moment in my spiritual journey that began about nine months ago, when the fault lines inherent in my belief system began to crack under questions that most reasonable people end up asking about God and His nature. These were questions I couldn’t find answers to, and they shook my faith. I was unable let it go any longer and be satisfied. My Christian experience became distant. I was afraid; the fear in me rose like thorns, pushing me away from Jesus. And then someone heard my questions and introduced me to this ministry, and my life has totally changed.

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