Should women be ordained

[woodelk]

[CoinOperatedChristian]

[Sven]

[jo]

[CoinOperatedChristian]

[ArdenZ]

God created man to lead the home and the church. He created woman to be more emotional and, althought it may not seem so, they really, at the root of it all, aren't best capable of carrying all the burden of the church.

Men and women have the same worth in God's eyes, but they have different roles.

[jo]

[woodelk]

well, what can I say? I also am sith sunny and did not mean to come across as harsh or hostile. I suppose my vague reply could be misunderstood, and I apologize.

We are all children of God, whom he loves.


I think a good example is Martin Luther King alot of folks in the south
would never allow this man to be a preacher - because he was black.

These were for the most part good people, but turning a 'deaf ear' to God on this issue that was uncomfortable for them.

I see the same thing in the arguments against women being ordained.

okay, maybe a little hostile (can you blame us?)

[jo]

Just playing Devil's Advocate, but the bible does not preach against black people being ordained ;). It does apparently say that women shouldn't be.

[loeee]

[ArdenZ]

Gender roles were laid in Creation itself, founded before the Fall. I emphasize before because many Christians believe that traditional gender roles are a result of sin. Like work, they aren't. God created man and then he created woman to be a helpmeet before the fell.

The family can properly run on this structure only. Man must be the leader. I'm not saying I despise women, I just believe that man is to be leader in the family. And without the family, there would be no church. The church is just a larger family. In the Christian family, every event revolves around Christ as he is the one should each member should look to. It is the same way for the Church. All Christians serve God, but the man is to be the leader.

Although I don't particularly enjoy using this scripture in debates, read the 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Take note of verses 10-12.

[jo]

You're just repeating the same thing; you're not answering WHY it is that families can't be run on different lines, or why women can't be in the church. Essentially, all you're saying is 'just because.' Can you elaborate?

[Sarah N.]

I know many women who are far better leaders than many men. Smarter too and more suited to a preaching/teaching/holding people together in fellowship role. I think that women can be, and some are, as good at this as men. If that is all ordination is designed for, then women ought to be allowed to be ordained. Women run businesses, why not churches, after all?

As a Catholic, though, I oppose women's ordaination, and I can give you a reason, Jo. The priest stands in persona Christi, in the person of Christ. That is, at ordination there is a change in the priest's soul that enables them to somehow represent Christ in a way that no one else can. They use this in the Mass, when they act as Christ in re-presenting the sacrifice of Calvary to God the Father. It's really compicated and no one quite understands it, but that's the reason. I don't think the issue of women's ordination has anything to do with education or talents, but ontology (the study of being or essence, what a thing really is, not what it looks like. )

And I do agree with ArdenZ's analysis about the family and it being set up before the fall, but, like Lewis says in That Hideous Strength, equality between the sexes is very hard to lay out, and often falls apart in practice in our bent world.

[jo]

Hi Sarah :)

The thing is, priests are obviously NOT Christ, are obviously human like the rest of us. I hate to beat a dead horse but the behavour of some priests does show that they do NOT become CHrist-like, or any particular change take place, at ordination .. if that were so, surely priests could never falter? And yet they do. So why not a woman as well as a man? :)

[nomad]