To Christians with female clergy

[Contarini]

So last week I told my fundamentalist mother that her female pastor is not really a pastor in the eyes of the Lord. That went over real well :tsktsk::nunchuk:

This is one of those issues that the scriptures seem pretty clear about. 1 Timothy 2:12-14 Yes we are all equal, but God recognizes the man as the spiritual head of the house and Churches as well. Eve sins first but God recognizes Adam’s sin as the original sin because it’s his structure.

I don’t know why the Lord set it up this way but I guess he has his reasons. Personally I don’t object to it as females are often more Godly and spiritual than men are, imo. But the Church and the scriptures say no, so that’s that.

I wouldn’t, myself, use the term “fundamentalist” for any group that ordained women.

It sounds like in that particular conversation you were the fundamentalist.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

I wouldn’t, myself, use the term “fundamentalist” for any group that ordained women.

It sounds like in that particular conversation you were the fundamentalist.

Point taken.

She takes the literal approach to everything in scripture so i think of her as a fundamentalist. When i pressed the issue i got the usual argument that much good comes out of it, so it cant be wrong.

 

[goout]

I wouldn’t, myself, use the term “fundamentalist” for any group that ordained women.

It sounds like in that particular conversation you were the fundamentalist.

If fundamentalism could be defined in a nutshell, you could say it is anti-incarnational.

In regard to Scripture, it is a self-absorbed, out of context reading of Scripture that robs the passage of Jesus himself.

Christ is the Word of God, and is the ultimate hermeneutical key to understanding the scriptures.
Christ is a divine person with full human nature, the living Word of God.
Christ established a community (ecclesia), which is the only context in which that Word breathes. Christ is not merely an individual. He established and lived (lives) in a community.

Scripture must be read in the context of Christ and his Church. If a person picks and chooses passages and theologies out of that context, they tend toward fundamentalism.
Fundamentalism robs the faith of this intimacy with Christ.

In the passage from Timothy, it could be interpreted that a husband has headship *to the exclusion of *the wife. That is not so. The husband has a unique role, the wife has a unique role, and they complement one another. And they are mutually submissive and deferential.
One of the things fundamentalism cannot see is this great both/and.

Many passages of Scripture seem contradictory and hard to understand in our culture.
And there are many issues that are not directly mentioned in Scripture but are self evident.
The fact that Christ is male and priests are in persona Christi is one of those things. A theological argument is not needed to note that Christ is a man.

Claiming Christ’s maleness is accidental to our faith robs the incarnation of it’s fullness.
Claiming Christ’s maleness is a deprivation to women also robs the incarnation of it’s fullness.

The converse silliness would be as follows:
men are called to go to the cross for their wives, that is not fair to men.

 

[Padres1969]

How about the different Eastern Catholic churches?

How about the Eastern Orthodox churches?

How about the Oriental Orthodox churches?

How about any other ancient Christian church?

FWIW, the Catholic Church (both the the Western and Eastern halves) is not a “denomination.” They, along with the Orthodox make-up God’s Church.

Well the Eastern Catholics are similarly bound by the decisions of the Pope and Vatican on the matter so I’d say they’re as similarly restricted from ever making such a change just as the Roman Catholic Church is about it.

With the Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and other “ancient” Churches, I’m unsure. It would come down to their leadership’s decisions on their predecessors interpretations of scripture and tradition as being infallible or not I’d imagine (and if such an infallible decision had been made previously about female ordination).

And yes I’m aware the RCC (and its Eastern churches) don’t see themselves as a “denomination.” But keep in mind from an academic and an outside perspective the RCC is a Christian denomination. That’s not meant as a sign of disrespect, rather its a non-judgemental acknowledgement that the RCC is not alone in claiming to be the “true” Christian church.